#Love Story by Nadia Ali

[masked-alien-lesbian]

HLAW Day 5: Relationships

Anytime you need a friend

I will be here

You'll never be alone again

So don't you fear

Riley Rys

There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you

We stick together and can see it through

Cause you've got a friend in me

You've got a friend in me

You find out who your friends are

Somebody's gonna drop everything

Run up and crank their car

Hit the gas, get there fast

I am here, if you need me, yeah

I'm in the wind, look for me friend

I'm in the stars, when you need me

When you have a friend

By your side

That helps you to find

The beauty of all

When you'll open your heart and

Believe in

The gift of a friend

Raelyn Lee

And I can't be without you

So don't go anywhere

You show me love like no one else has done yet

And with the road ahead

This is the beginning

Of this love story

Knowing clouds will raise up

Storms will race in

But you'll be safe in my arms

Rains will pour down

Waves will crash all around

But you'll be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble

Dreams may not come true

But you are never all alone

Because I will always

Always love you

I wanted to do one for Lorelai and Xinghai but I couldn't find a full body sprite for them, but if I had been able to make an edit for them, their song would have been Perfect by Simple Plan.

@hanaleeappreciationweek

@lizzybeth1986

@sazanes

[felassan]

Dragon Age: "For our fans who want to learn more about our companions, we have an exciting announcement: #/DragonAge: Vows & Vengeance is an 8-episode narrative podcast featuring characters from Dragon Age: The Veilguard! Coming August 29 wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe now: [link] [Discord launch version of link]"

[source]

More info:

"Set in the vast world of Thedas, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance was created in collaboration with BioWare and based on their award-winning video game franchise, Dragon Age. This 8-episode immersive fantasy series features a pair of heroes brought together by fate as they embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love. The series stars Mae Whitman as Nadia, Brigette Lundy-Paine as Drayden, and Armen Taylor as Elio. Nadia, a retired cat burglar, is lured back into action for the thrill of one last score. Unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf, Nadia tracks down a powerful ancient artifact and both she and her lover, Elio, find themselves caught in a web of lies that threaten the entire world. When Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade - a mystical magical plane - Nadia desperately searches for answers on a rescue mission across Thedas."

[source]

More info on the podcast story:

"In this immersive fantasy series, a pair of heroes brought together by fate embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love. Set in the vast world of Thedas, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance was created in collaboration with BioWare and based on their award-winning video game franchise, Dragon Age. Nadia, a retired cat burglar, finds herself back on the prowl after scoring the job of a lifetime. Unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf, Nadia hunts down a powerful ancient artifact and both she and her lover, Elio, find themselves caught in a web of lies that threaten the entire world. When Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade - a mystical magical plane - Nadia desperately searches for answers on a rescue mission across Thedas. On her journey, Nadia finds an unlikely ally in Drayden, a bookish historian and writer with a troubled past and a mysterious connection to the Fade. Their journey to save Elio is arduous, dangerous, and at times, downright foolish. But with the help of some friends, our heroes find some of the answers they are looking for and a few they wish they hadn’t. Starring Mae Whitman, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Armen Taylor, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance was created in collaboration with BioWare and based on their video game franchise, Dragon Age. Since 2009, the award-winning RPG video game franchise has invited players into worlds of adventure, conflict, and companionship that inspire players to become the heroes of their own story."

[source]

In the official BioWare Discord BioWare added:

"Every week when there's a new episode we'll open a watch party discussion thread in ⁠vows-and-vengeance!" [source: the official BioWare Discord]

Info on the podcast from the latest BioWare Blog Post:

"Journal #5 Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance A New Weekly Narrative Podcast Starting August 29th Hey everyone, We’re back with more Dragon Age: The Veilguard news! We know that you’re excited to get to know more about our companions and embark on your own adventure to save Thedas. Starting August 26th, we’ll be hosting Companions Week on our social media to give you a deeper dive on our seven allies. In addition to that, how about another little side quest? We’re happy to announce our upcoming immersive fantasy podcast series, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance, where you’ll meet a new pair of heroes, along with the 7 Veilguard Companions, brought together by fate as they embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love - all set in Thedas.  Beginning on August 29th, this eight part weekly narrative series stars podcast-exclusive characters voiced by Mae Whitman, Bridgette Lundy-Paine, and Armen Taylor, and also features all of our companions from Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Harding (Ali Hillis), Davrin (Ike Amadi), Bellara (Jee Young Han), Neve (Jessica Clark), Taash (Jin Maley), Emmrich (Nick Boraine) alongside Manfred (Matt Mercer), and Lucanis (Zach Mendez). Throughout the series, you’ll be able to learn more about each of their extraordinary backstories. This podcast is written by Will Melton and Jeremy Novick, with BioWare narrative support from Mary De Marle and John Epler. Check out the teaser for it here. When the first episode airs, you’ll meet Nadia, a retired thief unknowingly working for the Dread Wolf. Nadia and her lover, Elio, find themselves in the midst of something much greater than them - a threat to the entire world - until Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade. Enter: Drayden, a writer with an interesting connection to the Fade. Drayden and Nadia team up on an arduous adventure to rescue Elio from the Fade with a little help from some familiar friendly faces. Don’t miss a single episode - mark your calendars with the full podcast release schedule below: - 8/29 - Episode 1: Featuring Nadia, Elio, and Drayden - 9/5 - Episode 2: Featuring Harding - 9/12 - Episode 3: Featuring Davrin - 9/19 - Episode 4: Featuring Bellara - 9/26 - Episode 5: Featuring Taash - 10/3 - Episode 6: Featuring Lucanis - 10/10 - Episode 7: Featuring Emmrich - 10/17 - Episode 8: Featuring Neve Join us in the BioWare Discord Server for weekly “listening parties” in #Vows-and-Vengeance, where we’ll set up a discussion thread for each episode to listen and speculate together. Subscribe to Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance on your favorite platform so you don’t miss a single episode.  Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast Castbox Pocket Casts Podchaser Player FM See you for Episode 1 on August 29th; chat soon.  -The Dragon Age Team"

[source]

[hypnotiscd]

❝ —— I  WANT  TO  BE  A  KID  AGAIN  .   BUT  PROPERLY  THIS  TIME  . "

WCS | MUSINGS | CLICK BELOW FOR INTRO

. ･ﾟ    ┇ ⸢  SOPHIA ALI  ,  CIS FEMALE  ,  SHE / HER  , ⸥  ❛  ⸻ nadia singh  ,  twenty-five years old  ,  has  survived  another  day  in  red  creek  where  they  have  lived  for fifteen years . the  satirical is  known  for  being  witty  and restless and  is  often  associated  with shirts haphazardly hanging down shoulder blades, bed hair matched with sunglasses, the ability to sober up remarkably quickly  .  in  a  small  town  where  they  work  as  receptionist at sisters of the moon  word  travels  fast 

helloooo again it is i again , g , 27 . she / her pronouns ! aedt tz ( shudder ) . im typing whilst working, so  pls excuse me if this is incoherent !!!

main inspirations for nadia : veronica mars ( veronica mars ), rebeka ( elite ), fleabag ( fleabag ), & kiara carrera ( outer banks )

nadia is quite scrappy ! she’s definitely outspoken and quippy and filled with sarcasm to the BRIM

the queen of banter .

everything slides off her quite easily . she’s not a hugely emotional or deep person and prefers living life that way

shes grown up in redcreek basically! this is her home and she likes it here , despite all the . . yanno . . murdering . .

