#The Librarian of Burned Books

[somestorythoughts]

"I may not have it in me to be the hero of anyone's story. But this time, it's within my power not to be the villain."

[turning-pages-seeking-sages]

“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night—there’s all heaven and earth in a book."

- Brianna Labuskes, The Librarian of Burned Books

[kbookblurbs]

The Librarian of Burned Books - Brianna Labuskes

4/5 - Engaging read about the dangers of censorship and underappreciated work done by women during the war

The Librarian of Burned Books follows three separate timelines with three separate women narrating. The first, narrated by a young American author, takes place before the war in Berlin. The second, narrated by a Jewish librarian, takes place in Paris during the war but before the invasion of Paris. The last, in 1944, is narrated by a young woman widowed by the war who is trying to get funding for the American Armed Services Editions.

Overall, the book was very engaging! I didn't go in expecting a sapphic relationship but I was pleasantly surprised to find one here! Morally gray characters all around, some more interesting and more forgivable than others. Many of the characters seem to serve as questions of what happens when a person makes x, y, or z choices.

The point on censorship is especially poignant given that it comes from an American author at a time when states are trying to ban books. It makes a fairly good social commentary on the fascist nature of book bannings/burnings and how that information can still be disseminated and used for good.

This book itself goes a bit light on the American press before the war, in that Americans weren't necessarily anti-Nazi until they were involved in the war, but I understand cutting that for the sake of time and plot.

I've also seen a lot of lowered reviews because of the lesbian relationship - if you can't handle fictional gay people and PG-13 could-be-shown-on-daytime-television sex scenes, that's a skill issue. Get over it.

[blogthefiresidechats]

Monthly Release Party......February 2023

I’ve assembled a few books that will be released this month that I’m looking forward to. I’ve posted the cover art for the book as well as the synopsis for each book. At the end of the synopsis, I’ve listed the day it will be released this month. What are you looking forward to reading? Synopsis: Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the…

[rotten-dog-teeth]

I need to say something, as an archivist.

Please look after your books. Please. Don't throw them in the bin, don't tear pages out, don't screw them up. If you don't want them anymore, either sell them, or donate them, whether it be to a charity shop, a library, or a school or university.

I rescue old books and look after them. I've just been sorting through the most recent lot that I've gotten, and there were books in there - that the original owners wanted to just throw away - that had survived over 100 years, and predated the first (1st) world war.

That in itself, is amazing. Because what most people don't know/realise, is that so many books did not survive the world wars, especially the second (2nd) one. Not only were countless libraries destroyed in bombings, but so many books were burned and eradicated under the Nazi regime.

This is still an issue today, with book burnings and bannings still taking place, such as in the USA; as well as countries being bombed and seiged, destroying so many books containing records of those people's history, culture and lives, such as in Palestine.

I've found books that were printed the year the second (2nd) world war ended, first (1st) editions filled with documents from the war, detailing everything that happened, every action that was taken, everywhere they went, every letter that was exchanged, every soldier that was felled. Documents that would have otherwise been destroyed, if not during the war by the opposition, then by the people who wrote it in the first place, to try to hide certain aspects of the war to paint themselves in a better light, or cover up certains tragedies or mistakes. These are pivotal resources for historians, especially books for time periods less written about/well-documented.

So often, I see books that are on their last legs, falling apart, and most people's reactions are to just throw them in the bin. This breaks my heart. Not only are you destroying a record of something so human - whether that be stories told to children to help them sleep at night, records of a huge historical event that meant the world to the people of that time, poems written by someone painfully in love so long ago - but snuffing out the life that book lived.

Every book I rescue, I check for two (2) things: print date, and notes.

The print date is simple - it tells me how old the book is. But the notes are what I mean by the life of the book. So many books I find have hand-written notes in them, and they give you little hints of the life they've lived. Here are some real notes I've found in books:

"Peter, Chemistry department of [X] university" in a german-english dictionary of chemistry terminology. This book was a gift to a university student, he was studying chemistry, and probably either working with a German team, or maybe leaving home after university to go to Germany, or some other german speaking country. These kinds of books are really specific, and at the time of print (roughly the 50s or 60s if I remember correctly), you couldn't just search for it online (something a good portion of us have never known) - you had to find a specialist book shop or find one that could track it down for you. Whoever got this book, cared about the person they gave it to, and went through the effort of finding this specific book for Peter before he left home. I would guess maybe a family member. Maybe they never saw him again.

