#all hallows read 2017

[her-satanic-wiles]

October 30th

Body Worship, Papa Emeritus II x Catholic!Reader

Masterlist

Words: 4.1k.

Warnings: Body Worship (okay, turned out less body worship and more just worship in general but fuck it, I wanted to write it this way lmao); fingering; vaginal fingering; cunnilingus; marking; piv; vaginal sex; unprotected sex; praise kink; y’all this is soft soft, and I love it; religious symbolism; corruption kink; hair pulling; multiple orgasms;

Taglist: @sodoswitchimage @enchantedbunny @bitchywitchygardener @thew0man @sodomiser @the-did-i-ask @copias-sewer-rat @gehrmansbignaturals @deetz-ghuleh @onlyhereforghost @zombiesnips-blog @saturnhas82moons

Author's Note: This is a continuation of October 3rd, so if you haven’t read that, please go and do so before you read this! Thanks!

Recommended listening: Chase Atlantic with their self-titled 2017 album.

🔞 MDNI 🔞

Under the cloak of night, he crept through the ancient cobblestone streets of Rome, heart pounding in his chest like a drumbeat of impending doom. The Vatican’s towering walls loomed before him, a fortress of faith and secrets. Driven by a love forbidden by both church and society, he had come to breach the sanctum’s impenetrable defenses.

His leather-soled shoes barely made a sound as he approached the towering stone wall that guarded the Vatican’s secrets. In the moon’s pale glow, he could make out the shadows of security guards patrolling the perimeter. He crouched low, his heart racing with each passing second, and carefully assessed their movements.

Timing was everything. With the precision of a cat, he found his moment when two guards turned their backs, engaged in hushed conversation. In one swift, heart-pounding motion, he scaled the wall, fingers gripping the rough stone edges, and muscles straining with urgency. His breath held, he cleared the top, dropping silently to the other side, where the hallowed ground of Vatican City stretched out before him. It was almost as if he could feel the soles of his feet burning as it touched the hallowed ground, and forced him to move forward quickly.

Silent as a whisper, he navigated the maze of corridors of the Vatican’s residential quarters. The opulence and history that surrounded him seemed at odds with the clandestine nature of his mission. Portraits of pontiffs from centuries past stared down at him from gilded frames, their judgmental eyes seemingly aware of his transgressions.

He moved with caution, avoiding the gaze of any servants or clergy members who might cross his path, clutching onto his Grucifix pendant in his thick hand in an attempt to shield his true identity. His knowledge of the Vatican’s layout was limited, but the urgency of his desire propelled him forward.

Finally, he found himself outside a front door, familiar to him only by the number he’d been given. He knew this was where you resided, his forbidden lover, a cardinal of the church with all the responsibilities but none of the titles or accolades. With trembling hands, he reached for the doorknob, his heart pounding louder than the sacred hymns echoing through the Vatican’s hallowed halls.

The room was bathed in the soft glow of candlelight, casting dancing shadows on the richly adorned tapestries that lined the walls. He had finally found your apartments, and with a mixture of apprehension and longing, he pushed the door open, revealing the inner sanctum of the Pope’s daughter.

Inside, you sat at a writing desk, the dim light revealing the weariness etched into your features. Your modest dress hung off your frame just as pristine as you liked it. You looked up from your work, your eyes widening in shock and disbelief as they met his.

Time seemed to stand still as your gazes locked. Words failed you both, as the weight of your forbidden rendezvous hung heavy in the air. You stood from your seat slowly eyes fixed on the now cocky Secondo whose arms were outstretched as though he wanted you to run to him and welcome him into your home. Run to him you did, but no words of welcome were exchanged.

Your palms reached his shoulders and with a force, you pushed him, anger now taking hold of your body. “What are you doing here!?” You hissed, clearly livid by his intrusion. This was not how he wanted things to go. “My father will be here any minute! What do you think he’d do if he found a Cardinal of the Satanic Church in his daughter’s room?”

Secondo grinned, his black upper lip stretching into a lacivious smile. “Hopefully he’d understand my intensions and close the door behind him.”