Parentified Daughter . .. iykyk

her parents kinda dipped outta redcreek when she turned 18 so nadia is very much here by herself . she has an older sibling but a VERY large age difference between them so she doesn't really have family or is close to them

nadia always kinda had to parent her parents . they are funny larger-than-life people but also extremely reckless , hence why she's quite reckless herself and never Finishes anything . she was never taught how to ! like fr , her parents are the ones who nadia would pick up from a party bc theyre too drunk or wake up to 3000 missed calls from them bc they've woken up in a park and need nadias help . v immature and young .. parents who shouldnt have been parents .

nadia is kinda ?? doesn't really know what to do in redcreek atm . she's just Here but has always dreamed of leaving . she won't tho , bc she's Waiting Expectantly for her parents to RETURN HOME lmao ( they probs wont )

shes a very nosy person . whilst she doesn’t like drama for herself , she loves it for other people . she's very reactive and has an expressive face so if u wanna talk shit , she's ur girl !

an adult with childlike behaviours , queen of just doing whatever the hell she wants when she wants it . starting a jewellery business ? done . deciding to take up saxophone lessons ? done . learning a new language ? done . but also . . .

. . . . she never really finishes anything and is borderline unreliable . she has all these half done projects and half begun ideas .

pretty extroverted . not shy and definitely doesn’t hold back on the honesty , too, even when you maybe don’t want it .

always looks like she needs help carrying things . she walks around with her arms and hands full constantly and refuses to bring a bag with her anywhere . the anxiety u probably get just from being around here , waiting for her to drop or lose something . . incredible

the kinda person who is literally always down for whatever at any given time and who always has slightly wild stories ( think of alexis from schitts creek, in that vein )

doesnt like sitting still at ALL

she's quite perceptive . i think she puts on this jokey personality for people but she's also probably the first one to ask if you're ok , or if you need anything . she'll eye you from across a bar and just Know if something is wrong .

you can usually find her in very random spaces jknfnjfk she just kinda Appears and gets along with people as best as she can

her personality is very chameleon - like , she can and will Match ur Energy

i'm not a HUGE discord girly , so pls mssg me here maybe ?? if u wanna plot ?? i usually like to go with the flow and kinda just vibe with chemistry and see whats poppin . i don’t have plots for her written yet , but i will get to that ! consider her a blank board for now tho !

in the meantime if u see her fitting any plot or connection   - take her and use her !

[mccoppinscrapyard]

Books Read in 2024

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Numb to This by Kindra Neely: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Cantoras by Caro De Robertis: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plantains and Our Becoming by Melania Luisa Marte: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Violeta by Isabel Allende: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Lady For a Duke by Alexis Hall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Lady He Lost by Faye Delacour: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cinder Ella by S. T. Lynn: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There Are Trans People Here by H. Melt: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Hamartia by Scarlett Drake: ⭐️⭐️✨

Tales from the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

The Twenty-Ninth Year by Hala Alyan: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Just Another Story by Ernesto Saade: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Zara Hossein is Here by Sabina Khan: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lies My Teacher Told Me: A Graphic Adaptation by James W. Loewen & Nate Powell: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Messy Roots by Laura Gao: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Into the Forest and All the Way Through by Cynthia Pelayo: no starred rating

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Second Night Stand by Fay and Karelia Stetz-Walters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske: ⭐️⭐️✨

Sorry for the Inconvenience by Farah Naz Rishi: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

[storiesbyjes2g]

Keep it in the family game

A recent conversation came to mind this morning, so I thought I'd share with you my thought process. You may remember me saying The Piersons and Friends is a dramatic interpretation of what happens in my game. I do play in this save, though it happens less and less the more complicated this story gets. Despite how complicated it gets, I still consider it to be a gameplay-based story. More like gameplay assisted lol. But I am a writer. I've been writing stories since I was six years old. I think in stories. I even use stories at work! The temptation to let my imagination go wild and make this story even more cinematic, dramatic, and messy is always lurking around the corner. But there is one thing I do that helps me keep it straight, and that is I keep everything within the realm of the game.

You say, "But, Jess! What's wrong with pulling out all the stops??" Nothing! But in order for me to keep the flame lit and stay in love with this family, I need for it to remain fun. The moment I decide to take this story out of the realm of the game and turn it into the next big Netflix series starts the countdown clock to burnout and frustration. Writing realistic stories with The Sims is SUPER fun. But they are a LOT of work—especially mentally. It's basically like writing AND illustrating a novel. I will write a novel one day, but don't want to continue using my fun time that way anymore.

(details about my process under the cut)

So what does that mean, keeping everything within the realm of the game? Exactly that! If it can't happen in the game (my modded game, that is), it doesn't go in the story...mostly. The Piersons and Friends is more real than aDOLTing, so I let myself have a little more fun there and add non-game things in sometimes (i.e. Yvonne's colorism, the Pierson's marriage counseling, etc.). But the aDOLTing sims are 100% simmish, and there are zero real-life elements in that story; this is why I don't restrict their travel. If you see anything realistic in this story, it comes from mods. Here are a few ways I keep my stories rooted in gameplay.

Personalities

My sims personalities are heavily based on their traits, aspirations, character values, and preferences. I allow myself to be a tiny bit more creative with sims not born in game, but I still stay close. I might expand their histories to the entire Sims franchise for more options, like how Ali's parents are from Monte Vista. But I guess now that we have Tartosa, they could be from there. I don't always do this 100%, especially when I'm making characters with specific backstories, but the game information is definitely at the heart of their personality.

Careers

Their employment is based on the game's mechanisms for making money. For careers, they follow the game's progression. I may expand on their actual roles to make them more interesting (i.e. Emmy & Nadia's jobs). I use the chance cards a LOT for that. I think it's boring to type what they say word for word; I'm writing a story not telling the news. I take a moment to think about how it would play out cinematically and write it into the story vs. it being a random piece of information that does nothing to move the plot along. I don't always put a screenshot of the chance card because either it's a very common one you'd recognized by the way I've worded it. Honestly, the only reason I ever include them in The Piersons and Friends is to remind you this story is still steeped in gameplay. I feel like, because I write this story dramatically and present it cinematically, you guys sometimes have expectations about what should happen next because it's so real to you, and I love that! But the fact is, there are certain directions I have no intention of taking this story no matter how bad you guys want it. That's just how it has to be to protect my peace.

Relationships

Friendships

There is a reason I included Evie as the matron of honor. I remember commenting a long time ago she should have been Mel's childhood BFF, but she met Gabby first; she met Evie in high school. I didn't show it a lot, but they had a more meaningful relationship. Hopefully you got that from the few conversations I did show. I imagine Melany connected with her more because she was more mature than the other girls and Evie was older. In game, Melany gravitates to her more than Gabby, and Evie actually makes an effort to maintain their friendship by coming over from time to time. Gabby has NEVER showed up at Mel's house. Ever. At any point in life. But because of Mel's personality, I couldn't make her throw Gabby away...initially. I also couldn't forget her friendship with Evie although it's not shown much, so I gave her a very important role in the wedding to honor that.

I give this example to show how interactions (and lack there of) also factor into how I portray friendships and also how they factor into character's personalities.