"For our 50th anniversary - Annie & Frank" in a little homemade books of recipes. This book had been put together over several years, presumeably over the course of this couple's marriage - 50 years. This book was probably an anniversary gift from one of the two (2) partners to the other. So many recipes, lovingly collected and kept over decades. Probably having been cooked for eachother a hundred times over. These people probably had such fond memories of being sat at the dinner table - maybe just the two (2) of them, maybe with family, friends, and other company - eating the warm, homemade meals from these recipes. Making and sharing food with someone is often a very intimate and loving thing to do. I like to think they loved eachother so very much.

[A double-sided A4 love letter] found in a book of poetry. The letter was faded, and most of it was indistinguishable, but there were little bits that I could read, and they were lovely. This was written more recently (it contained more modern dialect), but was still so precious all the same. I wonder what that book lived through. A spark. An anxious confession. A romance. Perhaps a break-up too. Maybe that's why the book ended up in the donations. I imagine that the recipient of the love letter and poetry forgot the letter was even in there. The book was probably a gift from their partner - maybe specially picked, perhaps because the recipient liked poetry, or that specific poet at least - and that's probably why they used the letter as a bookmark in it. I still think about those people sometimes, where they ended up. Where are they now?

Those are just some of them, and I hope you understand why I care so much about these little bundles of paper and ink. They tell a story, not just in what's printed, but in their age, their condition, in the little notes people leave behind. Even simply the fact that some books' pages are so thin and smooth from being flicked through and read by an adoring reader so many times that the page corners have been worn thin by stroking fingers.

You may feel like nobody cares about that one book you have sitting in the corner of your room, and that "there are thousands of those books, this one doesn't matter", or that it's "ruined" because of that little message your mum wrote on the front page when she got it for you, but what you don't realise is that future historians and archivists are begging you to look after it, and make sure it's given to a good home. It may end up being the last surviving copy of that book. That little message could tell them so much that you don't even notice right now.

It breaks my heart finding old books with pages missing, which may never be recovered - the contents lost to time forever. Finding books whose spines are falling apart and pages are moulded from dampness - having been neglected for years. Finding books whose pages are worn and faded, yellowed and bent - just left to rot.

It fustrates me when I find books that have been poorly or just outright incorrectly handled. You can tell if a book's from a school library, because it has tape all over the cover, hiding the face of the book with a permanent dust jacket, because apparently they decided it ought to stay hidden; because it has check-out pages glued over the print date, because the day somebody borrowed it is more important than the book's birthday. I love libraries, and they're so important, but sometimes I wish some of them took better care of their books.

This is my plea to the people, and love letter to the books.

Please. I love you.

[humnooshop]

Some more bookish pins from my Redbubble :)

[commiepinkofag]

AAACAB

Video Evidence — Idiot Bigot Who Has Never Been Inside of a Library, Much Less Read a Book

“What do they call these?” Norris asks. “Graphic novels,” she says. “Graphic nov,” he responds “Graphic novels,” she says. “Graphic novels,” he says back.

The body camera footage gives a rare window into the types of “investigations” that police are doing at libraries and which experts say are intended to intimidate librarians and the public. The footage was obtained using a public records request by Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney at FIRE, an organization that protects free speech. “Anytime you have police officers wandering the shelves of libraries looking for objectionable books, that would raise a pretty big red flag that something is amiss,” Steinbaugh told me. “Police with body cameras rolling into libraries … that’s going to have a chilling effect.”

[wannabe-british-fangirl]

~ books read in 2023 ~

#14: The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman

The morning light glittered on the glass windows and on the blades of the guillotines in the central square.

Rating: 4/5

[lakecountylibrary]

Read -> Reading -> To-Read

I am not usually one for horror, terror, gothic, thrillers or anything of the sort, but I've decided to try reading out of my comfort zone!

Read: House of Cotton by Monica Brashears

I read House of Cotton and it is not for the weak-stomached. It was a mix of creepy yet intriguing. Main character Magnolia gets way in over her head throughout the book and it is cringe-worthy to read as she escapes some of her situations.

(Trigger warning: This book does contains instances of assault.)

Reading: As the Wicked Watch by Tamron Hall

Continuing in the path of thrillers, I've just begun reading As the Wicked Watch. Knowing Tamron Hall as a reporter is what drew me to the book, but the Chicago setting and the mystery within has me not wanting to put the book down.