Your hand connected with his cheek, a red mark forming instantly. Just as you were about to lay into him, you heard a familiar voice sounding from the entryway. “___?” Your father had arrived.

Secondo’s eyes widened, now understanding the gravity of the situation. Though the Catholic church was supposed to be a pinnacle of moral upstanding, it wasn’t uncommon for Popes to take drastic measures to protect their Papacy, even if it meant defying their God’s wishes. Thou shalt not murder - unless of course they pose a threat to your power and need to be eradicated. Secondo knew that given he was a footsoldier of the Devil, a Satanic rat sent to plague the people with “immorality”, your father would have no problem crucifying him on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Hide!” You shout-whispered, your panic even greater than Secondo’s.

Secondo wasted no more time, diving into your bedroom and throwing himself under your bed, thankful that you didn’t use it as storage. He did so at just the right time, because while he couldn’t see your father from his position, he could hear him and he was right where Secondo had stood just thirty seconds prior.

“What are you doing in here?” Your father asked, his tone certainly suspicious. “Why didn’t you come when I called?”

“Sorry, father, I was doing some work. Correspondances.”

Your father hummed in acknowledgement. “There’s a meeting tomorrow morning at ten o’clock. We’re gathering officials to discuss how we’re going to remove the vermin.”

Secondo didn’t need to visit the Vatican often to know that the vermin your father was referring to was the Satanic Church. He rolled his eyes and contorted his face to childishly mimic and mock your father - though he knew no one could see him, it was a knee-jerk reaction and he thought it was funny.

You hesitated before you spoke. “Yes, father.”

“Something you want to say?”

There were, in fact, several things you wanted to say to your father and none of them were kind. After spending as much time as you did with Secondo, you had grown to understand that they weren’t the monsters you used to fear and that the way your father and other members of your church talked about them was terrifying. You wanted to yell at your father for not treating you as you deserved, as well. How you were always promoted within the church, but could never retain the title as “women didn’t hold powerful positions”. But he had no problem using you to benefit his politics and Papacy. But all your thoughts would fall on deaf ears, and so you settled on a, “No, father.”

“Excellent. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“See you tomorrow.”

As the Pope finally left the room, you sank back against the door you had closed behind him, your emotions in turmoil. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, trying to collect yourself. That was the moment Secondo had been waiting for. He emerged from his hiding spot, his presence a comfort and a promise in the midst of your forbidden… whatever this was. The silence between you was palpable, broken only by the flickering candles and the distant echoes of Vatican life outside your apartment. He watched as you composed yourself, trying to calm yourself of the anger your father had left you with only to feel it flare up when you saw the Satanic Cardinal standing in your bedroom doorway.

“Why did you come here?” You quietly shouted at him, anger ever present in your voice. “You know what would happen to you if someone saw you - what would happen to me, too!”

You stood there, lecturing him about his behaviour, hands flailing about the room in your frustration and a small amount of hatred dancing in your eyes. As you unleashed your fury, your words cutting through the air like a storm, he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the raw beauty of your anger. Your eyes blazed with intensity, your voice resonated with passion, and your fierce determination only made you more captivating. In that moment, your rage seemed to enhance your allure, and he found himself irresistibly drawn to you. Never had he seen a woman before so beautiful than you in that moment.

He thought back to when he first met you, how your anger and hatred towards him had fuelled his lust, and how it forced him to act against his better judgement to take your virginity on a desk that didn’t belong to him in the bowls of the Ministry.

Caught between the tumultuous emotions swirling around them, he took a step closer, unable to resist the magnetic pull of your presence. Your anger had laid bare the depth of your relationship, and he knew that your illicit connection was a flame that refused to be extinguished. As you continued to vent your frustrations, he reached out, gently taking your face into his hands and pressing his lips against yours, silencing you, a fervent promise that he would stand with you against all odds, consequences be damned.

You pushed against him at first, not because you didn’t want to kiss him, but because he had the nerve to silence you when you were talking. But the more you melted into his arms, the less resistance you put up, and allowed yourself to be caught by him as you began to fall from grace. Though your descent from righteousness started when you gave yourself to him, it was that kiss that solidified your feelings, and made you realise that however much you loved your God, you were sure you loved Secondo more.