Romance

I follow game mechanics, so unfortunately flirting with someone else is an especially heinous act and was the cause of all the drama between Melany, Nick, and Anissa back in the day. One thing about me is I like to do things the easy way, and taking whatever the game gives me is very easy. It may not make sense in our world, but it follows logic. They drank the tea and became flirty. Titus flirted with Mel, and she reciprocated. Drama ensued, and I ran with it. As long as there is some sort of logic, I'm cool. I leave the stuff that doesn't make sense out of the story because I want my story to be good lol.

I think that's all I wanted to say. For those struggling with this issue, I hope it helped. For those who had certain questions about The Piersons and Friends, I hope this cleared it up for you. If not, you know where I'm at. Drop me an ask. I love talking about my stories.

[destinyc1020]

I really don't think that there are many timdayas. There are anybody-but-Tom Z people just like there are anybody-but-Z Tom stans. These are the people that ship Z with absolutely anyone that's not Tom (Zac Efron, Hunter, JDW, Timmy, JE, etc) or ship Tom with anyone that's not Z (Ella Purnell, Daisy Ridley, Eliza Scanlen, Ciara, Sophia Ali, Emma Laird, Olivia, Nadia, Florence, random fans that took pics with him, etc). They don't really support these other ships. They just want Tom & Z to break up

Then there are people that ship fictional couples and not really real life people. So we have people that ship petermj but also petergwen and spideycat. There are people that really enjoyed chemily even though they were so toxic for each other for most of the story. And here we have people that really like Paul/Chani because Paul loves Chani despite having to marry the daughter of the Emperor and he refused to sleep with his legal wife because his body and soul belonged to Chani. Are there toxic elements with Paul & Chani? Certainly! Paul knew that he was selfish picking Chani because he knew she would prematurely die if she had his children and he didn't reveal that to Chani. But he suffered the consequences of his actions. I think it's ok to let people enjoy their fictional ships

What is this about Chani prematurely dying if she has his children? 😔

Anyway, I think you're right Anon that there are some "anyone but" fans out here that are just really antis in "disguise" who just don't want TZ together.

I call them ABZ and ABT shippers. 🙄 (Anyone-But-Zendaya/Anyone-But-Tom) I think I coined this years ago lol 😆

Anyway..... With that said... while yes, I do feel that there are SOME fans who just like to playfully ship the characters from movies together (and that's okay I guess, as long as it doesn't get too weird 👀����), MOST of these ppl shipping Paul and Chani all hard are really just Timdaya shippers who make things weird because they ship Z with Timothée, even though it's blatantly obvious that Zendaya is in love with, and in a SERIOUS rlshp with Tom Holland.

A lot of these Timdaya shippers are just antis in sheep's clothing imo, because if they were REALLY fans of either Tom OR Zendaya, they would respect their rlshp, and not be shipping Zendaya (or Tom) with someone else, or reading so hard into simple FRIENDSHIP gestures, or lurking on blogs that support Tomdaya together and sending anti-Tomdaya rhetoric.

These "shippers" don't fool me one bit. 🙄

[badedramay]

You are the only one I saw pointing out that at the heart of mayiri's appeal is that it's a teen romance. It's unfortunate that they are shown to be married so young, but that's just our drama writers having the creativity size of a peanut who can't think beyond plots revolving around marriage. Have always thought we need more dramas about young people with young actors (not 30+ yos playing 20 yos) who fall in love and there's tons of cute, fluffy romance.

I wouldn't blame the writers here but the owners of the mediums for the complete lack of any content catered towards young audience. We have HAD good, harmless, fun shows in the past that were not geared towards the more older audience. we had channels specifically targeting the young audience. damnit even PTV used to have shows that were about bunch of young friends or cousins. my introduction to Sarmad Khoosat and Nadia Afghan was through Shashlik. and if you think that's super old then well my introduction to Shehzad Sheikh, Furqan Sheikh, and Ainy Jaffri was through Dreamers. and didn't Fawad like debut with Jutt and Bond?? Ali Zafar did Kollege Jeans way back in 2000. Coke Kahani happened in 2012 if all the above examples seem too old. and oh, there was this fun little drama called Badtameez starring Shehroz Sabzwari (when he was in his peak cuteness era) and I remember enjoying it thoroughly because of how light and fun it was and it had like three different love stories? so cute. can't find it anywhere to watch though :D

it's not like we don't have creative writers. the unfortunate reality is that the creative writers don't have the medium for them to show their creativity on national television because in the past decade our television content has been monopolized to show just one specific kind of drama. and those kind of dramas DEMAND that the only relationship between a man x woman that's not blood related family in whatever age bracket has to be the one of marriage or leading up to marriage otherwise it's all haram and "against the values of our society". pehle nikah karo phir romance ka socho which painfully narrows down the narrative choices a writer can make. yea, the writers are to be blamed as well but they are also, somewhere, dictated by the channel owners and production houses..the people who are the majority stakeholders..to create only a specific kind of story.

[vieira4lifeme]

Watch "Nadia Ali "Love Story" Official Music Video" on YouTube

[softgrungeprophet]

friends at the table is good cause really what else can i say has made me laugh so hard i cry and/or have to pause the episode so i can breathe, on multiple occasions

[thecrowdedroomspace]

They shade Laura harrier, his first love interest, a lot and like to make up stories about her wanting him but Tom wanting zendaya. They sent hate to Sophia Ali (the uncharted love interest) and now Emma laird. The only one who kinda got away with hate is Ciara bravo because we all knew she had a boyfriend at the time and she wasn’t a threat. It’s ridiculous and I feel bad because Emma is really sweet and she doesn’t do anything to anybody and she’s just having fun. They harass his exes (especially Nadia Parks) and send them hate. Emma needs defense squad immediately

Poor Emma, hope she has thick skin 🫣 even though she doesn’t need it because no one should have to put up with it.

[browngrl]

Here is the summary of the story I mentioned last night. I’m going to flesh out the chapters, but I’m extremely proud of myself for this summary because I always struggle with them.

In life, there are two types of people. There are those who choose to see you at your best and those who choose to see you at your worst. It's your choice to allow them in.

Twenty four year old Nadia Pierce has everything going for her, she was in her fourth year of med school resident. Her father is a notorious pastor in the area, and while she manages to navigate through her own footsteps, she isn't too sure how to step out of her father's shadow. On her journey of self-discovery, an old, familiar face returns.

Whereas twenty five year old Yusef Ali lives in his father's shadow as a suit maker and desperately wants out. No matter how hard he fights, he finds himself right back in the place he swore he'd never return to. This time, however, he realizes the past could possibly become his future even in the unlikely times of situations and scenarios.

The pair never expected to fall in love but being that they were both teenagers at the time things happened and with regret and unresolved feelings, they both soon realized that they should go beyond their broken hearts and bruised egos and put together the scattered and shatter pieces of what was and what could have been.

Now when Nadia has to see Yusef for the first time in years, the pair manage to resolve their problems and are able to navigate towards the end goal of what true love is and what it should be with the ups and downs of what love is and what love isn't.

