#Non-conventional success stories

[ourjobagency]

In a world that often emphasizes traditional career paths, it's easy to feel pressured to follow a predetermined route to success. However, not everyone fits into the conventional mold, and there are countless examples of individuals who have achieved greatness through unconventional career paths. These alternative routes to success are inspiring and demonstrate that success

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[mostlysignssomeportents]

Neal Stephenson’s “Polostan”

NEXT WEEKEND (Novem<p>placeholder </p>ber 8-10), I'll be in TUCSON, AZ: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

Science fiction isn't collection of tropes, nor is it a literary style, nor is it a marketing category. It can encompass all of these, but what sf really is, is an outlook.

At the core of sf is an approach to technology (and, sometimes, science): sf treats technology as a kind of crux that the rest of the tale revolves around. The Bechdel test invites us to notice that in most fiction, stories revolve around men – that it's rare for two or more non-male characters to interact with one another, and if they do, that interaction is triggered by a man.

The sftnal version of this would go something like this: "a story gets increasingly stfnal to the extent that interactions among characters either directly relate to a technology, or are triggered by the consequences of such a relation, or fears, plans or aspirations for same."

(Note that this implies that science fiction is a spectrum: things can be more or less science fictional, and that gradient reflects the centrality of a technology to the narrative.)

No one's work demonstrates this better than Neal Stephenson. Stephenson's work covers a lot of settings and storytelling modes. His debut, The Big U, was a contemporary novel lampooning academic life. Then came Zodiac, another contemporary novel, but one where science – in this case, extremely toxic polychlorinated biphenyls – take center stage. Then came his cyberpunk classic, Snow Crash, which was unambiguously (and gloriously) science fiction.

A couple of books later, we got Cryptonomicon, a finance novel that treated money as a technology, and, notably, did so across both a near-future setting and the historic setting of WWII. In addition to being a cracking novel, Cryptonomicon is exciting in that it treats the technological endeavors of the past in exactly the same way as it does the imaginary technological endeavors of the future. Here's Stephenson fusing his contemporary sensibilities with his deep interests in history, and approaching historical fiction as an sf writer, doing the sftnal thing to gadgets and ideas that have been around for more than two generations.

Stephenson's next novel was Quicksilver, the first book of the massive "System of the World" trilogy, in which the extremely historical events of Newton and Leibniz's quest to discover "the calculus" are given a sweeping, world-spanning sftnal treatment. As "system of the world" suggests, Stephenson uses this sftnal trick to situate a scientific advancement in the context of a global, contingent, complex system that it both grows out of an defines. This is the pure water of science fiction, applied entirely to real seventeenth century events, and it's definitive proof that sf isn't a trope, a style or a category – but rather, it is a way of framing and understanding the world.

You can think of Stephenson's career up to this point as a series of experiments in applying the stfnal lens to events that are progressively less historical (and, with The Diamond Age, events that are atemporal inasmuch as the book is set in a futuristic revival of the Victorian Age). Experiments that range over contemporary settings, and then contemporary settings blended with historical settings, then a deep historical sf trilogy.

(It's rather exciting that these books came out right as William Gibson was entering his own "predicting the present" decade, where he exclusively published sf about the recent past, a prelude to a series of sf novels set in a future so far from our present that the characters literally have no record of which events led up to their own circumstances):

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/10/28/the-peripheral-william-gibson-vs-william-gibson/

Having proved how successful an historical sf novel could be, Stephenson then bopped around with a lot of stfnal historical ideas, from the "transmedia" 12th century setting of the Mongoliad to a madcap time-travel book (The Rise and Fall of DODO). Stephenson's work since then have been pretty straightforwardly sftnal, which means that he's a little overdue for a return to historical sf.

That's where Polostan comes in, the just-published inaugural volume of a new interwar series about the birth of atomic science:

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/polostan-neal-stephenson

Critics and even the publisher have called this a "spy novel" or a "historical novel" but it is neither of those. What Polostan is, is a science fiction novel, about spies in an historical setting. This isn't to say that Stephenson tramples on, or ignores spy tropes: this is absolutely a first-rate spy novel. Nor does Stephenson skimp on the lush, gorgeously realized and painstakingly researched detail you'd want from an historical novel (Stephenson has long enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with the brilliant researcher Lisa Gold, whom we can thank for much of the historical detail across his body of work).

But the overarching sensibility of this work is a world full of people who revolve around technology. You'd be hard-pressed to list more than a handful of actions taken by the characters that aren't driven by technology, and most of the dialog either concerns technology, or the actions that characters have taken in relation to technology. It's unmistakably and indelibly a science fiction novel.

It's great.

Polostan raises the curtain on the story of Dawn Rae Bjornberg, AKA Aurora Maximovna Artemyeva, whose upbringing is split between the American West in the early 20th century and the Leningrad of revolutionary Russia (her parents are an American anarchist and a Ukrainian Communist who meet when her father travels to America as a Communist agitator). Aurora's parents' marriage does not survive their sojourn to the USSR, and eventually Aurora and her father end up back in the States, after her father is tasked with radicalizing the veterans of the Bonus Army that occupied DC, demanding the military benefits they'd been promised:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army

After the efforts of Communist organizers in the Bonus Army were mercilessly crushed by George S Patton, Aurora ends up living in a Communist commune in Chicago, where she falls into a job selling comfortable shoes to the footsore women who visit the Century of Progress, as the 1933 World's Fair was known:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_Progress

At the Century of Progress, Aurora sits at the junction where many global currents are mixing: she is there when Mussolini's air armada lands on Lake Michigan to the cheers of thronged fascist sympathizers; and also when Neils Bohr lectures on the newly discovered – and still controversial – neutron. She is also exposed to her first boyfriend, a young physicist from New York, who greatly expands her interest in nuclear physics and also impregnates her.

This latter turn in her life sends Aurora back into the American west, where, after a complex series of misadventures and derring-do, she embarks on a career as a tommy gun-toting bank robber, part of an armed gang of her cowboy shirttail cousins.

All of this culminates in her return sojourn to the Soviet Union, where she first falls under suspicion of being an American spy, and then her recruitment as a Soviet spy.

Also: she plays a lot of polo. Like, on a horse.

This isn't just an unmistakably sftnal novel, it's also an unmistakably Stephensonian novel: embroidered, discursive, and brilliantly expositional:

https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-cory-doctorow-talks-about-the-bezzle/

It is funny, it is interesting, it is even daffy in places. It's sometimes absolutely horrifying. It skips around in time like a subatomic particle bouncing around in a theoretical physics model. It creates and resolves all manner of little subplots in most satisfying ways, but also ultimately exists just to tee up the main action, which will come in future volumes. It's a curtain raiser, and like any good opening number, it hooks you for what is to come.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/04/bomb-light/#nukular

[aziraphales-library]

Hi!!! Do you have any fics where aziraphale is famous and crowley's just a "nobody"? preferably without explicit scenes, please :)) thank you so so much <3<3

Hello! We have a #famous aziraphale tag. Here are some fics in which Aziraphale is famous and Crowley is not. I could only find a couple of non-explicit fics, I'm afraid, but I'm pretty sure the smut is minimal/skippable in most of these...

First Thing In The Morning by FeralTuxedo (E)

Aziraphale Fell, erstwhile nerd, now successful fantasy author, is signing books at this year’s Heaven and Earth convention when he spots a red-headed man in the crowd. Someone he hasn’t quite been able to forget since his school days. And as luck would have it, Anthony Crowley, former troublemaker, now responsible adult, seems keen to reconnect.

