#It’s indie podcasts. They’re all queer. We all know this

[specialagentartemis]

When I write book/podcast/etc recommendations, I try to write them how I would want to see something pitched to me—what convinces me to read/listen to a work. And I’ve got a basic formula down:

Genre

Basic plot premise, 1-2 sentences for a short pitch or a paragraph for a long one.

What does it feel like to read? Is it fast-paced and action-y, or slow and sad, or dense and weird? Did it give me the shivers, or make me laugh, or break my heart, or go confusingly in-depth about the mechanics of wastewater treatment plant operation?

Something I particularly like about what it did. If the worldbuilding was particularly interesting, or if the narrative voice was compelling and distinctive, or the humor was constantly on-point, or the characterization was consistently well-done.

Talk about the queer identities of the main characters after I have done all of these things. This one is optional.

[tranthologies]

EPISODE HIGHLIGHT: CICADA NIGHTS

Today we're highlighting our 15th episode of Season 1: "cicada nights"    

it's about drag in the south and queer trans boys in love

you can find it wherever you get your podcasts! (if not, pls let us know!)

https://shows.acast.com/tranthologies/episodes/cicada-nights

Image description under the cut

Slide 1: A brown background. In white lettering, a title reads: "cicada nights" In the centre of the page, there is the cover art for this episode. It pictures a wooden building against a night sky. The cover art has arrows pointing away from it with text coming off them. The text coming off the arrows reads as the following: "1. Southern accents 2. Y’all means all! 3. Drag in the south 4. Celebrations of queerness 5. T4t boys 6. Hallmark cheesy but they’re all drag performers.” There are sparkly gold stars across the top of the page, and cowboy boots in the bottom right corner.

Slide 2: A brown background. There is a design of a piece of paper in the centre of the page. On the paper, text reads: “Two trans boys who’ve been in love with each other for years team up with the other trans queer kids in their small southern town of Starry Lake, Mississippi, after they’re enlisted by their local beloved drag performers to save the only drag bar-and trans safe space-in miles. AKA, a trans country story about protecting your safe spaces no matter the cost.” There are sparkly gold stars across the background, and cowboy boots in the bottom left corner.

Slide 3: A brown background. Covering most of the page, there is a design of white lined paper. On the paper, an excerpt from the episode reads: “Lucky: Here’s the thing about Cici, Beau. The things she did don’t start here at Cicada’s and they don’t end here. If we don’t save the bar - and that’s a big if - what she gave us is connection. And friendship. I looked up to you for years. I thought you were so brave. And then when you were the one who fixed up my motorcycle, that felt like fate. That felt like community. Connection. You had my back, and I had yours with the mean kids at school, too. And Darlene, and Jojo, and Brooks - she introduced you all to each other. She made sure that even if somethin’ terrible happened, like losing her, or losing Cicada’s, we would still have each other. And we do still have each other.” There are sparkly gold stars down the right side of the page.

Slide 4: A brown  background. In the centre of the page, there is a design of white lined paper. On the paper, the credits read: “CREW: Written by Morgan Champine. Directed by Felyx Pozorski. Audio editing by Alex Abrahams. Music by Eden J. Storm. Cover art by Wyll. CAST: Necrotika Trashwhore as The Announcer. Theo Wampuszyc as Beau Dixon. Kaz J. Calkins as Lucky Rivers. Kash Hervias as AnnaMae Dixon. Wes French as Jojo Jackson. Moira-Juliet Scott as Darlene Porter. Zoey Davis as Indie Anna // Indy Tyler. Wyll as Miss American Pie // Buck Garrett. Sats Di Stefano as Hush Puppy // Hazel Macy. Charles as Little Miss Peachy // Patrick "Patty" L. Emily Larus as Corn Hole // Gage McLean.” There are sparkly gold stars across the top of the page, cowboy boots in the top right corner, and a cowboy hat on the left side of the page.

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Thurs 4 Feb ‘21

Confirmation is here at last of Harry’s role in the film adaptation of My Policeman, brought to us by queer fave Greg Berlanti (and his husband). Harry will costar with Emma Corrin, who you may remember from the at the time inexplicable seeming Harry/Emma cross promo last August-- given the pains they took then to emphasize that the relationship was platonic, one assumes this film will go for a different promo tactic than the current one! They share a stylist though, so they’ll no doubt be beautifully coordinated. Harry will play Tom, which some people object to on the grounds that Harry is the wrong person to play the role of a closeted man which is certainly… one opinion. Aaaaand there’s plenty more of that discourse (and about him playing a policeman) to come over the coming months so I’ll just leave it there for now! Anyway and as for that current project, we got more DWD set pics today, featuring Harry in various costume outfits! There’s ones where his character looks bloodied, and ones where his character looks clean but absolutely terrifying, grown up frat boy from hell looks to give you CHILLS, plus some of Harry as Harry in a bright orange hoodie designed by his friend Kunichi Nomura.There was also {moustache spoilers} some weird facial hair on display. Okay then!

Project Defenseless has been launched to push Defenseless up in the streaming charts and push for radio play! The fan single project offers resources and organized pushes to get people streaming and promoting on all the platforms and reaching out to radio, and has fans making lots of very cool edits besides! “I see what you’re doing with defenseless! You are all incredible!” said Louis. That song is such a fitting choice for this kind of project! Its journey has been all about the fan response from back when Louis played it for us for the very first time in 2019 (it was the one everyone was screaming about from soundcheck clips for the few hours between that and hearing the songs for real even) and afterwards he told us about how although he’d always liked the song it clicked for him in a new way after getting the fan reaction, saying “something happened to it when I performed it live, and ever since then it really kind of got me,” and “the fans make everything sound amazing, they made it sound so good,” and “the fans for whatever reason really took to this song, so now it has a special place in me heart definitely”. Plus of course there was the long saga of fan stress when it seemed like it might not be on the album and rejoicing when Louis finally definitively confirmed that it would be, after what seemed like might have been a reversal on his part due to the outcry about it. And now she’s climbing all kinds of charts like a the star she is! The song shot up on itunes (#3 worldwide, #1 in 16 countries) just for starters and the project has only just got going. Louis commented on the stats-- “An album track off an album that’s a year old. You lot blow my fucking mind! Thank you so much!”

Louis also commented on a Jack Saunders (BBC indie music DJ) tweet and followed guitarist Johnny Took of the DMAs on twitter which is weird only in that he didn’t already.

There’s news about Zayn’s Zach Sang interview, and it’s not the most surprising news but it is very sad; Zach says “hi beautiful humans, this convo was scheduled for last week but we got a rain check from his team. this conversation can still happen, it ain’t over yet! we’ll keep ya in the loop. I listened to this album 7 times! we’re determined” Well... damn. However Zayn DID pop up with some spon-content but like… the WEIRDEST ad content?? It’s for Coors Light and, well I’ll let Zayn tell you about it! “They’re gonna see if they can put a commercial inside your dreams... which is kind of messed up.” HAHAHAHA I have nothing to add! What Zayn said!!! “So we’re gonna give that a go and uh see if it works,” he says, sounding appropriately skeptical, followed by “wish me luck”. Does this kind of sponcon count as malicious compliance? Technically he DID say the stuff he was supposed to- and he’s doing an instagram live for them Sat, supposedly. I can’t wait to see how that goes! Wish him luck! The latest installment of the NIL comic book video series is also out today, but just one this time instead of a pair. This week’s song is Connexion and the new comic shows us that the figure pursuing our hero is, drumroll-- himself! The call is coming from inside the house!

Unlike interview shy Zayn, however, Gigi is out there ready to overshare, as long as it’s to Vogue. She has plenty to say about giving birth to zaby Khai (newly revealed nickname: Khaiba) at home at the Pennsylvania farm. The article says that they decided to have the birth at home due to COVID placing restrictions on hospital births that would have prevented Bella and Zayn and Yolanda all being present, and after she and Zayn watched the documentary The Business of Being Born. “They placed a blow-up bath in their bedroom and sent their three cats and border collie away when the midwife expressed concern that the sphynx and Maine coon felines might puncture the tub with their claws,” the interviewer learns while horseback riding with Gigi. The article also says Zayn “caught the baby” but it isn’t a direct quote from Gigi and I’m thinking a bit of an exaggeration perhaps. Gigi had the baby at the Hadid family farm but she and Zayn have since relocated to live at his farm, which is nearby, where they say they will be raising the child, with Z’s mom Trisha coming to stay to help out for the first month, that Khai sleeps with them, and that Zayn said his experience of the whole thing reminded him of the birth in a lion documentary they’d watched. Neither mentioned it but it has been spotted that Gigi and Zayn each now have tattoos of the name, Khai, in Arabic.

Meanwhile, Niall surfaced only in golf guy mode- a Modest Golf announcement and a podcast appearance to promote the new Modest initiative to get young people into playing golf. He says they want to “get rid of that thing that’s been holding golf back for a long time, that it’s a boring sport…” and I know he means he’s trying to combat that idea but when I tell you I LAUGHED!

[themollyjay]

The Myths of Forced Diversity and Virtue Signaling.

In my novel Mail Order Bride, the three main characters are a lesbian and two agendered aliens.  In my novel Scatter, the main character is a lesbian, the love interest is a pansexual alien, and the major side characters include a half Cuban, half black Dominican lesbian, a Chinese Dragon, a New York born Jewish Dragon, and a Transgender Welsh Dragon.  In my novel The Master of Puppets, the Main Characters are a lesbian shapeshifting reptilian alien cyborg and a half black, half Japanese lesbian.  The major side characters include three gender fluid shapeshifting reptilian alien cyborgs, and a pansexual human.  In my novel Transistor, the main character is a Trans Lesbian, the love interest is a Half human/Half Angel non-observant Ethiopian Jew, and the major side characters include a Transgender Welsh Dragon (the same one from Scatter), a Transgender woman, a Latino Lesbian, an autistic man, three Middle Eastern Arch Angels, and a hive mind AI with literally hundreds of genders.  In my novel The Inevitable singularity, one of the main characters is a lesbian, another has a less clearly defined sexuality but she is definitely in love with the lesbian, and the third is functionally asexual due to a vow of chastity she takes very seriously.  The major side characters include a straight guy from a social class similar to the Dalit (commonly known as untouchables) in India, a bisexual woman, a man who is from a race of genetically modified human/frog hybrids, and a woman from a race of genetically modified humans who are bred and sold as indentured sex workers.

Why am I bringing all of this up?  Well, first, because it’s kind of cool to look at the list of different characters I’ve created, but mostly because it connects to what I want to talk about today, which should be obvious from the title of the essay.  The concepts of ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’.

For those who aren’t familiar with these terms, they’re very closely related concepts.  ‘Forced Diversity’ is the idea that characters who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males are only ever included in a story because of outside pressure from some group (usually called Social Justice Warriors, or The Woke Brigade or something similar) to meet some nebulous political agenda.  The caveat to this is, of course, that you can have a women/women present as long as they are hot, don’t make any major contributions to the resolution of the plot, and the hero/heroes get to fuck them before the end of the story. ‘Virtue Signaling’, according to Wikipedia, is a pejorative neologism for the expression of a disingenuous moral viewpoint with the intent of communicating good character.

The basic argument is that Forced Diversity is a form of virtue signaling.  That no one would ever write characters who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males because they want to.  They only do it to please the evil SJW’s who are somehow both so powerful that they force everybody to conform to their desires, yet so irrelevant that catering to them dooms any creative project to financial failure via the infamous ‘go woke, go broke’ rule.

What the people who push this idea of Forced Diversity tend to forget is that we exist at a point in time when creators actually have more creative freedom than are any other people in history.  Comic writers can throw up a website and publish their work as a webcomic without having to go through Marvel, DC or one of the other big names, or get a place in the dying realm of the news paper comics page.  Novelists can self-publish with fairly little upfront costs, musicians can use places like YouTube and Soundcloud to get their work out without having to worry about music publishers.  Artists can hock their work on twitter and tumblr and a dozen other places. Podcasts are relatively cheap to make, which has opened up a resurgence in audio dramas.  Even the barrier to entry for live action drama is ridiculously low.

So, in a world where creators have more freedom than ever before, why would they choose to people their stories with characters they don’t want there?  The answer, of course, is that they wouldn’t.  Authors, comic creators, indie film creators and so on aren’t putting diverse characters into their stories because they are being forced to. They’re putting diverse characters into their stories because they want to.  Creators want to tell stories about someone other than the generically handsome hypermasculine cisgendered heterosexual white males that have been the protagonists of so many stories over the years that we’ve choking on it. A lot of times, creators want to tell stories about people like themselves.  Black creators want to tell stories about the black experience. Queer creators want to tell stories about the queer experience.