[bowenandjohnson]

Hi Sarah 🙋‍♀️

Well, since you asked... 😉 Can you rate your favourite “Sanas”? & perhaps could you include both Imaan and Esra (🇳🇱) in the ranking? 👼 (since Esra was in a sense also a Sana and she’s soo precious! 😻)

Thanks in advance! 💐

Love,

anonacht 🌃

P.S. Yes, I’m everywhere! 😈 Only friendly fire though! 💚

P.P.S. “nacht” = the Dutch word for night! 🤓 And it’s still a shame skamNL never moved beyond season 2! 😭

Hello, Twitter anon aka anonacht :) I love you too (also thanks for putting up with me on Twitter, because I am insufferable, at least to myself lol)

Thank you for indulging me, and requesting my Sana ranking. 

1. sana bakkoush - skam

It’s kind of sad that no other Sana season has been able to top the original, at least in my opinion. But Sana Bakkoush deserves this crown, because she is a character who redefined Muslim representation onscreen. Iman Meskini was such a force in her season, and everything Sana felt, she managed to make me feel like that too. When she cried, so did I. When she was angry, I was pissed, and so on. I love her and her Yousef so, so much. She is everything, honestly. I hope Sana is out there, being a doctor and revolutionizing medicine as we know it.

2. amira naybet - skam espana

Ooh, okay. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me on this one, and that’s fine! Amira Naybet means the world to me. Like literally, she is my comfort character. As I began this past fall semester as a junior in college during a freaking pandemic, she and Hajar Brown took my heart and ran with it. I personally love that she was also the Jonas in Cris’ season, as it gave her so much depth before her season aired. Ultimately, I agree that her season was flawed, and I definitely think that her season needed actual Muslim writers involved, and not just consultants. Her season production was also hindered by the pandemic too, which sucks, because I think a whole episode was cut from her season, and there was a lot of rewriting in the back half so they could meet COVID guidelines. But overall, I’m glad the writers tried to be different with their Sana and change some things up. I still love Amira, and I do love her relationship with Dani (although I will never understand that Al-Queda joke in his first clip, it feels like a misguided attempt at Spanish humor that did not translate well at all). And I’m glad Hajar felt safe and secure with this team and was happy with Amira’s story, given the circumstances. (ps: she deserved the full nine episodes, I don’t care what Movistar thinks.)

3. amira thalia mahmood - druck / zoya ali - skam austin

AMIRA THE SECOND. I love her too. I especially liked that she was technically the first Girl Squad member introduced in Hanna’s season, instead of Miss Mia. I liked that change. I also love the friendships she had with Matteo and David, and that Matteo was saved as “idiot” in her phone. She was truly a queen. Mohammed is also a king, one of my favorites. I also liked that Druck also tried to change some things and make their Sana season more relevant, with the Christchurch references and setting her season outside of Ramadan. But sadly, like Amira N.’s season, it failed to really delve into the racism that Amira had dealt with in the GS from Kiki. If Nadia was able to apologize well, I don’t understand why Kiki couldn’t have done the same thing. Again, I feel that her season needed Muslim writers to really delve into these issues. Also, the whole eight episodes thing? Dumb. They could have delved more into Mohammed’s immigrant experience and Amira reintroducing him to Islam, etc. Why can’t Amiras just get their full seasons for once? 

Onto Zoya, who sadly didn't get her season, but I feel like she was a great character, perhaps closest to the Sana from OG in terms of characterization. She was “no bullshit,” but also the fiercest, loyal friend out of the Austin GS, besides maybe Jo, who really had Kelsey’s back at the end of s2. I feel like we really missed out on seeing her story, as she was a Muslim teen living her high school experience under a Trump presidency and a Muslim travel ban (that’s now thankfully been repealed). I loved that she got Prom Queen in s2, but I hate that literally everyone dropped the ball when it came to supporting her. The GS basically ignored the locker graffiti aka a literal hate crime? *cough cough* hire POC and Muslim writers. She was a queen though, like all Sanas who came before her.

4. esra aydin & imaan elami - skam nl

Imaan was cool, I enjoyed her entrance in s1, which I rewatched just for this ranking. Her little car? The music? I love it! It sucks that she was absent for chunks of s1, but apparently the actress had personal issues, which is why she did not return for s2. Understandable. Long reign her entrance clip.

ESRA! I loved her! I’m so glad that after Imaan’s exit that they decided to cast another Muslim woman for Linn. I love her, I loved her relationship with Ralph and the other characters, and I have a feeling that Skam NL’s season 4 would have been about her. An Esra season would have been great because it would have given us an young adult main outside of high school, and probably further depth into the Esklid character. Again, pour one out for Skam NL :(

5. imane bakhellal - skam france

Imane seems cool. I haven’t watched much of Skam France outside of s3, parts of s6, and s7, which is currently airing. I’ve been wary to watch her season, because I’ve heard about her having to apologize to the GS, and things dealing with Ingrid and her brother... and Sofiane actually dating Manon???? Like, WHAT. IS. GOING. ON. Her Yousef seems cute but dumb. But otherwise, Assa is really pretty and really supportive of her fellow Sana counterparts on Insta, which has endeared her to me. And due to that fact, I will defend Imane to the ends of the earth, and I will watch her season eventually. I promise.

6. yasmina ait omar - wtfock

Yasmina is still a bit of a mystery to the audience, I think. But I do plan to watch her season, if only for Nora Dari, who is very pretty. Bel!Yousef, treat her right!

7. sana allegui - skam italia

No words needed.

[pretimasafghanistanlitblog]

“Ten Interesting Afghani Novels”

1. Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Intertwined portraits of courage and hope in Afghanistan and Pakistan Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. An American woman, Elaine, whose Islamic name is Nusrat, is also on her own. She waits out the war in Peshawar, Pakistan, teaching refugee children under the persimmon tree in her garden while her Afghan doctor husband runs a clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Najmah's father had always assured her that the stars would take care of her, just as Nusrat's husband had promised that they would tell Nusrat where he was and that he was safe. As the two look to the skies for answers, their fates entwine. Najmah, seeking refuge and hoping to find her father and brother, begins the perilous journey through the mountains to cross the border into Pakistan. And Nusrat's persimmon-tree school awaits Najmah's arrival. Together, they both seek their way home.

Known for her award-winning fiction set in South Asia, Suzanne Fisher Staples revisits that part of the world in this beautifully written, heartrending novel. (goodreads.com)

2. Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Winner of the Christopher Medal and a "heart-wrenching" Al Roker's Book Club selection on the Today Show.

Zulaikha hopes. She hopes for peace, now that the Taliban have been driven from Afghanistan; a good relationship with her hard stepmother; and one day even to go to school, or to have her cleft palate fixed. Zulaikha knows all will be provided for her--"Inshallah," God willing. Then she meets Meena, who offers to teach her the Afghan poetry she taught her late mother. And the Americans come to her village, promising not just new opportunities and dangers, but surgery to fix her face. These changes could mean a whole new life for Zulaikha--but can she dare to hope they'll come true? (Amazon.com)

3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years - from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding - that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives - the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness - are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love - a stunning accomplishment. (goodreads.com)

4. Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra 

Since the ascendancy of the Taliban the lives of Mosheen and his beautiful wife, Zunaira, have been gradually destroyed. Mosheen's dream of becoming a diplomat has been shattered and Zunaira can no longer even appear on the streets of Kabul unveiled. Atiq is a jailer who guards those who have been condemned to death; the darkness of prison and the wretchedness of his job have seeped into his soul. Atiq's wife, Musarrat, is suffering from an illness no doctor can cure. Yet, the lives of these four people are about to become inexplicably intertwined, through death and imprisonment to passion and extraordinary self-sacrifice.