Pride Month and Prejudice by TawnyOwl95 (E)

They say that you should never meet your celebrity crush. Especially when you know what an absolute bastard he is. So, of course, Anthony J. Crowley's participation in a queer adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for Pride Month has nothing to do with the involvement of A-lister A.Z. Fell. Crowley is only doing it so he has some gossip for his column. He didn't mean to get cast as Lizzy Bennet, he certainly didn't mean to be acting opposite Fell's Mr Darcy. And to make matters worse, Fell keeps staring at him...

Veni Vino Vegas (I Came, I Got Drunk, I Got Married) by A_N_D (T)

After a whirlwind drunken evening, author Az Fell came home from Rom-Con without his heirloom pinkie ring – but with a wedding license from a 24-hour Las Vegas chapel. Elsewhere, book fan Tony Crowley woke up with a hangover, vague memories, and a brand new ring he’s only seen in author photos. Mutually attracted, mutually terrified the other one thinks it was all a regrettable mistake, they turn to their dear but anonymous online friend to vent and ask for advice. …Maybe they should tell each other their screennames someday.

and now all of my garden is grown in lavender by ilikeblue (E)

Popular queer romance author, A.Z. Fell, has been lying about having a husband and a happy marriage for years. Longing to escape a string of failed relationships and looking for a fresh start, Aziraphale moves into the cottage left to him by his Great Aunt Agnes. When a TV adaptation of one of his books leads to sudden popularity and throws him into the limelight, his fans (and the press) are eager to catch a glimpse of Aziraphale's own mysterious leading man. Unfortunately, he still has to cast someone for that role. Enter the handsome gardener… Under Crowley's meticulous care the cottage's neglected garden slowly comes back to life, and Aziraphale finds himself writing the most important love story he'll ever write: his own

Once upon a time by elf_on_the_shelf (E)

‘Hello, my dear.’ Crowley bit his lip for a couple of seconds before he took a deep breath and just went with it. ‘Would you like to go for a coffee sometime?’ There was silence at the other end. Oh shit. ‘That was my friend messing around with my phone…?’ ‘You do realise that only works over text.’ ‘Myeah.’ Why was he like this? He had wanted to kill Bea for doing the same thing and yet here he was, doing the thing. At Bea’s behest, mind you. ‘I would love to go for coffee. Oh, and cake!’ Aziraphale is a very rich and successful writer. Crowley is at the worst possible moment of his life - living off Bee's couch and posting his mum's fairy tales on some random sites only to be ignored by everyone except one random person simply called A. This is a story about how both of our main protagonists get over the ghosts of their pasts, learn to work together and maybe - just maybe - fall in love in the process. Not to mention that all of the characters that we love (hate - looking at you, Gabe) make an appearance.

The Infernal Bodyguard by Santillatron (M)

Alistair Zira Fell is a popular author. Loved by everyone he meets. Well, almost everyone. Someone is trying to hurt him, and right now, he needs a bodyguard. Anthony J. Crowley is the best, although he doesn't work with celebrities. He has three rules. He never gets too close, never stays once the job is done, and Never Gets Involved. But this isn't a thriller. This, is a love story.

- Mod D

[mariacallous]

Democrats are charging out of their national convention with enthusiasm and determination ― and in far better shape than seemed possible just a few weeks ago, when then-presumptive nominee President Joe Biden was headed for likely defeat.

Vice President Kamala Harris has wiped out Biden’s deficit in the polls, and now holds small but discernible leads over Donald Trump in both national and swing state surveys. She’s also expanded the electoral map, putting in play states such as North Carolina that seemed lost to Democrats when Biden was leading the ticket. As of this writing, Nate Silver’s predictive model suggests Harris is a 52.8% favorite to win.

It will take a few days for pollsters to figure out whether Harris got the traditional convention bounce, pushing her support even higher, or whether she got a version of it beforehand via the burst of activity and favorable press coverage around her campaign launch.

Either way, it’s hard to look back on the week in Chicago and deem it anything but a smashing political success, from the (still reverberating) call to arms by former first lady Michelle Obama to the (still circulating) sight of Gus Walz, son of vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim, tearfully telling the crowd “that’s my dad!”

Harris, for her part, gave what my colleague Jen Bendery’s story called the “speech of her life.” Plenty of other analysts rendered similar judgments.

With a passionate, near-flawless delivery, Harris introduced herself as the daughter of immigrants who valued virtue and hard work, promising to fight for the middle class and vowing to protect democracy. She wrapped herself metaphorically in the flag and what she thinks it represents to the nation’s non-MAGA majority. The laser focus on trying to win over swing voters was impossible to miss, in part because it was such an overriding theme all week ― whether through cultural symbolism (like having the aging veterans of Walz’s championship high school football team appear on stage) or more overt outreach (like having former House Republican Adam Kinzinger give a prime-time address).

But the appeal to the political middle had some telling substantive elements too.

Insofar as Harris and Democrats talked about policy, they focused on causes such as bringing down prescription drug prices, providing paid leave or helping families to pay for child care ― ambitions considerably more modest than the loftier, more progressive “Medicare for All” calls that dominated the last Democratic presidential campaign and to which Harris herself once pledged fealty. Harris also went out of her way to back a bipartisan immigration bill that would tighten security without creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already here, which is a provision progressives have frequently called essential.

The platform evolved, with party leaders scrubbing a call to end the death penalty ― quietly, until my colleague Jessica Schulberg found out about it. They also refused requests to feature a Palestinian speaker on the conflict in Gaza. That part wasn’t so quiet, or unanticipated. In fact, the prospect of protests and disruptions over Biden’s support for Israel had fueled speculation that Chicago 2024 was going to end up as tumultuous as Chicago 1968. But as HuffPost’s Daniel Marans and Jonathan Nicholson observed, the fissures never blew up into 1968-style conflicts ― not over Gaza, or any other issues for that matter. On the contrary, the Democrats seemed improbably and almost impossibly unified, with would-be progressive dissidents like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sounding downright giddy about the Harris-Walz ticket.

What explains this unified enthusiasm? Three likely reasons come to mind. One in particular has a lot to do with how the party has changed in recent years ― and what it might be able to do if Harris manages to win.

Democrats In Array

One of these likely reasons is the threat Trump poses to individual liberties, the rule of law and democracy — threats progressives feel every bit as keenly as the more moderates in the party. These threats almost certainly seem even more menacing now after so many months watching Biden struggle.

Staring into the political abyss this way has been known to focus the mind.

Another possible factor is Harris’ identity. Electing the first woman president, not to mention the first Black woman and the first Asian woman, would have obvious symbolic value. But it would also have more practical effects — namely, bringing a new perspective to the presidency and making it easier for other women, and other nonwhite politicians, to make their own way to the Oval Office.

Progressives almost by definition care about these things, enough that it can help counterbalance appeal for politicians who see the ticket as less progressive than they might like. Barack Obama in 2008 benefited from just such a dynamic, as The New York Times’ David Leonhardt pointed out on Friday: “He was more moderate than some other Democratic candidates that year, yet he still excited many progressives.”

