#The gay migration is coming

[yangscowlick]

No lie the funniest thing is seeing sapphics on twitter peeking their head out to look at the gif of Blake and Yang almost holding hands and going “should I watch this show?”

GAY ASS

[poems-of-a-lover]

just saw a tiktok clip that said that every dino boy needs a shark boy. so true. whos gonna be my dino boy.

[sunny-aster]

Yall really out here hooting and hollering abt how happy you are Gabriel now canonically only has weeks to live i compeletly didnt see anything abt Zoe coming out and confessing to marinette

[misscalming]

“Is Tumblr even still a thing”

“Let me tell you a tale”

[inzuinzudesu]

Post-war AU! (Yes, I'm trying to do more steamy drawings, more is coming) I imagine Obito to have mellowed out quite a bit after the war, with him atoning for his sins and everything?? He would be easier to bully at the very least haha Personally, I think Kakashi'd be the more proactive one of the two, since Obito'd be feeling guilty and wouldn't want happiness for himself? Then Kakashi has to try to get him to care more about his own live?? Obito'd be living on a cliff all alone, with Kakashi coming to visit every so often in between Hokage duties?? He's trying to migrate into society slowly but surely, helping out all the grandpas and grandmas out there. I wanted to draw him in white - just a blank slate, ready to be made anew, despite all the pain and suffering. Well actually he just looks really good in white, with that white hair?? Very elegant. I can't find much of this AU on ao3? There are quite a lot on pixiv though! https://www.pixiv.net/novel/show.php?id=9410739 This the first part of a whole series! It's finished too! I can only read a bit of japanese, so I mainly just used google translate haha! Really recommend it, if you can read japanese, or if you can bear the pain of reading some very broken english 😅 This author explored the AU in a very cute way that I love??? Overall it's just silly shenanigans with potent sexual tension disguised as friendship. Biggest plot point is that there's a rumor going around that Kakashi is gay, but he tries to deny it, thinking Obito would be weirded out?? There was a point where in his anbu days, Kakashi had a one-night stand that looks like Obito??? Not gonna spoil anymore, in case you plan to read it!

[burins]

Other Appalachias: A Booklist

As requested, the anti-Hillbilly Elegy booklist, plus annotations! When possible I tried to include books that were by Appalachians and got at lesser-known aspects of Appalachian life and identity, especially modern Appalachian life. When creating the original list I was also limited by books that were in the library network I work at, which is a) a public library and b) not actually located in Appalachia. Y’all get some bonus titles that weren’t in my library - hopefully they’ll be in yours.

A note: I have not read every single book on this list! This is the nature of creating booklists as a librarian. I trust the sources I used to find them, but if there’s something on here that you’re like “oh I read this and it sucks actually,” let me know. And if there’s a particular aspect you’d like more books on, also let me know!

General

Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy (Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll, eds)

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte

If you read any two books on this list (especially if you aren’t from Appalachia!) make it these two. The first one is a collection of essays and photographs, the second by a single author, but both are fantastic for the basics of “hey was your entire idea of a huge stretch of the US defined by Deliverance and some NYT op-eds? perhaps it should not be” 

Appalachian Fall: Dispatches from Coal Country on What's Ailing America by Jeff Young

Leans a little more “plight of the white working class” than I absolutely love, but this talks a lot about contemporary workers’ rights and local activism in Appalachia and is a good counter to Vance’s narrative of “everybody sits on their ass all the time.”

Belonging: A Culture of Place by bell hooks

Hey did you know bell hooks was from Kentucky? bell hooks was from Kentucky! As always her writing is deeply insightful about who is allowed to claim a place and what it means to have roots. 

Rx Appalachia: Stories of Treatment and Survival in Rural Kentucky by Lesly-Marie Buer 

The opioid crisis has defined the region (much as alcoholism came to during Prohibition); unlike a lot of writing on the topic, this lets people tell their own stories. 

Race and Sexuality

Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia

Excellent counter to the narrative of Appalachia as unrelentingly white, and also painfully good writing on what happens when the folks you grew up counting on let you down. 

Loving Mountains, Loving Men: Memoirs of a Gay Appalachian by Jeff Mann

This 2005 memoir got a re-release in 2023, and thank god because it makes me cry. Really beautiful writing on what it means to come back to a place and carve out a space for yourself.

Y'all Means All: The Emerging Voices Queering Appalachia (Z. Zane McNeill, ed.) 

Another essay collection! There will be more; I like an essay collection for getting a sense of a subject beyond a single voice. Touches on everything from disability to race to Mothman. 

Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future, Zane McNeill and Rebecca Scott, eds. 

This wide-ranging collection of essays wasn’t on the original list because it’s pretty hard to come by (academic queer theory is not a bastion of your average public library collection.) Just based on the table of contents I am going to try and get my hands on a copy ASAP. 

Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia by Karida L. Brown

Focuses specifically on Harlan County, Kentucky, drawing on a ton of oral history interviews of Black residents to talk about the Great Migration, Blackness in Appalachia, and identity formation in the region and beyond.

Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia, Katrina M. Powell, ed. 

This just came out in June! In a place so often defined by how many generations of your family have lived there, it’s worth considering who gets removed from that story.  

Their Determination to Remain: A Cherokee Community's Resistance to the Trail of Tears in North Carolina by Lance Greene

The history of Appalachia is pretty obviously incomplete without talking about the policies of Indian Removal. Greene tackles a tangled story of assimilation and cultural survival. 

Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

The only fiction book on this list, but the main goal of the list was to let Appalachia speak for itself. Clapsaddle is a member of the Eastern band of Cherokee; the novel, set in western NC during the 1940s, talks about (in)justice, assimilation, and belonging. 

History, Labor, and Environment

You can’t talk about the history of Appalachia without talking about coal, and you can’t talk about coal without talking about labor, and you also can’t talk about coal without talking about the environment. 

Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia by Steven Stoll 

An economic/environmental overview of Appalachia covering the shift from homesteading to resource extraction. To understand what’s happening economically in 2024 you need to understand what happened economically in 1750-1850, and this gives a general and fairly accessible throughline. 

The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising by Robert Shogan

An older book on the most famous event of the West Virginia Mine Wars, but is a very readable narrative that also touches on Blair Mountain’s wider context.  

Written in Blood: Courage and Corruption in the Appalachian War of Extraction, Wess Harris, ed. 

A much more in-depth look at specific aspects of the Mine Wars and labor history, rather than a general overview, but worth reading for its coverage of more recent events (it didn’t end with Blair!)

To Live Here, You Have to Fight: How Women Led Appalachian Movements for Social Justice by Jessica Wilkerson

Focusing on the 60s-70s and LBJ’s War on Poverty, a good discussion of historical grassroots organizing.

Digging Our Own Graves: Coal Miners & the Struggle Over Black Lung Disease by Barbara Allen Smith

Seminal text! First published in 1987, with an updated edition released in 2020. 

Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia by Chris Hamby

After being mad about black lung in the 80s, you can also be mad about black lung today, because it didn’t go anywhere. 

Desperate: An Epic Battle for Clean Water and Justice in Appalachia by Kris Maher

Very “legal thriller focused on one guy,” but extremely readable. A great book to get your liberal mom fired up.  

Mountains Piled upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene, Jessica Cory, ed.

This list has been almost entirely nonfiction, so here is some lovely prose about what folks love about the region with both literary nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. It’s got a wide geographic focus to boot. 

Food and Culture

Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People by Erica Adams Locklear

Great deconstruction of how we talk about mountain food and culture (scandal! Sometimes great-grandmas used Bisquick.) Will make you hungry and also question what authenticity means and where your family recipes actually come from. 

Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia by Emily Hilliard

West Virginia state folklorist Emily Hilliard talks about pro wrestling, Fallout 76, songwriting, and coal camps. Appalachia in the 21st century. 

(Finally, a shoutout to the various bookstores whose lists I used as jumping-off points, especially Appalachian Mountain Books, City Lights Bookstore, Firestorm Books, and the Museum of the Cherokee People.)

[opencommunion]

one reason (white) queer people misuse the term homonationalism is that they see queerness (or whatever you want to call it) as naturally disaffiliated with the US empire. so they understand homonationalism as a divergence from a natural mutual antagonism between queerness and empire. they talk about homonationalism as if it's an exclusively "normie gay" project, and as if it's a divergence from, rather than a consequence of, the overall trajectory of western lgbtqia+ politics. ironically it’s that self-exceptionalization by the queer, on the basis of their queerness, that imbricates them in homonationalism. they produce themselves as a homonationalist subject, and reproduce homonationalism, every time they articulate their queerness as individualized freedom. and Puar actually anticipates all of this in her original theorization of homonationalism in Terrorist Assemblages, and that's why it really helps to go to the text instead of osmosing queer theory solely through tumblr posts (esp when tumblr is so white and the queer theorists are not): "Some may strenuously object to the suggestion that queer identities, like their 'less radical' counterparts, homosexual, gay, and lesbian identities, are also implicated in ascendant white American nationalist formations, preferring to see queerness as singularly transgressive of identity norms. This focus on transgression, however, is precisely the term by which queerness narrates its own sexual exceptionalism.