The Swallows of Kabul is an astounding and elegiac novel of four people struggling to hold on to their humanity in a place where pleasure is a deadly sin and death has become routine. (goodreads.com)

5. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

In Kabul, 2007, with a drug-addicted father and no brothers, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school, and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. As a son, she can attend school, go to the market, and chaperone her older sisters.

But Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this unusual custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way.

Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl the Broke Its Shell interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies. But what will happen once Rahima is of marriageable age? Will Shekiba always live as a man? And if Rahima cannot adapt to life as a bride, how will she survive? (Amazon.com)

6. Shooting Kabul By N.H. Senzai

In the summer of 2001, twelve-year-old Fadi's parents make the difficult decision to illegally leave Afghanistan and move the family to the United States. When their underground transport arrives at the rendezvous point, chaos ensues, and Fadi is left dragging his younger sister Mariam through the crush of people. But Mariam accidentally lets go of his hand and becomes lost in the crowd, just as Fadi is snatched up into the truck. With Taliban soldiers closing in, the truck speeds away, leaving Mariam behind.

Adjusting to life in the United States isn't easy for Fadi's family, and as the events of September 11th unfold the prospects of locating Mariam in a war torn Afghanistan seem slim. When a photography competition with a grand prize trip to India is announced, Fadi sees his chance to return to Afghanistan and find his sister. But can one photo really bring Mariam home?

Based in part on Ms. Senzai's husband's own experience fleeing his home in Soviet-controlled Afghanistan in the 1970's, Shooting Kabul is a powerful story of hope, love, and perseverance. (goodreads.org)

7. Green on Blue: A Novel by Elliot Ackerman 

Aziz and his older brother Ali are coming of age in a village amid the pine forests and endless mountains of eastern Afghanistan. They are poor, but inside their mud-walled home, the family has stability, love, and routine. One day a convoy of armed men arrives in their village and their world crumbles. The boys survive and make their way to a small city, where they gradually begin to piece together their lives. But when US forces invade the country, militants strike back. A bomb explodes in the market, and Ali is brutally injured.

To save his brother, Aziz must join the Special Lashkar, a US-funded militia. As he rises through the ranks, Aziz becomes mired in the dark underpinnings of his country’s war, witnessing clashes between rival Afghan groups—what US soldiers call “green on green” attacks—and those on US forces by Afghan soldiers, violence known as “green on blue.” Trapped in a conflict both savage and contrived, Aziz struggles to understand his place. Will he embrace the brutality of war or leave it behind, and risk placing his brother—and a young woman he has come to love—in jeopardy?

Green on Blue has broken new ground in the literature of our most recent wars, accomplishing an astonishing feat of empathy and imagination. Writing from the Afghan perspective, “Elliot Ackerman has done something brave as a writer and even braver as a soldier: He has touched, for real, the culture and soul of his enemy” (The New York Times Book Review). (barnesandnoble.com)

8. Caravans by James A. Michener

First published in 1963, James A. Michener’s gripping chronicle of the social and political landscape of Afghanistan is more relevant now than ever. Combining fact with riveting adventure and intrigue, Michener follows a military man tasked, in the years after World War II, with a dangerous assignment: finding and returning a young American woman living in Afghanistan to her distraught family after she suddenly and mysteriously disappears. A timeless tale of love and emotional drama set against the backdrop of one of the most important countries in the world today, Caravans captures the tension of the postwar period, the sweep of Afghanistan’s remarkable history, and the inescapable allure of the past. (barnesandnoble.com)

 9. A Cup of Friendship: A Novel by Deborah Rodriguez

From the author of the “bighearted . . . inspiring” (Vogue) memoir Kabul Beauty School comes to a fiction debut as compelling as real life: the story of a remarkable coffee shop in the heart of Afghanistan, and the men and women who meet there - thrown together by circumstance, bonded by secrets, and united in an extraordinary friendship.

After hard luck and some bad choices, Sunny has finally found a place to call home - it just happens to be in the middle of a war zone. The thirty-eight-year-old American’s pride and joy is the Kabul Coffee House, where she brings hospitality to the expatriates, misfits, missionaries, and mercenaries who stroll through its doors. She’s especially grateful that the busy days allow her to forget Tommy, the love of her life, who left her in pursuit of money and adventure.

Working alongside Sunny is the maternal Halajan, who vividly recalls the days before the Taliban and now must hide a modern romance from her ultratraditional son - who, unbeknownst to her, is facing his own religious doubts. Into the café come to Isabel, a British journalist on the trail of a risky story; Jack, who left his family back home in Michigan to earn “danger pay” as a consultant; and Candace, a wealthy and well-connected American whose desire to help threatens to cloud her judgment.

When Yazmina, a young Afghan from a remote village, is kidnapped and left on a city street pregnant and alone, Sunny welcomes her into the café and gives her home - but Yazmina hides a secret that could put all their lives in jeopardy. As this group of men and women discover that there’s more to one another than meets the eye, they’ll form an unlikely friendship that will change not only their own lives but the lives of an entire country.

Brimming with Deborah Rodriguez’s remarkable gift for depicting the nuances of life in Kabul, and filled with vibrant characters that readers will truly care about, A Cup of Friendship is the best kind of fiction - full of heart yet smart and thought-provoking. (Amazon.com)

 10. In the Sea There Are Crocodiles By Fabio Geda

What would you do if, when you were ten, you were left to fend for yourself, and, in order to survive, you had to undertake a harrowing journey all the way from Afghanistan to Italy?

In early 2002, Enaiatollah Akbari’s village fell prey to the Taliban. His mother, fearing for his life, led him across the border. So began Enaiat’s remarkable and often publishing five-year ordeal—trekking across bitterly cold mountains, riding the suffocating false bottom of a truck, steering an inflatable raft in violent waters—through Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and Greece, before he eventually sought political asylum in Italy, all before he turned fifteen years old.

Here Fabio Geda delivers the moving true story of Enaiat’s extraordinary will to survive and of the accidental brotherhood he found with the boys he met along the way. In the Sea There Are Crocodiles brilliantly captures Enaiat’s engaging voice and humor, in what is a truly epic story of hope and survival, for readers of all ages. (barnesandnoble.com) 

[thzmttkk]