Harris notably hasn’t talked about herself as groundbreaker, and the campaign hasn’t made that possibility a focus in the way that, say, Hillary Clinton’s did in 2016. But that’s of a piece with Harris’ broader strategy since appeals tied to race or class can alienate some of the swing voters she’s trying to win. The voters who feel otherwise, meanwhile, don’t need reminders.

This brings us to the third, and potentially most important, theory for progressive enthusiasm: Democrats have gotten an awful lot done since Biden took office. An awful lot of it consisted of initiatives or reforms progressives have long championed. And most importantly, it all happened with progressives having a big seat at the table.

The most significant and visible of these accomplishments was the clean green energy investments of the Inflation Reduction Act, which add up (arguably) to the most important climate change legislation in history, plus the law’s health care provisions, which for the first time gave the federal government leverage over the prices of some high-priced drugs in Medicare.

But the list goes beyond that, to the appointment of aggressively pro-consumer and pro-labor officials at key federal agencies, and the burst of spending during the pandemic that (whatever its real or theorized effects on inflation) drove both unemployment and child poverty down to near-record levels.

All of these feel well short of the kinds of transformations progressives would prefer with, say, enactment of “Medicare for All.” But they had, are having or will have tangible, measurable effects on people’s lives — and are examples of the kind of achievements that might be possible if Harris wins and Democrats have control of both congressional houses again.

It so happens that these are also the kinds of achievements that animate up-and-coming party leaders, even if they are not members of the progressive wing — figures like Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, or Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia. Not coincidentally, all gave Harris rousing endorsements in prime- time speeches.

But that too is part of the story about unity: The party’s “moderate” wing today feels pretty strongly about using the federal government to make people’s lives better, just as it does about protecting the freedoms Trump threatens. They may emphasize it differently — focusing more exclusively on the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy manufacturing jobs, for example, and a bit less on its environmental impact. They still land in the same place on policy.

Whether these good feelings would carry through enough to enact a legislative agenda is obviously a separate question and one that is very secondary to the question of whether Democrats even get that opportunity.

The presidential race is still a toss-up, or maybe even a bit worse than that for Harris if the polling now is missing Trump votes the way it did in 2016 and again in 2020. Republicans remain by most accounts a slight favorite to hold at least one house of Congress.

But Harris is coming out of Chicago on a roll, with a party behind her as she reaches out to the swing voters she needs to win. That’s a pretty good place to be.

[theresattrpgforthat]

How about any TTRPGs set underwater that aren't horror themed?

THEME: Underwater Games.

Hello friend! I am so sorry that your asks got eaten - I'm glad to have them back! (It looks like Tabletop Trick or Treat unearthed a few gems.)

Now, let's see what kind of underwater games I can fish up for you!

Deepwater Enclaves, by kiryas.

Just plain old air pollution? A failed weather control experiment? Or more sinister forces? Nobody will know for sure why earth cooled below a dark mantle of clouds in the 1980s. Agriculture could not adapt fast enough and when conventional battles for the few remaining natural resources close to the equatorial line erupted into full-scale nuclear war, humanity was on the brink of extinction. Less than five hundred thousand mostly malnourished, freezing humans were left, when the year 2000 began.

This game is about venturing from a safe Community into the unknown. At the core are taking risks for your loved ones; sometimes this is at odds with your individual motives.

Deepwater Enclaves is a Rooted in Trophy game that contains a number of roll tables with evocative choices, and a community creation that involves the entire table. As players, you play both your character and a member of the community who is important to someone else. You play through a series of scenes, structured in a similar way to the way you might set up a scene in a tv show.

To participate in a scene, if you are not one of the original characters set to play a role, other players must spend a token. These tokens are also used to affect outcomes from when you roll, as well as reduce risks that may pop up as you play. You need two different colours or shades of d6’s for this: one colour will represent regular dice, while the other will represent “dark” dice, which raise the stakes whenever you roll with them.

Overall, I think this game is about exploration and survival. I think it has the potential to be a horror game if you want it to be, but you can also alter the tone to redirect the story towards something more dramatic, perhaps centring the game more on your community, and awarding the players with enough tokens to give them the ability to pull themselves out of danger.

Carcinauts!, by Hessan Yongdi.

Carcinauts! is inspired by a famous British children's animated TV show that takes place in and around the sea. You play animal explorers, scientists, and rescuers. Joined by your many friends and helpers, you seek to learn more about our fascinating oceans. Make the world a better place for the animals who live in and around the Great Blue Sea!

Based on the prolific Dominus system created by members of the Brazilian RPG community, Carcinauts! is designed to allow for quick play without a game master. This makes it idea for a solo session in the Sea or a team adventure, using the tables to build out your story. Its simple rules based around d6s and largely non-violent topic materials also make this game child-friendly.

Carcinauts is a two-page game that feels a little bit like a kid’s show; you are all underwater animal explorers, going on missions and solving problems. The resolution of the game is called the Dilemma oracle, and is fairly simple. You must determine two possible outcomes or answers, and then roll 1d6. On a 1-3 the first option is true, on a 4-6 a second option is true. These outcomes need not necessarily be “success” and “failure” either. They could be “left” and :right”, “up” and “down”, or “true” and “false”. This resolution system also makes the game friendly to solo gamers or GM-less tables.

If you want a light-hearted game about underwater explorers, which generates a lot of story ideas for you, maybe check out Carcinauts.

Deep Love, by Bully Pulpit Games.

You’ve come to this paradise to drop a two-and-a-half ton iron ball off the side of a ship and lower it almost a kilometer into the abyss. 

You’ve come to crawl inside that iron ball and go down with it, to see what there is to see down there. 

You’ve come with three other brilliant adventurers, friends, and lovers, and you’ll all get a chance to descend and risk your lives in exchange for seeing things no human being has ever seen.  And maybe, in the inky darkness and cold silence, you’ll find a measure of happiness and fulfillment.

Deep Love has a fond appreciation for old naturalist drawings of various fish, and uses those drawings as the art for the game. You play four characters, possibly pre-generated, on an expedition to the deep waters of an island for a geographic expedition. You all have feelings for each-other, and you’ll have to spend some extended time in a bathysphere to sort this out.

This game looks like it’s equal parts emotional conversation & role play, and, on the other hand, discovering the wonder of the ocean. According to the designer, it looks like you can modify how much you want to experience the former, and how much you want to experience the latter. If you want a game that gives you the tools to explore both your character’s internal emotional landscape as well as the strange underwater world around them, you might like Deep Love.

Submerged, by Arcane Atlas Games.

SUBMERGED is a solo journalling game of undersea exploration.

In this game, you take on the role of a daring explorer aboard a submersible. You have been charged with venturing into the depths of the ocean, to find something wondrous and undiscovered, hidden deep below the waves.

This one is for the solo gamers! It’s based on Carta, which uses a deck of cards to explore a map or series of locations. The player draws a number of cards and lays them face-down in a grid. Each turn, you move to a new card, flip it over, and come up with a journal entry based on the prompt the card gives you. The four suits represent four elements of the game: the Lost City, The Creature, the Wreckage, and the Signal. All of these elements play into the themes of mystery and exploration that this game seems to be about, but I don’t think any of it is necessarily horror-focused.

24XX The Deep, by Chaosmeister.

ONE DAY THE OCEANS DROWNED THE WORLD. Humanity survived below the waves. The sea birthed leviathans. Your crew owns a dingy old sub. Odd jobs, salvage, leviathan hunting and a few merc gigs keep you afloat and breathing.