While we can point to the obvious problems with the emancipatory, missionary pulses of certain (U.S., western) feminisms and of gay and lesbian liberation, queerness has its own exceptionalist desires: exceptionalism is a founding impulse, indeed the very core of a queerness that claims itself as an anti-, trans-, or unidentity. The paradigm of gay liberation and emancipation has produced all sorts of troubling narratives: about the greater homophobia of immigrant communities and communities of color, about the stricter family values and mores in these communities, about a certain prerequisite migration from home, about coming-out teleologies. We have less understanding of queerness as a biopolitical project, one that both parallels and intersects with that of multiculturalism, the ascendancy of whiteness, and may collude with or collapse into liberationist paradigms. While liberal underpinnings serve to constantly recenter the normative gay or lesbian subject as exclusively liberatory, these same tendencies labor to insistently recenter the normative queer subject as an exclusively transgressive one. Queerness here is the modality through which 'freedom from norms' becomes a regulatory queer ideal that demarcates the ideal queer. ... I am thinking of queerness as exceptional in a way that is wedded to individualism and the rational, liberal humanist subject, what [Sara] Ahmed denotes as 'attachments' and what I would qualify as deep psychic registers of investment that we often cannot account for and are sometimes best seen by others rather than ourselves. 'Freedom from norms' resonates with liberal humanism’s authorization of the fully self-possessed speaking subject, untethered by hegemony or false consciousness, enabled by the life/stylization offerings of capitalism, rationally choosing modern individualism over the ensnaring bonds of family. In this problematic definition of queerness, individual agency is legible only as resistance to norms rather than complicity with them, thus equating resistance and agency.

... Queerness as automatically and inherently transgressive enacts specific forms of disciplining and control, erecting celebratory queer liberal subjects folded into life (queerness as subject) against the sexually pathological and deviant populations targeted for death (queerness as population). Within that orientation of regulatory transgression, queer operates as an alibi for complicity with all sorts of other identity norms, such as nation, race, class, and gender, unwittingly lured onto the ascent toward whiteness. ... To be excused from a critique of one’s own power manipulations is the appeal of white liberalism, the underpinnings of the ascendancy of whiteness, which is not a conservative, racist formation bent on extermination, but rather an insidious liberal one proffering an innocuous inclusion into life."

Jasbir K. Puar, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (2007)

[cazort]

Why I'm Enthusiastic About Kamala Harris

I've seen so much negative talk about Trump and we all agree with that, but I want to highlight what I like most about Kamala Harris and why I'm actively enthusiastic and excited about voting for her:

She is pro-abortion rights and pro- comprehensive sex ed

She would appoint good Supreme Court Justices.

She respects people with a diverse range of political views and would include some voices from both progressive and conservative perspectives in her administration.

She is unambiguously pro-LGBTQ rights, including not just on gay rights but also trans rights.

She would represent continuity with the Biden administration, an administration that I think has done a good job on most issues.

On the issue of Palestine/Israel/Gaza (where I am most critical of Biden), I think Harris is a significant improvement over Biden, and also offers the better path of the only two viable candidates, towards ending the genocide. She has spoken out against the civilian deaths and she has snubbed Netanyahu which is a huge plus in my book.

She has shown a willingness to change her views, such as how she moved from being opposed to decriminalizing sex work in 2008, to being supportive of it in 2019, and being initially skeptical of marijuana legalization in 2010, but coming to support it in 2015. I like a candidate who can change their views, but more importantly, she is changing in a direction I like.

She would be good on the economy; she opposes tariffs, and would continue the Biden administration policies which have led to economic prosperity.

She has a solid and fairly diverse track record of experience, working as attorney general for the largest state, then senator for that state, then VP.

She has worked to combat over-incarceration and cruel treatment of people in prison, doing things like reducing mandatory minimum sentences and working to reduce recidivism, opposing solitary confinement, ending private prisons, and ending cash bail. She has also pledged to use the president's clemency powers to release a lot of people who have been imprisoned unjustly or given unfairly harsh sentences.

She has a concrete plan to enact immigration reform that would adequately fund the processing of asylum applications and fix the backlog of immigrants at the border. And the plan has broad bipartisan support.

On top of this she also has already done some things to address the root causes of migration in Latin America, particularly people fleeing Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador

She is pro-net-neutrality.

She supports universal healthcare, but also has concrete recommendations for how to improve the current status quo.

She is pro-science, including on issues like climate change, COVID, vaccinations, and health and nutrition. Her mom was a scientist!

She is pro-Ukraine, wanting to keep Russia out of Ukraine and ensure Ukraine wins their war of defense and maintains their independence.

She is across-the-board better on women's issues, not just reproductive rights but also sexual violence and domestic violence, workplace equality and the pay gap, and women's issues in Latin America (which is related to the immigration pressure I mentioned above.)

She generally takes stances on foreign policy I agree with, being skeptical of leaders (Putin, Orban, Netanyahu) I want us to be skeptical of, and working with and looking up to the ones I want us to work with and look up to (Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron). She already has a working relationship with many of these leaders too, and has a reputation of being both personable and tough, just what I'd want.

She's smart, well-educated, and surrounded with smart, well-educated, and wise people. Her campaign is stable and well-run, and I trust her to put together a team of competent advisors and run this country competently, probably even more so than Biden has done, and Biden has done a pretty decent job, exceeding my expectations even.

Harris also has an impressive list of endorsements. I can't possibly be comprehensive here, but it includes people as diverse as the most progressive Democrat Lawmakers (Bernie Sanders and AOC), some of the most conservative former GOP legislators (Jeff Flake, Liz Cheney), and over 100 former GOP staffers including a disturbing number of insiders from the Trump administration. This is telling! You don't see this sort of whistleblowing and defection from within the Biden administration.

The fact that Harris has racked up endorsements from people spanning the whole political spectrum from solid-right to solid-left and everything in between, impresses me. This is the sign of someone who is going to be good at getting people to work together, someone who will listen to a wide range of viewpoints and develop better policy and take better courses of action as a result. It's what I always want in a president.

In some elections I have been frustrated that I'm voting for a "lesser of two evils" but this time around I actually feel actively enthusiastic about Harris. I am excited to vote tomorrow and excited to finally be done with this election, and I am cautiously optimistic that it is going to turn out really well.

I encourage everyone to vote and make sure to make sure everyone close to you is also voting!

[omgthatdress]

Historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has called the Harlem Renaissance "As gay as it was Black."

With the convergence of the great migration and the jazz age, Harlem became a new center of cultural life for African-Americans. It brought together Black artists in a way that had never been seen before and saw an abundance of new music, theater literature, and art.

Chief among the new art being created there, of course, was drag.

While drag houses and drag balls had previously been put together by the likes of William Dorsey Swann, they reached a level of unprecedented vibrancy and popularity in Harlem in the 1920s. Famed poet Langston Hughes called them "The strangest and gaudiest of all of Harlem's spectacles."

The most celebrated of these balls was the one organized by the fraternal organization The Society of Odd Fellows at the Hamilton Lodge.

As told by writer George Chauncey in an article for Columbia News, "After I published Gay New York I met a gentleman who grew up in Harlem whose parents would dress up to go to what they called the “faggots’ ball,” and come home and talk about how fine this one looked, and how wonderful it was. He said, "My mother was a very ladylike lady. She was a very prominent woman in Harlem society. This is just something you did.""

[strangersteddierthings]

I'm thinking of leaving town.

The words bounce around Steve's head endlessly. Eddie had said them so casually. Like it wasn't going to be a big deal to anyone that he leaves.

And logically, it's not. It shouldn't be. Eddie's a high school graduate and no longer a wanted criminal, thanks to the shady government that fucked everything up to begin with. The logical next step is getting out of the town that still hates him, even if they're no longer actively hostile, and make something of himself.

And he's not even the first to go. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan are all off to their chosen colleges and

And Steve doesn't want to stop him from going. He thinks it'll be great for Eddie. He plans to leave town, too, once the kids graduate.

He just thought he'd have more time. To figure out himself. And Eddie. And if they could be SteveandEddie someday.

So, the words continue to bounce around Steve's head for the next three days, until Robin calls him for their weekly catch-up. He asks about college, and her new crush, a girl named Michelle, and if she's still planning to come back for Christmas break. She asks after him, too, what's going on in his life, how he's liking working at hardware store and is it better or worse than Family Video (it's better), and of course asks after everyone left in town.

"Eddie's thinking of leaving," Steve says.

"Oh. Really?" She sounds confused more than surprised.

"Just thinking. He didn't say for sure, but it's on his mind."

"And how are you taking that?"

"I thought we'd have more time."

"How much more time do you need?" Robin's voice is filled with laughter and he can just imagine the playful eyeroll. "It's been eight months. It took you like five seconds to ask out any girl that flirted with you at Family Video."

"Eddie's different."

"I'm just... it's not like you, to not go after what you want."

"Eddie's important."

There's silence on the other line before, "Important enough to love out loud?"

Oh. Oh.

Robin always knows what to say to get Steve to see the obvious thing in front of him in a way that doesn't make him feel like an idiot. "Yeah. Important enough to love out loud. I'm telling him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Quick turn around, Steve."

"Yeah, well, you're right. I always go after what I want, and I have to tell him before he goes. Even if he decides to still go, at least he'll know."

"Brave."

"No. Brave would have been doing this six months ago when I first looked at him and thought he looked kissable."

"No, that would have been stupid. You had a gay panic to get through and it was better that Eddie wasn't involved. Trust me."

And he does. Vickie was going through the same panic and had Robin and that... well, there's a reason he asks after Michelle and not Vickie.

"Right. Of course. Five months ago, then."

Robin laughs through the line and Steve feels resolve settle in his stomach.

-

Steve goes to the Munson house directly after his shift. Eddie's van is gone but Wayne's pickup is there, so Steve lets himself in, calling a greeting to Wayne.

"In the kitchen," Wayne calls back.

Steve wanders into the kitchen to see him with a rolling pin in hand and an empty pie plate nearby. "Baking?"

"Sometimes you just want a homemade apple pie," Wayne shrugs, "and there are two ways to do that. Woo somebody who will make it for you, or do it yourself. I'm picking the easier option."

Steve laughs, "alright. Need any help?"

"Recipes over there. Apples need peelin'."

Steve washes his hands and gets to work.

The pie is cooked and cooling, and Wayne has migrated to the couch with a beer since Steve offered to whip up supper. Wayne was going to make lasagna, so Steve starts pulling things from cupboards and the fridge and gets to work.

Eddie returns home as Steve is layering the lasagna in the dish.

"Wayne, I see you hired a chef!" Eddie shouts in the general direction of the living room before hopping up to sit on the counter opposite Steve.

Wayne laughs but doesn't say anything in response.

"Hey Eds," Steve flashes him a smile before getting back to dinner. He tops it off with more cheese and then shoves it into the oven. He grabs the dial timer from its spot in the cupboard and sets it before turning to give his full attention to Eddie.

"What brings you over tonight?" Eddie asks.

"I wanted to talk to you. Ask you something, really."

"Moi?" Eddie places a hand on his own chest, fingers spread and voice filled with fake surprise.

"Mmm, the one and only," Steve says, stepping into Eddie's space. Not close enough to touch him, but enough that he doesn't have room to hop back off the counter.

"And what could be so important that you had to make me dinner about it?"

"Would you go on a date with me?"

Eddie's eyes go wide and his mouth opens and closes a few times before snapping closed. He blinks down at Steve, but Steve's patient. He can wait for Eddie to process. "I- what, you're serious?"

"As a bat bite," Steve says, reaching a hand to rest it on Eddie's side, atop where he knows Eddie is scarred in the same way he is. "I thought I'd have all the time in the world to get there. To the asking. We'd get to know each other better. Deeper, I guess. But then. Well, you said you were thinking of leaving. And I realized I don't have all the time in the world."

Eddie's eyes roam Steve's face. Whatever he's looking for he must find because his legs fall open and he reaches for Steve even as he's already stepping into the space Eddie's created for him. "We can have all the time you want, Stevie."

Steve grins. "I don't want to stop you leaving, if that's what you really want. But, maybe we can postpone that? I want to stay close, until the kids graduate, but after that I'd follow you anywhere."

Eddie brings a hand up to Steve's face and before he's even made contact, Steve's shoving his cheek into Eddie's palm, nuzzling at him like a cat. "No need to be following. I'd rather you walk beside me."

"I can do that, too."

"Jesus, Stevie, I can't believe- I mean, I'd hoped, when you came out, but like," Eddie giggles and it's the sweetest sound Steve's ever heard, "like, it's hard to believe you want me back."

"Take it to the bedroom!" Wayne's shout from the living room startles both of them and they burst out laughing when they make eye contact again.

Eddie's other hand joins his first on Steve's face, and he pulls him into a kiss before they're even finished laughing.

[stoned-rat]

The new steam version of dwarf fortress is amazing and I fucking love seeing how many people are enjoying these silly little guys and their misadventures. So here is a random collection of things I love about dwarf fortress, it's community, and it's history. (Plus some personal anecdotes)

-That one time fish became one of the games greatest threats

-That one mod that brings deadly carps back

-Training dwarven children with "danger rooms" filled with wooden spikes

-New training mechanics being added to prevent players from throwing all their children into spike pits

-When players posted their best mermaid genocide blueprints, and the creators had to patch the game AGAIN to stop their players from commiting outrageous war crimes

-bOATS and the lack there of

-The game is under halfway done according to it's creators. The game has been in development for 20 years.

-not only do you have gay, asexual, and bisexual dwarves, but animals too. Wondering why you arent getting any chicks? Sorry, your rooster likes cock.

-That one time I wasn't thinking and built a baracks next to a waterfall and my military kept throwing themselves to their deaths

-No race is actually "evil." Goblins and animal people can even join your fort and become valuable citizens.

-Elves are cannibals.

-The game being considered notoriously hard, but actually having extremely customizable difficulty settings. You will just get bored of everything going well.

-That one mod in the steam workshop that changes all the models to have giant tits

-The way dwarves will just refuse to do what you want them too

-Forts falling to their knees because cats kept adopting dwarves and having kittens until the game won't load anymore.

-The fact there are canonically no boats, but dwarves will continue to migrate to your haunted glacier year after year.

-When rain causes PTSD

-Guiding nobles under a bridge so you can lower it and they are literally crushed out of existence

-pangolins are invincible, and your hunters will pass out from exhaustion before killing one.

-The steam version coming out with a glitch that causes archers to not pick up crossbow bolts, but instead bash their enemies to death with their crossbows.

-Anyone's first attempt at redirecting a brook

-The game will always be available for free. The ASCII version will stay available for free download on Bay12, and will continue to be developed alongside the steam version. The premium/steam version was introduced to help the creators afford medical costs and thousands of people came out to buy a game that has been free for nearly two decades, and always will be.

-When asked what plans the creators had now that they were millionaires, they both said they had been more focused on the dwarves than the money and don't even know what they will do with all of it, beyond take care of themselves and keep working on the dwarves.

[metalhoops]

Steve starts driving Eddie places after he gets out of the hospital. It just makes sense. He’s so used to chauffeuring Robin and the kids around, that driving with Eddie is natural. Sure, unlike the others Eddie has a driver’s license, but they both know the road is a hell of a lot safer when Eddie isn’t behind the wheel. 

The thing is, Eddie’s always complaining about Steve’s music. Steve’s a simple guy. He turns on the radio and listens to whatever it spoon-feeds him (pop garbage, according to Eddie). Steve likes the music well enough. He’s never really loved music, it’s just background noise. Hell, when pushed Steve couldn’t think of what his Vecna song would be. So to avoid Eddie’s gripes he relents and lets Eddie leave a couple of his cassettes in the BMW. 

At first, Steve only plays the tapes when Eddie’s in the car but as time passes something changes. Steve finds himself driving home alone, dreading returning to the cold and quiet halls he knows await him in Loch Nora. The radio isn’t cutting it when it comes to drowning out the background chatter and dread in his head, so he switches over to one of Eddie’s tapes. It makes him feel less alone. He can imagine Eddie’s ringed fingers tapping their way across the passenger door furiously to the beat of the song, and he doesn’t feel so alone. 

That’s how some of the tapes manage to migrate from his car to the tape deck in his room. When he plays them, he feels like the house comes alive, that he isn’t alone. He doesn’t tell Eddie, of course. He doesn’t tell anyone. One day he slips up while driving Dustin to Hellfire. 

“I didn’t pick you as a metalhead, Steve,” Dustin notes with a shit-eating grin. 

He’s confused at first, until he hears the familiar tune of Metallica’s Welcome Home, through the BMW’s speakers and knows he’s messed up. Dustin definitely brings it up as soon as he gets to Hellfire, spouting nonsense about how Eddie’s corrupted Steve with ‘the devil’s music’- seriously, where does the kid even come up with that shit? 

The ride back from Hellfire is made all the more painful, with Eddie in the passenger seat and Dustin mouthing off from the backseat. Steve’s being berated from all angles about being a ‘closeted metalhead’. It’s been a long day and Steve is so goddamn tired so he can be forgiven for finally snapping. 

“I only listen to that shit because it reminds me of you,” Steve remarked shutting them both up in an instant. 

Dustin is the quickest to recover. He leans forward, nudging Steve’s shoulder. 

“Careful dude, say stuff like that and Robin’ll get jealous. It sounds like you’re in love with Eddie.” 

“Shut the hell up, Henderson,” Steve snaps, too quickly, too defensively. 

That’s when Dustin realises he’s screwed up. Royally screwed up, because Steve being gay never entered the ballpark of his imagination and it made sense didn’t it? Kind of. The way Steve kept insisting he and Robin were platonic. He hadn’t gone on many dates since Eddie’s return from hospital. 

He tried to dredge up all the things he’d been planning to say when Will inevitably came out because that, Dustin saw coming. 

“Actually it’s cool if you are, you know, gay. We wouldn’t think of you any differently if you were. Right, Eddie?” Dustin desperately looks to Eddie, who’s gone full deer-in-the-headlights, wide-eyed. 

“I might think of him a little differently,” Eddie breathes, sounding a million miles away. Dustin looks at him like he’s about ready to kill a man and Steve’s gone pale. 

The rest of the drive is spent in awkward silence. Steve dreads the moment he arrives at the Henderson household, knowing the second Dustin leaves the car, things are going to get infinitely worse. 

“If I’ve screwed things up, just let me know because I don’t know where to go from here,” Steve says once they’re alone. He hears Eddie exhale and braces himself for the worst as he waits for the man to reply. 

“How about we start with one of those trademark, pickup lines I’ve heard so much about,” Eddie prompts. Steve is confused. It might be a common occurrence, but that doesn’t make it any better. 

“What?” Steve asks, not able to come up with something more articulate. 

“Is what Dustin said true?” There was no point in lying, was there? 

“Yes. No. Mostly. I’m not gay-,” To Steve’s surprise, he watches Eddie’s shoulders fall. If he didn’t know better he’d think the guy was disappointed. 

“But I do like guys. Not all guys. Some guys. Sometimes.” Steve’s rambling and he knows it. 

“Then I meant what I said, to Dustin.” And there it is, the thing Steve’s dreading. 

“Right. Yeah, okay. So do you still want me to drop you off at your place or should I just pull over now?” 

Steve tries to hold back the hurt in his tone because he hasn’t admitted it out loud to anyone yet and it sure as hell smarts to be so blatantly rejected. He might actually have preferred getting punched in the face, at least there was something finite about it. 

“Steve,” Eddie breathes and his voice is soft, gentle even. Which makes no damn sense. He sounds like Robin did, on the floor of the cinema bathroom: vulnerable and exasperated, but not mad. 

“Pull over.” So Steve does. 

Eddie sets a hand on Steve’s shoulder, looks him dead in the eyes and licks his lips. 

“Steve, I’m gay and very much in love with you. Up until tonight, I thought you were very straight and totally out of my league, so if you’re telling me I’ve got a shot, that changes shit.” Oh. Steve finally caught up. 

Steve turns down the volume of the music, just to make sure he’d heard Eddie right. Then leaned into the man’s space. 

“Ahoy there, sailor.” 

Much to his dismay, Eddie laughs- scratch that, he snorts, doubling over, trying to muffle the noise with a hand. 

“That was the pickup line?” Eddie clarifies. 

“I’m rusty and I’ve never used it on a guy,” Steve retorts defensively. 

Before he knows it, Eddie’s back in his space, his breath ghosting hot over Steve’s cheek. 

“Hey, I didn’t say it didn’t work.” 

[loudrats]

Loud Rats Book Club 2023

This year the rats became literate!

We suggested a number of books each month and then voted on one to read (somehow Fish managed to read all 12 of them… wild!). The ones in red are the winners, but there are some other really good books in there.

Hopefully you can find your next favourite read below! :)

January

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson

The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy

Fledgling by Octavia Butler

Pirates and Prejudice by Kara Louise

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

February

Adua by Igiaba Scego

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

March

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Humans by Matt Haig

Cane by Jean Toomer

Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (#1 Broken Earth Trilogy)

Young Mungo by Douglas Stewart

April

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrel

Dubliners by James Joyce

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

May

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Where You Come From by Saša Stanišić

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

June

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill

Swimming in the dark by Tomasz Jędrowski

Girls like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 17 by Jeff Kinney

Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

July

Kid Youtuber 9: Everything is Fine by Marcus Emerson, Noah Child

Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella

Hit Parade Of Tears by Izumi Suzuki

When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back: Carl's Book by Naja Marie Aidt

Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Mapping the Interior by Stephan Graham Jones

August

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Small Game by Blair Braverman

Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi

September

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

October

Linghun by Ai Jiang

Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moira Fowley-Doyle

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić

Kindred by Octavia Butler

November

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Life For Sale by Yukio Mishima

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Liberation Day by George Saunders

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

December

Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes by Maurice Leblanc

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

[mxjackparker]

Here are some snippets from Working Guys: A Transmasculine Sex Worker Anthology, by some of the amazing contributors to it! (Warning, many of the links to social media may be NSFW.)

"I suspect its raw erotic power is why conservatives and reactionaries work so hard to repress or legislate BDSM away, as well as other sexual cultures of liberated consenting adults coming together for pleasure’s (or profit’s) sake." by @MisterSaulDom

"For me, these doubly marginalised existences are intertwined and inseparable and feed into a larger drive to be as loud as I can about who I am: queer, trans, gay, and a sex worker, and I wouldn’t change any of it." by @EdFTMxxx

"I had been on testosterone for almost two years and built myself a small business. Sure, I’m a sex worker, but it’s stable and profitable. Those are the only things that are supposed to matter. My doctor has other thoughts." by @Mx_Dagger

"Sex workers like me struggle because trans and black people are suppressed and not recognized or respected in the sex industry. There are less opportunities. The fetishization of trans individuals is not something to sleep on, either." by @DaddyPuppy101

"As a transgender sex worker, I must continually be an activist for my own right to exist. I am continuously told that neither my body nor what I do with my body are acceptable in society." by @TripleXTransMan

"I hope my Trans Dad status grows into more than just a persona I use to sell porn. While 39 isn’t particularly old, I came out 24 years ago, much longer than most trans mascs I meet today." by @RonBeastlyXXX

"When I first started working, I had already come out as non-binary; however, I was still working under the guise of a cis woman. Coming from a Middle Eastern country, I had never considered any other possibilities until I migrated to Germany." by Arc D.

"I cannot discuss my medical transition without mentioning being a hooker. At every stage, selling sex has been integral to my ability to access transition care." by me, Jack Parker.

"My lips were overlined with a mocha colour, filled in with a gorgeous, rich sparkling gloss. My base was glowy, highlighter and blush stretching up my cheeks and my freckles individually relined with a brown eyeliner pencil. I felt beautiful. Enough to make anyone’s sexuality be me." by Felix Mufti.

Want to get yourself a copy? You can get an e-book now, or pre-order a paperback book, here!

[polaroid-petals]

Got bored, made an OMORI Kinsey scale. Mix of stuff known from canon, extrapolated from canon, and personal headcanons. More to the left is more attracted to the opposite sex, more to the right is more attracted to the same sex.

Some explanation for them below the cut

Headspace friends

Since Sunny gets to choose who his friends are in headspace, he often disregards what he knows about them and modifies them as needed.

The headspace friends, with Mari and Hero as an exception, were all designed to be infatuated with Omori and adore him and him alone deeply. As such, headspace Kel, Aubrey, and Basil are attracted to just Omori. However, they can stray from their protocol in some iterations.

Headspace Mari was designed to be with Hero, so she doesn't need to be attracted to anyone else. However, headspace Hero is in a unique position as both a headspace friend infatuated with Omori and intended to be with Mari, placing him smack-dab in the middle of bisexuality.

Since Omori is meant to be an idealised, socially accepted version of Sunny whom everyone adores, he was intended to be straight. However, with Sunny's struggle with his identity, Omori has very much been used to explore his attractions to the same gender, to the point where Omori himself has a male preference.

Lastly, Stranger should be exclusively homosexual as he is also a Basil and therefore subjected to being attracted to all things Sunny, but as he has more free will and he comes with the parts of Basil that Sunny has suppressed, a slight bit of bisexuality shines through that may rear its head once in a blue moon. Functionally gay.

Real world friends

Sunny, at the very least, has a viscerally negative association with the idea of being romantically involved with Aubrey. This can be interpreted as either not being attracted to just Aubrey, or not being attracted to women at all. But as every detail in a story has its function, and knowing Omocat's a bit of a fujo, the detail of his aversion to romance with Aubrey was most likely added to the game as an indicator that he's gay. He may never find the words to express this or define himself as gay, though, and go by vibes and feelings alone.

I like bisexual Basil because he deserves smooches from everyone. Slight male leaning, but not intensely.

Likewise with Aubrey, though she's a little more in the centre. Though she hasn't shown attraction or kinship that can be interpreted as romantic to any men in canon, I still like her as bisexual.

At this point in his life, Kel can best be described as a mostly straight but bicurious guy. However, as his life goes on and he gains more experience, he may migrate more towards the right as he strays from that image where the jock has a girlfriend.

Hero hasn't thought about love or sexuality since he was 15. In reality, he's probably slightly more centred, but after Mari, the very idea of starting a relationship with anyone makes him nervous.

Mari is a very simple case: she figured stuff out pretty early, but by the time she did, she already had caught herself a future husband and didn't date around. Slight male leaning.

Beta buddies

Rowan might be the most exclusively homosexual character on the chart. He owns his spot on there, and he's gonna either proudly and arrogantly embrace it or staunchly deny it without modifying any behaviour.

As for Omoriboy, while he will eventually come out on the exclusively gay side of the scale, he currently is dealing with a hefty dose of comphet.

(I don't know where to place Flower at all, hence why he's not on this chart. Every attempt to place him has made me go "but what about x?" Obviously likes Omoriboy, but also doesn't strike me as exclusively gay. Might be asexual?)

Sweetheart & co

Sweetheart is probably a centre bisexual because she has dated men and had no issue with the idea of dating women, albeit her own clones. However, since she has only ever volunteered relationships with men, I like the idea she has a sliiight preference towards male. She might just be so self-centred that she'll date anyone who inflates her ego.

I've put Spaceboy down as a balanced bisexual due to his infatuation with Sweetheart that just makes the idea of him seeking comfort with a man so much tastier. He doesn't really care about the gender of his partner per se, but Sweetheart scarred him, making him date more towards the male side.

And finally, Rococo I see as someone who thought he was bisexual but who's slowly concluding he's gay. Sweetheart was all he had, and he did genuinely love her, but maybe it was all due to his codependence. The grass seems greener on the other side.

[unforth]

Hey Reddit Migration and New Twitugees, Love Danmei?

I heard there's a new Tumblr immigrant wave coming, so time to shout out the danmei art source blogs again!

Do you love danmei?

Do you love art - official art and fanart?

Do you want a dash covered in your favorite Chinese sword gays?

Well, have I got the blogs for you! I run six* side blogs dedicated solely to reblogging the amazing art that people make for these fandoms (with a splash of signal boosting fandom and multifandom events). If you want a dash full of shinies, you should absolutely check these out!

@mdzsartreblogs - for all your MDZS art love needs!

@tgcfartreblogs - ditto for TGCF (that's (tgcf)(art)(reblogs) not...what you're thinking, lmao)

@svsssartreblogs - SVSSS here to complete the MXTX trio!

@erhaartreblogs - deceptively named, as this Meatbun sideblog includes 2ha AND Yuwu!

@tykartreblogs - another deceptively named one, my only active priest-centric sideblog includes Tian Ya Ke, Qiye, and Shan He Ling/Word of Honor! Each conveniently tagged so you can focus on whichever one(s) you love best!

@cnovelartreblogs - the catch-all for everything else! cnovelartreblogs even includes baihe, m/f and gen titles (such as f/f by Please Don't Laugh and all works by priest!), and I also will sometimes reblog c-dramas that aren't novel adaptations (such as Couple of Mirrors). Titles by priest, Meng Xi Shi, Fei Tian Ye Xiang, Nanpai Sanshu, and Mu Su Li are especially well represented, but there's lots of stuff - basically anything I can find, as I have the time!

SO COME ON OVER AND GET YER ART! And don't forget to like, reblog, and comment to tell an artist today that you love them!

*it used to be 8 art sideblogs but my life has gotten crazy busy and I am no longer maintaining @zhenhunartreblogs and @dmbjartreblogs as separate blogs, and I am slowly, slowly reblogging the content once in those blogs to cnovelartreblogs. So, follow cnovelartreblogs for Guardian and DMBJ content!

Don't forget to reblog this to help spread the word!