FAVOURITES 2020

Long list of this years favourites. Spotify playlist via this link here. Buy Music Club link for albums here. Special mention to Sferic, Experiences Ltd, Youth, Motion Ward, West Mineral, and XPQ? who pushed nothing but cool stuff this year. Same for an unstoppable flow of spaced out mixes by Perila, Pontiac Streator, Special Guest DJ, Ben Bondy, Exael, Aeriform, J, JS, mdo etc. Too many to list them all really.  Most listened albums (a-z) buymusic.club link Actress - 88 ( Self Released ) ASC - Isolated Systems ( Samurai Music ) Civilistjävel! - Generalstrejk ( Low Company ) CS + Kreme - Snoopy ( The Trilogy Tapes ) DJ Python - Mas Amable ( Incienso ) DVS1 - Beta Sensory Motor Rhythm ( Axis ) Israel Vines - And Now We Know Nothing ( Interdimensional Transmissions ) Jake Muir - The Hum Of Your Veiled Voice ( Sferic ) K-Lone - Cape Cira ( Wisdom Teeth ) Koraal - La Casa del Volcán ( Nous’klaer Audio ) LF58 - Alterazione ( Astral Industries ) Move D & Benjamin Brunn - Let's Call It A Day ( Smallville ) Perko - City Rings ( Numbers ) Piezo - Perdu ( Hundebiss ) Pontiac Streator - Triz ( Motion Ward ) Regis - Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss ( Downwards ) Romeo Poerier - Hotel Nota ( Sferic ) Sockethead - Harj-o-Marj ( Youth ) Soft Boi - So Nice ( Climate Of Fear ) Terrence Dixon - From The Far Future Pt. 3 ( Tresor ) Tolouse Low Trax - Jumping Dead Leafs ( Bureau B ) Ulla - Tumbling Towards A Wall ( Experiences Ltd. ) URA - Blue ( NAFF ) Favourite mixes (a-z) Agonis - INVEINS \ Podcast \ 061 link Bake with Lewis Lowe (Redstone Press) - 30 November 2020 link Bake with Wonja - 28 September 2020 link dBridge - Essential Mix 2020-02-01 link Dino Sabatini - Global Vibe Radio 227 link Erika - vurt podcast 23 link F-on - Alpenglühen #54 link Forest Drive West - Bleep Mix #131 link Garçon - Dekmantel Podcast 284 link Garçon - MNMT 277 link GiGi FM Presents Azu Tiwaline NTS 11/11/20 link Jane Fitz - isolatedmix 97 We Fall Into The Sun link Joe Ellis - Phonons Podcast 065 link Jon K - Cav Empt /// TTT TOKYO Tape link Joy Orbison - wooly window sessions part wun - UKG 4/4 +++ link Karl Meier - The Bunker Podcast 211 link Konduku - The Memoir — Page 46 link Lcp - Blowing Up The Workshop 111 ◆ re:st link Lemna - MNMT Recordings: Lemna (live) — Contact Tokyo link mad miran - a message of manifestation, from the music room link mad miran - clone records x radio radio x ade link mdo - Knekelhuis 63 link Milo Bragg - Campfire Stories 79 (A New Dawn) link Milo Bragg - Club Rooted #1 link Nadia Khan - RA.710 Nadia Khan link Objekt - Essential Mix 2020-06-06 link Patrick Russell - IT.podcast.s09e01: No Way Back Streaming link Patrick Russell - Patterns of Perception 76 link Pessimist And That w/ DJ Python - Noods Radio - EPISODE 9 link Spekki Webu - RA.714 link Toki Fuko - Oslated Mix Episode 205 - Toki Fuko link upsammy - Bleep Mix #122 link Vlada - RA.742 link Woody92 - Patterns of Perception 68 link

Favourite tracks longlist (a-z) playlist Al Wootton - Snake Dance ( Livity Sound ) Andria - Komina ( Phase Group ) Archivist - Cinder Cone (Patrick Russel Remix) ( Second Nature ) Artefakt - Delphic ( Delsin Records ) ASC - Lost to the Void ( Samurai Music ) ASC - Orchid ( Samurai Music ) Azu Tiwaline - Terremer ( Livity Sound ) Batu - SYX ( Timedance ) Ben Bondy - Bodi ( Experiences Ltd. ) Ben Bondy - Lith ( Experiences Ltd. ) Black Merlin - MIEA ( Bitta ) Blâme - Bells ( [Re]Sources ) Blazer SoundSystem - Heavens Gate ( Youth ) BNJMN, rRoxymore - Atoms Speak - rRoxymore Remix ( Delsin Records ) Cio D’Or - Celestial ( Semantica ) Civilistjävel! - Generalstrejk ( Low Company ) Clarity - Taking Effect ( UVB76 ) CS + Kreme - Slug ( The Trilogy Tapes ) CS + Kreme - Blue Flu ( The Trilogy Tapes ) CUB - Dream Logic ( Osiris Music ) D.K. - The Three Realms ( Good Morning Tapes ) DB1 - Point Three ( Nullpunkt ) DJ Python - Alejandro ( Incienso ) DJ Python - oooophi ( Incienso ) DJ Python, LA Warman - ADMSDP ( Incienso ) Don't DJ, Harmonious Thelonious - Hambi ( Midnight Shift ) Donato Dozzy - Mai ( Samurai Music ) DVS1 - Drifting ( Axis ) DVS1 - The Five Aggregates ( Axis ) DYL, DB1 - ECOU #2 ( re:st ) DYL, DB1 - ECOU #12 ( re:st ) E-Unity - Not for Me ( TemeT Music ) Eszaid - The Most Sacred Syllable ( Good Morning Tapes ) Felix K - Deconstructor ( Nullpunkt ) Feral - Crossing ( Hypnus ) Flora Yin-Wong - Aurochs ( Modern Love ) Forest Drive West - Terminus ( R&S ) Forest Drive West - Hidden Past ( Mantis ) Franck Vigroux - Styx ( Raster ) Gavsborg - Making Love To Volca ( Equiknoxx Music ) Gavsborg, Shanique Marie - Earth & Clan ( Equiknoxx Music ) Grimescapes - Emergence ( Youth ) Haedong Seoungguk, D.K. - Daegeum Dosa (D.K. Huru Mix) ( Total Unity ) Henzo - Not Like That, Not Like You ( Worldwide Unlimited ) Higher Intelligence Agency - Sound Matter ( Headphone ) INTe*ra - Aqueduct B1 ( Acting Press ) Israel Vines - Tri Polar ( Interdimensional Transmissions ) Israel Vines - Path Correction ( Interdimensional Transmissions ) Jabu, Daniela Dyson - Slow Down ( Do You Have Peace? ) Jake Muir - Resevoir Of Memory ( Sferic ) Jake Muir - Fleeting Touches ( Sferic ) K-Lone - In The Pines ( Wisdom Teeth ) K-Lone - Bluefin ( Wisdom Teeth ) K-Lone - Honey ( Wisdom Teeth ) Karenn - On Request ( Voam ) KGIV - Blue Octavo ( Eye Teeth ) Konduku - Fallout ( IDO ) Konduku - Cipres ( Mantis ) Konduku - Şeker ( Disk ) Koraal - La Casa del Volcán 7 ( Nous’klaer Audio ) Koraal - La Casa del Volcán 9 ( Nous’klaer Audio ) Kӣr - Topot ( Disk ) Lack - RRRush ( Livity Sound ) Laksa - Fire Kit ( Hessle Audio ) Last Life - Escape ( Samurai Music ) LF58 - Metamorfosi ( Astral Industries ) Ligovskoï - Emeyo ( IDO ) Lo Kindre - Grey Skies (i) ( Phase Group ) LOG - LOG 4 ( Experiences Ltd. ) Low Budget Aliens - HOME SICK! ( XPQ? ) Lurka - Rhythm Hi-Tek ( Timedance ) Lurka - Clean ( Don’t Be Afraid ) Maayan Nidam - Untitled B2 ( Hellium ) Marco Shuttle - Ritmo Elegante ( Spazio Disponibile ) Meetsysteem - Je Wist Het Al ( Nous’klaer Audio ) Mike Parker - The Melting Mask ( Spazio Disponibile ) Monolake - Beirut ( Morphine ) Monolake - Espace Fourier ( Monolake ) Move D, Benjamin Brunn - C-Sick ( Smallville ) Nathan Melja, Pariah - Synesthesia - Pariah Remix ( Kalahari Oyster Cult ) natural/electronic.system. - Scirocco ( Tikita ) natural/electronic.system. - Marea ( Mantis ) NRLSD - Marching Band ( Man Band ) øjeRum - Prelude To The Immortality Of Nothing ( Opal Tapes ) OL - Block24 ( ГОСТ ИНСТРУМЕНТ ) Pan Sonic, Muslimgauze - Muslimgauze - Remix 2 ( Sahko ) Pearson Sound - Alien Mode ( Hessle Audio ) Perko - Stutter ( Numbers ) Perko - Pippin ( Numbers ) Pessimist - Love In The Jungle ( Ilian Tape ) Piezo - Blue Light Mama Magic ( Hundebiss ) Piezo - Amore Tossi ( Hundebiss ) Pontiac Streator - Triz Cohors Pt. 3 ( Motion Ward ) Pontiac Streator - Stuck In A Cave ( Motion Ward ) Primal Code - Elixir ( Hypnus ) RDS - Aro ( De Lichting ) Regis - The Sun Rose Pure ( Downwards ) Regis - Everything is Ahead of Us ( Downwards ) Regis - Eros in Tangiers ( Downwards ) Relapse - Two Worlds Colliding … ( Pinecone Moonshine ) Robin Stewart - Not Buoyant ( The Trilogy Tapes ) Roméo Poirier - Le bématiste ( Sferic ) Roméo Poirier - Du rocher ( Sferic ) Shed - Try ( Tectonic ) Significant Other - Little Blue Pills ( Oscilla Sound ) Simo Cell, Abdullah Miniawy - Caged in Aly's Body ( BFDM ) Skee Mask - Zzodiac ( Ilian Tape ) Sockethead - Love Loss Missing Yearning ( Youth ) Sockethead - In Search Of Truth ( Youth ) Sockethead - Jahiliyyah ( Youth ) Soft Boi - Something to Say ( Climate Of Fear ) Soft Boi - Guestlist ( Climate Of Fear ) Stave, Grebenstein - Rack 4 ( Standards & Practices ) Surgeon - The Golden Sea ( Ilian Tape ) SW. - theMARTIANswing ( Avenue 66 ) Tammo Hesselink - Ballet Mécanique ( Nous’klaer Audio ) Terrence Dixon - Unconditional Love ( Tresor ) Terrence Dixon - Program Weight ( Tresor ) Terrence Dixon - Earth Station ( Tresor ) The Untouchables - Pon A Dread ( Rupture London ) Tolouse Low Trax - Dawn Is Temporal ( Bureau B ) Tolouse Low Trax - Inverted Sea ( Bureau B ) Tolouse Low Trax - Berrytone Souvenier ( Bureau B ) Toma Kami - Gymnase Chaos ( Man Band ) Two Shell - Fracture ( Mainframe Audio ) Ulla - Leaves and Wish ( Experiences Ltd. ) Ulla - Feeling Remembering ( Experiences Ltd. ) Ulla - Soak ( Experiences Ltd. ) upsammy - Send-Zen ( Dekmantel ) URA - Dirge ( NAFF ) URA - Shojin ( NAFF ) Varuna - Ratu ( Mantis ) VC-118A - Plonk ( Delsin Records ) Via Maris - Lapse ( Timedance ) Wang Inc. - Gommone ( Random Numbers ) Waon-P - BRF dante2infelno - donfellianoeverythingmix ( The Trilogy Tapes ) Web - Ancient Wind ( Acido ) Yogg, Pharaoh, CUB - The Neverending Gever (CUB Version) ( Parallax ) YPY - Garando ( Acido )