24XX The Deep is a game about underwater survival and it’s also a drama. As a 24XX game, it’s only a few pages, but those pages distill the necessary parts of the game into a few things: customization for your submarine (aesthetic and mechanic), character options, and roll tables for pieces of the world, such as the factions that your crew might have to work with or work against.

The designer for this game says that 24XX The Deep isn’t necessarily meant to be a horror game, but it can still be a little creepy in tone when you consider the ways the natural underwater environment can raise the stakes for your players.

Aqua Squad, by Em.

A Tunnel Goons hack of aquatic and aquatic-adjacent adventure, created for the Saturday Morning Cartoon Jam. 

I think this might be a fairly safe bet considering it was submitted to something called the Saturday Morning Cartoon Jam! As a Tunnel Goons hack, this game is fairly simple. You follow the Submarine crew of the Cuttlefish, as they go for adventures underwater. Players pick character types, which kind of act like characters on a tv show, and fill in a few pieces of information to make those characters fit their play style.

The resolution mechanic involves rolling 2d6 and adding a relevant ability, and adding +1 for any relevant item you might have with you. You must meet or beat the difficulty score to succeed. You start with 3 items, and 10 HP. There isn’t much in terms of GM tools for adventure generation however, other than what appears to be episode title names. These titles can be evocative: you roll two words and put them together, so the GM may have an interesting time designing a “ghostly volcano” for the squad to investigate, or trying to figure out what the title “Vacation Megalodon” might mean.

Signals From The Deep, by Aaron Goss.

SIGNALS FROM THE DEEP is a tense, ocean-floor setting and scenario made using a no dice, no masters roleplaying game system Tiny Tokens.

This scenario takes you and the rest of your old, sentient, deep sea research robot team SEA-4 on a shared voyage, exploring deep sea wonders as you seek out the source of a anomalous signal detected way down at the bottom of the ocean. What awaits you in the depths?

Signals in the Deep is a mystery game, but it’s not necessarily a horror one. The game is small, meant to fit on two double-sized poker-card-sized cards. It’s easy to pick up and carry, and doesn’t have too many rules. Your core goal is to figure out the source of the signal; but what exactly that source is will be up to the GM, at least from what I can see.

Also Check Out…

Octopus Shipwreck Explorer, by SassWrites.

Bones Deep, by Technical Grimoire Games.

Odyssey Aquatica, by Old Dog Games.

My Mermaids TTRPG Recommendations.

The Sea Calls Recommendation Post.

My Coral Recommendation Post from last week.

[zzthekaiju]

Best of the Reptiles in Media - 6 - Tyrantis

And here I am again at this! And this time, we're going to the wonderful world of independent literature!

Let me set the scene: Imagine a T-rex, except he's the size of a large building, fights like Heart from a few entries ago, has the personality and love for fighting of Son Goku, and the mannerisms of Showa Godzilla and Gamera?

You get the star of The Atomic Time Of Monsters (A.T.O.M) by William Cope (better known as @tyrantisterror), Tyrantis!

(all art here is by Cope)

For context, the world A.T.O.M takes place in is an alternate history in which most dinosaurs are the ancestors of not birds, but crocodiles. Thus, they all look like the large, lumbering scaly beasts that went out of date around the 70s. And as if that wasn't enough, they're referred to as Retrosaurs. Already, we have an exceptionally tongue-in-cheek bit of worldbuilding to get us excited. Even as someone who loathes seeing outdated depictions of dinosaurs in modern media, I'm always a-okay to see it as an actual intentional choice instead of a lazy one (*cough* *cough* Jurassic World *cough*).

Anyhow, Tyrantis is one of those Retrosaurs. Specifically, a Manospondylus Gigas (based on the outdated look of T-Rex). However, like Godzilla, he's a mutated version. You see, A.T.O.M is a throwback/affectionate parody of monster movies from the 50s, albeit one that turns several of the tropes on their heads. One that it plays a bit straighter is how nuclear testing unleashes monstrous creatures from their slumber. Here, that happens, and it unleashes a huge earthquake that opens up caves leading to an unforeseen hollow earth, where Tyrantis lives.

And this is where the story officially begins, with an underdog female paleontologist named Mina Lerna finding Tyrantis within Hollow Mountain, Montana (there are a LOT of shout-outs in this duology).

Tyrantis had me sold as a character right from the start. You see, several scenes are written from his point of view, and instead of some mindless killer of man like so many giant movie monsters were back in the day, he is instead an inquisitive, naive, and downright kindhearted fellow who's first instinct upon seeing a screaming human in his presence is to try and cheer her up by taking her back to her "herd" (with limited success).

This kaiju is, overall, adorably awesome. Despite his size and power, he approaches almost every creature with one or both of two questions on his mind: "Can I fight it?" and "Can we be friends?" Both books are 90% Tyrantis running into one kaiju after another, and either befriending them, getting into fights, or even both. And it's a joy to see most of the other kaiju (such as Gorgolisk and Tricerak) come around and see him as their friend too. My favorite interactions are between him and the massive spider Bobo, who's this world's stand-in for Mothra.

But Cope doesn't just stop at making Tyrantis a big friendly kaiju, though that would already be enough for him to warrant an entry in my top ten favorite characters ever. Sprinkled into Big Green's mannerisms are tics that you would expect from a reptile. The most prominent of these are him moving his limbs in a circular motion as a sign of hospitality. It's so cute to imagine such a big and intimidating creature doing that. It also helps Tyrantis avert the "all animals are dogs" trope that seems to follow every non-conventional friendly animal in fiction. I mean, I don't mind that too much, but it's a nice change of pace.

Of course, Tyrantis wouldn't be a perfect kaiju if he couldn't fight as well. Every battle he gets into paints him as more than just a bite-happy bruiser (though that's certainly a go-to strategy for him). He's surprisingly capable of strategy at times, albeit while in the middle of a fight instead of before. And yes, he has a breath weapon (fire, specifically). Also, as one might guess from his personality, he's a great team player.

But ultimately, it's his relationship with main character Lerna that brings it all together. For our constantly underestimated heroine, Tyrantis represents everything the people of yesterday couldn't ever seem to see: that making brash judgements based on a first glance is wrong. He gives her the ability to prove her mettle as an amazing scientist and the bridge between our understanding of the amazing kaiju. And on top of that, he's just a really good friend to those tiny little things that seem to like him more and more with each year. Even the military commander character warms up to him almost instantly (I'm talking about General Sherman, one of my favorite humans in the duology).

A.T.O.M takes the overblown machismo and chauvinistic attitude of the 50s apart piece by piece. Aside from having human protagonists who rebel against the status quo, Tyrantis demonstrates how being tough is sometimes necessary, but being empathetic and kind as well is what really makes a strong creature. By being his charmingly and adorably good-natured self, he makes more friends than enemies, and they all have his back throughout all the increasingly crazy adventures they have.

Plus, he's got his own theme song in the second story. Someone outta make a cover of that already!

(And maybe an animated adaptation? Please? Maybe we could make it the next big indie animation thing? Just putting that out there.)

(art by me)

[novlr]

I don't know what genre my book is going to be. Is it really that important to know?

In simple terms, genre is the label that tells readers what to expect from a particular book, helps you target the right audience for your work, and also allows for relevant marketing to make sure you set your work up for success.

But genre is more than just a label. Understanding genre helps you structure your stories, connect with your target readers, and increase your chances of publication.

What is genre?