I’m an autistic, mentally ill trans feminine abuse survivor.  Every day, I get up and I struggle with PTSD, with an eating disorder, with severe body dysmorphia, with anxiety and depression and just the reality of being autistic and transgender.  I deal with the fact that the religious community I grew up in views me as an abomination, and genuinely believes I’m going to spend eternity burning in hell.  I deal with the fact that people I’ve known for decades, even members of my own family, regularly vote for politician who publicly state that they want to strip me of my civil rights because I’m queer.  I’m part of a community that experiences a disproportionately high murder and suicide rate.  I’ve spent multiple years of my life deep in suicidal depression, and to this day, I still don’t trust myself around guns.

As a creator, I want to talk about those issues.  I want to deal with my life experiences.  I want to create characters that embody and express aspects of my lived experience and my day-to-day reality.  No one is forcing me to put diversity into my books.  I try to include Jewish characters as often as I can because there have been a number of important Jewish people in my life.  I include queer people because I’m queer and the vast majority of friends I interact with on a regular basis are queer.  I include people with mental illnesses and trauma because I am mentally ill and have trauma, and I know a lot of people with mental illnesses and trauma.  My work may be full of fantastical elements, aliens and dragons and angels and superheroes and magic and ultra-high technology and AI’s and talking cats and robot dogs and shape shifters and telepaths and all sorts of other things, but at the core of the stories is my own lived experience, and neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males are vanishingly rare in that experience.

Now, I can hear the comments already.  The ‘okay, maybe that’s true for individual creators, but what about corporate artwork?’.   Maybe not in those exact words, but you get the idea.

The thought here is that corporations are bowing to social pressure to include characters who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males, and that is somehow bad. But here’s the thing. Corporations are going to chase the dollars.  They aren’t bowing to social pressure.  There’s no one holding a gun to some executive’s head saying, “You must have this many diversity tokens in every script.”  What is happening is that corporations are starting to clue into the fact that people who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males have money.  They are putting black characters in their shows and movies because black people watch shows and spend money on movies.  They are putting queer people in shows and movies because queer people watch shows and spend money on movies.  They are putting women in shows and movies because women watch shows and spend money on movies.

No one is forcing these companies to do this.  They are choosing to do it, the same way individual creators are choosing to do it.  In the companies’ cases the choices are made for different reasons.  It’s not because they are necessarily passionate about telling stories about a particular experience, but because they want to create art to be consumed by the largest audience possible, which means that they have to expand their audience beyond the neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white male by including characters from outside of that demographic.

And the reality is, the cries of ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’ almost always come from within that demographic.  Note the almost.  There are a scattering of individuals from outside that demographic which do subscribe to the ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’ myths, but that is a whole other essay.  However, within that demographic, lot of the people who cry about ‘forced diversity’ see media and content as a Zero-Sum game.  The more that’s created for other people, the less that is created for them.

In a way, they’re right. There are only so many slots for TV shows each week, there are only so many theaters, only so much space on comic bookshelves and so on.  But at the end of the day, its literally impossible for them to consume all the content that’s being produced anyway.  So, while there is, theoretically less content for them to consume, as a practical matter it’s a bit like someone who is a meat eater going to a buffet with two hundred items, and then throwing a tantrum because five of the items happen to be vegan.

The worst part is, if they could let go of how wound up they are about the ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’ they could probably enjoy the content that’s produced for people other than them.  I mean, I’m a pasty ass white girl, and I loved Black Panther.

So, to wrap out, creators, make what you want to make, and ignore anyone who cries about forced diversity or virtue signaling.  And to people who are complaining about forced diversity and virtue signaling, I want to go back to the buffet metaphor.  You need to relax.  Even if there are a few vegan options on the buffet, you can still get your medium rare steak, or your chicken teriyaki or whatever it is you want.  Or, maybe, just maybe, you could give the falafel a try. That shit is delicious.

[interact-if]

Umm hi 👉👈 I realized that most of the asks you guys get are about games and rec lists. You guys deserve so much recognition for the work you put in this blog, so I wanted to ask if I can do a little get-to-know-the-mods thing? If that's okay!

1. Besides writing, what are your hobbies?

2. Do you have a niche interest right now?

3. Any fave songs/artists/bands?

4. Any fave movies/tv shows?

5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you survive in your wip's world?

You can totally ignore this if you guys want, no pressure. Anyway, much love to all the interact-if mods! You guys are incredible! ❤

We saw this ask and we went 👀 👀 👀 so we’re happy to answer! Thank you so much for the fun ask!

 We also rated our survivability in all of our collective games, since Mars isn't an author! Fun stuff! Spoilers, though: it’s really not looking so great for me (Dani) but that’s fine!!!  😌

1. I’m a photographer as well as a graphic artist (but not like. A painter/drawer kind of artist!) and, on a general level, a maker and a tinkerer!

2. Fountain pens! I only write with ink, and only with fountain pens, and I use bottled inks/converters!

3. I’m pretty eclectic with music, but my top genres are alt rock, indie, indie pop, etc, as well as top 40s and some rap.

4. I feel like this is the hardest one for me to answer? Favorite movies/shows? Avatar: the Last Airbender has been a favorite show of mine since I was a little kid, but I have a harder time thinking of shows I would call a favorite in recent years. There are shows I’ve liked, and a lot of shows I’ve watched. But I’m picky! And demanding! It takes a lot to earn a place in Dani’s Trophy Case of Favorites. 😌 I would say I quite liked A Quite Place (movie), and I liked Us (movie). When it comes to TV shows, I have a hard time being pleased with them if they don’t end well. As a result, I have a penchant for a good limited series/miniseries (because they’re stories that have an end in mind and the plot reflects that, dagnabbit).

5. Heh. Okay.

In The Goodfellows? I think I stand I chance. I can exercise my sparkling wit and lovable personality to the best effect. I’m gonna give myself an 8/10 survivability rating. Even if I don’t have the right skills, I can go crying to the person who does and they’ll save me. Maybe.

In Creatures’ Cradle? I’m super $**!%d. 😌 1/10 survivability rating. And that 1 is me being nice to myself. The day the apocalypse breaks out I would probably be patient 0. I am self-aware. I would not do well in an apocalypse. Zombies care not for aforementioned sparkling wit and lovable personality, and I have all the muscle of a boiled spaghetti noodle. So it’s a no go.

Greater Than Gods (Cruz): Well. I’m going to be optimistic. And say that I have the wisdom not to do things I shouldn’t do and not to rock boats I shouldn’t rock. I’m going to give myself a 7/10 based on insider information, but also based on reckless optimism!

Vardir (Cruz): Cruz says this is a lighthearted game, so 10/10 LOL.

When it Hungers (Roast): I’m giving myself a nice, mediocre 5/10. I think I could put my mind to work here; I joke that I’m the village idiot, but I’m actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, I’m also curious, and maybe a little bad with authorities who won’t answer my questions. So I knocked off a lot of points due to the fact that I’d probably poke the metaphorical bear. So it’s a real coin flip as to whether I’d really make it or not.

Orthall Bay (Nines): Considering the genre is “horror” and the game intro includes the words “monster” and “maim,” I’m giving myself a whooping, enthusiastic 3/10. Yes, folks, I am that confident in myself! Once again, I can’t charm the socks off a monster (or can I?), so one of my greatest weapons is snatched from beneath my feet. Alas!

1. Beloved I’m a college student in the middle of a pandemic... i can hardly even write LOL i do draw at times which u can see in my personal blog (nothing too good really) and i used to do karate before things went to shit <3

2. Nothing niche I believe? All I do is leave Netflix as bg noise every day n play popular videgames (genshin)

3. Porter Robinson <3 I love Bea Miller a lot as well but lately I’ve been feeling Porter a lot

4. The Good Place <3

5. My WIPs:

Greater than Gods: Highly situational, the world GtG is set in is as broad as the real world LOL so I don’t have an universal answer. But keeping it vague, and knowing my own personality, I feel like 5/10. depends on my luck.

Vardir: 10/10 no one dies in Vikgade, unless you’re a hunter but I wouldn’t be a hunter <3

Others’ WIPs

I'm gonna give myself a solid 5/10 in all other WIPs because y'all aren't writing lighthearted stories either. I feel like as long as I avoid the role of the MC I will be mostly fine. I hope. But as Dani said I'm also prone to fight the wrong person and dig my own grave so 😌

1. Well, writing is a very, very, very, distant hobby since Words Hard, but I like to crochet and sculpt a little! Anything to do with fiddling with my hands and I’m good to go. And like, debatable but graphic design is my passion [insert clown emoji here since Tumblr said No]

2. Oh yeah a bunch! DnD yelling at people, thinking of arson, crocheting, rock climbing and simply vibing. I got into podcasts a few years ago and I’m always looking for more recs, so if you have some, hmu 😤

3. Pls,,,,my music taste is,,,so weird do not let me expose myself with lack of consistency but uhh. Current songs that are stuck in my head include; Cult of Dionysus , Achilles Come Down and The Last Shanty  

4. If you’ve ever spoken to me before, I probably yelled about Pacific Rim to you or at you. Plus I love all The Mummy films and really enjoyed Castlevania (s3 excluded, we do not perceive that) as well! 

5. Ah, mod survival simulator pt. 3

Alright, let’s go!  I don’t have a WIP because again, words hard, but like, considering how feral I am when not tryna seem professional hm... 

The Goodfellows: I wanna say a solid 7/10 because I’d hardcore vibe with the Traveler and probably instigate so much nonsense. I can also bribe with blueberry cake so maybe. 

Creature’s Cradle: maybe a 4/10 and only because of pure spite keeping me alive long enough to smack someone. I’ve prepared for hypothetical  zombie apolcapyses and I won’t hesitate to bap, but will be bapped back because I’m weak as hell. 

Greater Than Gods: a toss up between 2/10 and 7/10! I can vibe and be chill but I also have terrible impulse control so... 

Vardir: hm....I think pretty good survival rates all around? If you ask me to fight then like, okay sure, your knees are mine. So maybe a 8/10? 

When it Hungers: .......8/10 just because I’d refuse to die if I can be a cool creature. Living for the aesthetic can and will drag me outta hell. But I’m also clumsy as hell so I’d probably crash as a porcelain or hold a rooster and perish (aka, real rating is a good 3/10) 

Orthall Bay: 2/10, nope. Nope I’d be taken out in a heartbeat. Monsters can go pspsps and I’d head straight into the dark creepy forest like a fool if someone comes @ me. Half the time I’ll just assume it’s sfx makeup and vibe until it’s too late. 

god, never put me in a universe where I cannot squawk like a bird and throw pebbles from a window. Oof

Anon, you're so sweet! I give you a forehead smoomch <333 As for your questions...

1. If I'm not writing, I'm usually watching video essays on Youtube. My go-to channels as of right now is Disrupt and Aperture! I just really like their videos. Aside from that, I recently got into podcasts. Currently going through Hello From The Hallowoods and Shelter and Warning, which are made by queer creators!

2. Oh oof, there's quite a bit so I'm just gonna put down one thing. For some reason, I really got into collecting tiny astronaut things? I recently bought this astronaut desk light, and I've got a package coming in for the miniatures I ordered. No purpose for them other than I think they're neat <3

3. I'm a bit private with my music taste (even tho I have Spotify connected on Discord lmao), but there's 5 songs that I'm currently obsessed with. I keep replaying them over and over again. Just squeezing all the serotonin I could get outta them.

4. I can't really say I have a fave TV show or movie because I can't really just pick one, but my current fave is 9-1-1 and Resident Alien. 9-1-1 because I just really love the found-family dynamics and how the show tackles sensitive topics, and Resident Alien because it's lighthearted comedy. My all-time fave movie is Flipped! I have the book too and I like rereading from time to time <3

5. You're in for a doozy, anon, because we're rating each other's games <333

The Goodfellows: 7/10

Listen. Shenanigans with the Traveler. I would get up to so many of them and that is what'll get me possibly bodied, not the actual environment itself <3

Greater than Gods: 7/10

I like to think I have enough common sense to uhhh not recklessly flip stones that should not be flipped <3 I'm a cautious and skeptic person irl so I think I'll hold up well? Then again, it's a vast environment change and while I can adapt pretty quick, I wouldn't like the lack of control in the unknown.

Vardir: 10/10

Going off what Cruz said, Vardir is lighthearted and focused on personal growth so I think I'll be okay! Self-growth here I come, babey!