[troped-fanfic-challenge]

The Chopped Madness Champion is….

@the-most-beautiful-broom​

the-most-beautiful-broom was a steady force in this competition, writing everything from a Canonverse Bellarke Robin Hood Fairy Tale AU to a Marper Titanic Angst AU (+ Marper Aeronauts Angst) to a Political Aassassins Memori Dystopia AU to a Zaven Spider-verse Superheroes AU to a Luna/Lincoln Mirror Universe Thriller AU and they were all FANTASTIC! That’s six (6!) fics and 31k words during the weeks of this competition! You deserve the title of CHOPPED MADNESS CHAMPION! Congratulations! Check out all her fics below:

Qualifying Round Fic: we'd up and fly (if there were wings for flying)

Mods’ Review: Robin Hood was such an awesome fairtytale to choose, we loved this fic! You were really able to bring us into the world of your story so well! Your description of Wells’ death was great, and it really helped bring us into that “robin hood medieval” world that this story needed! And, obviously, we LOVE wells, so this death was so rough, but so well done!! We really loved Villain Kane, the whole quarry/slavery/chancelor kane concept was so good and so well executed! We really loved the concept, with Bellamy as Robin Hood and Clarke as Maid Marion! It was so great, we need more!! Bellamy being so badass, and putting his name on the packages to make sure Kane knew it was him, was EXCELLENT! We love a Hero!Bellamy plot, but let’s be real here… who doesn’t! We also really loved your little hand washing tutorial, always important, but even more so now… your corona is showing ;)! Bellamy giving Clarke the ring that Wells gave him for her was so sweet! You always manage to bring in such soft, sweet character moments that really bring your stories so much life! This story had so much heart to it, and we loved every word! 

Round 1 Fic: Macushla & Both

Mods’ Review: The whole concept of the Macushla fic, the Titanic and the “road trip” being them on their life boat trying to escape, was so creative and exciting. You were able to really nail this setting and story, we loved this fic! Harper just absolutely murdering that journalist was such an awesome opening scene!! The set up of the sinking ship and her trying to find her way to a lifeboat was so good! We were on the edge of our seats, you really established the life or death nature of the situation really well! Also, we love the touch of Monroe being involved somehow! Harper trying so hard to get more people aboard their lifeboat was so harrowing and sad to watch, and it was a really nice touch to see her pushing the people onboard to do their part, and shaming them when they didn’t. It was a really nice character moment for Harper, and felt very true to who she is. Harper choosing to steer the ship was so good! It really added to the story to see how much she wanted to be a part of the effort to help in whatever way she could. She was a heroine we wanted to root for! You were really able to craft this story exceptionally well, and we loved reading it!

We also have to add your Aeronauts AU, Both, to this review! We can’t believe you wrote two fics this round and we’re sorry you couldn’t enter them both for the competition! But we are glad we get this fic in it’s entirety! It’s so beautifully written and a really great look at Harper and Monty. Going from Strangers to Lovers in a hot air balloon “road trip”, was mesmerizing. And it had just the right touch of angst that had us going back to read this fic over and over. Thanks so much for sharing it! 