Passions grew when he pressed you against your door, trapping you between him and the wood. His hands moved from your face, down your arms, and tickled at the bare skin until he finally settled at your hips. Your hands gripped at his cassock, holding on tightly and pulling him as close as he could possibly be to you, but even then that wasn’t close enough. His kisses ignited a fire in you that shouldn’t have been lit in the first place, and had you submitting and bending to his wishes willingly. When his fingers tightened on your hips and began lifting your dress, you let him. When his tongue begged for entrance to your mouth, you let it. When his hand found the gusset of your panties, you spread your legs to allow him easy access. When he dipped below the waistband, and stroked a tentative finger over your clit, you moaned into his mouth to encourage him to do it again.

In this moment, he wasn’t a servant of Satan. He was yours. Your ardent and eager slave, a genie sent to grant all of your wishes even if you didn’t know that he had them. His lips travelled South from yours, roaming over vast expanses of your body in search of a single destination. He moved to your jaw, your neck, your clothed dress, your stomach, hips, thighs. He dropped to his knees in front of you, his glove-covered fingers pulling your panties down with him as he knelt before you. You watched him hesitate for a moment, before wide eyes stared up at you as if to plead with you to grant him permission. His eyes were mismatched and popped against his Cardinal paints, a gentle yet emblazoned fire in his eyes as he waited for you. You couldn’t say no; you simply didn’t want to. You needed him probably more than he needed you. You nodded.

He gently lifted your leg in his hands and kissed it from ankle to knee. The higher up his lips went, the more passionately he kissed, and once more he played using his tongue. But now, in addition to kissing, he started sucking, leaving a trail of numerous dark brown hickeys on your thigh. No one would be able to see them here, but every time you caught a glimpse of your naked body, you would be reminded of them. Of him. Of what he did to you and the shame that was supposed to come with it. Shame that you refused to feel because that would imply you regretted letting him have his way with you. But even when you were worshipping your Lord, when you were in the confessional booth, you couldn’t bring yourself to regret your actions.

He immediately dove in and started licking and sucking at your clit. He forgot to take it easy and instead allowed himself to just take from you what he wanted because he was so desperate and needy for your taste. He was encouraged to continue his movements by the faint and low whimpers that escaped from your partially opened mouth.

“Yes! Just like that!” Due to the strong suction he applied, you whispered, ending your sentence with a particularly breathy moan.

One of your hands flew to his head, gripping onto his hat and throwing it to the side allowing you to rest your hand there, pushing his face into your heat. Your hips bucked in pleasure, riding his tongue and taking what you needed from him. “Secondo!” The hand that wasn’t resting on his head flew up to your mouth, covering your exceptionally desperate moans as you came on his tongue, silencing yourself as much as you could so the Clergy wouldn’t hear your pleasure from the other side of the door.

When your orgasm had completely subsided, Secondo released you from his suctioned hold, his chin glistening with your juices and a small grin on his face. That grin altered your brain chemistry and instilled a confidence in you that you didn’t know you had. You pulled him by his cassock back to his feet and crashed your lips against his, kissing him much harder than before. You could taste yourself in his mouth, your own essence moving onto your tastebuds and heightening your arousal. Your hand gripped onto his and pulled off the first glove, still with your lips attached to his, and once it was off his hand, you threw it somewhere in the room. The second glove met the same fate.

You pushed him away from you and pulled at your zipper, undoing the dress and letting it pool around your feet. Your bra was the next to go, falling to the floor and exposing your breasts to him. You stood completely bare in front of him, looking at his face as his eyes ran over your body, drinking in every part of you he could see and committing it to memory. You then took his hand and walked him to the bedroom.

Before today, all your secret meetings had taken place after or during official meetings between your churches, sneaking off while representatives met to discuss peace or something redundant that both sides would ignore. Your meetings had been limited, but over the course of that week had been frequent. Yet for each of your encounters together, Secondo had taken charge. Despite how much he degraded you, how disrespectful his words were, you had grown to trust him entirely. He would never push you passed your limits, or do something to deliberately hurt you that you hadn’t already asked for or expressed your wish to try. Though he always used his experience to heighten yours, you were very much the pace-setter.

This was never more evident by his willingness for you to push him down onto the bed once his cassock and underwear was on your bedroom floor. How he happily lay on his back and watched you crawl up his body, tongue laving over his hairy stomach and chest and driving you further upwards. In your hubris, as your mouths connected in a passionate kiss, you took his length into your hands and lined him up with your sopping entrance, preparing both of you for the stretch you were about to experience. You felt Secondo’s hands move to your hips, supporting you as you sunk down onto him, taking him inside you in one fell swoop. This motion had you both breaking the kiss, mouths falling open in a perfect ‘o’ and your eyebrows raising while his furrowed, darkening his eyes.

You sat up, taking him even further down, and when you bounced for the first time, you ripped a growl from his throat. His back arched, his fingers tightened their grip on your hips. “Fuck!” He gasped when you did it again.

Your inexperience made it difficult for you to find a rhythm, your hands falling to his stomach to support you but failing to give you both the pleasure you needed. Secondo changed your motions for you, instead of helping you bounce, he used his hands to move you back and forth. “No, grind on me, little lamb.” He told you. You found a rhythm pretty quickly. “Just like that. Good girl.”

This position had your clit rubbing against his pubic mound and his cock moving inside you perfectly. The slight upwards curvature of him meant that each time you moved back, he hit that sweet spot inside you and caused you to cry out.

The more you moved, the more confident you became in your ability and allowed you to relax and just feel him - feeling the way he felt inside you, hitting your walls with each movement, his hands gripping onto you tight enough to leave more marks for you to admire later. While your eyes were closed in pleasure, his were wide open, drinking in every inch of your body and admiring you from below. He got to see you in your full glory, breasts bouncing with each thrust, thighs jiggling, mouth agape in ecstasy. The placement of your bed in the room in contrast with the overhead light created an ethereal glow, almost giving you a perfect halo around your head.

An angel.

You were an angel - you were his angel. The once good, Catholic girl who he loathed to look at, who made his life Hell in all the wrong ways. The righteous child who preached to those who didn’t want it, who was so sure in her decisions being the right one, now warmly accepting her mortal enemy into her body without much of a second thought. Now giving into temptation and pleasuring herself, against the will of her Lord, with the very man her book warned her about. The daughter of God using the son of Lucifer to commit sin after sin within the walls of the most hallowed building. It was almost as if he could feel your soul tainting with each thrust of your hips, your purity disintegrating along with his willpower each time a moan fell from your lips.

“Please,” you whimpered, “talk to me. Like you normally would.”

Degrade you? Now? He couldn’t possibly. He couldn’t find it within himself to tear you apart when you looked as you did: red-faced, sweating, panting and gasping for air as you felt him all the way up in your stomach. “I can’t.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“Why?” He didn’t answer at first, hoping you’d drop this crusade. But you were determined to get what you wanted and so, you stopped moving. “Why?”

“Little lamb, move.”

“Why?”

He lifted your hips a little more and tried to thrust into you, but you fought against him. “For fuck sake!” He sat up, his nose mere centimetres from yours, his eyes burning with anger and lust, pupils blown so far out the colour had disappeared entirely. His hand moved to the back of your head and pulled at the roots of your hair, lips brushing against your neck as he spoke, “Because you are divine. Move, please.” When he lay back down you picked the pace back up exactly how you did before you stopped, working towards your orgasm. His eyes remained on you the whole time. “You want me to tell you how sinful you are, hm? How much of a bad girl you are for defying your Lord?”

“Yes!”

“I won’t. I won’t use the same words that they do. Fucking shit! I can’t use those words when Lilith herself blessed you with ethereal beauty. When she placed her most beautiful creation on this Earth to walk amongst the mortals; art amongst the rats. I will not degrade one who was made to conquer men.”

You were breathless, both from the exertion and his words. “I c-conquered you?”

“Body, mind, soul,” he gripped hold of your hand and pulled it to his rest on chest, “and heart.” Your eyes met his in surprise, and your body shook as though electricity was running through it. “Conquered and enslaved. I will forever be yours, and worship you like the goddess you are.”