In short, genre is the categorisation of literary works based on their shared characteristics, such as style, form, content, and theme. It can, unfortunately, also be somewhat intangible, as there is a lot of overlap between them. For instance, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Drama are all genres, but they include stylistic subgenres within them, like novels, short stories, essays, sonnets, and plays. On top of that, they will also cover themed genres like romance, science fiction, fantasy, memoir, and horror.

Some age categories have also become nebulously entwined with genre. Young Adult fiction (YA), for instance, is traditionally an age range and not a genre. However, many readers will refer to it as they would a genre, as for them, the age range evokes a certain style of writing that speaks to them.

There is also no strict genre line that writes can’t cross. Books can implement a variety of genres in their narratives. Popular pairings might include romance and fantasy, science fiction and horror, fantasy and memoir, and science fiction and thriller/mystery.

There may also be genre elements included in works that don’t share that genre. For instance, a romance subplot does not automatically place a book in the romance genre. It’s really all about the main theme and style of what you’re writing, and understanding what you’re trying to say within the context of other works within that genre.

Why is genre important?

To guide your writing process

Understanding the conventions and expectations of your chosen genre can help guide your writing process. Each genre has its own set of rules, tropes, and reader expectations. For instance, a romance novel typically focuses on the development of a romantic relationship between the main characters, while a mystery novel centers around solving a crime or unraveling a puzzle.

Familiarising yourself with the key elements of your genre can help you structure your story and develop your characters in a way that your readers can connect with. They’ll understand how to approach your book when picking it up, ensuring that they view your writing through the correct lens.

Connecting with your audience

Genre helps you identify and connect with your target audience. Readers often gravitate towards specific genres based on their interests and preferences. By writing within a particular genre, you can attract readers who are already interested in the type of story you’re telling.

Moreover, understanding your readers’ expectations allows you to write in a way that will resonate with them emotionally. You can tap into the themes, tropes, and emotional beats that your readers crave, creating a stronger connection between them and your work.

Readers have their own tastes, so it’s important to write in a way that caters to the tastes of the audience you want to cultivate. Even if your audience is niche, they will still have things they will expect from that niche. Every book has an audience, so it’s all about finding them and speaking to them directly.

Marketability and publishing

In the publishing world, genre plays a significant role in how books are marketed and sold. Publishers, agents, and booksellers often categorise books by genre to help readers find the stories they’re looking for.

When you have a clear understanding of your genre and can effectively communicate it to others, you increase your chances of getting your work noticed by industry professionals. It also helps you identify the right markets, publishers, and literary agents who specialize in your genre, increasing your opportunities for publication.

But most of all, it helps you market your book to the right people. There’s a lot that goes into marketing, and it’s not just advertising. Blurbs, book covers, and the way you talk about your work all feed into how readers will receive it. If you’ve written a grimdark horror novel but talk about the romance elements when describing it, you’ll attract the wrong sort of reader who might not connect with your book. You want to reach the right readers who are already primed to enjoy what you’re putting out into the world. It’s all about marketing to your audience.

Subvert and blend genres

While understanding genre conventions is important, it doesn’t mean you have to be confined by them. Many successful writers have made their mark by subverting genre expectations or blending multiple genres to create something unique and fresh.

By having a strong grasp of genre, you can identify opportunities to break the rules, challenge conventions, and put your own creative spin on familiar tropes. This can help your work stand out in a crowded market and attract readers who are looking for something different or leave your readers with a book they’ll continue thinking about for years to come.

How to embrace genre

Read widely within your chosen genre to familiarise yourself with its conventions, tropes, and reader expectations.

Analyse successful books in your genre to identify what works well and why.

Experiment with different genres to find the one that resonates with your writing style and interests.

Consider your target audience and what they’re looking for in a story.

Don’t be afraid to subvert genre expectations or blend genres in unique ways.

Remember, genre is not a limitation but a tool to help you write and connect with your readers.

[lightofraye]

Food For Thought

Fear not, I am still working on the next review of Wales Comic Con. I'm wishing there were close-ups of the convention so I could have a better look of faces, but it may have to be what it is.

But that's not what this post is about.

AustinCon--SPNAustin/SPNAus/Whatever the acronym--is already starting and we've heard and seen some rather inappropriate commentary from Kim and Briana (dear gods, please, develop some class!), Matt Cohen... being peculiar... a group karaoke that largely consisted of the "extras" (as they're often called), and the BBQ with Jensen and Steve (aka Radio Company).

It's been a trip watching the photos and commentary by fans. Or stans. Or is it both?

Of course, I didn't forget Jared and his book event with Genevieve (well, her book event). They were cute together! I keep forgetting just how freaking tall he is until I saw that full length photo and just stared. I'm above average for a woman myself--5'9"--and something tells me he'd give me a crick in my neck just to talk to him.

Out of all of that, the one that disappointed me a bit was hearing the BBQ with Radio Company lasted only an hour. For more than $300, I'd expect it to last at least a couple of hours.

Not for the first time, I wonder about the financial problems that may or may not be plaguing the Ackles. There's a lot of things not adding up and the BBQ event was a "last minute" addition (like just a month ago). Unfortunately, it's all speculation and I have so many theories spinning through my mind. Pieces of a whole, missing key points that may never be answered.

However, as I've been musing, I recalled a conversation with a follower. A quick message, a comment. They mentioned a recent Meet and Greet with Jensen. Of course, with the Non-Disclosure Agreement, they couldn't go into details. But could, at least, give me a general gist:

"In a recent meet and greet, Jensen shared information that convinced me that he is home often. Little things, but also one main piece unrelated to kids or wife that proved he spends significant amount of time at home."

This may be true. The mansion has three floors plus a basement. It's certainly huge enough that he could quite literally have a whole wing to himself, an aspect of separation without the legalese involved. The blueprints of the mansion showed it was entirely possible.

But... it still niggled at me.

In discussing it with a few others, one person chimed in. "That basement is large enough to fit a bedroom, office, gym, and so much more!"

And it hit me.

They had the equipment of a gym back in Austin, when Jensen was trying to bulk up for Soldier Boy back then for Season 3 of The Boys. We saw the videos, the photos. I imagine they moved the equipment with them. So why did we see several photos of Jensen at an outside gym?

It's not for a trainer, though the exclusive gym he went to could've provided one. Or, with his money, he could hire a private one to attend to him at the mansion!

So why outside the mansion?

The answer is altogether too heartbreaking: he can't abide to be at home.

It's safer, and healthier, to be away.

Then I remembered a discussion I had with one of my... I'll call them 'industry experts'. Meet and Greets are where actors 'test' stories, see how they land and then use the 'successful' stories in later conventions. With the NDAs, fans wouldn't be able to say anything without risking a lawsuit, expensive ones at that.

It'd certainly explain the weird shifting of stories that don't always ring true or change too fast. Like when he was in Rome, Jensen said Danneel liked cooking Italian food. Later, in France, it was French food and French music. How many fans would listen to every single one of those conventions and match stories? Or even care that it changed too much, too fast, and with gaping holes that felt awkward?

Pieces of a whole. Generic stories, nothing specific. Not of Danneel asking him to try something new that tasted incredible. Or a burnt food accident that smoked out their kitchen. Or the kids enjoying one of the songs.

Get what I mean?

The pieces don't fit. He says one thing here, another thing there, and it doesn't match.