Creatures' Cradle: 8/10

Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I think I'll be able to survive in a supernatural post-apocalyptic world! Ah, but it depends on the motivation though. I like the idea of rebuilding communities and eventually societies, but the survival turmoil would be a constant battle I'd have to overcome. If we're talking survival itself though, I think I'll do well.

When it Hungers: 8/10

That's probably my wishful thinking but I think I'll be fine. Maybe. Possibly. Don't like the idea of being regulated by an organization so if I was a non-human creature that could pose a problem but I can roll with it <3

Orthall Bay: 6/10

Assuming I'm not playing as MC, my chances of survival uhhh changes quite drastically. Not enough to guarantee an untimely demise, but certainly enough that it would constantly keep me on my toes. I think that's the safest answer I can get without spoiling anything lmao

Thank you so much for asking! It's super sweet of you <3

1. Too many :'D I knit, I sew, I do carpentry (well, learning), I bake, I'm hammering away at HTML and CSS, my job kind of encourages learning new things and I take that to picking up new hobbies!

2. My time is kind of consumed with school work and work work and WIP work so not a lot of time to pursue niche interests right now. I've been watching a lot of horror game playthroughs, true crime youtubers, and an adorable show on Netflix called the Repair Shop <3

3. My taste in music is "what am I vibing with atm?" I've been listening to a lot of 80's music atm (don't @ me), but also Lo Fang and Kaleo, and whatever spotify recommends me on my discover weekly which is usually complete chaos.

4. I love the Mummy even though it hasn't aged 100% well (I'm a librarian, of course it's one of my gotos LOL), Legally Blonde, Leverage, Jumanji (the original), I'm....very bad at having recent tastes... and very bad at remembering my favorites when asked.

5.

The Goodfellows: I'm a creature of comfort, 5/10 if I can just luxuriate in town and not actually interact with the story sfjkdbsdkf

Creature’s Cradle: I'd like to think I have a 50/50 shot XD 5/10, I want to think I'd be decent at a zombie apocalypse but ultimately would suffer an early fate.

Greater Than Gods: 10/10 if I'm just vibing, less so if I'm involved in the actual story XD

Vardir: I'd still suffer without technology but I can also knit for a living in this world so I'm down 8/10

When it Hungers: I feel like I could vibe here, there's tech if dated, hot showers, telephones are around by now... might still get bored. 7/10 though it'd be cool to be another creature....I should make a 'what creature of snv are you' quiz!

Orthall Bay: 7/10 idk I feel like after the first monster of the week I'd just skip town XDDDD I'm the worst protagonist, I see danger I just leave.

[templeofshame]

what other lesbian musicals would you recommend?

Ooh I wanted an excuse to post about this! The tough thing about recommending theatre is that so much great stuff is very inaccessible because there aren't cast albums or professional recordings or published scripts. But at the same time, these deserve attention and hopefully someday we can get productions and cast albums and such.

(First off, I want to mention that I listed Fun Home, The Prom, and Rent specifically in the tags as the “mainstream” ones because that’s what came up in the podcast, but you can’t just leave The Color Purple off that list.)

Love in Hate Nation: It’s a 1960s interracial teenage lesbian romance in juvie hall by my musical theatre fave Joe Iconis. For my list, it’s on the darker side, but not relative to the more mainstream ones. It has a more or less optimistic ending and a general vibe of empowerment for girls who have so much against them in the world and in their own heads.

A Letter To My Ex: A personal musical by amazing queer singer-songwriter Be Steadwell, this one is still in development but I was fortunate enough to see an early version in DC. It’s very intimate and raw, poetic and thoughtful about a failed relationship between Black queer women and the grieving process that follows. A number of the songs from the show are on her recent albums -- which means they’re on Spotify! I don’t know of a track list to identify exactly which songs are from the show though.

The Break Up Notebook: It’s a bit of a classic tropey comedy setup of a 20-something coping with being dumped with the help of friends and new dating adventures, but about a lesbian who actually has a queer social group! (It doesn’t feel similar to A Letter To My Ex at all, even though they both tread some of the same plot ground.) I felt like it was pretty well-known in the ‘00s for an indie musical, but I can’t find much on YouTube except some awkward promo materials. I should have the demo somewhere...

My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding: I am only just now learning that it’s by the writers of Come From Away, but it’s lighthearted and all adapted from stories of David Hein’s family and his mother’s process of coming out after a divorce and her titular wedding. I also should have a demo for this...

But I’m A Cheerleader: If I didn’t have a preexisting love of But I’m A Cheerleader, this might not make my list, but I do, and the music is probably more Typical Musical Theatre than the others on this list, but it’s fun and cute and that kind of bubbly brightness that fits the vibe of the movie. It seems like the YouTube channel is a recent development, so there may be a future for this yet! (I have an older demo...)

Sample songs under the cut!

[this-is-a-podcast-fanblog]

hey so - this reply was written by me! I want to expand on this point a little past 280 characters

(when I say podcasts in this essay I’m specifically talking about fiction podcasts)

Podcasts are perhaps the only medium that has absolutely no gatekeeping. Writing books and stories requires help from big publishing houses - even if you self-publish, you’ll need a corporation like Amazon to provide the books for you. I actually have self-published before and I can *assure* you that gatekeeping is still present. TV shows and movies are also created by high-budget studios who re-hire the same famous actors to tell the same stories, except the white boy and girl who fall in love have slightly different lines. 

But podcasts? No barriers. No boundaries. You can get a $30 mic from Amazon, make a free podbean account, and start uploading episodes literally the same day. Sure, for a really high-quality production, you’ll need to invest more time and money, but it’s very doable. 

As such, almost anyone can get into podcasts. It doesn’t matter what you look like, because no one can even see your face. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a fancy degree from a good school. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a huge marketing budget, because if you’re smart with social media and create good content, you can get people to pay *you* for airtime on your show. 

Because the creator pool can be so diverse, it is. And the stories it tells are even more diverse! Want a Jewish gay man of unspecified race in a relationship with a Latinx scientist on the spectrum, who live in a town governed by two black women and populated by literally countless queer characters? You’ve got it! Want a story about a black nonbinary lady with depression who falls in love with an Asian man, who, bonus points, is also a well-written feminine gay man? You get that too! Want a crew of astronauts with women in leadership roles who are well rounded past being just a “strong female character”? Sure thing! A lesbian trucker searching for her wife, and actually having a healthy relationship that isn’t at all fetishized? Podcasts have that! You want shows that *actually* cast queer, trans, and non-white actors? Yes!!! Most popular podcasts do that!! Did you hear that - the *most popular* podcasts are created with diverse acting and creating bodies!!!!!!!

and here’s the part where I get personal. I’m a non-straight woman (I alternate between using the labels “bisexual” “queer” “homoflexible” and sometimes, because it’s quick and I’m mostly attracted to women and straight people don’t understand microlabels, “gay”) with several mental illnesses, including depression. The first podcast I ever listened to was Welcome to Night Vale. When Cecil and Carlos became a couple I almost wept. I had never, ever, had good queer representation in a show, much less two well-written characters I actually felt invested in. When they actually got married, I wept. I lay in my bed and cried for half an hour. I had never thought I would see a healthy gay couple in a show, ever. 

And then I found even more shows - shows like the ones I mentioned above. I found female characters. I found QUEER FEMALE CHARACTERS that I related to! And I found characters with depression written REALISTICALLY! I have never felt so seen!

I have so much love for podcast creators. One of my favorite things about this community is the allyship. People like Fink and Cranor, or the McElroy’s, who understand how important queer representation is, and provide it in abundance. People who validate, protect, and encourage their fans. Podcast fans keep podcast productions growing through Patreon or crowdfunding, and in return podcast creators... well, they rip our hearts out with emotions and eat them in front of us. But we love that!!!!

And this is why I’m so scared of podcasts becoming “mainstream”. Big corporations creating podcasts have nothing to gain from us except listenership. They’ll be sponsored by other large corporations, not fans or indie productions buying airspace. They can be “safe” when it comes to representation, and they probably will be. In short, they don’t have to create art. They can just create okay, nice enough stories. 

Podcasts are revolutionary. Do you know how many times I’ve seen a movie and said “that was a bad movie”? A shit ton of times! Do you know how many times I’ve listened to a podcast and thought “this is a bad podcast”? Never!! (Not fiction, at least - a bunch of “politics and current events” podcasts that I’ve tried turn my stomach). Even if the audio quality isn’t great, it’s always clear that the creators genuinely care about what they are making and the stories they’re telling and they’re not! Just! Adding! Representation! To be woke!

I genuinely might be dead right now if podcasts hadn’t come into my life. Welcome to Night Vale in particular - it has helped me fall asleep on nights when my intrusive thoughts felt like they were tearing me apart. It introduced me to this amazing medium and all the people who are a part of it. I don’t want to see this thing I love so much turned into a profit machine by capitalism. So I’m really, really nervous about podcasts becoming mainstream. 

TL;DR because the podcasting medium has essentially no gatekeeping, it can be very diverse, and it is. This has led to a great fan-creator dynamic of mutual support and created many positive examples of representation. If big studios and corporations are able to produce podcasts on large budgets with little consequence for a bad or boring story, they might drive the art form in a direction that makes it harder for smaller studios or indie creators to get into.

Please share your thoughts about this and also please follow my twitter. 

[aroworlds]

The Vampire Conundrum, Part Two

When Rowan Ross is pressured into placing an aromantic pride mug on his desk, he doesn't know how to react when his co-workers don't notice it. Don't they realise he spent a weekend rehearsing answers for questions unasked? Then again, if nobody knows what aromanticism is, can't he display a growing collection of pride merch without a repeat of his coming out as trans? Be visible with impunity through their ignorance?

He can endure their thinking him a fan of archery, comic-book superheroes and glittery vampire movies. It's not like anyone in the office is an archer. (Are they?) But when a patch on his bag results in a massive misconception, correcting it means doing the one thing he most fears: making a scene.

After all, his name isn't Aro.

Contains: One trans, bisexual frayromantic alongside an office of well-meaning cis co-workers who think they're being supportive and inclusive.

Content Advisory: This story hinges on the way most cishet alloromantic people know nothing about aromanticism and the ways many trans-accepting cis people fail to best communicate their acceptance. In other words, expect a series of queer, trans and aro microaggressions. There are no depictions or mentions of sexual attraction beyond the words "allosexual" and "bisexual", but there are non-detailed references to Rowan's previous experiences with romance.

Length: 3, 737 words (part two of two).

Note: Posted for @aggressivelyarospec‘s AggressivelyArospectacular 2019.

Romance, too, feels like one of the mechanisms by which a dangerous trans body can be rendered more acceptable to cis folks.

“His name’s Aro,” Melanie says after lunch, showing a new volunteer around the office. She pats Rowan on the shoulder as she walks behind his chair, startling him enough that the clipping path he’s making around a photo of Damien’s head goes veering off to the side. “He does our website, our flyers and the information guides we send out. Aro like from the Twilight movies!”

Introductions once only encompassed Melanie’s habit of overly-stressing pronouns when referencing him—a dysphoria-triggering reminder that she doesn’t think him masculine enough for people to assume it. Isn’t that bad enough without her also getting his name wrong?

He sighs, frustrated. Complaining about this, when trans people are in desperate want of a working environment free of outright antagonism and discrimination, feels unreasonable. Hell, Rowan knows aromantics who’ll revel in being named “Aro”, so isn’t his hurt just pettiness? Isn’t this why he’s no longer welcome at home, a man too intolerant of his family’s mistakes? How many times did they tell him that his harping on about little things demonstrates a concerning lack of gratitude for their acceptance?

His co-workers do seem to believe in Rowan’s masculinity; he shouldn’t take that for granted.

Instead, he feels like he’s failing at being both transgender and aromantic.

After a fair amount of editing, he places Damien’s image in the brochure mock-up and exports to PDF. The office will make suggestions, some useful, some ignorant and some so absurd that Rowan will laugh with his friends later on, but that’s fine. He can’t expect otherwise in a workplace where everyone considers him possessed of unknowable ability with computers. They’re good people, in the main, and they care about their work.

It’s just complicated, and Rowan hates the feeling that complicated is the best cis people will let him get to a normalised acceptance.

“Aro? An Arrow fan called Aro? Really? Do you like comics or are you one of those people only into DC TV?”

Rowan looks up from attaching his PDF to an email to find the volunteer sitting on a creaking office chair and crab-walking it over to Rowan’s desk. “Comics?”

“Oh, good.” The volunteer sighs as if in relief. “I mean, the TV show? It isn’t terrible—better than most of DC’s movies, at least—but I’m so tired of people who call themselves fans but have never touched a comic book.”

Rowan glances at his journal cover, ponders its possible similarity to the show’s motif and nearly bursts out laughing. He’s never read a comic and doesn’t plan on doing so. He prefers indie podcasts and audiobooks on account of increased representation and greater ability to sew and cook while listening. “I’m not an Arrow fan. Sorry.”

Another show about cis people possessed of everyone-should-pair-up amatonormativity?

Hard pass.

“You’re not?” The volunteer gapes, waving his hand towards Rowan’s cluster of pride mugs. Three, now. Only one contains coffee, which feels like a terrible oversight. “Is this a joke, then? Are they getting you arrow stuff because of your name? Like some office thing?”

Aro.

His name is not Aro.

Rowan once thought the concept of snapping a mere storytelling device, something as ludicrous or impossible as “glittering eyes” or “romantic interest that lasts after getting to know someone”. At best an experience had by people without a brain that doesn’t devote most of its time to screaming alerts at the prospect of anything dangerous. Absurd, irrational, void of any real-life relevance.

Not even with his family has he felt this chilling, all-encompassing moment of enough.

He looks back at his computer, attaches a second PDF file to his email and, before he considers pesky things like consequences, clicks send. Then Rowan climbs up on his office chair, steps up onto the desk and whistles like a country boy who owned a border collie prone to sneaking off the property and rounding up the neighbour’s sheep.

Everyone in the office gapes up at him with a motley assortment of parted lips, unblinking eyes and, in Melanie’s case, the pointing of a long, vermillion-polished fingernail.

Up high, the room reeks of nesting rodents and the popcorn ceiling desperately wants refinishing.

Now Rowan’s brain tells his limbs to shake and his chest to heave; of course, he thinks as he shoves his hands behind his back, anxiety kicks in after he’s neck-deep in it! “My … my name is Rowan. I chose it.” He looks at the vent on the opposite wall, fighting to sound collected. Is that black mould? “Dad told me if I rejected my deadname, I was rejecting them. That I was being cruel and selfish. I earnt my name!” He stops, gasping for breath like a hooked fish—which, given his terror, feels far too appropriate a simile. “My identity is aro, short for aromantic, like being queer—one way of my being queer. So ... there’s a PDF booklet in your inbox about aromanticism. Read it! I’m proud of being aro, but you need to call me by the name I chose! It’s Rowan!”

He jumps down off the desk. The creaking laminate and the thud of his dress shoes, a little too large for Rowan’s feet, sound abominably loud in the sepulchrally-quiet room. Heading past giddy into faint, but pushed on by a heedlessness of the “this can’t possibly get worse because I’m going to be fired” variety, Rowan snatches up his satchel and reaches into the side pocket to pull out his handful of print leaflets. He drops one in the lap of the gaping volunteer, tosses the rest on an empty desk for luddites who prefer paper, and returns to his chair.

Seven sets of speechless eyes bore holes through his skull, shoulders and spine.

Rowan jams on his headphones, opens his no-romance metal playlist and turns his music up to a volume just short of deafening before queuing new posts to the project’s website.

When he invented the God of Trans Men as flippant rhetoric to cope with Melanie’s questions, is it right to pray to him?

***

Two hours later, doing his best to radiate an aura of do not disturb on pain of your bloody death, Rowan fights to pay attention to the last event write-up. Leaving early means asking permission and walking down the row of desks, risking stares and comments; he instead corrects Melanie’s idiosyncratic punctuation. Didn’t Melanie go to school at a time when they taught more than English comprehension? How doesn’t she know when not to use an apostrophe?

There’ll be consequences. Warnings? A formal discussion in the private office the supervisors only use for interviews? A request that he undergo counselling? A strong recommendation for psychiatric assessment? Firing? It isn’t like they can’t throw a rock and hit thousands of people under the age of forty with general computer skills and design ability who aren’t prone to standing on desks to make unwanted announcements.

No. Focus on the damn comma splices.

Should he ask his psychiatrist for the soonest possible appointment? New meds?

A tap on the shoulder makes Rowan’s head threaten to brush the probably-asbestos-riddled ceiling; he gasps and yanks off his headphones, trembling.

Melanie stands beside his chair, holding out her phone in its glossy pink case. “Those words that are underlined? Can I click on them to find out what they mean, like on a website? Like ... al-lo-sexual?”

“Hyperlinks in an interactive PDF—the file on your phone—work the same way as on a website,” Rowan says without thinking: in the last three months, he’s been asked this ten times. “If you click on those links, they’ll take you to a glossary at the end of the document with definitions.”

Damien sits facing his usual computer, his head tilted as if watching out the corner of his eye.

Melanie smiles the expression of a woman in an alternate dimension where Rowan doesn’t engage in embarrassing outbursts. “You’re so good at all this stuff, Rowan.” She stresses his name just enough that he can pretend she didn’t. “Where did you learn it all?”

He once tried to explain his philosophy of clicking on things only to realise that while the concept of generational divides requires excessive generalisation, a difference exists in terms of his willingness to fearless experimentation with electronic devices and programs. “School. Uni.”

“You’re so lucky. School was nothing like that when I was a girl. You have so many more opportunities now. And identities.” Melanie sighs and pushes a wisp of grey hair back from her eyebrows. “It’s good, it really is.”

Rowan blinks, startled into silence by a rare glimpse of validation stripped of performance and demonstration.

He hadn’t thought anyone here capable of it.

“It says that some people feel repulsed by romance? Are you like that? Should we do something? Do we need to not talk about romance in the office? Like, if I describe my daughter dating her boyfriend, not that I want to, is that bad? Do we need to hold a meeting? Damien—Damien—”

Damien turns, wearing the blinded look of a rabbit frozen in a spotlight. “Yes...?”

For how long has Damien worked with Melanie? For how long has the office rolled with Melanie’s interruptions and proclamations, her meetings called about the slightest of issues? For how long has the office accepted Shelby’s incessant reminding and Damien’s inability to surrender event photography to someone who knows how to modify their flash settings? Isn’t there a chance that they’ll tolerate Rowan’s occasional moments of desk-blathering?

A trans aro should be able to sew a patch on his bag reading “aro” without provoking cis weirdness. Since when does someone read a new word on his bag and assume that’s now his name? Isn’t that another over-the-top demonstration made by awkward cis people trying to prove their acceptance, something that’s never made Rowan feel safe?

Even when he’s aromantic, he never gets to avoid cissexism.

He slides his hands between the seat and his legs, aware of Melanie’s once again drawing the office’s unbroken attention. “I, personally, don’t care if people talk about their romances,” he says, certain that Damien needn’t answer Melanie about meetings, “but I do care when people assume I must want one. I do care when Sh … some of you just keep asking if I’m dating anyone.”

Rowan long set aside the need to bother with romance. He isn’t aromantic in the way most people first think of the word, as he does fall in love, but it describes his frayromanticism nonetheless. Why put himself through the inevitable messy, angry break-up when his partners don’t understand why what started as romance ends up to him as a friendship? When dating isn’t without trans-related challenges, why force himself into a type of relationship that he knows won’t last?

Romance, too, feels like one of the mechanisms by which a dangerous trans body can be rendered more acceptable to cis folks, in the same way it sanitises his equally-threatening bisexuality. If queers are holding hands and exchanging rings, just like cis and heterosexual couples, they’re safe.

He wants to be normal, but not that normal.

Melanie surprises him again by nodding. Opaque red only colours the corners of her lips; the worn centres reveal the brownish-pink beneath. “Like how we now don’t assume everyone’s—what’s the fancy word you use for not being you?”

“Cis. Yeah.”

“At my first job, I never dared yeah my elders. Can I ask what’s this a-sexual thing? Not-sexual? That’s a thing that can go with your a-ro-manti-cism? Am I saying it right? Is that something people can be?” Melanie grabs the volunteer’s vacated chair and wheels herself up to Rowan’s desk. “Tell me about this. Please.”

Damien gives a theatrically deep sigh, winks at Rowan and turns back to his keyboard.

Rowan’s tangle of feelings bewilders him too much to be simple relief, but he doesn’t appear to be at immediate risk of losing his job.

***

“We need to have a meeting!” Melanie announces ten days later, striding up to where Damien peers over Rowan’s shoulder to approve the touch-ups on a series of scanned photos. Rowan grasps the want to have a section on the website showcasing past events, but surely Damien’s film-camera predecessors weren’t all unable to take decent pictures? “Today. Perhaps before lunch?”

“Do we?” Damien doesn’t bother to turn his head. “What’s the number on the urgency scale, remembering that whiteboard markers aren’t a five?”

“I’m aro-ace.” Melanie stresses the words, beaming with the confidence of a child presenting a new finger-painted masterpiece. “I didn’t know, but I definitely am. I’m aromantic and asexual.”

“I’m glad for you.” Now Damien faces her, scratching his shock of unruly brown hair. “I don’t know why this needs a meeting? Do you want something addressed?”

Rowan leans back in his chair, too startled to do anything but watch. Melanie’s interrogation of him about all things a-spec over the last few days left him certain that she was questioning, but he didn’t expect this announcement—or Damien’s reaction to it.

“I’ve been reading, and I sent around a list of links everyone else should read, too. We must do something about our website. And, of course, everyone should know I’m aro-ace, and then let people ask any questions. Then we should consider changes to our submission forms, and then...”

Already, Melanie has done more to integrate her identity into the office and its projects than Rowan ever dared risk. Why, then, does he feel as though he’s being pressed inside a metal suit three sizes too small? Shouldn’t the end result be worth enduring a staff meeting in which she announces she’s aro-ace? Melanie being Melanie, she’ll gladly answer questions about aromanticism. Doesn’t that give Rowan everything he wanted—ability to be out as aromantic but someone else’s dealing with allo nonsense?

Matt’s right.

Rowan’s just a coward.

Damien nods at Rowan. “What do you think about that?”

“Uh...” Rowan draws a delaying breath, fighting against a brain too bewildered to be useful in forming comprehensible speech. “Uh … you’d have to run form changes past someone higher up, wouldn’t you? We have to ask about everything else? But...”

He doesn’t name Melanie a friend, but fellow aromantics aren’t common enough that Rowan will reject a companion—even if they’re cis and have subjected him to half a year’s discomfort, anxiety and alienation. He slides his restless hands under his legs, biting his lip against the sickening realisation. Melanie’s enthusiastic fearlessness may make this office and program better for him as an aro, but how can it answer all the attitudes that made Rowan fear coming out in the first place?

If he’s a coward, doesn’t he have reason?

“We do need a meeting,” he says slowly, his heart pounding in his chest like blast beats in death metal. “On better integrating marginalised people into our office. Because the way you emphasise my pronouns, Melanie, or the way Shelby reassures me five times that I can correct her … that doesn’t make me feel safe. It makes me feel reminded. Different. Too visible. And that’s why...”

“You ended up standing on a desk?” Damien asks with the gruffness of a middle-aged cis man trying to sound gentle.

“Yeah,” Rowan mutters. “That.”

Melanie clasps her fingers to her lips. “Oh! I didn’t mean anything by it! I just wanted people to get it right!”

How many times has he suffered through well-meaning people explaining that in response to his saying that they made him uncomfortable? How many times has he heard people justify their actions as though good intent always mitigates bad impact?

“You’re … you’re still making this about you! The only answer I want or need from you is thanks for telling me, Rowan, I won’t do it again! That’s all! Not your reasoning, not this effort to justify! I want to know that you hear me, that you’ll acknowledge that your intent however good still made me come home crying from dysphoria, and that you’ll stop because I don’t want to put up with it anymore! That’s all!”

For the second time in less than a fortnight, a chilling silence envelops the office.

“We need a meeting,” Rowan says breathlessly, reminding himself that at least this time he isn’t standing on his desk, ���discussing how to include marginalised people in our office. Discussing all the microaggressions. Maybe you need to find … educators, trainers who come in and do this. I don’t know. I’m just so tired of never feeling safe or normal, never feeling like I can say anything because this isn’t hate and at least you’re not my parents! Like I don’t ever get to have anything better!”

He stands up, unsure what to do past fetching himself a distracting cup of coffee.

Maybe, then, he’ll be able to survive the way Melanie looks at him—as though he just ran over her puppy.

She just came out, and he did run right over it.

“I’m sorry.” Rowan sags onto his chair, leaning forwards to grab his satchel despite the unpleasant giddiness. “I’m sorry. It’s wonderful, Melanie, that you now know who you are and that you can come out. And it’s amazing that you’re doing things already, when I needed like six months just to get used to my knowing I’m aro. I just...” He reaches inside the satchel and pulls out a rough oblong shape wrapped in white tissue paper. “Here. I’m sorry.”

He, an allo-aro man, screwed up an aro-ace woman’s coming out. Shouldn’t he know better? He wants to laugh, wants to cry, wants to curl up in a ball and hide under his desk. Even now, when he’s trying to get what he needs as a trans man, he’s being the worst kind of aromantic!

Her lips pinched, Melanie takes the present in her hands, worrying at the top piece of tape with her long, pink nails.

“We’ll have a meeting.” Damien runs his hand through his hair as though he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. “I’ll talk to the heads about … sensitivity training, I suppose this also is. Would you be willing to write me an email outlining some of these behaviours and any ways we can make this office safer for you? Is that an appropriate thing to ask of you?”

“I don’t mind,” Rowan says. As long as he doesn’t go ignored, he’ll send a few emails—and he already has a few blog posts on which to draw. “Thank you.”

“Do you … want anything, now? To talk privately to me or anyone else? Or to a senior supervisor? Or someone with the government body? Can I do or arrange anything else?”

“Coffee. Please. And … and then to go back to fixing photos as though absolutely nothing happened because I don’t … do this sort of thing.” Rowan heaves a shaking sigh, pushing aside the thought that nobody can have failed to observe this. “Thank—thank you. I’m sorry. Thank you.”

He notices Damien gesturing at Melanie, notices that Rowan’s aro flag mug leaves with both and returns a few minutes later—now distracting from the office’s musty odour with its rich bitterness. He takes a few sips, but only by throwing himself into his work can he survive the gibbering, chattering thoughts building into a crushing tsunami of what the hell. Why did he do that? Why—no. Photos.

The soft clunk of crockery hitting laminate makes him look up.

Melanie leans against the edge of Rowan’s desk, her hand resting atop her new orange, yellow, white and blue aro-ace flag mug. “I’m sorry. Thanks for telling me.” She draws a deep breath, tapping her nails against the rim. “I didn’t know I could … that there’s an explanation, until I read your booklet. It described me. Things I didn’t realise about me! Things I’d been feeling! But … I’ve been learning about things like micro-aggressions. I didn’t know I’d been doing them myself. I’m sorry. I’ll keep learning. And thank you for my cup.”

“I know,” Rowan says softly, thinking back to the day when he realised the words “aromantic” and “frayromantic” describe him. A belated voicing of confusion and alienation; the naming of a constant sense of difference from the world. Revelation, understanding, explanation. “I know. I’m sorry, too. I don’t like … scenes. Or asking people things. I’m an anxious coward. So it just...”

He waves his hands, trying to mime an explosion.

Melanie, wide-eyed, jerks her head. “I couldn’t have said anything if you hadn’t done it first—and I wouldn’t have known to say anything if you hadn’t! And you’re asking us to do things knowing that we don’t understand, which must be frightening at least. You’re brave. And you shouldn’t be sorry.”

Rowan stares at her, unsure what to say in response. Never has anyone in his life freely offered such a sentiment. Never has anyone offered him something so generous without subsequent critique of Rowan’s intolerance for and impatience with their struggles to deal with him, praise softening the following reproval.

Brave.

His throat tightens and his eyes blur.

“Would you work with me on a proposal to put together for the submission forms? Damien insisted that I work with you, if you want to.”

“Uh … yeah?”

Melanie grabs a stack of papers from her desk and a chair. “I’ve gone through the old forms and highlighted passages. Do you want to read through and see if there’s anything I’ve missed or anything that should be left?”

He nods and takes the papers. Is this an alternate universe, the world flung upside down? Or, if people possess a minimum of decency, can he make needed change by addressing his problems instead of letting everyone talk over him? Can he build a world where he doesn’t endure cis or allo microaggressions by believing that their inconveniences aren’t worth more than his discomfort?

If his co-workers doesn’t object to correction, if they’re willing to make changes and investigate training, is the problem one of Rowan’s overreaction?

Does that mean he can talk to Matt the way he spoke to Melanie and Damien?

“Is something wrong?” Melanie asks, frowning.

Rowan shakes his head and plucks a pen from his frayro mug. “No.”

For the first time in a long time, that’s mostly true.

[vaguelygeiszlerian]

1 to 24

god how many of these are gonna end up being take on me

A song that reminds you of your childhood radio/video, system of a down, my little sister was something like... 2, and whenever the chorus came on, she’d babble super loudly in her carseat and we’d sing along.

A song to sleep to river flows in you, yiruma, i know, twilight trash, but when i was 12 and having panic attacks every other night, matching my breathing to that song playing through my tiny mp3 player got me to sleep like nothing else, and it still kinda does, even if i prefer meditation podcasts now

A song that your best friend loves feast or famine, black friday soundtrack, my sister is my best friend, sorry everyone else in the running but its true

A song that hypes you the fuck up red signal, the mechanisms, legitimately, the ominous chiming in the beginning strains gets me so legit hyped

A song you like to daydream to nobody, mitski, i can stare at the ceiling for 3 hours listening to this and thinking about cuddling

A song that’s on at least 3 of your playlists couples retreat, jon bellion, a guitar riff that wont quit, and it was really good live too

A song that you love from a genre you don’t usually like kill a hipster, watsky, i dont do a lot of rap but anything by watsky is generally listenable

A song that you liked when you where 10 that still slaps here we are, TAKE ON ME, aha, this song is literally my favorite song of all time, im trying not to answer it more than maybe once or twice though

A song that makes you want to go on an adventure (not another lame) fight song, kawehi, anything with live looping makes me wanna go out and fucking vibe

A song you’d want to dance with your partner to god this is gonna out me as such a fucking sap. la vie en rose, edith piaf, maybe i just wanna slow dance a little, as a treat

A song to stomp around and pout to despicable, grandson, my pouting usually shifts into self loathing before long so this is the perfect song for that

A song to listen to whilst you lie in a meadow from eden, hozier, yeah i said it, i wanna lay in a meadow and let my bluetooth speaker echo off the trees and make it sound like its coming from everywhere as my good bitch hozier croons

A song that reflects your views on love something about us, daft punk, i listened to it a lot during my yearning period

A song to sing to the sun everybody wants to rule the world, ninja sex party, i have honestly never seen a song more worthy of being sung on the beach, drunk and helplessly smiling up at the sunny sky

A song you like that sounds like its on the soundtrack to an indie coming of age film amsterdam, imagine dragons, this probably is on the soundtrack to an indie coming of age film

A song that you like that romanticises being a teenager ha, this one might trip you up, let down my better dynamite, the glassbeards (ok so its from a podcast called lets make a music and its bdg, his sister and his roommate, improv’ing songs, and theyre... so wonderful, i sincerely recommend it)

A song that makes you want to grab your friends jump up and down dancing and screaming the lyrics don’t stop me now, queen, the classic queer bop

A song that you like that the lyrics are just so beautiful they’re practically poetry see the day, brian david gilbert, yeah i know i had one of his songs earlier, and there may yet be another, but he’s just.... really good

A song that you can imagine listening to in an abandoned church ( if it isn’t hozier im judging you, but whatever ) god ok this ones embarrassing, cant help falling in love with you, but specifically the pentatonix cover

A song from the soundtrack of a film that you like so much after the film finished you immediately looked for it welcome to the party by diplo (and a bunch of other people), yeah, i finished watching deadpool 2 and immediately went looking for that song bc it slapped

A song for when the sun has gone down and you are feeling absolutely buck-wild with exhilaration! POPSTARS, K/DA, i mean, id listen to it at all hours but honestly night is the best time to bop to k/da

A song that makes you feel like you’re strolling through Ancient Greece living your best life northern downpour, panic! at the disco (idk if they kept the exclamation but i like it)

A song that when you listen to it you’re transported to a liminal space, time is pointless and you must sit and wallow in the void that remains wish you were here, ninja sex party, i know i know, so many covers, but i love this one in particular

A song to listen to on a long drive when you have the really strong urge to keep driving until you find somewhere to start a new life (preferably a european city whose language you don’t speak) goodbye, the altogether, fuck yes, fit in one last bdg song, the lyrics to this song are very wonderful i know this isn’t part of the ask but i humbly request all that look upon this listen to follow through by the altogether at least once

[theradioghost]

Audio Drama Podcast Recs

EDIT: well jesus this thing is getting old! If you’re looking for podcast recommendations I would recommend checking some of the newer posts I’ve made. I’ve expanded my subscription list from about 30 to over 150 in the years since I posted this, & at at this point it’s a pretty inadequate rec list.

Because I’ve gotten a few questions over time about podcast recs, both from people who are curious about audio drama, and fellow denizens of Podcast Hell™ who need something new, I wanted to put together this list so I could go a bit more into detail about why I love and recommend each of these amazing audio dramas.

Rather than trying to rank them, I tried to organize this list roughly based on popularity, at least based on my dash! More well-known shows are listed first, and then my faves that I don’t see getting nearly the love that they deserve. Especially with the volume of new innovative audio drama being created, there’s some really good stuff out there not getting nearly enough attention. Which is not to say that, if you’re a new podcast fan, you have to start with the most popular – but those shows are more likely to have an active fandom. (Of course, there are a ton of great podcasts out there, and plenty (both popular and obscure) that I don’t listen to yet.)

I also have a podcast rec tag and a very long list of audio dramas, if you want to go hunting for something beyond these recommendations here. Additionally, if you want more details or content warnings about any of these shows, feel free to message me on or off anon and I’ll do my best to answer! This post really focuses on the positives of each show and who I think might enjoy them.

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE – Community radio from a friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, the dog park is forbidden, the mayoral candidates aren’t human, the weather is a mystery, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep.

If you know anything about audio drama podcasts, there’s like a 99.99% chance you know about Night Vale already. If not, just go listen. It’s weird and amazing and beautiful and helped to make a lot of this possible. Or if 100+ episodes plus live shows is overwhelming, don’t (but come back to it someday. It is magical).

For people who like: surrealism, humor, ‘radio show’ format, somewhat less emphasis on plot, diversity, indie music, experimental storytelling, a large back catalog of episodes, a fandom considered large by regular standards and not just podcast standards.

ALICE ISN’T DEAD – As she travels across America, a trucker tells the story of her search for the missing wife she had presumed dead, of the mysterious danger stalking her down freeways and backroads, and of the much bigger – and more terrifying – mystery she is uncovering.

The first and most popular of Night Vale Presents’ other podcasts. Gothic Americana soft horror lesbians! The writing, atmosphere, and orchestration are all superb, as is Jasika Nicole’s monologue performance. I personally recommend car/transit listening. (Also, you can get the whole soundtrack for free, and you should definitely do that.)

For people who like: surrealism, horror, Americana, female leads, lesbians, atmosphere, introspection, mystery, great music, something to drive to.

WOLF 359 – Doug Eiffel doesn’t want to do his job, Hera is a friendly but faulty AI, Dr. Hilbert is probably a mad scientist, Commander Minkowski wishes she wasn’t in charge of these idiots, and together, the four of them make up the entire crew of the USS Hephaestus space station. It’s not a picnic at the best of times: they’re isolated in a constantly malfunctioning tin can, orbiting a red dwarf star eight light years from Earth, and working for a shady corporation with coworkers they can’t stand. Then Eiffel starts to receive inexplicable transmissions from deep space – and everything gets so, so much worse.

It’s a hilarious office sitcom! It’s a character-driven deep-space sci-fi thriller! It’s a tragic, thematically powerful story about personhood, communication, and isolation! It’s all of those things, often within three lines of one another and frequently all at once! Wolf 359 is probably a masterpiece and now, heading into its fourth and final season, it continues to surprise and impress me every single time. Alan Rodi’s music is evocative and superb and the cast and writing are top-notch. One of the best. Listen to it.

For people who like: excellent character-driven writing, great music, well-written women, a gender-balanced ensemble cast, intimate sci-fi, hilarious and often referential humor, scary corporate overlords, cerebus syndrome.

THE PENUMBRA PODCAST – In Hyperion City, metropolis of a far-future Mars, a private eye named Juno Steel is pulled into life-threatening criminal conspiracies, and tangles with an even more dangerous, nameless thief – who could be his worst enemy or the love of his life. Within the Second Citadel, human civilization is protected by knights who venture out into the jungles to fight the monsters that threaten them – but some knights are discovering monsters who seem just a bit different. On the Painted Plains, a train-robbing bandit steals away a schoolteacher – and her heart. All of these and more are stories waiting to be heard behind the doors of the Penumbra, the grandest hotel this side of Nowhere. And absolutely none of them are straight.

Fabulously written genre-bending “queer AF” anthology show. The best is the Juno Steel series, about a bisexual, nonbinary sci-fi PI, which remains eminently and hilariously quotable even as it wrenches your heart out with genre-deconstructive depictions of mental illness and one of the most believable and emotional romances I’ve seen in ages . The Second Citadel fantasy series is also starting to come into its own in the second season and the standalone stories from the first season are a pretty damn good listen (LISTEN TO THE GAY WESTERN. DO IT.) I love this show, I love everyone from this show, I love everyone associated with this show, and I love Mick Mercury.

For people who like: playing with genre tropes, OTR, noir fiction, diversity, romantic chemistry, a variety of stories, suspense, heartache.

THE BRIGHT SESSIONS – Dr. Joan Bright isn’t an ordinary therapist, but her patients aren’t ordinary patients. Sam’s panic attacks bring on bouts of involuntary time travel; Caleb has it hard enough negotiating teenage emotions without also experiencing the feelings of everyone around him; Chloe can’t escape hearing other people’s thoughts; and the less said about Damien, the better. But Dr. Bright, too, is more than she first appears.

It’s a hard-hitting and poignant show about mental illness and people recovering from deep traumas, and also it is about superpowers. As the concept implies, the show is highly character-driven, and it develops an ensemble cast incredibly well. These guys are friends with the Wolf 359 crew and apparently have taken lessons from one another in how to ramp up a plot from “fun” to “oh god why,” but let’s be honest: that’s what we’re here for. Also, unjustifiably sweet gay teen romance, really cute friendships between ladies, at least one cat.

For people who like: highly character-focused narrative, superpowers, moral questions, ensemble casts, cool female leads, shady government activities, great acting.

ARS PARADOXICA – One minute, Dr. Sally Grissom is conducting cutting-edge physics research in her lab in early-21st-century Texas. A single mistake later, she’s on the deck of the U.S.S. Eldridge, in Philadelphia, 1943, smack dab in the middle of a classified WWII weapons experiment. She’s accidentally put time travel into the hands of the US government just as the nuclear era kicks off. And she can’t ever go back.

I assume everyone has heard of ars P because I assume that everyone knows Mischa Stanton. (They work on what must be like 50% of all podcasts that exist at this point, including The Bright Sessions.) Everything they do is pretty much a must-listen, but especially ars p, the “sad time show” to Wolf 359’s “sad space show.” The writing sticks out to me for its sense of consequence; it’s a major theme of the show that everything that happens will have serious and cumulative effects. Deservedly award-winning sound design. As a bonus, it crossed over with The Bright Sessions; if you like one, you might like the other.

For people who like: sci-fi, period settings, cold war thrillers, cool female leads, time travel with rules, complex and grey moralities, science lesbians, diverse ensemble casts.

EOS 10 – Dr. Ryan Dalias has enough to deal with just as the new head surgeon on a massive space station (alien aphrodisiacs, space anti-vaxxers, mind-controlling plants…) But as if that weren’t enough, his boss is an alcoholic misanthrope who has received an unwelcome ultimatum about his drinking; the nurse may or may not be inclined to bite people; there’s a deposed alien prince in the examination room who won’t put his pants back on; and an intergalactic terrorist who wants his name cleared is hiding in the cargo bay. And those are the people on his side.

I have my issues with EOS 10, not least of which is that it is still mired in a two-year hiatus (though Season Three is finally going into production soon? FINGERS CROSSED). I usually forget those issues when I listen because it’s still a frankly hilarious space comedy and the entire main plot is kicked off because of a potentially deadly boner. Think of it as the strange offspring of DS9 and Scrubs. Come for wild space shenanigans, stay for surprisingly heartfelt storylines about addiction (and even wilder space shenanigans). If W359 sounds cool but maybe a little heavy for you (or if the first season was your favorite), EOS 10 might be more up your alley.

For people who like: Star Trek, comedy, space scifi adventures, alien characters, gay space pirate cowboys, waiting.

THE THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR – “America’s favorite new time podcast in the style of old time radio.”

An anthology show like The Penumbra which takes a comedic approach to its old time radio inspiration instead (and it is very OTR inspired – not just playing with the same genres). Has a lot of segments, not all of which are created equal; two are standouts. Sparks Nevada: Marshall on Mars (which has a continuous plot) follows a deadpan robot-fighting lawman, the Martian tracker who provides him with somewhat vitriolic companionship, and their various allies across the sci-fi-comedy-western landscape of Space Future Mars. Beyond Belief (which is episodic) stars alcoholic socialites Frank and Sadie Doyle, who may be world-renowned paranormal experts, but who mostly just combat supernatural evils so they can get back to their two greatest loves: booze and one another. It was recorded live, often featuring celebrity guest stars (most notably and frequently Nathan Fillion), and recently ended its many-year run.

For people who like: OTR, forties/fifties culture, really REALLY cute couple chemistry (Beyond Belief), humor, much more lighthearted content, a large back catalog, great music, corpsing.

GREATER BOSTON – Leon Stamatis’s perfectly organized life abruptly ends one day at the top of the first hill of a roller coaster – and that’s where the real story begins. His death will start a domino effect of change rippling through a Boston where activists agitate for subway lines to form their own city, shadowy executives watch over offices where magazine editors predict the future, and Google Calendars are updated from beyond the grave.

Guys, I am never gonna shut up about this show. At this point it’s probably my favorite podcast. Experimental fiction, a sort of regional-gothic-slice-of-life, with a plot that builds into the story of an interconnecting community of people, all of them growing and learning and changing and interacting, even the dead ones. And it plays more brilliantly and hilariously and beautifully and poignantly with format and writing and character than you’d think possible. I sometimes see it compared to WTNV (the “weird town” angle), but I think it’s likely to appeal to fans of The Bright Sessions: its characters may be dealing with incredibly strange situations, but the focus (and the appeal) is the development of those characters and their relationships with one another. Alternately, just literally everyone should listen. It’s that good.

For people who like: ensemble casts, experimental fiction, awesome women, strong character development, lesbians, playing with format, characters named Extinction Event, political intrigue, great music, Boston.

WOODEN OVERCOATS – Siblings Rudyard and Antigone Funn, along with their assistant Georgie, run a funeral home on the tiny Channel island of Piffling. It’s the only one, which is how they remain in business even though Rudyard is a punctuality-obsessed misanthrope and Antigone hasn’t left the morgue in daylight for 17 years. Then the world’s most perfect man, Eric Chapman, opens another funeral parlor directly across the street.

A British sitcom about rival funeral directors in a small town, with all of the dry, witty black humor that implies. "British” does always feel like the best adjective to convey the distinct sense of humor here. Also, it has amazingly high production values. Like, it just sounds really, really good. Also, it’s narrated by a talking mouse. The third season was just announced, so now is a really great time to catch up.

For people who like: black comedy, British comedies, rivalries of both business and sibling kinds, mysterious backstories, just a whole lot of dead people jokes, a more episodic structure.

THE BRIDGE – Once, you could drive all the way across the Atlantic in luxury and style, using the Transcontinental Bridge. Now, the Bridge is virtually abandoned. The employees of its Watchtowers are the only people left to tell its stories: stories about ghosts, about curses and illusions, about vanished and abandoned people and places, about the monsters whose places these were before the Bridge, and the strange and dangerous people who came there to find them.

IMHO, possibly the highlight of the writng for The Bridge is that they can create atmosphere like nobody’s business, and the show has a gorgeous soundtrack to boot. The characters are charming, the plot is intriguing, and the world they are building is like absolutely nothing else. Like Archive 81 below, it might appeal to those who’d enjoy Lovecraft if he didn’t suck so much in every possible way, although it’s much softer on the scary factor.

For people who like: atmosphere, storytelling, great character dynamics, sea monsters, spookiness, really fun ladies, ghost stories, mysteries, the bottomless depths and siren’s call of the ocean.

THE STRANGE CASE OF STARSHIP IRIS and UNDER PRESSURE – Starship Iris is the story of Violet Liu, a biologist forced by circumstance to join up with a ragtag crew of spacefarers to determine whether the explosion which killed every other person onboard her spaceship was really an accident. Under Pressure presents the notes of Jamie McMillan-Barrie, a researcher whose literary background did not prepare her to negotiate the kind of office drama that takes place on a research station at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Both of these are part of Procyon Podcasting Network, which also has more upcoming shows which I am beyond thrilled about; both are also incredibly diverse, both in-universe and behind the scenes. Both are charming and very, very gay as well as racially diverse; I’m particularly fond of Starship Iris, but everything that comes out of Procyon is more than worth a listen. They’ve started pretty recently and have only a few episodes each.

For people who like: space scifi, found family tropes, workplace drama, human/genderless alien romance, space lesbians, diversity, cool female leads.

THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) – The dreamy, accident-prone janitor of the Eiffel Tower does his best to get himself a place in the fantastical, impossible radio variety show being broadcast from the tower every night. Will he ever be successful? Will the show survive his attempts? And just where do the mysterious and magical acts come from?

Considering it’s a Night Vale Presents podcast and stars an A-list of my favorite underappreciated creatives I was kind of shocked at how little discussion I see. OHC is so charming and dreamlike and heartwarming; it’s like recapturing the feeling of a particularly magical bedtime story. It features Mandy Patinkin singing Cheap Trick and you need that in your life. Also, it has a platypus in it.

For people who like: OTR, John Cameron Mitchell/The Music Tapes/Neutral Milk Hotel, a gentler weirdness than other NVP podcasts, Paris, charm, experimental storytelling.

WITHIN THE WIRES – You are a patient at the Institute. You have been instructed to listen to this series of relaxation tapes to aid in your treatment. You must trust my voice. You must trust only my voice.

NVP’s other highly underappreciated show. WTW manages to tell a narrative in a format (self-help relaxation tapes) I would have never thought possible, and though it’s difficult to say much about what makes it so good without spoiling the effect of that excellence, it’s a great choice if you’re weird-fiction-inclined. Like Alice Isn’t Dead, it also features lesbians. (It may not be good for anyone who has trouble with unreality, disturbing second-person commands, or depictions of institutionalization.)

For people who like: experimental storytelling, WLW love stories, surrealism, dystopic fiction, suspense.

INKWYRM – Mella Sonder was hired to work with a recalcitrant AI, not to be personal assistant to Annie Inkwyrm, head of outer space’s premiere fashion magazine – and the two of them will probably be fighting about that, along with all of the other disasters they get tangled up in, until the star they’re orbiting explodes. Or until they fall in love.

My money’s on the latter (fingers crossed please make it happen), but this show just finished a really fun first season and I absolutely cannot wait for more of it. I’m a sucker for dysfunctional coworker comedy, and an even bigger sucker for girls falling in love; this offers both and is excellent, and is just incredibly done for an amateur podcast. The peeps making it are inspiring and badass and really, really talented.

For people who like: The Devil Wears Prada, scifi, diversity, vitriolic romantic tension, cool female leads, alien characters, wlw romance, incompetently homicidal AIs.

THE BEEF AND DAIRY NETWORK – The number one podcast for those involved – or just interested! – in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.

Honestly almost impossible to describe. What really gets me is the hilarity of how it somehow perfectly imitates the public radio/industry podcast style, delivering you important updates from the world of cattle products, except not from a world anything like ours. Endless beefy fun times with the occasional sharp right turn into body horror and potent unreality played for comedy. This and Alice Isn’t Dead are my dad’s favorite podcasts, which probably says something about him.

For people who like: Wooden Overcoats (it’s by the same folks!), weirdness, humor, much less of a focus on narrative, ‘radio show’ format, satire, rich beef sausages.

ARCHIVE 81 – Dan Powell is missing. He was hired, so he thought, for a simple job cataloguing an archive of tapes for the New York state government: a series of interviews that a woman named Melody Pendras conducted with the tenants of an odd apartment building. Then the story on the tapes becomes impossibly strange and terrifying, and so does Dan’s life.

Another one where I’m not sure whether everyone knows about it and just isn’t talking, but they should be. It’s probably a sign of how fantastic A81 is that it’s one of my favorites even though I ordinarily can’t stand horror. This post really extolls its virtues in a better way than I can. This show has some of the most incredible sound design I’ve heard yet, so if visceral body horror conveyed solely through the audio medium isn’t for you, then neither is Archive 81. On the other hand, if you like extradimensional lesbian apotheosis and the nickname “Boombox Fuckboy,” listen to this. On top of that, the acting is superb. (The creators, Dead Signals, also did an apocalyptic scifi survival-horror miniseries thing called The Deep Vault, which is similarly beyond well-made.)

For people who like: horror, weirdness, found footage format, great music, absolutely stellar atmospheric and action sound design, excellent and realistic acting, The King in Yellow, a ‘Lovecraftian’ feel not based on hatred of anyone who isn’t straight/white.

JIM ROBBIE AND THE WANDERERS – Three trouble-seeking wandering musicians (one brash and upbeat, one an argumentative engineer, and one a grumpy robot brought to life from a radio and assorted cutlery) wander a post-apocalyptic America populated by strange towns and fantasy beings, some friendly, others dangerous.

This is another show that really charmed me right out of the box. Not to mention that it’s a take on “post-apocalyptic” that I’d never seen before – why have grim ruins or cannibalistic societies when you can have giant friendly genderless bees, an NYC inhabited by partying undead, towns full of squid-people, and desert-dwelling leprechauns? It’s much more of a fantasy take on the genre and the characters are incredibly sweet. I was also really impressed by the quality bump it’s undergone over its run so far.

For people who like: fantasy, more lighthearted narratives, fun and creative concepts, a villain called “The Fig-Wasp King,” great music, friendship, cool female leads, diversity.

THE HIDDEN ALMANAC – A thrice-weekly, four-minute show hosted by the plague doctor Reverend Mord, offering historical anecdotes from another world, the feast days of unlikely saints, and useful gardening advice. 

Tired of that one analogy from every news article of the 2013 Night Vale boom (“like Stephen King/H.P. Lovecraft wrote A Prairie Home Companion”), writer/artist Ursula Vernon decided to take a crack at recreating Garrison Keillor’s other show, The Writer’s Almanac, in a similar fashion. Compared to WTNV, it comes off as less ‘weird’ and more fantastical, and is on the light side continuity-wise, though both the historical events and the frame show have arcs. In the past couple of years there have been a lot more story arcs, many lasting months, and a lot more appearances from guest character Pastor Drom and other characters. I find it incredibly charming and relaxing.

For people who like: fantasy weirdness, the actual Writer’s Almanac, WTNV, gardening, vitriolic friendships, worldbuilding, short runtimes, less of a focus on plot, large back catalogs, worldbuilding, crows.

[biggaynerds]

Big Gay Nerds Masterpost

The idea for Big Gay Nerds was born on a long bus ride. I was listening to a new podcast about some funny brothers playing D&D, and I thought, “My friends and I could do something like this. It would be a great excuse to play with them and really make something out of my favorite hobby. But there are probably hundreds of podcasts like that; what would set us apart?” Then I remembered that a lot of my tabletop-playing friends were also queer, and the phrase “LGBT RPG” manifested in my head. It would be at least a year until I worked up the confidence to actually organize anything, but the seed was planted, and now the delicious idea-fruit is YOURS to enjoy!

BGN is an actual play podcast starring Owen (myself), Levi (my boyfriend), Saturn, Sara, and Ian (sometimes called Othar or Oats). Our sessions tend to lean towards the casual side, mixing character-driven roleplaying with the kind of tangential banter you would expect from a bunch of friends. We also try to give a good overview of the game’s mechanics so that listeners can decide if they want to play too. Rather than focusing on a single system, we experiment with multiple games and take turns running them, though we already have one reoccurring campaign and plan to add more.

The individual games can be found here:

Monsterhearts

Our first and most enduring game, Monsterhearts is a Powered-by-the-Apocalypse system about supernatural horror and romance in the vein of Twilight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s also VERY gay, which is why I picked it. Our campaign is set at Mater Dolorosa College, a Catholic school with some decidedly less-than-pious students.  

Ring of Fire

Ian makes his first appearance running this homebrew, using the versatile Lady Blackbird system to depict his original world that combines the Old West with Feudal Japan. The adventure starts in medias res, as most of the party had played it before, but it’s easy to jump into the katana-wielding, train-robbing roguery. 

Dungeons & Dragons

We couldn’t stay indie forever; the siren song of Fifth Edition drew us back to the bread and butter of RPGs. With Levi at the helm, a ragtag band of heroes-for-hire crawl through some dungeons, slay some monsters, and run off with all the gold their grubby mitts can carry, just like Gygax intended. 

World Wide Wrestling

Another PbtA game, featuring Levi as “Creative” and our friend James in what is hopefully the first of many appearances. WWW is clearly written by a pro-wrestling devotee, dedicated to the in-ring and backstage lives of the performers, but its unique mechanics make it a hit even among non-fans. Plus, we get pretty wacky with the character concepts.

Blades in the Dark

We went in expecting more PbtA, but Blades in the Dark is very much its own beast, despite drawing heavily from video games like Dishonored and Thief. Saturn’s running, and everyone else plays ragtag criminals who call themselves the Resurrectionists and get in way over their heads on wild heists.

Pigsmoke

We’re joined by Pixie, our second guest star, to play what is essentially Monsterhearts in reverse: our PCs are professors at a wizard college who have to educate a new generation of spellcasters. More importantly, they have to deal with their own petty ambitions, rivalries, and vices. Pigsmoke is the first true comedy RPG I’ve played, and I think it deserves more attention.

Spell

In a big BGN landmark, we were actually approached by a game designer to preview Spell: the RPG while it was still being Kickstarted! In a truly unique system, we must use random letter tokens to spell out the magical effects you want to cause, resulting in unexpected and often hilarious outcomes.

One-Shots

While long campaigns can be fun, it can also be fun to have bite-sized adventures that are last about as long as a movie. We haven’t done many of these yet--and for some reason they’re all science fiction themed for now--but you can expect more in the future.

Our episodes are hosted on Soundcloud and iTunes, and we have accounts on Facebook and Twitter, though right now this Tumblr is probably the best place to find extra content like art, character sheets, and whatever treasures our fans produce. If you like Big Gay Nerds and want more people to know about it, rate and review us on iTunes, tweet using the hashtag #biggaynerds, or reblog this post!

If you want to support us more directly, we have a Patreon that we use to fund our Soundcloud account and frequent rulebook purchases. Patrons who donate $3 or more receive special BGN stickers, and $5 will also get you a mention in our frequent post-recording shoutouts!

We’re eternally grateful for all of the support we’ve seen so far, and we promise that there’s a lot more material on the way, so keep your eyes peeled and your ears open!

[kickstarter]

Handpicked Happening: Got a Girl Crush

Welcome to Handpicked Happening, where we talk to some of our favorite Kickstarter creators and get their recommendations for things to read, watch, and listen to. 

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Issue 6 cover design by Loveis Wise 

Got a Girl Crush is a blog and annual print magazine featuring interviews with women of all ages, races, and backgrounds. "We feature the badass accomplishments of women in the hopes of inspiring others to do the same," say editors Meg Wachter and Amanda Stosz. Now through July 30, they're funding their sixth print issue. 

Here, Meg and Amanda share what's on their radar — but first, a quick Q&A. What should everyone know about Got a Girl Crush? We met working as photo retouchers and have both worked in the media industry for nearly a decade. After having constant moral issues with contributing to unrealistic body image standards for women, we've decided to leave behind what we don't believe in. What creative tool or resource has been the most useful to Got a Girl Crush? This year, our greatest inspiration has been a coalition of all-female independent publishers based here in Brooklyn, currently called Untitled Feminist Media Empire — a.k.a. The Mag Mob. All of us have different strengths to bring to the table, and collectively we have big plans for the future. Stay tuned! Who would your dream collaboration be with? Michelle Obama. Björk. Amy Goodman. Kathleen Hanna. Solange.

Hello Mr. magazine

Seven projects picked by Meg and Amanda

Maka México

Give Mexican women artisans an opportunity to preserve their traditions and take their beautiful embroidery around the world.

Courage Has No Gender Help bring this large-scale mural to ten cities across the U.S. The project aims to build community and demonstrate how supporting each other's courage makes us stronger together.

Hello Mr. Magazine Residency Our brother-in-print, Hello Mr., is launching a magazine residency called "The Issues" that provides mentorship and resources to emerging talent in queer publishing.

Black and Blue: The Yvonne Bechet Story A group of activists and theater artists are producing a play about the life of Yvonne Bechet, one of the first female officers in the New Orleans Police Department.

Punto Gozadera: Restaurant and Feminist Cultural Space Two things we love: supporting other women and vegetarian food.

Little Paper Planes: Workshop and After-School Arts Program The founder of this San Francisco staple is building a workshop in the back of her store to offer art classes for adults and children.

Other Music: The Story of an Iconic Independent Record Store Record store culture was a huge influence on us growing up. Help fund this documentary chronicling the twenty-year history of Other Music and its influence on music in New York City.

Other Music

Five indie magazines you should be reading

MATH A progressive and inclusive print quarterly for adults (NSFW).

Selfish A digital and print platform featuring memoirs from the "radically evolving."

Tom Tom The only magazine in the world dedicated to female drummers and beat-makers. It's a force looking to shake up the male-dominated music industry.

La Motocyclette This biannual magazine features stories and images from the new wave of women motorcyclists around the world.

Bushwick Review Like the Paris Review, BR showcases the work of writers, poets, photographers, graphic designers, and comic artists from New York City and beyond.

Selfish magazine

A couple links we recommend

2 Dope Queens If you like listening to podcasts at work and maniacally laughing while wearing headphones, we highly recommend this for your listening pleasure.

The Tallest Woman I Know: An Interview with Aly Stosz A recent Girl Crush interview between Amanda and her very tall sister, Aly.

Etc.

Troll cakes

[tuckinpodcast-blog]

EPISODE 2: THE HAYS CODE AND OTHER BAD IDEAS.

LISTEN: SOUNDLCOUD / ITUNES / GOOGLE PLAY (coming soon!)

NOTES: minimal note-shuffling, I promise. Google Play is reviewing the podcast as we speak, so we should be up soon!

SOURCES: listed at end of transcript

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi! I'm Jack, and this is Tuck In, We're Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. This week's episode is titled 'The Hays Code and Other Bad Ideas'. This is gonna be a long episode, but it's a really important one, because it lays down the basis for a lot of our future discussions.

Let's start off with the basics. The Hays Code came about in 1930 but it wasn't really enforced until 1934. Basically, what happened was way back in 1915, the Supreme Court heard a case called “Mutual Film Corp. V. Industrial Commission of Ohio”, and voted 9-0 that free speech didn't extend to films. The courts kind of reasoned that, as a form of mass media, movies could literally be used “for evil”, and for some reason this decision also applied to circuses? I don't know, not entirely relevant, but I thought it was a weird aside. The decision by the court was what drove the studios to more closely regulate their content, and the decision was eventually overturned in 1952 with the hearing of the “Joseph Burstyn Inc. V. Wilson”, also known as the “Miracle Decision” because of the short film “The Miracle” that the case was heard over, and it really kind of marked a decline in movie censorship in the US, but by this time, the damage had already been done.

So, what was the Hays Code?

The Hays Code was basically the theaters and the studios agreeing to self-censor in order to avoid losing money from religious-led boycotts or local governments refusing to show so called “immoral” films. As I've mentioned, times were kinda tough in Depression era Hollywood, and a lot of studios went under or cut their contract stars to save money or try to cut costs somehow. The Code is actually called “The Motion Picture Production Code”, but it's known as the Hays Code after William H. Hays, who was the head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, and it's basically the racist grandfather of the MPAA ratings system we all known and love today.

How does this come back to queer history? Thanks for asking, all six of my followers on SoundCloud! Let me read the entire section of the Hays Code pertaining to what it calls “impure love”:

“In the case of impure love, the love which society has always regarded as wrong and which has been banned by divine law, the following are important:

Impure love must not be presented as attractive or beautiful.

It must not be the subject of comedy or farce, or treated as material for laughter.

It must not be presented in such a way to arouse passion or morbid curiosity on the part of the audience.

It must not be made to seem right and permissible.

It must not be detailed in method or manner.

I've included a link to a copy of a Hays Code pamphlet and the transcript of it that I just read from so you can go check out the kind of stuff it talks about. And it talks about a lot. No interracial marriage or romance, no adultery, no white slavery. No boobs, no disrespecting the American flag, no dissing the clergy. It's kind of intense, and it explains some of the weird wholesomeness and out-of-left-field endings you get with a lot of the movies from the 30's and 40's.

Now, there were, obviously, stereotypes and stigma around being queer before the Hays Code, but it really cemented this feeling of “othering” – extending beyond queer people as well.

Pre-code, you had a lot of movies that used drag or gender role reversal for laughs. In 1915, Charlie Chaplin dressed in drag for his movie A Woman, and so did Fatty Arbuckle in Miss Fatty. Early films used the “sissy” or “pansy” stereotype – you know, and you've seen it today, the flamboyant, effeminate gay man who had no real humanity to speak of but was only there for a laugh. It was kind of the beginning of that stereotype, and even if it wasn't harmful – and still is – it wasn't as overtly hateful as some of the things we'll see later on.

I've done a lot of digging into what was going on with pre-code lesbians, and I found some movie titles and a few references, but not a lot. Lesbians weren't shown nearly as much as their gay “pansy” counterparts – but if they were shown, they were butch crossdressers for the audience to laugh at, or they were weirdo older spinsters who were dead by the end of the movie – huge surprise, right? Some notable portrayals of lesbians, overt or implied, include Louise Brooks in the 1929 German film Pandora's Box, this is one where the romantic relationship is implied. There's Marlene Dietrich in Morocco in 1930 – and we're gonna talk about in detail in a later episode. There's a girl-on-girl dance scene in 1932's Sign of the Cross, and a butch lesbian in 1933's Women They Talk About. And of course, there's Greta Garbo kissing another woman in Queen Christina in 1933. Of course, it's kind of difficult to find these references, so I want to point out that people have been dismissing lesbians and women who love women as just 'gals bein' pals' for a really, really long time.

After the Hays Code, a lot of this overt sexuality got swept under the rug and buried in subtext. Culturally, you're looking at a time – again, going back to what we talked about with masculine panic – when men are looking at homosexuality as a direct attack on their masculinity. During the Depression, men were already feeling emasculated because they were losing their jobs and they couldn't afford to take care of their families. They're looking at effeminate men and masculine women, and they start to freak out even more. So even though pre-code movies were using shock value – things like queer people or prostitution and violence – to get butts into seats and boost ticket sales, there was still this pervasive anxiety from men getting scared about their masculinity, and from religious groups that were worried about the effects of on-screen sinning on polite society.

The Code essentially killed the pansy, and buried queer people in hints and subtext. So in the 1930's and 40's, if you were queer in a movie, you were either really vaguely defined like Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon, who is explicitly gay in the source material, or you're a villain, also like Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon. Censorship evolved a little to say, basically, you can show perversion of almost any kind, but you can't show it in a positive light. And this sort of gels with the feelings of the time. You have characters running around committing crimes because of their sexuality, because back then people thought that being gay drove you insane as well as being a sin. People thought of being gay as being a disease or a defect and police were running around raiding gay bars and harassing women dressed in men's clothing, and it's really not a great time to be queer.

In 1948, Hitchcock's Rope comes out, and he's very obviously skirting the censors with the two antagonists. It's very thinly veiled that they're in a romantic relationship, but they're also still murderers. But that kind of moves us along into the 50's, when that 'Miracle Decision' has the courts saying that, no, films are protected by the first amendment and they're an art form, and this is really when censorship in film starts to decline. This is also about the time that its ruled that the studios can't own the movie theaters that distribute their films, so the monopoly on the film industry is broken up and the power of the old studios is drastically reduced.

There's still a censorship code at this point, of course, but it's really loosening up in the mid-50's. The code at that time allowed for hints of queerness as long as it was used for humor or if the person was punished for their “deviance”, which eventually led to 1959's Suddenly, Last Summer, starring big names like Liz Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, and my favorite actor Monty Clift. This movie is a landmark because it has what's considered to be the first movie with a named, explicitly gay character.

Now, that's great and all – but the shitty part comes from the plot. Basically, this guy is murdered violently and his cousin, played by Katharine Hepburn, sees it and goes nuts, so the mom – played by Liz Taylor – tries to bribe Monty Clift's character into giving her niece a lobotomy so that no one finds out that her son was gay. And don't worry, I'm going to talk a lot about Monty in a later episode and we'll talk about what kind of effect the movie had on him as closeted gay man, but this movie basically proved to the public that being a “mama's boy” or being controlled by your mom led to being gay, and it was sort of implied that violent murder was the inevitable fate of gay men, and that they kind of deserved it.

This is sort of a trend, moving into the 60's. You've got a lot of subtext in the 1959 remake of Ben-Hur, a lot of covert themes and implications. But at the same time, audiences aren't so interested in boycotting a film because of religious leaders, and movies with “questionable content” didn't really need production code or religious approval anymore. But even though we've got the code loosening to compete with television and the rise of the indie studio after the break-up of the old studio monopoly, you've still got a lot of queer characters who are miserable and depressed, or suicidal and homicidal. A lot of them are still dead by the time the credits roll.

In 1965, a movie called Inside Daisy Clover comes out, and there's a gay man in it. He isn't miserable or struggling, and he survives the entire movie – but he's never really explicitly named as gay. It's all still buried in subtext. In 1967, we get Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor in Reflections in a Golden Eye, starring Brando as a repressed gay Army major – a role that was supposed to be Monty Clift's, but he turned it down due to his declining health, supposedly. This is kind of an interesting, weird movie about sexual repression, both heterosexual and homosexual, and the violence it can spark. I'm going to talk in detail about this movie when I do my Brando episode, so I'm gonna put a pin in this discussion for now.

The sixties also brought us the beautiful weirdness of Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and other people like them who were giving us fully realized and complex queer characters, but we don't see any movies marketed towards a gay audience until the 1970's. In 1968, the final death knell of the Hays Code came with the introduction of the MPAA rating system we're all familiar with today.

So, why the long history lesson? I wanted to talk about this bit of film history for several reasons.

First of all, chronologically it makes sense in the context of the show. Last week, we talked about noted vampire Rudolph Valentino – I finished American Horror Story: Hotel, by the way – and he died before the Hays Code was even written, a whole year before, to be exact.

Second of all, it's important to talk about all of this to give context to our future discussions about Hays-era movies and about the environment that actors were working in. Next week, we're going to be talking about some ladies I mentioned this week – Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Katherine Hepburn, women who's work snapped from pre to post-code, and we're going to pick this thread of queer representation post Hays Code in a few episodes, but for now, you have some background on the subject.

And third of all, and most importantly, now you can look at some of the stereotypes that we still have today and be able to trace them back to their origins. You see these harmful stereotypes all the time, on TV and in the movies. So we have like, Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, and we can draw a straight line back to Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon. None of this is an excuse or anything – it was wrong then and it's wrong now – but now we have context. We can ask Hollywood, “Why haven't you changed? Why do these offensive things still happen?” You know, back in the 1950's, it was playing into toxix masculinity and that same fear of independent women that was driving criticism of Valentino in the 20's. And for whatever reason, we still have caricatures of queer people on screen as well as this same pervasive toxic and performative masculinity. We have a lot of trouble finding fully realized queer characters that don't end up dead or alone, or even still hidden in subtext.

There's this great moment in the last season of True Blood, maybe the only great moment other than Ryan Kwanten and Alexander Skarsgaard's sex scene – when Lafayette lashes out at Jessica after she catches him and her current boyfriend hooking up, and it's so good and sums up what I want to say so well, that I'm going to leave you with it:

“Everybody else in this fucking town is falling in love and getting engaged and having babies! Has it ever occurred to you that Lafayette – that queen that makes all you white heterosexuals laugh and feel good about yourselves – has it fucking ever occurred to you that maybe I want a piece of that happiness too?”

Thank you for listening to Tuck In, We're Rolling: Queer Hollywood Stories. This episode was researched, written and recorded by me, Jack Segreto. You can find a transcript of this episode and all of our episodes, along with some fun facts and photos, on our tumblr, tuckinpodcast.tumblr.com. You can also give us a like on Facebook at facebook.com/tuckinpodcast. We accept messages on both of those platforms, so feel free to shoot us suggestions for future shows and comments. We upload new episodes every Wednesday and you can find us on iTunes, Soundcloud, and now Google Play. Don't forget to rate and subscribe so more people can find us! Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.

SOURCES:

The Motion Picture Production Code (PDF)

The Hays Code - Arts Reformation

From Sissie to Secrecy: The Evolution of the Hays Code

The Hays Code: Censorship, Sexism, and the Code that Built Pop Culture

Homosexuality in Film

Gay and Lesbian Characters in Pre-Code Film

History of Homosexuality in Film (yeah, I got lazy and used Wikipedia. SUE ME, OKAY, I WORK 40+ HOURS A WEEK)

True Blood Wiki: ‘Lost Cause’ Synopsis & Quotes

OKAY BYEEEEEE

[drunkbooksellers]

BONUS EPISODE: #SEABookstoreDay Year 3

Epigraph

For the third year in a row, the Drunk Booksellers drove all over Seattle (and the surrounding regions) for Indie Bookstore Day. We asked booksellers at each of the 21(!!!) stores we visited to tell us what they're recommending in the current political climate. We also collected recommendations from past guests and #SEABookstoreDay Champions! (For an epic TBT, check out our episodes from Seattle Bookstore Day Year One and Year Two.)

Chapter 1

In Which Your Fearless Hosts Wake Up Far Too Early, Take a Ferry, Drink an Obscene Amount of Caffeine, and Get Our First Round of Bookseller Recommendations

Emma, Eagle Harbor Book Co.

American War by Omar El Akkad

Madison Duckworth, Liberty Bay Books

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Ron Woods, Edmonds Bookshop

The Nix by Nathan Hill

Robert Sindelar, Third Place Books

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Annie Carl, The Neverending Bookshop

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ruth Dickey, Seattle Arts & Lectures

The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward

Chris Jarmick, BookTree

Dark Money by Jane Mayer

Red Notice by Bill Browder

  Laurie & Marni, Island Books

Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope

It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump's America ed. Dennis Johnson

The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott

    Larry Reid, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery

American Presidents by David Levine

Amber, Seattle Mystery Bookshop

Golden Age mysteries by authors like Agatha Christie and Elizabeth Daly

  Chapter 2

In Which Kim and Emma Make it Back to Seattle-Proper and Still Have... a Lot of Bookstores to Visit

Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Book Company

Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa

Georgiana Blomberg, Magnolia's Bookstore

Bobcat & Other Stories by Rebecca Lee

Lara Hamilton, Book Larder

Soup for Syria by Barbara Abdeni Massaad

Madison, Secret Garden Books

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (2nd mention!)

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Tom Nissley, Phinney Books

Ghettoside by Jill Leovy

Billie Swift, Open Books: A Poem Emporium

Whereas by Layli Long Soldier

In the Language of My Captor by Shane McCrae

Trophic Cascade by Camille T. Dungy

The Boston Review's Poems for Political Disaster

If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration by Bryan Borland

Resist Much / Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance

Water & Salt by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Into Each Room We Enter Without Knowing by Charif Shanahan

Sea and Fog by Etel Adnan

   Pam Cady, University Bookstore

Make Trouble by John Waters

Christina, Third Place Books Ravenna

Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion ed Ryan Conrad

Garrett, Ada's Technical Books

No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald

  Chapter 3

In Which Guests from Episodes Past Return to Give Their Recommendations

Pete Mulvihill, Green Apple Books (episode 8)

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Make Trouble by John Waters (2nd mention)

Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel

White Tears by Hari Kunzru

The Dark Dark by Samantha Hunt

   Leah Koch, The Ripped Bodice (episode 13)

Prime Minister by Ainsley Booth & Sadie Haller

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

  Paul Constant, The Seattle Review of Books (episode 14)

Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari Berman

Chapter 4

In Which the Seattle Bookstore Day Champions Tell Us What They're Reading

Katie

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

    Ed

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (which totes has a white cover)

(also mentioned: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein)

  Courtney, Three-Year Seattle Bookstore Day Champion(!!!)

Borderlands by Gloria Anzaldua

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (for the Book Club for Courtneys)

  Kristianne, Shelf Awareness

The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch

Kendra

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Tony Hillerman

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis 

(check out Michael Lewis's episode on the Freakonomics podcast)

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard H. Thaler

Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

     Epilogue

What are you reading in the current political climate? Let us know at @drunkbookseller.

Non-book political media that Emma recommends:

The New York Times (support journalism, y'all)

What the Fuck Just Happened Today?

Wall of Us

Flippable

Indivisible Guide - A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda

Kim's listening to:

Pod Save America

Pod Save the World

With Friends Like These

Another Round

You can find us on:

Twitter at @drunkbookseller

Litsy at @drunkbooksellers

Facebook

Instagram

Email

Newsletter

Website

Emma tweets @thebibliot and writes bookish things for Book Riot.

Kim tweets occasionally from @finaleofseem, but don’t expect too much.

Subscribe and rate us on iTunes!

  Kim went on a v weird youtube rabbit hole while procrastinating from editing, but had enough self control not to add this track to the end of the episode. You're welcome.

  Check out this episode!