To Read: Murder is a Piece of Cake by Valerie Burns

I came across this mystery series by chance. While this is technically book #2, I am going to start with it. Having a bakery as a backdrop to murders within a small town is just the sweetness I need to not scare me while I read!

See more of Ashley's recs

[intothestacks]

I have a Master's degree in information science, I'm well aware of the difference between boycotting and censorship.

To boycott is to refuse to buy a product as a way of protest.

Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered politically unacceptable.

Telling someone to kill themselves because of what they read is not boycotting. Sending someone death threats because of what they like to read is not boycotting. Harassing people over their reading choices is not boycotting.

Censorship doesn't start and end with book burning.

For better or worse, Harry Potter won't stop being sold or bought anytime soon -- it's a classic in children's literature, so anyone studying kidlit will need to get a copy at some point in their studies. Libraries will need copies of it because kids still read Harry Potter.

As a children's librarian, people who harass fans of Harry Potter indiscriminately really worry me.

Here's why.

1. The majority of Harry Potter fans are children.

I've had people call me disgusting and scum and an embarrassment to my disabled community. I've been suicide baited and have received death threats. All of this can be heavy enough stuff for an adult to deal with.

And then I think of how most of my 700+ elementary-aged students are huge Harry Potter fans. Because, you know, Harry Potter is a children's series. And they also have access to the internet and social media like TikTok and YouTube.

Now imagine the stuff that's been said to me being said to a kid. Because Harry Potter's main audience are KIDS.

2. This black-and-white mentality isn't healthy.

Very few things in life are cut-and-dry good vs bad. And if you employ this kind of thinking in one area of your life, odds are you'll apply it to other areas too(more on that in a moment).

And people who go out of their way to harass people who like Harry Potter don't seem to particularly care about any context beyond "If you like Harry Potter in any way whatsoever you're scum".

It hasn't mattered when I've pointed out that I absolutely and unequivocally think Rowling's TERF views are awful and scummy and wrong. It hasn't mattered that I try my best to consume the content only in ways that won't monetarily support her, (which kids typically can't do, btw). It hasn't mattered that it's literally in my job description to keep up with children's media to procure content for my patrons as well as to be able to hold conversations with them.

3. Saying "You're not allowed to read this without being harassed" is no different from saying a book should be banned.

This is ironic, seeing as the people doing the harassing are also often up in arms about queerphobic and racist book bans (as they should be) while demanding book bans of their own.

Because in their all-or-nothing way of thinking, book bans are only bad when the "bad" people do it.

No. Book bans are always bad, no exceptions.

Book bans aren't bad because they're banning the "good" books, they're bad because banning access to different ideas is always bad. Because every book has a lesson to teach us (perhaps not the lesson intended by the author, but a lesson nonetheless).

[mood2you]

I wonder who drives the books from one branch to the other in County Libraries... I wonder if it's a sinch to get if you have a CDL, if you need to volentueer a lot or if you need a degree

[somestorythoughts]

Shout out to every time someone in a book/film/show says "This isn't a movie!" or "life's not a fairy-tale" or as I read recently in an excellent book "we're not in a book."

Gotta be one of my favorite dramatic ironies.

[turning-pages-seeking-sages]

📖✨ Monthly Reading Wrap-Up

October 2024 Edition

📗 I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai Mystery/Thriller | ★★★★�� (4/5) A true-crime podcaster returns to her alma mater to revisit an old murder case, stirring up buried memories and unexpected revelations. Review: Makkai delivers a gripping and layered narrative that tackles both suspense and self-reflection.

📕 A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny Mystery | ★★★★☆ (3.75/5) In the heart of Three Pines, a hidden attic leads to secrets buried in Gamache’s past, as a new generation wrestles with unresolved mysteries. Review: Intricate and compelling, but I felt like the characters made bad decisions purely to advance the plot and elevate the stakes.

📙 The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes Historical Fiction | ★★★★½ (4.5/5) A captivating read that will resonate deeply with fans of historical fiction, particularly those who appreciate stories about the power of literature to overcome adversity, the resilience of women in the face of oppression, and the beauty of love and hope in the darkest of times Review: A beautiful, moving tribute to the power of books that (surprisingly!) centers queer characters.

Click 'keep reading' for the full list and StoryGraph links.

📘 At First Spite by Olivia Dade Romantic Comedy | ★★★☆☆ (3/5) After a broken engagement, Athena moves into the tiny Spite House she bought for her ex-fiancé, only to discover that his infuriating older brother, the man who convinced him to leave her, lives next door. Review: This story does a decent job depicting depression, but unbelievable scenes and cringe banter pulled me out of the story several times.

📗 The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison Fantasy | ★★★★☆ (4/5) Thara Celehar, a Witness for the Dead, uses his gift to bring closure to lost souls while facing dark mysteries in the city of Amalo. Review: A quietly powerful story with heart and compassion at its core, full of political intrigue and mystery.

📕 The Grief Stones by Katherine Addison Fantasy | ★★★★☆ (3.75/5) Thara Celehar, a Witness for the Dead, uses his gift to investigate a noblewoman’s murder, uncovering disturbing secrets within a girls' school and confronting painful truths in the shadows of Amalo. Review: While I enjoyed this book, the pacing was off, and some plot lines were rushed.

📙 A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny Mystery | ★★★★¾ (4.75/5) Gamache takes on the role of commander at the police academy, uncovering corruption and a map that could solve a decades-old mystery. Review: One of my favorites in the series; a beautifully layered narrative with suspense and emotional depth.

📘 Glass Houses by Louise Penny Mystery | ★★★★☆ (4/5) When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines, it sets off a chain of events that forces Gamache to confront his past decisions and their deadly repercussions. Review: A thought-provoking mystery with masterful tension and a gripping storyline.

📗 Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny Mystery | ★★★★☆ (4/5) Chief Inspector Armand Gamache finds himself named as one of the executors of a stranger’s will, leading to an intricate mystery rooted in secrets and lies. Review: Penny's storytelling shines with rich character depth and an intricately woven mystery.

📕 The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin Fantasy/Sci-Fi | ★★★★☆ (3.75/5) In a vividly imagined New York City, five people embodying the boroughs must come together to defend it from an otherworldly threat. Review: I enjoyed the premise, but sometimes the messages felt hamfisted.

[uwmspeccoll]

It's Feral Friday!

Milwaukee Zine Fest Edition

We’re kicking things off with some of our favorite donations from this year’s Milwaukee Zine Fest. Organized and put on by The Bindery in partnership with the Milwaukee Public Library, this year’s fest sprawled throughout two floors of the Central Library and offered hands-on activities, panel discussions, and free workshops. There was so much good stuff, and we received over 100 donations (thank you!!). Here are a few of the standouts. 

Squire Inquire is an outcropping of Milwaukee’s current DIY scene. Produced by Ed Barth, this lo-fi zine features illustrations and writing from local artists and musicians.  

Notes on libraries, lesbians, and pulp was created by Aiden M. Bettine and printed by Bettine’s Minneapolis-based micro press Late Night Copies Press. LNCP is co-run by artist and educator India Johnson, and is dedicated to amplifying queer voices, storytelling, & history.  

Febrauryness is a project of Milwaukee-based printmaker and book artist Ethan Thomas Krause. It features a mix of comics and illustrations and was published through Thomas’s zine-publishing venture Lemon-O Books.  

Erik Satie was a Punk! was written by Georgi Johnston at Cyberpunk Apocalypse, a publication, writers' cooperative, and residency program that was based in Pittsburgh, in 2013.  

And Martin Sostre, Life and Legacy, written by a group of incarcerated young people at a juvenile prison, recounts the history of formerly incarcerated revolutionary anarchist, abolitionist, and Buffalo bookstore owner Martin Sostre. To evade censorship, it was clandestinely drafted in pencil, transferred outside the prison, and traced in pen before being digitized and printed at Burning Books.  

Images:

Squire Inquire Issue 2, October 2023

Squire Inquire, excerpt (foreword by Gnat Bowden)

Squire Inquire, excerpt (illustrations by Walter)

Notes on Libraries, Lesbians, and Pulp (excerpt)

Notes on Libraries, Lesbians, and Pulp

Febrauryness Number 3, Spring 2024

Februaryness (excerpt)

Erik Satie was a Punk! 2013

Martin Sostre: Life and Legacy 2024

Martin Sostre: Life and Legacy (excerpt)

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[toji-bunny-girl]

You don't go to the library to study. You go there to have your cunt stuffed, by nonother than librarian!Gojo.

He works there 5 days a week, and you made sure to be there by your corner every single one of those days, carefully staring at him through the side of your book. Of course, he's well aware of your interest in him. You're so preoccupied with him you don't even realise you're holding the book upside down.

He doesn't realise it yet but he's slow to share the same amount of attraction to you as you are to him. He'd note the way your eyebrows would adorably scrunch together when you're actually doing your assignment for once, and you'd collapse face down onto the table when the frustration and exhaustion caught up to you. Or how your favourite colour seemed to be pink, your stationery and laptop covered in different shades of the colour.

He's used to your presence by now, having spent the last couple of weeks observing you just as you stalked him through the library. And truth to be told, he actually enjoyed it—he's got a cutie following behind him, too shy to strike up a conversation with him and too dumb to hide your little crush any better.

You quickly became the only part of his job he would look forward to, questioning what kind of crap you were going to pull up to just right before his shift. Until you're gone all of a sudden.

Maybe you were just late, he thought on the first day of your absence. Or maybe you're sick by the second day. Perhaps you're just busy with school…or maybe some another guy—

Why does he even care in the first place? You're just some stalker with a pretty face, nothing special out of the sea of girls in his DMs. Gojo doesn't like how he's fretting over a girl who he hasn't talked to before, your presence doesn't control how his day goes anyway.

Until it does.

It exasperated him by how he allowed himself to be subjugated under you. He can't focus on his seminars when the voices in his head wonder about you louder than the lecturer's, he can't flirt with the chicks on campus without thinking about that fangirl from the library and he can't sleep if his head is filled with the images of you with another guy.

What kind of spell have you managed to put him under?

He was completely and utterly chafed by the next week when he entered his shift, a frown seemingly marked permanently upon his face as he went through his chores, putting away the books back to their categorised shelves. That was until he heard a familiar pit-pats of your shoes, and saw your figure stupidly hiding behind a bookshelf from the side of his eye.

His playful spirit returned when he noted your presence, and he wandered further into the library, where no one could see the two of you. As expected, you shuffled along his steps before slipping yourself into the aisle behind him, pretending to flick through the choices of books on display.

Those were Chinese novels, and you majored in Biochemistry. Idiot, he thought with an internal chuckle.

Unbeknownst to you, he had strolled to your back, waiting for you to turn to face him. Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when you found him standing right in front of you, and you froze then and there like a deer in the headlights.

"I know you've been stalking me around here," he had a shit-eating smirk on his face as his arms rested by your sides to trap you in between them. "Freak," he whispered next to your ears, sending a tingle through your nerves.

"I-I, ah—" you stammered, trying to collect your words to sound coherent. Your face was flushed bloody red with embarrassment, and Gojo was sure he'd burn himself if he were to touch you.

"But that's okay…" he drawled. "I won't spread the word if you listen to me."

Your eyes were wide, gaping at him through your lashes as you nodded.

Fuck, were you adorable.

"You like me, huh?"

"Uhm…I, uh…"

"Hm?"

"Y-Yes," you blurted with your eyes squeezed shut, too embarrassed. Your breath was hot, and they scorched his cheeks red upon your words.

"What do you like about me?" oh god does he love teasing the hell out of you.

"Your f-face…"

"My face?" he feigned dumb. Of course, he's well aware that girls would only come chasing after his looks. But he absolutely enjoyed torturing you with his stupid questions. "Which part of my face?"

"Huh…?" your eyes were spinning, your hands raising to push his frame a little away for your comfort.

"My eyes? My nose?" his bigger hand captured the two of yours into his grasp, his fingers were icy cold against yours, and his face neared yours once again, merely a breath away. "Or my lips?"

You didn't dare to answer, the sound of your throat gulping filled the air as a few stray hairs of his tickled your cheek. His eyes peered towards yours, catching your gaze that fell upon his lips.

"There, huh?" Gojo's smirk widened, his grip on your wrists tightening a fraction. "Wanna try them?"

You opened your mouth to respond, but no words left your trembling lips, except for a silent gasp. He took the shift of your feature as a sign for him to advance onto you, his lips gently sucked on your soft flesh, the tiniest amount of your saliva flowed onto his tongue and they tasted better than the finest honey.

A string of your mixed essence connected his lips to yours, red and swollen as a sign of his kiss, when he pulled away. Your knees weakened in enfeeblement, and Gojo caught you before you could fall to the ground.

"You're done?" his arms are strong, and you could feel his muscles flex under your hand when you gathered your strength to stabilise on your feet. "I'm not."

His touches slowly trailed down from your arm to your hips, and you subconsciously rubbed your thighs together when his gaze fell onto them. In his eyes you could see a growing hunger that lurked beneath his bright blue eyes, it was the darker gradient that hung low in his orbs.

"Do you touch yourself here when you think of me?" your teeth sank into the flesh of your bottom lip and your eyes peered down to between your skirt, where his hand was as you vaguely nodded; hoping that he didn't see the faint motion of your head.

How wouldn't he know when all his attention is on you? His eyes scanned the faint shifts in your features when he pressed against your heat, making sure there wasn't any hint of dissent to his touch—and mostly searching for the muted salacity behind your pretty eyes.

"Sometimes…" your voice was meek, but it was audible enough for his ear to twitch at your words. His chest almost burst to your confession, and the images of your features twisting into lewd faces flashed past his mind, calling out his name with that sweet voice of yours.

A soft moan left your lips when his fingers slipped past your pink panty, drawing slow circles upon your clit. Your hips bucked as he teased, his other hand coming down to palm your ass.

"What about I make you feel good?" he gently asked, and you drunkenly nodded to your pleasure. His thumb grew charge of teasing your hardening bud, his two long fingers dipped into your already-slick cavern, reaching the sensitive parts of your inside.

Your lips tensed into a line to quell the moans that drew from your itching tummy, and your hands rested on Gojo's chest, gripping onto his shirt for support.

His fingers grew greedy for more of your whimpers, stroking past your walls, searching for the velvety spot in you. You threw your head back when he found the part he was looking for, pumping out and into the spongey surface, stimulating your nerves to their limit.

Your eyebrows furrowed and your eyelids flew shut when he expedited the speed of his slick-coated digits, his arm growing slightly sore as he carried you to the height of your orgasm. His cock twitched when you drew out a cry of pleasure, your breath stuck in your throat as your mind went blank from your high.

Your grip on his clothes loosened, and you panted as you rest your weight against the shelves, Gojo's damp fingers evident of the pleasure he delivered to you. He watched as you collected your remaining breath, your cheeks flushed pink in arousal and your eyesight slowly blinked clear.

A bolt flash of surprise ran through his eyes when you carefully pulled his pants down, gripping his hardened girth with your warm hands. Gojo stopped you with a grab of your wrist, your whole body tensing in creeping embarrassment—he doesn't like it when you touch him?

Your thoughts flew out the window when he spat onto your palm, before guiding your hand back to his throbbing cock. Your mind grew blank as you began fisting his length, his breath hitching when you rubbed over his pinkish-red tip.

Your touches were filled with careful inexperience, and Gojo found it absolutely fucking adorable. The soft squelching of his saliva in your hand as you pumped his cock filled the air, and he inched closer to kiss you once again.

His groans flowed into your mouth as he slipped his tongue into your mouth, drinking in the taste of you as you pleased him. You seemed to be a quick learner on your own, pumping his pulsing cock faster, gripping onto him tighter, and rubbing his sensitive tip of all.

His hips stuttered along with the movements of your hand, a sign of his close release and you were clearly relentless to please him. Your pace doesn't falter, but fastened instead and his moans muffled through your sloppy kiss, your mixed drool dripping down your chin and onto your chest.

"Fuck," his voice cracked as his cock twitched, before ejaculating his hot semen onto your clothes, slowly dripping down to your thigh. Your breaths mingled in the sultry air, the smell of your essences filled your nostrils as the both of you cooled from the aftermath of your highs.

You recognised the dirty smirk on his face when you flicked your gaze up at him, and you sank into the bookshelf in preparation for what he had conjured up in his mind.

"The library closes in 30 minutes, we'll get the whole place to ourselves by then."

[itsnotelvesexactly]

Please tell me they were copies of romance books with horrendously ridiculous covers, bought for a quarter apiece from a library friends group's used book sale.

hello Mr Gaiman!

so I read that for the burning bookshop scene, there was an actual controlled fire and you actually burnt the furniture and books. Can I ask why you decided to do this instead of just editing it all in?

also thank you (and terry) for creating good omens!! It’s one of my favorite things :) can’t wait for season 2!! :D

What does "editing it all in" mean?

We set things on fire because it made it real in a way that having David Tennant acting in front of a Green Screen wouldn't have done. Digital flame is convincing up to a point. But only up to a point. This was real.