If he's still persistently trying to build the Family Man Image... if Gersh has someone monitoring keywords (GERSH! GERSH! GERSH! Does it work like Beetlejuice?), I'd advise them to tell Jensen to stop. It's not working. Maybe for a small section of a dying fandom (oh god, please don't kill me), but for the rest? We're not buying it.

And for his mental and emotional--and hell, physical!--health, I'd say he should try to go for the divorced dad image.

Lots of things stirring in my mind. Far too much.

This week was hard. Seeing the ongoing put down from people who don't understand the mindset of someone in the middle of abuse, the insults, the demeaning comments ("weak", "pussy", "not a man", and so forth) really got to me. Broke my heart.

Then there's the controversy surrounding the movie, "It Ends With Us", and the inaccuracy of the ending that had me headdesking repeatedly.

It seemed the theme of the week is Domestic Violence.

For survivors, who got away. For the victims, who are still trapped. For those who think it's normal, because they don't know any better (yes, this is a thing; if a person's baseline is well below what should be considered okay, what makes you think they'd know differently?).

It's emotionally draining. It's exhausting.

But every so often I get a message of support, of people who are grateful for me speaking out.

And then there's my son, who I am desperate to keep safe.

Breaking of cycles have to begin somewhere.

Let it start with me.

[allyriadayne]

Would love to hear about this degendering theory for the maidenvault sisters?

the term might not be right but it's a little like this: daena, rhaena and elaena escaped their gender, the thing they were guilty of after leaving the maidenvault.

the sisters in the maidenvault were explicitly locked up for being girls and for their potential temptation of baelor the blessed. this a very gendered punishment (look how elaena cuts her long hair, a sign of her potential womanhood) that ties both into their status as unattached maidens and as sisters of the king. note that 1) naerys was not locked up because she was married, she was a matron with a son and thus unavailable to baelor for being claimed by another man; and 2) non targaryen girls weren't locked up either, they just served as temporary companion to the sisters.

so ten years passes and they are freed after baelor's death.i'm not going to get into the psychological implications of spending formative years locked up for being a woman with only your sisters as company but i am interested in how each one dealt with this, how they escaped their """crime""".

daena. most obvious of all. she's the oldest and boldest of the three. in the books this part of the story revolves around her exploits and her ultimate purpose within the story: birthing daemon blackfyre. she's said to escape the maidenvault alongside her cousin aegon to meet men and drink in taverns, she probably did races as well and caused mayhem as a way to free herself from the oppression she lives at home. during this time she eventually falls pregnant and has a bastard, a direct parallel to what aegon was doing around this time too.

we all know how it goes yadda yadda baelor fasts and kills himself (or not...) and after this it's very probably daena continues with even more excess now that she's free and was never chosen as the next queen. daena acts just like any second son noble born without responsibilities (like aegon!!!), mothering bastards (grrm saying she was a "stepmother of sorts" to bittersteel...), drinking, going to town and generally being very debauched. compare how naerys spends her time in the story! daena has put herself outside of the woman, princess, lady role. none of the usual rules apply to her at all, she can't ever be locked up again by her gender.

this is why my speculation that she died in some mishap riding or hunting fits very well with what her life was like after the vault. just like viserra trying to escape a marriage, daena could've died doing a typical male-dominated hobby or activity (i unfortunately don't discard dying in childbirth due to how common it is in targ women).

rhaena, though we don't know much of her, we know that she was the most pious one of the sisters and "never chafed" at the captivity due to her being more meek, ladylike and kind. it isn't said if she had aspirations of becoming a septa before their imprisonment but that she followed through it's incredible interesting for me. she fully escaped court and any role as a lady, mother and wife she could've had if she had stayed available. it's like she removed herself completely, like daena, from another maidenvault situation.

of course, a motherhouse is just as restrictive if we liken it to a real world convent but we can't ignore that as a septa she's just another servant to the seven gods and has much more freedom than any other lady of the court (think naerys and her constant motif of escaping her role of wife, sister and mother by becoming a septa), which is ultimately, what they are all looking for.

elaena, at last, embodies perhaps the most successful of these attempts. she was the youngest one of the three but the cutting of her hair shows a real clarity in the situation they were going to put in, this same clarity is what separated her from her peers in later years. she begins as the little sister following into daena's footsteps by having children outside of marriage, again, a typical male-dominated occupation, and then she's married off to lord plumm.

i think elaena was the most practical one out of her sisters (she was like aunt rhaena in this way #ToMe). she understood it was better to follow along with what was being presented to her after the maidenvault and specially after having two children with someone who wasn't going to marry her. better this than what i had before, better this than being adrift. nonetheless with her subsequent marriages she takes a decidedly masculine position by being in all but name, the master of coin. another thing i find particularly interesting about elaena's story is that she has a third marriage (practically unheard of in asoiaf female characters), that she personally chooses in a younger man without obvious ambition and with what we could say mere ornamental (and sexual) purpose for the well established and older elaena, AND the narrative allows her to very probably die of old age (something very very few targ woman are allowed to do).

ultimately, this is no more a theory than a different way to view the sister's story post maidenvault post baelor in a way i think sheds some light in the gendered punishment they suffered and the fascinating way they escaped it. thanks for the question!

[touhoucrackmonth]

Welcome to the first Touhou Crack Month!

Are you bored of conventional ships? Do you want more spice in Touhou works? Are you a writer up to a challenge? Do you want to try something completely new for a change? Do you want to see utter chaos reign? Whatever your reason is, welcome to the first edition of the Touhou Crack Month!

What is this event?

This is a month-long event where writers are given randomly-generated crack pairings, and have to desperately wrangle with whatever insane ship the RNG gods have wrought upon them.

The goal of this event is to celebrate creativity, originality and adaptability in shipping, and spawn many crackfics for readers and writers alike to enjoy!

Proceedings

The event lasts the whole month of March, starting on March 1st at 00:01 and ending on April 1st at midnight (both CET), so all fics should be published before that deadline. Each participant will get randomly-generated pairings to write fics about. All participants will receive different pairings, though a single participant can receive multiple pairings with shared characters.

Participants are encouraged to write several fics (up to 4) throughout the month, but there is no small contribution to this crackmonth! If you want to try your hand at a crackship but don't think you'll have the time to write more than one story, that's perfectly fine!

Please reblog and share this post with anyone you think might be interested!

Guide for potential participants (keep reading)

To participate, simply sign up using the form provided near the end of this post. In there, you can select different options to customize your event. First is a 'difficulty' setting:

Easy: you will receive 4 randomly-generated pairings, with one to choose from for your fic.

Normal: same as Easy, but with 3 pairings.

Hard: same as Normal, but with 2 pairings.

Lunatic: same as Normal, but with only 1 pairing, which means you have no choice!

You are not required to disclose your chosen difficulty, nor should you be judged for it.

You also have options to exclude some characters, for instance if you know them too little, or if you don't want to write ship content involving them. It's important you fill this in correctly, as the pairings that are sent to you are final and non-negotiable!

Completed fics are to be published to the official Touhou Crack Month 2024 collection.

If you're done with a fic and wish to write another one, simply apply again once the fic for your previous pairing has been published to the collection. You can only write up to 4 fics during the month.

Eligible pairings

Generally, eligible pairings are those where the two characters have no significant canon dialogue, interactions or strong backstory links (the latter case covers pairings such as Miko/Saki). Generic, one-off fight banter generally doesn't count (especially relevant for playable characters), nor does VS mode-exclusive dialogue (not counted as canon), nor do very brief manga/print work scenes (for instance the big banquet of Silent Sinner in Blue).

Additionally, the characters shouldn't be successive bosses in the same game (e.g. Wriggle/Mystia, Doremy/Sagume) on account of how relatively popular those pairings tend to be. In any case, the pairing should also have strictly less than 5 AO3 works under its tag(s), if applicable.

This event is yuri (F/F) only; male characters are excluded. Non-humanoid characters are also excluded unless otherwise specified by individual participants.

Note that these rules aren't exhaustive and there may be some pairings that we reserve the right to include or exclude when generating the prompts.

General fic rules

No NSFW, no pedophilic content. No incest (though all such pairings are ineligible anyway).

Beyond those no-brainers, there is no particular restriction on themes.

FORM LINK

The sign-up form is available at this link. Make sure to read the previous explanations!

For any additional questions, just send an ask and we will try to answer the best we can!

[familyabolisher]

I’ve seen you talk a lot about umineko, what’s the elevator pitch? Also, not really a fan of manga/anime (as in I just don’t enjoy a lot of the genre conventions - nothing against them, it’s just not for me), would you still recommend it? I’ve gotten so many great media recs from your blog, I really respect your taste at this point lol 😀

the pitch i've been using that has near-ubiquitously worked on my irl friends is: an obscenely wealthy family reuniting on a secluded island called rokkenjima are isolated from the rest of the world and murdered in a pattern that corresponds to an occult ritual associated with beatrice, the "golden witch" who rules over the rest of the island outside of their home and to whom the family patriarch is obsessively devoted. the end goal of this ritual seems to be the witch's revival, and the narrative presents the murders in such a manner that it is difficult to see how they could've been done through human (ie. non-magical) means. however, one condition of the ritual demands that the survivors "praise [her] noble name" - the ritual's success depends upon everyone who doesn't get got in the sacrifice roulette believing in witches/believing in beatrice the golden witch of rokkenjima island specifically. our protagonist, battler, believes that he can explain the murders through human means. the narrative then becomes a process of beatrice "resetting" the timeline, carrying out the ritual murders with different means in a different order, attempting to outsmart battler and force him to admit that the murders can only be explained through supernatural intervention, and battler coming up with explanations for how every scenario beatrice establishes is theoretically plausible without the need for witches and magic and so on. each time the story resets, we find out a bit more about the family, their backstories, beatrice's involvement, and what it means to be a 'witch' at all.

[ourjobagency]

In a world that often emphasizes traditional career paths, it's easy to feel pressured to follow a predetermined route to success. However, not everyone fits into the conventional mold, and there are countless examples of individuals who have achieved greatness through unconventional career paths. These alternative routes to success are inspiring and demonstrate that success

To Know More Visit Us:

[kimmiessimmies]

Bestseller (2/26)

"Congratulations! How did you feel when you heard your book 'Extraordinary Paws' was chosen as Young Children's Book of the Year?"

"Honestly, quite humbled. I mostly wrote this book because I wanted my son to be able to recognise himself and his family situation. We read a lot, and I noticed pretty much all children's books had the traditional mum-dad family situation as a starting point. I figured that needed to change. For Jonah and for other kids, too. But I didn't expect it to be this successful. And for it to be chosen as Young Children's Book of the Year is quite overwhelming, to be honest."

"Your book is mostly praised for the fact that the protagonist, Ciaran, may grow up in a non-conventional family situation, but that's not the main focus of the story, which is the adventures he and his cat Paws experience. It's said you managed to make the fact that Ciaran has a mum and two dads just as normal as the fact he doesn't like broccoli. How do you feel about that?"

"I'd say, 'mission accomplished', because that's exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to write a book that shows little kids out there not all families look the same, and hey, that one is just like mine. There are already books that do that, but then that's what the emphasis is on. Which is, of course, fine, but I wanted something different, a cool story in which the kid just happens to have three parents."

"Do you have plans to write more stories in which a non-conventional family features?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, at the moment, I have no idea what I'll do next! I'm going to bask in the glow of this honour for a while first."

"And so you should! Thanks for your time, and congratulations again!"

"Thank you!"

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

“A key question, then, is why Hatton chose to extend his patronage to so many Catholics? A conspiratorial view might be that he sought to infiltrate Catholic circles in order to betray their plotting, yet this would have involved one of the most successful ‘deep cover’ operations in history, and is simply not credible. A slightly more subtle version of this view would be that he sought to police the line between unthreatening non-​conformity and active plotting, and there may be some merit to this, inasmuch as he represented a kind of success story among Elizabethan Catholic sympathisers; yet the involvement of his contacts with the Arden-​Somerville affair and the Babington Plot suggests that any efforts he made along these lines were only partially successful.

In fact, the most likely explanation for Hatton’s patronage of Catholics is probably the simplest: he did it because he thought it the right thing to do. In some cases, as we have seen, the choice was made for him: he could not choose his family. He could choose his friends, however, and it is hardly possible that the high concentration of Catholics around him was not a reflection of his own attitudes. This issue will be explored in more detail in Chapter 6. He must consciously have decided that protecting Catholics was worthwhile. He may have done so out of fellow-​feeling or confessional solidarity; it may be that a generous and kindly spirit was an element of this, as is often claimed. He may have been trying to recruit a following to bolster his own position.

Taking a broader view, he may have thought that persecution of ordinary Catholics was simply bad policy, a threat to the stability of the State. Such an attitude reflects the Queen’s own disinclination to make windows into men’s souls. This is not a position that can properly be described as politique, since it entailed supporting people who refused to submit fully to the law, but it can be described as a pragmatic stance in support of national unity. Whereas Francis Bacon advised Elizabeth to keep the Catholics down (albeit not desperate) and stick with the Protestants, purely on pragmatic grounds, Hatton may have thought differently. (..)

Hatton’s stance must also mean that he acted as a channel of communication between the regime and the ‘Catholic community’. Given the paucity of Hatton’s archive, there is not much evidence for how this actually worked (it may have been more symbolic and unspoken), but having, for example, Ralph Sheldon to his house for dinner is striking. Surely it was important for the Queen and perhaps the nation that the large constituency of Catholic nobles and gentry had some access to Queen, Council and patron- age. Burghley and Walsingham may not have thought so, but their careers were dependent on the success of Protestantism. Hatton’s was dependent on the Queen. In this sense Hatton was a point of contact between Catholics and government. Some of his followers were not satisfied with their position, of course, and were tempted into more dangerous courses, and this made it dangerous to do what he did. Whether his patronage was sufficient to dissuade others from taking this more extreme view is unknowable.

In the conventional understanding of patronage relationships, it is normally assumed that in return for their loyalty, a patron was able to channel rewards towards his clients. Clearly, Hatton did so in the case of his closer servants and men-​of-​business: Dodge, Flower, Swale and others gained official positions, profitable jobs and so on. In terms of his wider clientele, it seems likely that the main currency was protection from the law, or from the malicious use of the law by local opponents: either Hatton discreetly intervened to protect his followers from persecution, or the very knowledge that they could call on his support shrouded them in a degree of immunity. (..)