Round 2 Fic: Good to be Back

Mods’ Review: Big fan of the opening, with the radio calls back and forth! It gave the audience the information we needed to get going with the story, while also adding some mystery and suspense as well! Murphy selling salt cubes, and using saltwater as currency, was so creative and fun! It was a nice touch of world building that really added depth to the story! Abby’s death leading to a political coup of some kind was such a great plot line, and it set up your fic so well! Assassins is always such an exciting plot! The “accidental death” assassination was so cool, it showed the expertise that Emori and Murphy have in their line of work, and it was a really cool scene. Hiding the syringe in a tampon wrapper? Genius!! Forced bed sharing to keep up with their married couple facade? Oh the angst! We love a good wake up scene, all sleepy and cute while they lovingly gaze at the other person, and this was no exception! You were able to add such a nice touch of romance and sweetness to a pretty gnarly story, well done! The Resistance pushing Murphy and Emori out after they did their dirty work for them is so good, it made the story feel even more real, and the stakes even more intense! The fact that the reaction to the death by the government was mass destruction was so unsettling but also so believable, you really created a very real dystopia that had us white knuckling it throughout the whole story! Loved that ending, of them planning to keep the work going, and try to save the world. Memori as sort of underground heroes is always a great storyline! This fic was so good! 

Round 3 Fic: Into the Blue

Mods’ Review: It’s amazing how you managed to capture the very essence of the Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse movie into your fic! Raven’s introduction to the Other Times Square (and to us) was the perfect setup! We became obsessed with all your character choices, too! Raven as Gwen, Miles/Zeke as Spider-man, Jordan as Miles, Octavia as Doc Ock!, Jasper as Prowler, Diyoza as Aunt May, Madi and her robot, Bellamy as Spidernoir and Murphy as Spider-Pig?! SO CREATIVE! The added layer of angst you weaved between these characters is something to behold. The simple glances between Zaven and lines like, “The universe gives her back her best friend for him to not know her, to be older and colder and to not know her. And then kills another version of him, just for fun.” Or “Who was your Jasper?” Raven had been alone in her world and you explored the found family trope so wonderfully in this fic. “It’s been so long since she let herself rely on others...a part of her wants to go back with each of them. She doesn’t do friends. This feels a little more like a family.” Cue the tears as they all said goodbye and Raven went into the blue!!!  And the final scene much later as she goes into yellow hinting at more for Zaven is just perfect. We enjoyed this fic so much!!!!

Round 4 Fic: we cross our bridges and burn them behind us

Mods’ Review: We love the idea of a Science Squad who are HELLBENT on proving the multiverse, it feels so true to the sci-fi thriller genre, to have a team of ‘good guys’ who make some discovery, and then have to deal with the repercussions. Also, such a nice touch, using Nadia’s last name for Luna. It’s a nice change from the ‘water’ based last names that Bailey is definitely guilty of lol. The escaped double is an excellent concept, and so very exciting! Honestly, HOLY SHIT. ALIE leveled midtown in like four hours?! That's Insane! You are always so deft at creating real tension within your stories, while still making sure they have real meaning and emotion behind them, and we love that you never pull your punches! “I don’t do teams” “wrong earth for that” FANTASTIC. It's like ‘you will join this found family and you will LIKE IT.’ And from Wells, our hearts! We always love any mention of Wells! We ALSO love a  suspenseful two hour countdown! Very ‘end of the world, 1 man can save us’, like one of those movies where Gerard Butler is somehow the only man who can save the President from certain doom, but obviously in a good way! Raven’s motivational hero speech being ‘nah it’ll be good as long as we get to it’ is so in character and hilarious, we loved it! Oh my god… Jasper’s death scene, Bailey literally had her mouth hanging open. We loved that you had Luna ask if he knew, and the weight of the realization that it was usually Luna, even if he didn’t say it. So much emotion happening in such an intense scene, so well done! The twist that she’s not actually Luna 47!!! SOO well done, we can’t deal! And it makes the scene a little earlier, where Lincoln said “thought it was you” make so much more sense! We were honestly BLOWN away by this fic, it was intense and exciting, heartfelt and sweet, full of deftly handled intense plots and really amazing character moments. This fic was definitely deserving of pushing you over the edge to become our Chopped Champion! 

———

Now that Chopped Madness is complete, all the fics written for Chopped Madness by all authors have been revealed and you can post about your fics! Don’t forget to tag us!

Our non-anonymous collection is still open for anyone who is interested in sharing fics they’ve written based on any of the Chopped Madness prompts! We’d love to see what you come up with, and we’ll happily share your work on our blog! The non-anon collection can be found here! To submit your fic to the collection, simply enter ‘chopped_non_anonymous’ as the name of the collection when uploading your fic!!!

Non-Anon AO3 Collection Link: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Chopped_Non_Anonymous

This is the end of Chopped Madness! Thanks so much to the 16+ authors who participated in this event, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!!

[wlwfiction]

26 April is Lesbian Visibility Day, so WLWFiction is recommending books with lesbian protagonists!

* indicates the author is a lesbian

# indicates author of colour

Middle Grade

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake 

P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy

The Infernal Compass (Lumberjanes #1) by Lilah Sturges and Polterink *

Young Adult

Under the Lights (Daylight Falls #2) by Dahlia Adler

Stargazer / Trailblazer by Reese Alcobendas #

The Weight of the Stars (The Wicker King #2) by K. Ancrum #

This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow #

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Night Swimming by Steph Bowe #

Enchanters series by K. F. Bradshaw

Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron *

Echo After Echo by Amy Rose Capetta

The Never Tilting World series by Rin Chupeco #

Of Fire and Stars series by Audrey Coulthurst *

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth *

The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer * [free online]

‘The Witch Sea’ by Sarah Diemer * [free online]

Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole *#

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden *

The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden *

Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

The Shattering by Karen Healey

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar #

The Last Beginning (The Next Together #2) by Lauren James

The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan #

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour #

You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan #

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

Ash by Malinda Lo *#

Huntress by Malinda Lo *#

‘Natural Selection’ (Adaptation #1.5) by Malinda Lo *#

A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo *#

‘Ghost Town’ by Malinda Lo *# [free online]

Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley *

Girls of Paper and Fire series by Natasha Ngan #

This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Points of Departure by Emily O’Beirne *

Future Leaders series by Emily O’Beirne *

‘Ghost Girl in the Corner’ (Shadowshaper Cypher #1.5) by Daniel José Older #

Lunav by Jenn Polish

Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen *

‘Horror Stories’ by Meredith Russo * [free online]

‘Meltdown’ by Meredith Russo * [free online]

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

‘What to Expect When the Sun Disappears’ by Sefa * [free online]

The Abyss Surrounds Us series by Emily Skrutskie

The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding

Under Threat by Robin Stevenson

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki * and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Songs That Sound Like Blood by Jared Thomas #

Mermaids of Eriana Kwai series by Tiana Warner

New Adult

Harrietta Lee series by Stephanie Ahn *#

Mangoverse series by Shira Glassman

Flowers of Luna by Jennifer Linsky #

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera *#

Learning Curves series by Ceillie Simkiss

‘Hurricane Heels’ by Isabel Yap # [free online]

Adult

Something Better than Home by Leona Beasley *#

Otros Valles by Jamie Berrout # [free online]

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg [free online]

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink

‘Fearless’ by Shira Glassman

‘Eitan’s Chord’ by Shira Glassman

‘Knit One, Girl Two’ by Shira Glassman

The Paths of Marriage by Mala Kumar #

‘We Could Be Heroes’ by Malinda Lo *# [free online]

Falling into Place by Sheryn Munir #

‘Can You Say My Name Again’ by Nadia Nova *# [free online]

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S. J. Sindu #

Two Moons: Stories by Krystal A. Smith *#

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon *#

Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters *

Affinity by Sarah Waters *

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters *

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters *

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters *