#a lot of published books came from this fandom

[funkyt-t]

It always baffles me how Tamsyn Muir writes the locked tomb series as if it's a fanfic. It's such a weird feeling, but I don't in any way mean it as an insult.

When you're reading tlt series there's always this presence of the author that you don't often get on other published books. Like, she'll make in jokes and references as if she's part of the fandom. Right when you're getting immersed in the world she'll pull out a "That's what she said" or "Jail for mother!" and suddenly you remmember that this is a book, with an author, an author really fond of puns and internet memes.

Tamsyn Muir writes like she's writting fanfiction to a small, nieche fandom where all the authors all kinda know eachother, and they've already deviated from canon so much that the stories are their own thing now.

It used to bother me a lot on my first read but now I'm just fascinated by it. It feels like you're reading a work made by a peer. A peer who is really good at writting, but a peer no less.

Maybe it's just that I grew up and have written some stuff myself, and now I can see things I couldn't before. But idk, it just really interests me the way Tamsyn just fucking writes shit like she's just trying to amuse herself or her friends. I came to respect it a lot.

I'm not as good of a writter so there's no conclusion to this really. Just postulating to the void like I'm Palamedes Sextus.

[regheart]

there's something i find particularly annoying in this fandom and it's the way purebloods are written as highly sophisticated extremely rich and straight up a rip off of regency period novels

i understand the choice of this specific portrayal, i can see it as an approximation to historical drama, where the social restrictions are compelling and are relevant to the story, and a good writer can make any concept believable and good

HOWEVER as much as the worldbuilding on wizarding costumes (and a lot of other things) is extremely inconsistent and gets progressively worse towards the later three books, the implications that i see don't point towards this version of a sophisticated performatic elite who interacts only with itself

while i tend to see the blood status in the harry potter universe as a distinction of class and not at all a distinction of race, i don't think the difference is, in practice, as marked as it is in real world contexts, mostly because of how numerically small and insulated the wizarding community is

this post is part of my personal vendetta against purebloods as charming aristocrats & what appears to be the necessity of writing each and all of them as so very well spoken and politically savvy and never-caught-dead-speaking-to-a-half-blood

for once, the sacred twenty-eight is extra canon information and is disputed IN UNIVERSE, because it was anonymously published and received backlash for the inclusion (weasley, ollivander) and exclusion (crabbe, goyle, potter) of certain names

the malfoys are the only extremely rich family we see in canon. extra canon information tells us they made money before the statute of secrecy by trading with muggles

compare that to the potters who are also very rich (there's no scale to tell us who is the richer family), but made most of their money from the invention of sleakezy in the 20th century

the blacks are also implied to be wealthy: sirius manages to live off his inheritance after buying harry an expensive broom, and he says his grandfather likely paid for an order of merlin

there's a lot to be said about the blacks (e.g. they should have at least a couple more properties other than grimmauld place), but the big picture and the similarity with the gaunts (not about the incest, stop fixating on that) suggest they were a family in decadence by the time sirius was growing up

i believe that the implication is that neither of them had a proper job, which creates a similarity with gentry, but gentry lived off rentals and while it is possible they had a country state i don't think grimmauld place was making a lot of money

lucius malfoy also didn't work and spent a portion of his time being a school counselor (and obviously not being paid for it, as it was a way to exercise his political power over the main learning institution in his community)

it's also extra canon that the nott family had equal footing with the malfoys, so we can assume that crabbe, goyle, parkinson and bulstrode were slightly beneath them, either in social standing or money, despite the later two being part of the sacred twenty-eight (or it could appear to be so because pansy and milicent are girls)

the weasleys are obviously the main example of a poor sacred twenty-eight family, as were the gaunts

the crouch family was most like rich (they could afford a house elf), but it's likely that most of that money came from mr. crouch having a high level ministry job. his family and connections were probably an advantage to getting the job, but it's possible he wouldn't be able to maintain the lifestyle without work

longbottom, prewett and macmillan are families that appear to be very traditional, but not remarkably wealthy

other working members of the sacred twenty-eight are: horace slughorn (school teacher, but it can be argued that teaching hogwarts is a prestigious position), garrick ollivander (wand maker and shop owner, but, again, the only wand maker, which holds a certain prestige in itself), mr. burke (shop owner), arthur weasley (ministry employee), frank longbottom and kingsley shacklebolt (both aurors). amycus and alecto carrow are also temporary hogwarts teachers

the blacks married out of the sacred twenty-eight many times (max, gamp, crabbe, potter)

all of these people and every single muggleborn goes to the same school, buys magical supplies at the same place, drinks from the same pubs, etc. that alone should serve as evidence that there aren't many exclusive pureblood hangouts around

the only place that seems to attract the malfoys (arguably the richest and most important pureblood family in the 90s) and not most other people, is the knockturn alley, which is hardly a high brow sophisticated spot

except for malfoy and flint, no slytherin quidditch player during the 90s is in the sacred twenty-eight, so that's hardly a criterion for making it into the team

mulciber is not a sacred twenty-eight name, they could very well be half-bloods

tom riddle and severus snape were half-blood students who formed ties with purebloods while in school and held blood supremacist views, assimilation to a certain level was possible

[noblecorgi]

2024: A Re-Entry to Fandom

I guess this is a thing? (Oh shit this brackets bit was written at the end and I appear to have emotionally vomited an essay. Sorry ‘bout that.)

In late 2023 I experienced a personal tragedy and retreated to where I had always found comfort: books.

I read a series that had been recommended to me before, but I hadn’t had time to read it - The Simon Snow Trilogy by @rainbowrowell and it awoke a dormant-but-never-forgotten love of fanfiction in me.

In my teens and early 20s I wrote a lot of fan fiction on the ol’ FF net, all of it of atrocious quality I’m certain, which is why I haven’t tried to rediscover that account.

Instead I found AO3, and restarted regularly writing for fun instead of for work or study/research.

I didn’t do any summation for 2023 because I think my first fic was posted on like 10 December 2023, but AO3 tells me I wrote 4 works, all SnowBaz, at a total of 55,154 words.

In 2024, I’ve published 5 works, at a total of 94,323 words.

What truly blows me away (and honestly makes me a bit teary) is the 1013 kudos, 100 subscribers (inc 15 subscribers to just me rather than a fic!), and 222 comment threads on my works. 🥹

So: my 2024 works.

Use your words, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 3,930 words

A smutty lil gift fic wherein Baz teaches Simon how to sext.

Splendid Morons, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 12,886 words

Published for Erotic Grope Fest, aka Baz’s birthday. A collaboration with @alexalexinii and a story written to enable their amazing art of Baz in lingerie.

Precious to me for not only getting to work with Alex, but also for being the beginning of my relationship with Becky @rbkzz, my incomparable beta who has become one of the dearest people in my life.

On The Rocks, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 74,592 words (WIP)

My opus, as it were. It originated from a fluffy cute prompt of “what if Baz and Lady Ruth were work besties?!” And I came along like “YEAH! But with trauma, exploration of love in mental illness, and alcoholism!”

I began posting it in March and it’s about 2/3 done now. But for Becky it would be both an absolute pile of horse poop, and an abandoned WIP. Instead it has a clear direction and she found motifs that I’d repeatedly used by accident in my drafts and built imagery, greater meaning, and also debated me ad nauseam on my preference for spelt over spelled.

Immune Response, @lumosinlove’s Cubs, Rated: G, 1,421 words

I was a big consumer of WolfStar in my teens and was recommended Lumosinlove’s Sweater Weather and, like many before me, fell in love with the story, the original characters, and ice hockey itself (much to the surprised glee of my Canadian spouse, who for a decade has tried in vain to get me on board. Little did he know the key was obviously gays.)

This is a lil’ slice of life sick fic examining how each of the Cubs responds to getting sick.

I have a lot more unpublished drabbles about these characters and some fics that are being cocreated so stay tuned for 2025?

Preliminary, my dear Basil, SnowBaz, Rated: T, 1,494 words

A gift fic for @martsonmars as part of the Carry On Discord’s Secret Snowflake Exchange.

Among their suggestions was “Sherlock AU, but not BBC Sherlock, 19th century Sherlock” and it hooked me with the idea that Baz would absolutely fancy himself as Sherlock. I actually sketched out a plot to SnowBazify 4 of the Holmes stories, so maybe 2025 will see them unearthed.

There is one other published fic I worked on this year, but as a beta rather than a writer for @swoopswrites @rsbigbang piece Class A which was super fun to do (and got me to watch a great series - The Gentlemen on Netflix) and Swoops has a fantastic mind so I’d encourage you to to check it out.

Finally, I have always been a writer rather than an artist, but I do enjoy drawing, and the need to upgrade my iPad for work arose and so I also tried my hand at drawing again for the first time since I was 17 or so.

In order from the first one to the most recent one, the lil scribbles I did this year:

Penelope Bunce, Wolfstar on a train, Baz with coffee, cuddly Cubs, FinnLo being adorable, iconic Moony with a cane, emo Sirius Black.

And THAT was 2024 (and 2023).

@artsyunderstudy @asocialpessimist @angelsfalling16 @whatevertheweather @edenalix @emjaydellyone @erzbethluna @emeryhall @run-for-chamo-miles @raenestee @rimeswithpurple @roomwithanopenfire @thehoneyedhufflepuff @theearlgreymage @thewholelemon @lonleyhumanbeing @letraspal @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @youarenevertooold @iamamythologicalcreature @ichooseyousnowbaz @ic3-que3n @ileadacharmedlife @onepintobean @palimpsessed @prettygoododds @philaet0s @pacey-bunce-loves-joey @sorenphelps @skee3000 @stitchy-queerista @fiend-for-culture @facewithoutheart @fruitcoops @girlwithcurls96 @hushed-chorus @hihimissamericanbi @cutestkilla @cosmicalart @confused-bi-queer @noopienoopiernoopiest @messofthejess @monbons

[sweet-s0rr0w]

Day 1 of @hprecfest - First fic you read/first fic you remember reading

I started reading in the early 2000s, before HBP was published, so this is a tricky one to start off with! I vividly remember reading along to Cassandra Clare's Draco Trilogy and Maya's Underwater Light - both WIPs at the time, and neither freely available now 💀 if anyone else was around then, though, I have compiled a reclist of Vintage Drarry Fics (2001-2006, including such classics as Irresistible Poison, Beautiful World, Seamus is Seamus, and Love Under Will).

The fic I've chosen to rec today is the one that brought me back into fandom after a decade out; indirectly I suppose it's the reason I'm here at all, and so perhaps the lesson for any creators reading this is that you'll truly never know the impact your works have, even decades down the line!

Transfigurations, by Resonant : E, 71k, 2003 (MCD warning, but not for Drarry)

Summary: Five years after Voldemort's defeat, Harry returns to England to help re-open Hogwarts.

Excerpt:

"You're going to have to talk about it sooner or later, Harry," she said. "I know it's hard for you, but --"

"Hermione --" He looked over her shoulder, searching for something that would distract her.

He succeeded a little better than he would have liked. First he caught a flash of pale hair in the shadows behind the top table. Then the shape came clear. An expensively tailored robe, an expensively bejewelled hand, an expensively barbered head, an expensively curled lip --

Was he never going to be free of Draco Malfoy?

Hermione followed Harry's eyes, and then she straightened up suddenly, crying, "Draco!" and ran to clasp Malfoy. Harry stared dumbly after her. "Mother sent a book for you, and some biscuits, they're in here somewhere --"

"Never mind that," Malfoy said, hugging her roughly. Harry felt a pang of fury. Since when was Hermione so cozy with Malfoy? "What I want to know is, did Mrs. Spenser ever find Bratleigh's tooth?"

"Oh, yes, it turned out to be in his little brother's forearm -- but how are you getting on without mechanical pencils?"

"Musgrove's Magic Pencils are nearly as good, though not quite so satisfying to click ..." Harry watched their two heads bent together, the dark and the fair. They were exactly the same height, like a matched set of figurines. Something extremely strange must have happened while he was in Florida.

Malfoy was still affecting the look of a wizard-bard from a storybook, Harry thought scornfully: pale hair falling to his shoulders, deep-plum robe heavily embroidered in the same color around the collar, narrow hands heavy with silver rings. Harry hadn't remembered his mouth being quite so red.

He looked up and caught Harry looking, and something crossed his face that wasn't quite the expected sneer. Hermione was tugging him over by the arm. "Harry just got in today from America, Draco, he didn't tell anybody he was coming, I think he forgot how to write a letter --"

"He's forgotten a lot of things, I imagine," Malfoy drawled, but he offered a hand. "Potter. Welcome back."

Damn it, even his languid, lingering handshake felt as though there was an insult behind it.

Where to start with this fic? The premise is that following the war, Harry left for Florida, settling down with a group of Indigenous wixen as they worked to set up a new school of wizardry. He returns, five years later, to a Hogwarts in trouble, rife with traps and curses laid by Death Eaters long gone, and to his old friends, whose letters he'd mostly ignored during his time abroad. Many of the old faces are familiar, but the addition of Malfoy, now, inexplicably, best friends with Hermione and Professor of Muggle Studies, irritates Harry beyond belief. Worst of all, when it comes to Cursebreaking, Harry and Malfoy's magic works best in sync, so to their horror they find themselves paired together as they work to make the school safe on its reopening.

There are so very many things to love about this fic. The narrative tone feels very true to canon, as does Harry's voice; possibly a result of its being published while the books were still coming out, but unlike many of the other fics written back then, it has a very adult feel. It's set entirely in Hogwarts, and with a huge cast of supporting characters, including a sneering, dramatic statue of the deceased Professor Snape, sexy handyman Ron, COMC Professor Charlie Weasley, and some wonderfully endearing OCs. The writing's lovely and clean, sparing, but still very visual, and full of worldbuilding details so unique and rich you'll be thinking about them years later (trust me). And the relationship development is truly second to none; we come to love this Malfoy reluctantly, but so so deeply, along with Harry. Also, this fic has, to me, the original rushed sex in a bathroom stall scene, and one of the sexiest undressing scenes you'll ever read. I absolutely adore it, can quote huge chunks, and every single time I read it it brings back everything I love about the world of Harry Potter. Go and add it to your MFL, and you can thank me later <3

If you read it, and if especially you love it, please do let me know! And as always, please do take the time to leave the author a kudos/comment <3

[remstrrs]

Potential Rebel Robin -> S4 Parallel and (potentially) S5 Parallel

I feel like as a fandom, we don't really talk about the Rebel Robin book/podcast enough, especially about it's implications for the series in general, so i wanted to look at one specific scene that parallels a scene from s4, and that i think would be rlly cool if paralleled in s5:

{CC:

Robin : There's something wrong with me. There's something inside of me that's just, like, rotten, and there's nothing I can do to fix it.

Wait - Wait why are you stopping?

Mr. Hauser : Robin, look at me. There is nothing wrong with you.

Robin : You have to say that.

Mr. Hauser : No, I'm serious. Hey - hey, look me in the eye and trust what I'm saying, okay? There is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing rotten inside of you; you don't need to be fixed. }

For further context, Mr. Hauser is Robin's English teacher at Hawkins High in her sophomore year (podcast is set in winter of 1983) who she becomes very close with and, in this scene, is giving her a ride home.

This is episode four of the podcast, but in the final episode, Robin finds out that Mr. Hauser is a queer man who is secretly dating another man in Hawkins.

In aforementioned scene, Robin asks him if he's happy, and if living in Hawkins while queer is really worth it for him - to which he says yes, but reminds Robin that she doesn't have to make the same choice as him, saying, "There are places where you don't need the armor"

Now, firstly, I want to start by talking about how this scene between Robin and Mr. Hauser is a pretty close parallel to the scene in s4e08, where Jonathan is comforting Will after he watches the painting scene go down.

(Also, keep in mind that the Rebel Robin book was published in 2021, so it's writing coincided with the writing of s4)

Jonathan knows that Will is queer, and heard Will mention that he felt like a mistake back in the van, so he tells him that he loves him and,

"There is nothing in this world, okay, absolutely nothing that will ever change that."

Although not a perfect parallel, I couldn't help but notice the word choice used and the repetition of 'nothing' in both examples. The overall exigence of these two scenes is almost a perfect match, too:

Mr. Hauser hears Robin call herself wrong and rotten, so he comforts her by telling her the exact opposite.

Jonathan hears Will call himself different and a mistake so he comforts him and tells him that he loves him no matter what.

Now.... how do I think something similar could play out in Season 5?

Alright, so there's been a lot of talk on Byler tumblr about having scenes with Mike, Will, and Robin together - or Robin mentoring either one of the boys - but personally, I'd like to see the scenes above paralleled in a Robin/Mike conversation over anything, and here's why.

Out of the two boys, Mike is the one who is most isolated from his queerness and what it entails. Whereas Will is possibly starting to come into his own and accept himself a little bit more with Jonathan as a stronger support system, and has known about his queerness, Mike is much more lost. Will has already had a heart-to-heart with Jonathan, and knows he isn't alone with his queerness.

In my opinion, it's inevitable that Mike will have a heart-to-heart with one of the adults/older teens in Season 5, and I honestly believe that it has to be Robin, Nancy, or (preferably) both.

In Season 5, Mike is a high school sophomore. He's very clearly insecure, and is probably seen as more weird or different because of his previous involvement with Hellfire. Likewise, in her book, Robin is also an insecure high school sophomore who is seen as an outsider/social outcast.

Plus, in Season 5, Robin closely parallels Mr. Hauser from the book:

They both have accepted and come to terms with their queerness, and came out to at least one person, and they both have partners of the opposite-sex while living in Hawkins (assuming that Rovickie is canon after the 1987 time skip, which i believe it probably will be.)

In my opinion, this sets up an almost perfect opportunity for a Robin/Mike moment where Mike either:

In relation to his queerness, talks about feeling wrong and rotten to Robin, who sympathizes with him (and potentially comes out to him) helping him know that he isn't alone or broken.

or

Mike finds out about Robin's queerness by accident, (which is Robin's case when finding out about Mr. Hauser's) and he asks her if she's happy in Hawkins, which gives her the opportunity to convey to Mike that his idea of a 'family' isn't the only one, and that there "are places where you don't need the armor" just as Mr. Hauser said.

I think the second would be especially impactful, because Mike grew up in a white-picket fence, nuclear, traditional, and conservative household (something that is actually openly criticized by Nancy and Jonathan in season 1). He sees his parents' loveless relationship (which is paralleled to Stancy and Milkvan) right in front of his eyes, and thinks that its the only way because it's all he's known. Robin could open his eyes to the possibility of something else, and this is what could make him realize his feelings for Will.

Also! We have confirmation of a potential Robin + Mike scene (or at least a scene where Finn and Maya are filming together) by none other than Shawn Levy himself (pic posted on his insta)

If you don't know, Shawn Levy notoriously directed both of the scenes below, which show examples of Mike struggling with potential internalized homophobia during angsty fights with Will

Also, based on Shawn Levy's reply to this person on twt, it's very likely we get a similar scene in St5:

I think that another Byler fight could be the perfect lead-in to a heart-to-heart between Mike and Robin, too. Seeing the two boys fighting could lead her into asking Mike what's going on between them, which could then turn into a deeper conversation where Mike realizes exactly why his fights with Will are so different from his fights with anyone else.

This has gotten way too long and spiraled a bit out of control, and I need to actually write an essay for school now, so I'll leave it here.

Please let me know if you have anything to add or anything you agree or disagree with! I love theorizing with other people, too :)

[rustbeltjessie]

I haven’t made a pinned post in a while, but since it’s my birthday month and I’m struggling right now, I figured it’s a good time to make one.

First, let me introduce myself. I’m Jessie Lynn McMains, aka Rust Belt Jessie. I’m a writer (poetry and prose), artist, zine-maker, spoken word performer, occasional musician, small press publisher, and general jack of several creative trades. I’m queer—bi/mspec and nonbinary (I use they/them, she/her, and he/him pronouns). I’m disabled and neurodivergent, and the parent of two kiddos. Politically? Well, I consider myself an anarchist at heart, but I still vote in every election. I think everyone should be able to have enough food, and a safe place to live, and yeah, even a few ‘unnecessary,’ fun things, just by virtue of being alive. As for the rest of my beliefs, you can probably garner a general idea if you peruse my blog even a little.

Now, onto the nitty-gritty. We had about ten days between when our last month’s food money ran out and when this month’s came in. It has been refilled as of today, so I don’t have to worry about that for the moment, but because of that gap, I had to spend money I’d set aside for other stuff on food. I paid our rent and energy bill for the month, but I’m a couple months overdue on our Internet bill, and I don’t want to risk that getting shut off. And then, well, it’s December. I’m trying to buy my kids some Christmas presents, and it’s not just my birthday month—my youngest kiddo’s birthday is four days before Christmas. Because of all this, I’m also way behind on writing stuff. I owe my zine subscribers a new issue (I didn’t send anything at all in November), and I’m trying to finish up some pieces to record for my new spoken word EP, but I’ve had to focus on day job and side-hustle stuff that’s more immediately lucrative, so I haven’t been able to dedicate much time to finishing these projects.

If you’d like to throw some $$ my way so I can get some gifts for my kiddos, keep my Internet on, get back to my writing, and maybe have a less-stressful birthday month than I did last year, I have V*nmo (JessieLynnMcMains) and P*yp*l (coeur.de.fantome [at] gmail[dot]com).

But hey, hey, I’m not just asking for something for nothing! I have a lot of stuff available on Ko-fi (rustbeltjessie), including print books and zines, ebooks and zines, and pins, and you can also hire me as an editor or commission a custom mini-collage. And almost everything is sliding scale/pay-what-you-can, some with a minimum price, others starting at $0.

And that zine subscription? It’s still not too late to get in on it, even though the year is almost over. If you sign up now, you’ll receive all previous issues, along with this month’s when it’s finished, and the final two will be mailed out in January.

Or perhaps you’d like to buy or commission something I don’t officially have for sale. Maybe you’d like to buy one of my existing pieces of art? Or commission a custom pin, designed by me, based on the band/film/fandom/whatever of your choice? Or commission a custom postcard poem/art piece, on the subject of your choice? Or have me write you a custom mini-zine, on the subject of your choice? I can do all those things! DM me, and we’ll work something out!

Oh, and I mentioned above that I was working on a new spoken word EP? Go check out my full-length spoken word album, Self-Portrait With Ghosts and Trains, which was released by Hello America Stereo Cassette in July 2021. You can find it at helloamerica.bandcamp.com. (I do get royalties from that release periodically, but it’s not as immediate as if you purchase something directly from me.)

All that said, I know times are tough for most people right now, so please don’t feel obligated to purchase anything or otherwise send money my way. And, as always, even just a few dollars helps, as does reblogging/boosting this post. 🖤

[marshmellin]

Regarding the Eldar and Sexy Sex | Analysis of the Laws and Customs Among the Eldar within Tolkien's Lore

A.K.A Let the elves be horny. Textually, there is no reason they can't if we're creative.

The concept I am analyzing: An unfinished essay describes the Elven view of marriage vows which cannot be broken. In sum: Some have interpreted this text as saying that Elves can not/will not have sexual activity (“bodily union”) outside marriage.

The concept I have landed on: “Bodily union,” as described in this unpublished text can be interpreted as an intentional act that elven couples choose to perform. The term is not a catch-all for any or all types of sexual contact. In sum: I interpret that Elves can and could engage in a variety of sexual activities without creating marriage vows if they wished.

Below, I have shared how I came to this concept.

Mainly because I like to be canon compliant while letting elves get down.

Welcome to my TedTalk:

First, the facts:

“Laws and Customs Among the Eldar" (LaCE) is an unfinished, unpublished essay written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The notes and draft were published in Morgoth's Ring (Book 10), part of The History of Middle-earth compiled by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death.

LaCE is framed as an account written by Ælfwine, an Anglo-Saxon man. The text provides Ælfwine’s recounted views on various aspects of Elven life — and the BIG drama it creates in The Fandom™ is because of the traditions he recounts regarding marriage and childbirth, particularly. As mentioned above, the document declares that Elves who choose to marry do so once, and that due to their nature they do not commit adultery or even desire "bodily union" outside their marriage vows. Additionally, death itself does not override their vows. Partners will reunite in Valinor after leaving the Halls of Mandos.

AND SO: we must ask ourselves some questions about this Elf Sex document.

View the elf sex document here (it is in opposite of salacious. You may feel less turned on for 2-3 business days after reading it, idk.) Starts on page 289. Another section in the same PDF is the story of Finwë legal-argument-ing his way into bagging yet another unsuspecting baddie.

Let us assume the document is a relatively accurate depiction of Elven customs:

Portions from the text:

“It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete…but it was at all times lawful for any of the Eldar, both being unwed, to marry thus of free consent one to another without ceremony or witness (save blessings exchanged and the naming of the Name); and the union so joined was alike indissoluble. In days of old, in times of trouble, in flight and exile and wandering, such marriages were often made.” (emphasis mine)

Marsh’s Translation: 1) Witnesses are not needed, only the vows or bodily union. 2) This marriage-on-the-go situation was necessary even though the elves, as a group, agree not to marry in times of strife.….. as a race of beings, they do in fact get down bad enough to fuck and marry on the run while continents sink. Passion is there, ok.

“And the union of bodies in marriage is unique, and no other union resembles it.” (emphasis mine).

Marsh’s translation: Since bodily union in the context of marriage is specifically called out as both unique and highlighted as different from other unions, this suggests or, at the least leaves room for the interpretation, that there are other forms of touch and union that do not fall under this unique label of bodily union or consummation of marriage.

This leads us to the next logical question: what types of touch, connection and sensations (union) can occur between two Eldar that do not rise to the level of consummating marriage/a unique bodily union? Kissing? I can think of several ways to live a life worthy of an Explicit rating on AO3 and still avoid "bodily union" as Tolkien intends. And the Eldar have had a lot longer to think about it than I have.

“Nonetheless among the Eldar, even in Aman, the desire for marriage was not always fulfilled. Love was not always returned; and more than one might desire one other for spouse.” (emphasis mine)

Marsh’s Translation: ^^ romantic tension, baybeeee. Elf romantic triangles and quadrilaterals confirmed! But more seriously, I have several questions: firstly, Finwë how dare you.

Second point related to the above: since elves often do not err in choosing spouses, but two elves can love the same person, this suggests love and marriage =/=. We knew this already, but given the astounding number of random-ass elves who fall in love by sight in glades or meadows, I felt the need to be clear.

Third question re: elven love triangles. It the third unrequited person who isn’t loved in return just like….done with romance? RIP, buddy, your shot at intimacy was brief and sad. OR can they desire another again?

“…the Eldar would beget children only in days of happiness and peace if they could.” (emphasis mine)

Marsh’s Translation: ^^ They try not to marry or have kids during times of strife, cool we get that. But this is an interesting thing to highlight in the 8ish pages of “this is Elves and how they sex” that Ælfwine has room for. The note that they try not to have kids (tenuously) suggests couples may be able to control when they have children. I’m not sure if the elven pull out method is particularly proven (think not. looking at you Fëanor, get OFF her).

Additionally, I would not be surprised if, due to the amount of life force necessary to bring forth an elven child (again, Fëanor, damn, dude) the parents can choose to or choose not to conceive during bodily union within the confines of marriage. However, I want to note this one is a quite the reach on my part. Slogan suggestion: who needs the pill when you have the strength of will?

“They are not easily deceived by their own kind; and their spirits being masters of their bodies, they are seldom swayed by the desires of the body only, but are by nature continent and steadfast. Doubtless they would retain for many ages the power of generation, if the will and desire were not satisfied; but with the exercise of the power the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things. The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy, and the ‘days of the children’, as they call them, remain in their memory as the most merry in life; but they have many other powers of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfil." (emphasis mine)

Marsh’s Translation: ^^ they’re horny until they have kids and raise them and all. And then, because there truly are only so many positions and kinks to try over thousands of years, they start to pick up a new hobby and are generally less horny.

But does this does equate to, “and then, when the kids leave for Elf State College, all sexual energy dies and couples live in separate rooms until the breaking of the world because one parter has taken up elven embroidery and the other now practices music and they’re simply too busy learning French Knots and the French Horn to fuck? They're sexually repressed because of the embroidery and instruments, you see.”

I say nay. Less horny =/= never horny. Focus on other desires =/= abandonment of all previous desires. Saying elves get it on more during their sometimes 100+ years-long honeymoon period is like….yes. And sometimes, if you squint, you’ll notice that the sky is, in fact, blue. (An aside to this section: The elves who saved Ælfwine’s human butt on the shores of Tol Eressëa and filled him in on how Elves work did mention Finwë in their account, but our Anglodude decided to give us a separate account of that, using this to focus instead on "Noldor Wedding Customs." So apparently avert your gaze from the published account of how Finwë, first High King of the Noldor, married twice while in Valinor, despite one wife’s spirit still residing in the Halls and their marriage still being valid, just because he reeeeaaaaaalllllly desired another wife and to have more kids. Really. Really. Desired. It. So he lit'rally lawyered up in front of Manwë and co. to ask suuuuuuuuper nicely if he could marry this second woman he knows that isn’t his wife. He makes a few relatively odd arguments, and now his ass has two wives via special Valar Approved Adultery. This doesn’t, doesn’t count as something Noldor do -- nah, they don't desire more than one person, it's just that one dude….) Sure, Jan.

Let us consider couplings between the Eldar and other Children of Illúvatar or Ainur NOT discussed in the text:

We know those couplings are rare, but they do exist and lead to children (Hi, Elrond! Hi, Eldarion!). Do parings between Elves and Men/Maiar require vows for marriage, or, like between two Eldar, can “bodily union” alone marry them?

If “bodily union” alone binds the Eldar and the Edain, do the Edain know this/is this information regarding bodily union = vows readily available to all Children of Illúvatar? It would seem odd to not specifically mention that as an outcome to Men -- and yet, we have no other true textual support that the bodily union between Elves results in marriage. Like, if we take this at face value, do drunk one-night stands between a mortal and elf turn into “whoops, all marriage!” 😬

If “bodily union” between the Eldar and Edain does not marry these couples, are there Edain/mortal brothels for elves who are stressed tf out but do not seek marriage or "bodily union." For example, I dunno, maybe someone who happens to be a High King named Gil-galad? Or, perhaps, even, an Ereinion? (Yes. For full information, see my published works).

What about bodily union with an Ainur/Maia and an Elf? Did Thingol and Melian need to take vows? Or was Forest Eye Sex™ enough for them to be wed when they finally hauled their asses out of the enchanted woods and still failed to apologize to Círdan for literally causing him to be abandoned? 👀 Questions continue to abound.

Let us ask if the document is reliable in-universe:

The document is written in-universe by an Anglo-Saxon Man who was not related or married to a member of the Eldar, writing in 800something AD after managing to make his way to Aman. He heard this second-hand from other Elves. His b-day is not even close to the Year of the Trees. As readers, we should consider whether his narration is reliable or not for this reason alone. (“What’s your source? Trust me, bro?”)

Which brings me to my next point:

Unless we see other elven-generated sources or statements supporting his view, his research is unsupported — Oh but wait!! He HAS a source. A group of elves who saved him from a ship wreck shared some facts and he wrote them down after he got back so….about as good as being there, tbh. 😑 There's no way in hell an Elf would lie to a Man or play a joke on the weird dude asking invasive questions about your sacred marriage customs, right?

Let us question the document as it exists in our world:

It was published in “Morgoth’s Ring” (book 10) as part of The History of Middle Earth, Christopher Tolkein notes inaccuracies: “my impression is that my father had not fully planned its structure when he began”. Christopher also notes that it clear the document was written from the perspective of a Man and not a member of the Eldar.

Tolkien was wingin' it and he winged too close to the sun, so to speak.

Tolkien wrote this, but also noted questions in his own margins and some of his own logic is in conflict with other published works of his (Finwë, as always, is the exception of all exceptions along with Fëanor -- menaces, both). While many of the stories that Tolkien tells throughout LOTR about elves involve monogamy, we are not shown the other aspects of elven sexualities or lifecycles in those texts as in this unfinished LaCE text. This work remained unpublished during Tolkien’s time, in part, it would seem from Christopher Tolkien’s view, because the views in this in-universe texts did not fit smoothly into the world and relationships Tolkien had already built. (He didn't have it planned). This document did not come before, Tolkien was backing into it and he still was dissatisfied with it.

Finally, let us be frfr:

We all know Tolkien did not intend for the elves to have smutty, explicit times outside marriage. He likely didn’t plan for any of his characters to experience that within his world outside of a vow.

AO3 did not exist in his time. He didn’t know, folks. He didn’t know what we’d do and what we would write. (Side q: when was the word smut invented?)

^^^ To put a finer point on this that is less of a joke: Tolkien quite likely did not expect derivative works to be created from his universe. From an authorial point of view, he was less likely to view his work as what his narrative choices could or could not allow others to do with their own stories in his world. He rightly focused on whether his ongoing writing choices impacted the validity of his past stories.

If Tolkien chose to change something in his world, he had the final word on it (even if he was wrong with Gil-galad's parentage and I stand on that and so does Christopher amen). He was known for writing and rewriting maps, elven ages tables, parentages, etc to fit his vision as needed and as his fictional universe grew. The LaCE document is a draft and he did not finish it because he did not need the customs finalized for his other works to, well, work — he already wrote most of his elven characters as following this pattern of relationships, even if he did not have a document to define it.

Tolkien was an upper-middle-class Catholic Englishman writing from a personal lens; while his body of work is not a Catholic work, we can not fully ignore the author’s religion when analyzing a story that includes clear in-universe religious systems devised by a devoutly Catholic man. And, to be equally plain, is quite gah-damn clear what a man born in 1892 with JRR’s background, religion and education means to communicate to his audience when he says “bodily union”.….

But language changes. Context changes. Use changes. Meaning changes. AO3 has been invented.

Let. The. Eldar. Be. Horny.

Last Thots:

Many a writer out there *waves arms broadly* working with elves in Tolkien’s universe may feel the need to write them as a pretty straight-laced race of beings: no open lust, no sex outside marriage, unbreakable oaths. These are aspects aligned with the way Tolkien portrays elves, and so many fics featuring some of our faves will pair elves with others who are their betrothed or intended or spouse – a relationship that fits within the shown framework of elven sexuality. Sometimes writers will make some complex (and cool!) rationales to allow characters to move around the “rules”.

Love these fics. LOVE THEM. Give me all the betrothal and intended and sneakylink hijinks you can.

….but don’t keep these lovely people sexually repressed unless you want to. For fun 😉

[meltingpenguins]

Weird to see the old Good Omens fandom could absolutely Goncharov the new part of the fandom (those that came in with the show) about the book, because curiously a lot of new fans don't seem to have read it.

EDIT: Alright, to clarify: This is not meant mean-spirited, however I am a little curious:

Everyone new to the fandom who hasn't read the book / who has little/no idea of what is happening in it, which ones of these are a false statement about what happens in the book:

The 14th century was the most stressful 100 years Crowley ever experienced.

Crowley got his commendation for the Spanish Inquisition because he's been on a pubcrawl in Spain at the time.

Aziraphale's shop is right next to a porn shop

Hastur and Ligur attempted to build a car to get to Crowley.

Crowley can just manifest sunglasses at will.

Aziraphale is (accidentally) responsible for the Library of Alexandria burning.

Newt got a magazine staff arrested for espionage/treason (possibly)

Crowley has an entire collection of actual soul music.

Crowley's responsible for the cholera epidemic in the 1830s.

Aziraphale's initial instinct was to tell Crowley about finding Adam's address. He decided against it.

Anathema technically owes Aziraphale money cause Agnes never paid back money she borrowed from him to pay a publishing fee for her prophecies

Crowley's responsible for Manchester.

Adam has an older sister, Pepper has a younger one who is delighted to be put through a witch trial.

Now, which of these are false?

[batmanschmatman]

Book Rec: Coming Out Under Fire, by Allan Bérubé

Occasionally I see some discourse on Tumblr from folks in the HBO War fandom or different historical/history adjacent fandoms about how there weren’t that many members of the queer community involved in WWII, and I’d really like to point them and everyone else with an interest in queer history to this wonderful book. Originally published in 1990, Coming Out Under Fire gets into all the different ways queer folks DID participate in the war. It’s from an American perspective, so if you’re looking for other Allied experiences, unfortunately there won’t be much here for you, but it’s exceptionally well researched, and crucially a lot of the content comes from interviews with surviving servicemembers. There’s also a documentary based on the book, which came out a few years later and includes video interviews with some of the folks included in the text.

One of Bérubé’s main points in his introduction – and for writing the book in the first place – is the American government, history textbooks, Hollywood, etc. is able to paint the WWII-era military as an almost entirely straight military force because many queer people who participated in the war effort were silenced during their lifetimes, and were unable or unwilling to reveal their true identities. Some of this was from societal pressure – the post war period saw a huge surge in homophobic rhetoric and persecution in the name of fighting Communism, not to mention the ever present heteronormative pressure to get married and have kids – but also because so many queer veterans died during the AIDS epidemic. Bérubé was inspired to preserve the voices of those who were still with us and shed a light on some of the folks we lost. (Note that this was also an intensely personal issue for Bérubé, who lost friends and his partner to AIDS and thus saw first hand how devastating this was to the community in terms of robbing us of our loved ones, friends, elders, and history itself.)

In the book, Bérubé makes the point over and over again that queer people were involved at basically every level in the American military during the war. There’s stories about guys lying when asked “Do you like girls?” during enlistment, lesbians in the Women’s Army Corps being brought to trial for fraternizing, drag shows in POW camps and in reserve, front line combat veterans discussing losing romantic partners to enemy fire or coming out to foxhole buddies, who were supportive allies rather than hateful. One of my favorite stories that’s always stuck out to me is a guy who came home and decided to come out to his elderly mother, who was fully accepting and supportive of her son’s sexuality. I see so many people speaking in absolutes that there’s NO WAY you could come out to your family and be accepted in the past, and while that was certainly true for so many people, it’s also not an absolute truth.

Please note I am NOT giving blanket permission to make assumptions about real-life people’s sexualities or identities, nor am I saying Band of Brothers fics where half the company is dating each other are historically accurate, but it’s really sad to see folks on here (unknowingly, hopefully) perpetuating the myth that there really weren’t that many queer folks in the military during WWII. We were there, we just couldn’t be out the way we might have liked to be. After the war, the Red Scare, societal pressure, and a literal epidemic silenced countless members of the community about their time in the service. There’s no way to know how many people who fought on Guadalcanal or worked at stateside bases or sorted mail in France were queer, but it’s a lot more than you were led to believe.

As a member of the community and a historian (brief resume: MA in Public History, BA in American History, have published stuff and created exhibits for dozens of museums), I just want to remind folks that we have always been here, and our lives weren’t always miserable and tragic when we came out to people or decided to live as authentically as we could get away with. It’s not completely historically inaccurate to write fic or original fiction where your queer characters can come out to their families and not be shunned, or live with their partners and not be immediately murdered. Being queer wasn’t invented at Stonewall.

[abigailnussbaum]

The Georgette Heyer Master List

Is it just me, or has Georgette Heyer kind of... gone away? Ten, maybe fifteen years ago, she was a name I'd hear quite often. Especially in the circles of science fiction and fantasy fandom that also overlapped with the avid readership of Jane Austen or Patrick O'Brian, she was often recommended as a sort of Austen methadone. Over at Tor.com, as it was then known, fantasy author Mari Ness did a whole season of reading through Heyer's voluminous back-catalogue. These days, even as romance writing—and especially Regency romance, the subgenre that Heyer arguably created—has gained enormous mainstream visibility, and as science fiction and fantasy romance has become its own wildly successful subgenre, Heyer seems to come up less and less. One might have expected the success of Bridgerton, for example, to inspire some film or TV adaptations of her books (it was, after all, the reason the Austen fanfic series Sanditon came back from being cancelled after its first season), but so far nothing.

This might be one of those cases where the answer is contained in the question. The reason fewer people are reading Heyer is that, although she more or less created Regency romance, there are so many people writing within it now that readers looking for something like Jane Austen, but not quite, have a lot of other options on offer. Which makes it easier to notice the problems with Heyer, or simply the ways in which her style has fallen out of fashion. There is no sex in her books (and no queerness, obviously), but there are poisonous sexual mores—all her heroes have had mistresses who are, quite obviously to them and everyone around them, not the sort of woman one marries, while her heroines, even at the moment of declaring their love to their HEA, feel obliged to "resist" any physical display of affection. Her books are rife with chauvinism, antisemitism, and most of all classism (and frankly, I think the only reason racism is absent is that everyone in these books is white), and while this is arguably more realistic than a lot of starry-eyed modern Regency romances, it is also a reflection of Heyer's own prejudices.

Still, I took in all those recommendations a decade or more ago, and while I may be slow I will usually get around to reading something if a lot of people tell me I should. In the last year I've ended up reading a lot of Heyer—mostly stuff I had in my enormous TBR, or found at a used bookstore, or at the local library, so there's not a lot of intentional choice happening here. I'm not here to say that Heyer is an overlooked gem. All those problems noted above are very much present in her writing, and in addition she has some favorite tropes that she goes back to again and again—in a mere twelve books, the plot strand in which one character is kidnapped across the channel to France, while another character pursues them, going deep into the logistics of finding them and catching them up, recurs a surprising number of times. But she's nevertheless a more interesting writer than I think is commonly acknowledged today, more likely to pay attention to the psychology of her characters (and not in the modern, sometimes quite exhausting, therapy-speak way), and more interested in her setting (Heyer also wrote historical fiction, and some of her romances shade into that genre). I dipped into some of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels this year as well, and I have to say, beyond the fact that Heyer is just a better writer, it's a bit more palatable to encounter nasty sexual politics in novels written in the 40s and 50s, than to have to accept that the implied threat of sexual violence is but a stepping stone to true love from a writer whose books were published only twenty years ago.

Below are some thoughts on the Heyer books I've read so far. I will add to them when and as I read new ones, though I think I will continue to leave the selection of those books to happenstance.

S-Tier

Cotillion (1953) - This is the first Heyer I ever read, and to an extent it has spoiled me for the rest of her writing by being such a high water mark. Kitty Charing has been informed by her guardian that she will be forced to marry one of his nephews, and instead decides to run off to the city to find her own match, with the help of gadabout Freddy. The two end up first pretending to be engaged, and then trying to throw Kitty in the path of eligible bachelors, while inevitably falling in love themselves. This is a great book first because it's extremely funny. Heyer had a great ear for the absurd slang of the fashionable London set, and gets a lot of mileage out of Kitty's cheerful refusal to let logic or common sense stop her, and Freddy's Regency himbo antics. More importantly—and rather rarely for Heyer's writing—Kitty and Freddy are true equals. They're both a bit silly and a lot sheltered, but also able to rise to the occasion when it's required, and they lock into each other's wavelength early in the novel and never let go. Inasmuch as they change each other, it's only in revealing that they are able to pull off audacious schemes when someone they care about needs them to, and you can imagine the two of them having a long, ridiculous partnership in crime for the rest of their lives.

Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle (1957) - Informed that Lord Sylvester, who has a bad reputation that is only partly earned, is about to propose marriage to her, Phoebe runs off with her best friend Tom. When the two of them run into trouble on the road, they are rescued by none other than Sylvester, which throws him and Phoebe together for extended periods, with predictable results. This format—older, powerful man; younger, sheltered woman—is one that Heyer returns to quite often, but it works better here than in any other of her novels. Sylvester isn't cruel or a rake; he's arrogant and high-handed, though often with some justification (most of his bad reputation comes from his self-absorbed, thoughtless sister-in-law). Phoebe isn't a naif, but an intelligent woman with a hidden career as an author that she's quite devoted to. The two of them develop a compelling friendship long before they fall in love, rooted in the fact that they are often the smartest person in the room, and able to help each other steer a tricky situation towards calm waters. The twist that threatens their relationship—before meeting him, Phoebe wrote a novel in which the villain was a thinly-veiled version of Sylvester—is highly original, and the novel's final act, in which Sylvester must pursue Phoebe and his kidnapped nephew into France, is one of the most hilarious sequences I've ever read. By the time the two get together, it's obvious that they could only be happy with each other.

Good

False Colors (1963) - Returning from his diplomatic post abroad, Kit Fancot discovers that his twin brother Evelyn has disappeared, right before he was about to propose to Cressida Stavely. Persuaded by his mother to impersonate his twin for one night, Kit quickly finds himself hosting Cressida and a whole raft of other characters in his country home, while trying to keep up the charade and, of course, keep from falling in love with Cressida himself. This is a book that's interesting more for the background than the main romance—Kit and Cressida are quite sweet, but more because they're a point of calm amidst the chaos of all their relatives and friends. But it's that chaos—especially Kit's mother, an airheaded inveterate gambler whom Kit nevertheless adores— that is the real source of the novel's fun. The fact that Kit and Cressida are able to put all the various crises around them to rest is what convinces you that they will be a good couple, but it's not their further adventures that you'd like to follow.

Charity Girl (1970) - While visiting relatives, Ashley Desford encounters Charity Steane, the penniless ward of a family who are mistreating her. When Ashley later finds Charity running away, he convinces her to let him try to find her a respectable situation, and places her with his childhood friend Henrietta Silverdale. In any other novel you'd expect Ashley and Charity to fall in love (and indeed this is what several characters in the novel assume—when they're not assuming something more salacious). Instead, Ashley's efforts to untangle Charity's family situation, get the best of her odious relatives, and find a safe place for her are a method of throwing him in company with Henrietta, whom he has for years insisted is only a friend. It turns out that Ashley and Henrietta, having rebelled against their families' plan to marry them off at a too-young age, have been shame-facedly pretending that they haven't fallen in love for ten years, and it's only by becoming jointly responsible for Charity that they can work their way around this predicament. The stakes aren't particularly high, but the scenario is original enough (especially for Heyer) to make this a worthwhile read.

Interesting

These Old Shades (1926) - Infamous rake Justin Alastair encounters a runaway, Léon, on the streets of Paris and takes him in as his page. It doesn't take long to realize that Léon is actually Léonie, but the untangling of her convoluted family history—a tale of swapped babies, mistaken identities, and false heirs—is the business of much of the novel, during which, of course, Justin and Léonie also fall in love. The potboiler plot is quite fun, as is Léonie herself—having pretended to be a boy for years, she is at once indifferent to the mores she's expected to adopt as a respectable young lady, and immediately won over by fancy clothes and balls, which allows her to triumph over opponents in both high and low society. But this can't quite get around the problem that Justin is twice Léonie's age, and also a pretty bad person (the character previously appeared in The Black Moth (1921), where he was the villain, and a subplot in These Old Shades even throws Justin into the company a woman he had kidnapped in the previous book). Despite the force of Léonie's argument that she actually wants to be with Justin, this is a book better enjoyed for its rollicking, adventurous middle than its romantic conclusion.

An Infamous Army (1937) - Heyer was simply mad for the Napoleonic wars, and this is one of several books she wrote set in and around them. As aristocrats and officers await the arrival of Napoleon's army in Brussels, Colonel Charles Audley encounters Lady Barbara Childe, a widow with a scandalous reputation. The two feel an instant, powerful attraction, but end up having to navigate Barbara's habit of playing games with her suitors, and Charles's impatience with them, before the battle of Waterloo erupts and forces them both to confront more pressing issues while also realizing the depth of their feelings for each other. It's nice to have a central couple who are older, more experienced people, but An Infamous Army steps away from Charles and Barbara quite often. Sometimes this is quite interesting—the absurdity of 18th century warfare, with Wellington throwing balls for the who's who gathered in Brussels while everyone debates when to flee the city—and at other points quite tedious—several subplots in which Charles's extended family play forgettable matchmaking games. In the end, however, Heyer's interest is in Waterloo itself, with the novel culminating in an 80-page, blow-by-blow description of the battle. This can sometimes be quite moving, when it captures the sheer extent of the carnage, or the confusion of individual officers. But mostly it's just descriptions of military tactics, which is not what I signed up for when I picked up a Regency romance. By the time Charles and Barbara find their way back to each other, you'll mostly be feeling exhausted rather than overjoyed.

A Civil Contract (1961) - Adam Deveril is called home from the peninsula by the news that his father, a viscount, has died, and that the family finances are in such dire straits that Adam may be forced to sell their ancestral estate. The only solution, Adam is quickly made to realize, is for him to marry rich, to which end he's introduced to Jenny Chawleigh, the daughter of a fantastically rich but boorish merchant. In most books we'd expect Adam and Jenny to fall in love, and it takes a while to realize that this is not going to happen. Adam continues to think wistfully about Julia, the woman he had been attached to before his finances made the idea of proposing to her impossible, and the narrative is at pains to point out that he doesn't feel any attraction towards Jenny. What A Civil Contract is about, instead, is class relations. The complicated push and pull between Adam and Jenny's father Jonathan as they negotiate one's social position, and the other's wealth; the delicate negotiations between Adam and Jenny as she learns to understand the importance of tradition to him, and he realizes that she is actually capable of being a great viscountess if he just trusts her a little. The whole thing is a lot more Edith Wharton than Jane Austen, with some great scenes in which Adam is torn between genuine appreciation of Jonathan's energy and intelligence, and disgust at his determination to tear down everything old and replace it with whatever is newest and most expensive. In the end, however, it's all a bit too bleak, and Heyer doesn't quite have the courage to let us sit with that. She tries to assure us that Adam and Jenny have found a genuine partner in each other, and that this, too, is a form of love, but this is not very convincing. In the hands of another author, A Civil Contract would have been the half-tragedy it actually is.

Meh

The Convenient Marriage (1934) - Intending to propose to the eldest Winwood sister, who is already in love with someone else, the Earl of Rule is persuaded, by her younger sister Horatia, to marry her instead. That's basically the story—a marriage of convenience for both parties that turns into a romance. But while in other books Heyer has made a meal of this premise, The Convenient Marriage never convinces you of either its lovers being especially suited to each other, or the rather thin obstacles it places in their path. There are some interesting worldbuilding details—some information about how the invitations to Almack's used to work, or about the mechanics and norms of duel-fighting. And towards the end, there are some good scenes in which Horatia has to outsmart a kidnapper, or her brother has to arrange a highway robbery to retrieve a stolen jewel that might destroy her reputation. But ultimately, the fact that this is all in service of a couple who aren't particularly engaging (and whose age difference—35 and 17—is hard to get over) makes the whole thing a bit of a slog.

Cousin Kate (1968) - Kate Malvern is at the end of her rope, having been chased off yet another governess position by an employer with wandering hands, when a long-lost aunt invites her to visit her country home. When Kate arrives, she soon realizes that her aunt Minerva plans to pressure her to marry her cousin Torquil, and that there are secrets in the estate and the family that are being kept from her. This is Heyer working in the Gothic mode, complete with an isolated great house, a young woman being manipulated and lied to, and a dreadful family secret. It's reasonably well done for what it is, but there were better authors than Heyer working in the Gothic mode—by 1968 you could have read something like Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree (1961) or Nine Coaches Waiting (1958), both of which do much more interesting, innovative things with the Gothic form than Heyer is even attempting. Finally, there is the fact that the dark secret being kept from Kate has to do with mental illness, whose handling is as tragic and sensationalized as you might expect from this author and era.

Yikes

Devil’s Cub (1932) - The sequel to These Old Shades, this book centers on Justin and Léonie's son Vidal, who has all of his parents' faults and none of their charms. After killing a man in a duel, he schemes to run off with a silly middle class girl, whom he of course feels no compunction about ruining. When her sister Mary takes her place, Vidal is shocked to realize that he has compromised a "respectable" woman, and tries to convince her to marry him. There are further twists, but none of them can get around the fact that the main character of this book is odious, and that the supposed love story between him and the girl he has kidnapped and ruined is highly unconvincing. Not helping matters is that an older Léonie periodically appears to explain that her son has done nothing wrong and that marrying Mary will obviously be the best thing for him, which frankly feels too much like the voice of the author for comfort.

The Spanish Bride (1940) - Based on the real experiences of Captain Harry Smith and his Spanish war bride Juana, this is another novel deeply rooted in the minutiae of the Napoleonic wars, beginning on the peninsula and culminating, of course, in Waterloo. In itself this might simply be boring, but right off the bat we get a scene in which Harry and other officers stand back while their soldiers, enraged after the bloody siege of Badajoz, murder and rape their way through the town for several days. Harry's marriage to Juana is arranged in the wake of this atrocity as a means of protecting her, despite her being only fourteen years old. The rest of the novel is spent careening between detailed descriptions of various battles, and cutesy interludes between Harry and Juana as they settle into their marriage—Harry often exasperated by Juana's stubbornness and emotional outbursts (I don't know, man; if you didn't want a wife who behaves like a child, maybe you shouldn't have married a child); Juana almost slavishly devoted to him but also prone to jealousy and anxiety. (Harry Smith left copious journals so one assumes his side of the story is fairly realistic; Juana Smith's feelings on the whole matter are, as far as I know, lost to history.) The whole thing is alternately boring and gross.

The Grand Sophy (1950) - Charles Rivenhall is informed that his family will play host to their cousin Sophy, whose diplomat father is being sent abroad. Accustomed to keeping house for her father, Sophy quickly takes over the Rivenhall household, rearranging her cousins' financial and romantic lives while a stunned Charles is at first outraged, and then won over. This is a solid premise, but the execution is appalling. Sophy is a bulldozer who interferes in people's lives not because she cares about them but because she always thinks she knows better, and eventually she comes to feel more like a bully than a savior. That Charles is attracted to these qualities might be taken as a defensive trauma response (or, in the hands of a more open-minded author, a kinky tendency), but at no point did I even begin to believe that Sophy had any romantic interest in him (there are a number of Heyer characters who would make a lot more sense if they were queer, but Sophy, in particular, is so clearly a lesbian that the very idea of her happily married to a man breaks one's brain). Adding insult to injury is a lengthy sequence in which Sophy "defeats" an odious Jewish moneylender—read, a collection of poisonous antisemitic stereotypes in human form—whom her cousin has borrowed money from and who, completely unreasonably, expects to be paid back until Sophy threatens him with a gun. I will no doubt ruffle some feather by placing this book—generally held to be one of Heyer's best—so low, but reading it nearly put me off her for life. 

[the-most-faithful]

New day, new discussion with a Snater who twists the canon to justify bullying Snape

The other day I commented on a Tiktok video listing James' good deeds (with fanon additions, as usual) to say that James was a good person and didn't deserve to die, I wrote this comment

Obviously I expected someone to reply, but some real gems came out xD

So follow the reasoning, because it's funny.

First let's discuss whether James has matured or not, that's fine, it's a matter of interpretation from the little we know from the canon but then we get to the point, Snape was a special case, he responded to James' attacks after seven years of bullying.

So according to this person if a victim of bullying responds then he is no longer a victim. Clear, right? If someone attacks you you just have to suffer and maybe even in silence. Realizing that the thing doesn't hold up he goes to the classic "But it wasn't bullying, they were rivals" But when I say that 2 vs 1 is not equal and cannot be rivalry then he changes again by putting in the field guess what?

ASSUMPTIONS

Death Eaters SA Mary. False, we don't know what Mulciber TRIED to do to Mary. In the fandom this Headcanon is very popular but it is indeed a Headcanon. But then what does what Mulciber tried to do have to do with the fact that Snape was bullied? Was James responding to something Mulciber tried to do by taking it out on Snape who had done nothing? This doesn't make any sense at all

And then of course we only see Snape's point of view so it could be different, maybe he wasn't the victim. Really? The Snaters don't know the canon. Memories are OBJECTIVE, we see the facts as they happened, the thoughts and feelings are Harry's watching.

Then strangely he didn't bring up the point "Snape cursed Muggle-borns" I hope this person has come to his senses and realized he said something non-canonical

Ma preparati perchè ora ridiamo:

"It wasn't always 2 vs 1" most of the time Snape was with Death Eaters gang.

WHERE? But when? This is another assumption, if Snape had been with others who defended him then James and Sirius would not have attacked him (because they are cowards)

But at least he admitted that Snape was the victim in this episode. So why continue, he admitted it, stop, and instead in order to blame the victim he puts forward other ASSUMPTIONS, Snape created the Sectumpsempra, so what? To curse James? We don't know why he created it (which I then wrote to him) But hey Sirius admitted that they were idiots BUT they bullied Snape (Another admission, they BULLIED SNAPE) because he was a racist. But this is also false

So it's never said that James never attacked Mulciber and others, so it could have happened? But of course, it's never said that Hermione isn't actually The Rock with a wig so she could be. But do they really do that?? Plus they wouldn't have attacked Malfoy because he was older? So they only picked on the weakest, just like real bullies

James and Sirius as the twins? Well on this point I have a lot to say, I know I've been saying it for months but I'll soon publish a chapter dedicated to this. Let's say that if the Twins had been Slytherins everyone would have called them bullies, so this similarity does not go in favor of the Snaters. But here comes a pearl

"Snape was attacking muggleborns"

Snape attacked muggle-borns? Dude, have you ever read the books? When, for Morgana's sake, would this have happened?

Let's see what he'll answer.

(and then he also brought up the fact that Snape was to blame for the attack on the Potters and that he only asked for mercy for Lily, but now this point is so stupid that I have an automatic answer)

[androxys]

Comic Ages: Quick Breakdowns for the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages

If you're new to comic fandom, or even if you're not, you may hear people talk about specific "Ages" of comic books. If you don't know what that means, or what people mean when they talk about a Golden Age, this is a quick writeup meant to help you out!

This focuses on the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Bronze Age of comics. This is a DC focused writeup, though it's loosely applicable to Marvel comics too.

The Golden Age (1938-1950s)

DC Comics as we know it started taking form in 1937 with the debut of the Detective Comics title. Published by Detective Comics Inc. in partnership with National Allied Publications, the title was an anthology of various detective and mystery stories featuring characters such as Slam Bradley. Have you ever read the first dozen or so ‘Tec stories? Because I haven’t. I care much more about what came next. In 1938, All-American Publications began publishing Action Comics, debuting a character called Superman. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Soon after, in 1939, Detective Comics #27debuted the Batman. Arguably with Action Comics #1, though definitely by 1940, the Golden Age of comics had begun.

The original iterations of the Flash and Green Lantern—Jay Garrick and Alan Scott, respectively—were created in 1940. The savvy reader among you might recognize these two as belonging to the Justice Society of America, which had arrived on the scene by 1941. The JSA would be rounded out with Hawkman, Doctor Fate, the Spectre, Sandman, the Atom, and Hourman. Other characters created around this time include Green Arrow (1940), Wonder Woman, (1941), and Aquaman (1941).

You may notice that the Golden Age overlaps with World War II, and it definitely affected DC’s publication. The newly created figure of the superhero became a more starkly patriotic figure, often spangled in red, white and blue. Plots began to incorporate nationalistic themes, and heroes often fought spies, foreign agents, and saboteurs. Arguably, though, scholars argue that the war era was most important for how superheroes began to move out of a purely print medium to radio and film. (For additional reading on DC Comics and WWII, see the Freeman and Hutchens citations below)

As the 40s went on, however, interest in superheroes began to wane, and DC (though technically they weren’t yet a consolidated DC Comics) began to pivot to other themes, such as Western stories or science fiction. The end of the Golden Age, however, can arguably be traced to 1954 with Frederic Wertham publishing Seduction of the Innocent. Wertham’s book that claimed that comics were an active harm to children due to their depictions of violence and supposed (homo)sexual themes. Seduction of the Innocent led to Wertham testifying before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee, which in turn ended up leading to comics publishers adopting the Comics Code Authority, a sort of self-imposed regulatory authority.

I would personally characterize the Golden Age as having a sort of earnestness to it. Characters are being invented left and right, but the writers haven’t yet had enough time with them to shape them into the figures we now know them to be. In hindsight, a lot of these early stories seem... silly… Superman eating a pocket-knife in Superman #8 comes to mind. But even within the same issue as the goofy knife-eating, you see Superman working against foreign agents representing the real-world anxieties of the time.

The Silver Age (1958-1970)

After the establishment of the Comics Code Authority, the content of comics had to change. At the same time, DC Comics (though they still weren’t technically doing official business under that name) had a stable of characters begging for reinvention. In 1956, Barry Allen debuted as the new Flash in Showcase #4, and the Silver Age was off. Science fiction themes seemed to be all the rage for the Silver Age: Hal Jordan, the new Green Lantern, got his ring from a dying alien. Ray Palmer, the new Atom, was described as a genius inventor who created his size changing powers. Hawkman was brought back, no longer as the reincarnating pharaoh Khufu, but as a police officer from the planet Thanagar. The Martian Manhunter was more thoroughly fleshed out and elevated from a detective to superhero. As individual heroes were getting re-tooled, the concept of the Justice Society was updated in 1960 to become the Justice League of America, which debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28.

After establishing refreshed versions of some of their older heroes, DC decided that they wanted to begin to reincorporate some of their older characters into their modern publication. This effort began in 1961 with the spectacular “Flash of Two Worlds” in Flash #123, which featured Barry Allen, the Flash, teaming up with Jay Garrick, the Flash of the Golden Age. This issue established that the Golden Age characters all still existed, but on a parallel Earth that vibrated at a different frequency than the Earth of DC’s main heroes, which was designated Earth One. By using their powers, characters like the Flash were able to vibrate at the other Earth’s speed, crossing over. This concept would soon be expanded upon, leading to frequent crossovers between Earth One and Earth Two characters and teams.

Having two separate Earths, each with their own history, allowed DC to have multiple variations of the same characters, offering greater storytelling breadth. The Bruce Wayne of Earth Two, for example, had retired as Batman to become Gotham Police Commissioner, passing on the torch to his daughter Helena Wayne, the Huntress. Huntress would cross over to meet the Bruce Wayne of Earth One, the younger, childless Batman. DC would develop other Earths, such as Earth Three, with villainous versions of Earth’s heroes, of Earth Prime, with a single Superboy as Earth’s only superhero.

The Silver Age, as a whole, can be looked at as campier than other eras of comics thanks in no small part due to the regulations imposed by the Comics Code Authority. Stories tended towards science fiction and the fantastic, and creators were very interested in making pre-established concepts new again. Comics continued to expand through new mediums, often keeping with the tone of the time: the Adam West Batman TV show, for example, ran 1966-1968 and is a great example of Silver Age camp. While the Silver Age has an event that can be pointed to as a relatively agreeable indication of the era’s beginning, its end is slightly less clear.

The Bronze Age (1970-1986)

The Bronze Age of Comics came about during the 1970s, but it’s not easy to discern exactly when or with what event. Comic readers had been indicating a desire for darker or more mature stories. (In some ways, this desire can be considered as a reaction to the trend of the Silver Age as a whole. For further reading, I suggest The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon, which dives into how Batman media specifically follows a tone-pendulum.)

Some point to the death of Gwen Stacy over in The Amazing Spider-Man as the event that heralded in the Bronze Age, others point to Jack Kirby leaving Marvel to join DC and begin the Fourth World. The Bronze Age was emboldened by the revision and weakening of the Comics Code in 1971, after Stan Lee published a comic about drug use without the Authority’s stamp of approval. The comic was a success, leading the code to reevaluate or be left behind.

In the realm of DC, Green Arrow’s joining the Green Lantern title in 1970 in what would then be Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 is generally considered a Bronze Age hallmark. The series focused on contemporary social ills, with its arguably most famous story tackling drug addiction in America. 1971’s Green Lantern/Green Arrow #78, “Snowbirds Don’t Fly,” depicted the teen hero Roy Harper's addiction to heroin and the other heroes’ reaction and response. In the Batman comics, Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams began a long campaign to bring Batman back to a more gothic, brooding figure with appropriately dark villains. O’Neil and Adams’ 1971 Batman #232 debuted Ra’s and Talia al Ghul, while 1973’s Batman #251 would see “The Joker’s Five Way Revenge” take the Joker from his Silver Age clownish portrayal to a more menacing, murderous villain.

As DC Comics approached 50 years of publication in 1985, they began to recognize that five decades had left them with quite a mess of continuity. There were the Golden Age heroes on Earth Two, the Silver Age heroes that had become the Bronze Age heroes on Earth One, and a plethora of alternate Earths and company acquisitions to make it muddier. To mark the anniversary and clean house at the same time, DC embarked upon the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis on Infinite Earths, often referred to just as “Crisis” was a year-long maxi series running from 1985-1986. The plot involved the destruction of the DC multiverse, and resulted in the establishment of a New Earth with a new continuity. Nearly everything that came before was taken off the metaphorical table, and writers got to choose which pre-Crisis elements to re-canonize and which elements to create fresh.

[haloslips]

last night two cherished friends and i went to the brewery for one round, met some cute dogs, went back to their place for homemade beef stew. i made it until 10:30 before i had to tap out and go home, which i'm pleased with. fell asleep before midnight, woke up at 12:08am, wished myself a happy new year and went back to sleep. got up to my alarm this morning and had brunch with jess, which i am treasuring especially because i won't see her for a few months now. walked around the city i live in and thought: you are living a life.

i never thought about what it meant to be alive. i was suicidal from a young enough age that it never made sense to envision the future. it took me a long time to figure out what living could look like once i realized i was going to do it; to figure out what i like and what i want. but i'm starting to learn.

last year i: watched the kraken shut out vegas with my dad and one of my best friends; witnessed genocide; took thirteen million cat photos (and even a few selfies); saw many inspiring vanity plates; moved into a new apartment; only got one tattoo; had covid again; cried about trevor zegras (a lot); restarted therapy; got a new job; listened to the man who killed my mom plead innocent; went to three different neopets meetups; rode a horse for the first time in years; danced with my friends, giddy and drunk, at one of their weddings; published two fanfictions; broke both my wrists at the same time; saw the northern lights twice; let my friends take care of me; won a game of scrabble; saw my favorite band live; learned many new things; failed at learning some things

the best advice i ever got was that life doesn't get easier, but you get better at doing it. when i first heard it i could only think about everything i had to endure, but i realized that you don't just get better at bad things. you get better at the things you practice.

i've always liked the practice of affirmations, and upon reflection these past few weeks i decided it was time for some new ones. so, for as long as i need them, here's what i came up with:

you are allowed to take up space

you are capable

you will be okay

you are safe

you have time

this year i will: have as much fun as possible by my own standards; be vulnerable even when it isn't rewarded; use my hands to create something beautiful; cry about trevor zegras; listen to so much new music; see as many of the people i love as possible; experience the epic highs and lows of seattle sports fandom; get so fucking goofy with it; miss my mom; let my friends take care of me; act intentionally; cook something new; get nervous when philipp grubauer posts insta stories from gasworks park; celebrate new milestones; take a bunch of pictures; apply for grad school; watch new movies and read new books; appreciate as much as possible; watch as the world keeps ending; rejoice as the world goes on

[directdogman]

Hey dogman, idk if you answered this

Who, out of both DSAF and Dialtown, was your favourite to write and/or create?

It's very hard for me to pick favourites with my characters because I don't tend to give characters a lot of screen-time unless I find a character interesting or fun to write. You've caught me in a talkative mood, so warning, there's an onslaught of text coming!

DSaF: Dave was the most fun to write for, as I remember it. I mean, the guy is the walking personification of chaos and even when he's being constructive (eg, rigging robots to do insane stuff), it's usually in a destructive capacity. Dave will do LITERALLY ANYTHING but contribute to society in meaningful/valuable ways.

In terms of what character-writing I was most 'proud' of, I was also pretty happy with Dr Henry Miller, as a villain. Namely the research he embarked on, described in his logs in DSaF 3 (which the fandom evidently agreed with, as I got really strong feedback on those logs.)

One issue a lot of people (including myself) have with canon William Afton is that he's this kind of mad scientist character but his research doesn't really seem to be... idk, going anywhere? Other than using remnant (soul nectar?) to make kids possess robots, it's kind of a mystery how he got to this point he did from running a bad fast food restaurant. William gets fleshed out motivations in TSE and even then, it mainly revolves around his relationship with Henry Emily, iirc. It's actually pretty accurate to how real serial killers think, imo, but there's a pretty wide berth between this kind of serial killer and becoming a sci-fi fast-food mad scientist... So, I decided to try to bridge that gap.

DSaF Henry's logs actually mention where the idea for his research came from, namely the fact that he existed in a world with normal scientific rules just like ours and seemingly discovered something supernatural, and he approaches it like an amoral scientist would - trying to figure out how to figure out more about the fabric of reality using the newly discovered phenomenon of possession. The 'joy of creation' phrase people pulled from Golden Freddy's phone call in FNaF 1 is given context - Henry is trying to find out what's on the other side (and eventually, how existence itself formed.)

There's other aspects to his character that make him more interesting too, like the implication that his research is partially an excuse for him to act on an underlying sadism (with scenes implying that he inflicts damage on others than can't be justified as assisting with his research.) His background as a dissident/quack laughing-stock scientist (thanks to pushing his soul theory in a best-selling book, which is considered pseudoscience) BEFORE he embarked on his journey to become a fast food tycoon also makes it less farfetch'd that he'd be capable of y'know, harvesting human souls intentionally to continue his research?

I had more for the character on paper that people haven't seen but some of it wasn't revealed due to it feeling a bit too disturbing to publish. None of the contents would've been all that controversial, more just too tonally disturbing when written about in detail (like a omitted part from his backstory/lore post where he managed to pick up a hazy audio of his wife + son's crying from the radio of the car his wife/son drowned in and reacted with genuine elation upon realizing he'd discovered a new scientific phenomenon (as this was the first time Henry witnessed soul-possession.)) Yeah.

I don't feel much of a need to revisit Henry as a character because as a series villain, he was pretty thoroughly-written and he did his job effectively... And his fate was well earned! (He even got an epilogue short-story a few years back, further cementing his fate!)

Dialtown: From the characters/writing that the fandom has seen? Tough to say. I genuinely really like every DT character. Gingi and Mayor Mingus are two of my favourite characters to write for because they're both really insistent and react to adversity in a really comically indignant way. Mingus is more like Gingi than she cares to admit in very specific ways, which is the core hypocrisy of her character - she's one of the most abnormal things IN Dialtown, and spends the game on a quest opposing abnormality that she, herself, can't stand.

Many absolute rulers have debilitating physical and/or mental cruxes and despite that, usually have the final say on what is/isn't okay, often guided by arbitrary preferences. It's funny to remember all of the ancient kings and emperors who dictated how others should act, talk and even think, when very many of them themselves were anything except a good reflection of their own subjects! It's an irony I quite enjoy and leads to a fun character to write for!

My favourite DT writing is probably some of my Callum Crown speech drafts. I have a definite bias here since Crown's character is based on many figures I've encountered in my own reading (and his story relates to topics I enjoy reading about.) A lot of that is real nerd shit that wouldn't be interesting to 99.9% of DT fans (like a long conversation where Crown + Milt discuss a campaign speech Milt wrote for Crown and they bicker about if the wording/arguments used are truly honest.) Again, not super relevant to Dialtown-proper, but it explains a lot about why the world of DT ended up the way it did.

Realistically, the story of Dialtown itself is basically a weird little epilogue to a story that ended decades upon decades ago, centered around a bunch of small-town nobodies circling around the carcass of the last surviving main character of the old story.

I'm also very happy with Gingi's character partially because I know more about Gingi's past/future than you guys do. Gingi has such rotten memory that Gingi's backstory before DT's story begins is basically a complete mystery. Thanks to Gingi never getting close enough to any humans before laying its eggs, there's nobody in Gingi's life that can fill in the gaps. Companionship means so much to Gingi because prior to meeting The Gang, Gingi is aware of a massive and unknown block of time that's a complete mystery precisely because Gingi had nobody in its life. To Gingi, this time was basically akin to being non-sentient or dead, and Gingi would never go back.

While I was making DSaF, I drafted a ton of other stories on paper. I considered making most of them, but decided not to for various reasons, despite getting some solid feedback from collaborators. Bits of almost all of those project ideas made it into DT, with Gingi having traits from several other main characters I prototyped years and years ago. This includes where Gingi came from and what exactly Gingi is. I don't want to mislead people into thinking Gingi is more important than it is, like Gingi is the key to unlocking DT lore (I promise there's a LOT of aimless scuttling/devouring in Gingi's past and relatively little else!) BUT: Of everything from those old scrapped projects, Gingi is what I decided deserved to survive the most. And that has to count for something.

One day I'd love to make sequels to DT and perhaps explore some of the stuff I've described above, like why the hell the world of DT is the way it is or maybe where the hell Gingi spawned from. Thanks

[froidefille]

Day 1: First fic you read/first fic you remember reading

📚 Underwater Light by Maya

Draco/Harry, 199k, T

Summary:

Featuring an extremely depressed Harry in a war-torn wizarding world, about to get the shock of his life when he discovers that Draco Malfoy is slightly more important to him than he would have ever guessed. Including a very odd friendship, lots of angst, suspicions, conflicted loyalties, clueless Ron, on-the-warpath Hermione and two very messed-up boys.

I'm pretty sure the very first HP fics I've read were in Polish and published on the legendary polish HP ff forum Mirriel (kudos to all who has contributed over the years, it's been over 20 by now!!) but I have sadly lost any trace of that.

The earliest one that I do remember has got to be Underwater Light by Maya (which has by now dissapeared from the face of the Internet hence no link, sorry) aka The one where Draco's the one on the bottom of the Lake during the Triwizard Tournament. I remember it being written BEFORE the OotP came out so yeah, I am that old xd

I remember it being one of the fics that has sold Drarry for me and here we are more than 10 years later. I'm afraid I have forgotten the details and all that's left is the feeling of freaking loving reading it.

So yeah, Day 1 done, see you tomorrow (hopefully xd).

some personal notes under the cut <3

OMG, I'm finally doing a thing! I've been part of the fandom for many many years now and this is the first time I've decided to do more than just lurk in the comments - this time I'm gonna ACTIVELY lurk !!

So thank you to the @hprecfest crew for giving me the structure, platform and, even more importantly - the deadline (xd), to give the well-respected shoutout to some of the best writers out there <3

Okay, this is my first time attempting to write recs so bear with me please. I don't actually think I will write that much, but I do aim to - at least - get every prompt a title.

Also the banner is all mine! with my photos of my actual HP book! I'm pretty proud of that hihihi

Thank you bye!!

[rwrbficrecs]

WIP Wednesday

happy wednesday ❤️

i think i am finally clean by @coffeecatsme (book-verse)

@na-dineee: The author is no stranger to the fandom and has already written quite a few stories that are well worth reading. This fic (POV Alex) is not a prequel to "he looks up grinning like the devil", but it is advisable to read the story beforehand, as they are closely connected. Mind the tags and read the notes, it has a lot of hurt and discomfort in it - but it should get better with Chapter 3 (according to the author, the focus from then on is healing). Getting to know vulnerable, yet strong and fighting Alex is really touching and kept me thinking for a long time!

Binary Light by @leaves-of-laurelin (book-verse)

@dot524: I love reading about Henry and Alex as movie stars, and this story has one of my favorite versions of that yet. They star in a sci-fi sequel here, with a plot that mirrors their own enemies-to-lovers saga. The tension between them — both sexual and otherwise — is sky-high. Enjoying the regular updates and plot turns as this story gets going!

A Cloud on Fire Makes its Own Rain by foux_dogue (book-verse)

@dot524: Henry left when Alex tried to say he loved him at the lake house… and he never came back. Twenty years later, Alex is a TV producer who is single and fighting to find his way, and Henry is abdicating. What happens when they encounter each other again? The thing I really liked about this one was Alex’s thoughts about getting older, empty spaces, and what might have been.

Shades of Bougainvillea by @happiness-of-the-pursuit (book-verse)

@na-dineee: The author announces 15 chapters, two have already been published: Martha and Shaan. Each chapter will be narrated by a different character, with no repeats, and matches the events of one book chapter. And so we'll get a whole new look at the events that we originally only know through Alex's POV. So good already, so promising.

Set in Platinum by @cricketnationrise (book-verse)

@thesleepyskipper: This is a follow up to Going Platinum which was a fantastic work featuring camboy!Alex and one of his subscribers, Henry. In the sequel, Henry and Alex are newly minted boyfriends and we get to see how their relationship both on and offline changes now that they've finally gotten together. Just the first chapter brought me right back into this world, totally immersed! I cannot wait for the rest!

check out our past WIP recs here ❤️