Just as Leicester’s following included many who are sometimes called Puritan, but who were actually very much on the moderate end of puritanism, so Hatton’s following contained many moderate, loyal Catholics. One difference may be that the hard core of Leicester’s patronage network seem to have had a fairly conscious shared objective of defending and advancing the forward Protestant cause, whereas in Hatton’s case, there was a more diffuse set of possibilities for what they actually wanted: a full return to Rome, Catholicism without the Pope, or simply a conservative Church of England.

Hatton’s role (or at any rate the courtly and political role of religious conservatives like Hatton) has a longer-​term significance, therefore. It helps to explain how so many Catholics and crypto-​Catholics remained in prominent positions in public life; at the same time as historians write about the persecution of Catholics, they routinely acknowledge that many fairly open Catholics apparently lived very normal lives. Figures like Hatton help square this circle. Hatton and people like him helped to shape the national religious environment, both in practical and in symbolic terms.”

Neil Younger, Religion and politics in Elizabethan England: The life of Sir Christopher Hatton

[thesunwillshineonusagain757]

𝐆𝐎 𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓

In the Westerosi constitutional monarchy, Crown Prince Rhaegar found himself imprisoned by the rigid dictates of his birthright. Despite his lofty status, the gilded cage of royalty choked him, killing his unspoken desires. As he treads the corridors of and the very exclusive and most luxurious boarding school in the continent, more and more he embraces the inevitability of having to concealing his heart's yearnings, to the day he died.

Yet, a fated encounter unravels his world. Lyanna, an enigmatic new student hailing from the North, emerges as a tempestuous presence. Veiled in mystery and unfazed by his princely mantle, she refuses to bow to convention. With her arrival, the halls of the boarding school transform into a crucible of transformation, igniting a journey that transcends fate itself. Follow the start, the middle and the end of the relationship that will change everything.

𝐋𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊

Lyanna Aleksander Rickardevna Stark, is a new student in the Harrenhal institute, she came from the North after being released from prison. She likes to keep her history under wraps; Stark was enrolled into the Harrenhal Institute and went to the Labradorite house. Right as she came to the school she met Rhaegar Targaryen and unlike most people she did not treat him as someone who deserved her respect solely on the merit of his title, if anything her opinion of him wasn't the best because of this.

𝐑𝐇𝐀𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐄𝐍

The Crown Prince Rhaegar Lucaerys Aelon Targaryen, Duke of Dragonstone Rhaegar was born as the first son of King Aerys and his consort, Queen Rhaella, Rhaegar is currently first in the line of succession after his father. Since birth, he has dealt with the weight of many responsibilities and is acutely aware of what is expected of him, to keep up a positive public reputation for the sake of his family. He made the decision, he wanted to live his life as normally as possible, but that was not permitted by his parents, who sent him to the prestigious boarding school near Harrenhall. Rhaegar's life was, but he couldn't see a way to make it out of it. But in his junior year, he met Lyanna, and that changed his mind forever.

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

Alternate Universe - Academia | Alternate Universe - Teenagers | Angst and Fluff and Smut | Some Humor | But serious too | Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con( not in the story )| Private School | Alternate Universe - Boarding School | Alternate Universe - Rock Band | Enemies to Friends to Lovers | Rivals to Friends to Lovers | Slow Burn | Lyanna uses sarcasm and antagonism as self-defence | Rhaegar is a sad boy who needs a hug | Forced Proximity | Fake/Pretend Relationship | Dark Academia | Flash Back Fic | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD | Second Change Love Maybe ?

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Petri questionnaire for @sonic-oc-showdown!

Name: Petri

Species: Hedgehog, with a little bit of field mouse!

Home: She usually rents an apartment in Sunset city, but that’s getting more complicated in her current situation

✨ How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Sonic naming conventions, so I went through a list of names that fit her skillsets! Petri like a Petri dish ^^

🧑‍🦳 How old are they?

27!

💞 Do they have any love interests?

Nope! Aside from a tiny crush on her boss, but what non-robotic Eggman lacky can’t say that.

🥞 What is their favorite food?  

She needs her fill of coffee every day if she wants a chance at staying upright. Aside from that she enjoys pastries and breakfast foods! Usually during a busy night though, she isn’t an early riser.

💼 What do they do for a living?

If she had her way she’d be working her old job as Eggman’s Secretary! While not the line of work she dreamed of, she’ll take any chance to get closer to the doctor and his resources someday. For now she’s interning at the Chaotix detective agency in exchange for their skills.

🏐 Do they have any hobbies?  

She’s an avid chess player! Though she doesn’t like playing on a competitive level. Petri adores board games and puzzles, and enjoys any activity that gets her mind racing and an opportunity to show her skillsets!

🎯 What do they do best?  

Setting her mind to something! Once she’s made a decision, she’ll be hard pressed to go back on it. Whether it’s due to arrogance or genuine passion is debatable, but either way she won’t settle for anything that she doesn’t deem to herself as successful.

🥊 What do they love? What do they hate?  

Petri loves her work as a chemist!! She cares about what she does a lot, and strives to one day create her own company. And as much as Petri loves the idea of success she hates any notion of not being needed or acknowledged for her talents even more. She’s also somewhat dismissive and snide, but can’t stand when people respond to her on the same level. 

📸 What is one of your OC’s best memories?  

Hanging out with Orbot and Cubot during slow office days! Whether it’s the chance to chat their processors to mush, or play a friendly game of checkers, those little visits secretly shine in her memory.

✂️ What is one of your OC’s worst memories?  

I Can’t really say yet! She sure isn’t happy about losing her job though.

🏚️ Is their current design their first one?  

Nope! I had a couple scrapped designs before I landed on what I liked. Originally she was going to be a lot more studious, a paleontologist, and she had a long braid for a little while! 

🧠 What originally inspired this OC?  

Petri was only developed as an attempt to design a hedgehog character to see what I could come up with myself! What was meant to be a one off sketch quickly turned into a slew of ideas once it dawned on me how much i’d enjoy making a more antagonistic character! If I created her now knowing what she would evolve into I probably wouldn’t have made her a hedgehog, but I really love the way she is now.

🎬 What genre do they belong in?  

Whatever you’d label sonic. Not as much mystery as you’d expect a lady tagging along with the Chaotix to have though.

🏳️‍🌈 What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?  

Bisexual trans woman! 

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 How many siblings does your OC have?  

Only child!

🧑‍🍼 What is the OC’s relations w/their parents like?  

Not strained by any means, but not really on speaking terms. I think Petri is a little too prideful to let them back into her life before she’s established herself the way she envisioned.

💜 What do you like most about the OC?  

She is just sooo silly and holds a special place in my heart due to how much joy I’ve found from developing her! I’ve planned out an entire story around her and it’s the most passionate I’ve felt toward an oc in a very long time! To be succinct, I just like writing her :)

🖍️ How often do you draw/write about the OC?  

A lot comparatively, but i created her during a rough time and haven’t been able to draw as much as I’d want. So like! As often as I can.

🔪 Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?  

Nope! I don’t think I’ve ever killed off any of my own characters, I’m much more into the idea that she has to face her mistakes than use her for a big self sacrificing gesture.

💀 Does your OC have any phobias?

Petri is much more anxiety prone than she lets on, and is deeply afraid of being forgotten. Aside from personal fears she doesn’t like being around flickies and small animals.  

❤️‍🔥 Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?  

Currently she has a guttural hatred towards Sonic for costing her her job, but he doesn’t know that. (Or her.) But other than that… well. :)

⏱️ How long have you had the OC?

Since September 12, 2021!!!