His large hand that had completely covered yours moved up your arm and began to rub both of his around your body, gripping onto pieces and stroking gently.

“Secondo!”

By the way your walls were fluttering around him, he knew you were almost at your peak. “Cum for me, little lamb. Bless me with your holy water.”

This orgasm was much more intense than your first, your body shaking and your eyes glazing over. Your back arched as it washed over you, your fingers digging into his arms and leaving half-moon prints in his skin. “Fuck!” You screamed softly, like your body had just been plunged into cold water.

“That’s it. That’s right. Give it to me.”

“Secondo! Oh my God!”

He pushed you off his cock and put you on the bed beside him, turning you to lie flat on your stomach. Your hips were lifted just enough for a pillow to sit below you, then you felt him mount you from behind, draping his entire body over you. His lips found their way to your ear as his cock lined up with your hole once more. “Your God doesn’t deserve you.” He told you as he entered you again, pressing you against the mattress. His hand found yours and interlocked his fingers with yours as he began to thrust into you, moving at a similar pace to when he usually fucked you. Hard, fast, dirty. But this time there was something new, something tender in the way he touched you, the way his other hand rested atop your hip.

“I will forever get on my knees for you,” he told you between grunts, “and worship between these hallowed walls.” He kissed your shoulder blades. “I will thank you for all that you give me. I am yours.”

“I’m yours, Secondo.” You turned your head to capture his lips and give him a deep kiss, his tongue sliding into your mouth as his cock continued to slide in and out of your tight, wet heat.

He surrounded you, every inch of his body running against yours and trapping you between him and the mattress in a way you’d never felt before - making you feel safe. His words told you that you were loved, despite the violent speed they ran through your head as he occupied every inch of your mind. His scent, woody and musky, filled your nose. His grunts and growls swallowed by your mouth in your unbroken, needy kiss. He loved you. He’d risen to catch you as you’d fallen for him. In that moment, nothing else mattered. God and Satan be damned. They’d ruled your lives too much, you both deserved this.

“Cum for me.” You whispered into his lips. “Give it to me, give me everything.”

“Where can I cum?”

“Inside me. I wanna feel you inside me.”

“Fucking hell!”

His hips snapped faster and more erratically until eventually he pushed himself as far as he could inside you, painting your walls with his cum. His eyes were tightly shut and a growl escaped him. He could feel his heart in his throat. His fingers tightened around yours when he came, gripping onto you and never wanting to let go.

As he came down from his high, he peppered your skin with kisses, black Cardinal paints very much wiped away at this point and his body exhausted from the exertion. He stayed inside you, softening with each passing second but not wanting to leave the warmth of your body just yet. You didn’t want him to, either. But it had to happen eventually. He rolled off you, but kept his hand on your hip as he did and rolled you with him, wrapping you up in his capable arms and holding you close.

The later into the night it got, he knew he’d have to leave the Vatican and wait to see you for who knew how long, and that thought hurt him more than he could possibly. He did everything he could to commit you to memory; how you looked, felt, smelled. He needed something to see him through until the next time you managed to see him. And so, he held you close, doing his best to fight off sleep.

That was until your voice broke the silence. “How would the Ministry feel if I left with you tonight?”

Previous Day ⛧ Next Day

[watchmenanon]

THE ‘STRANGER THINGS’ BOYS ARE OUR ‘NYLON GUYS’ SEPTEMBER 2017 COVER STARS

If anyone understands the sudden shift from “not fitting in” to “one-million-plus followers,” it’s these guys.

The following feature appears in the September 2017 issue of NYLON Guys.

Finn Wolfhard just couldn’t resist. Despite needing to be camera-ready for his NYLON photo shoot, the 14-year-old star of Stranger Things decided to suck on a blue Warhead anyway, and now he’s paying the price. “All these sets have candy on them, and I can’t help myself. It was a mistake,” he admits, sheepishly trying to scrub the cerulean stain from his tongue with a miniature toothbrush. To his right, Gaten Matarazzo wears a gray T-shirt that reads, uh oh! did my sarcasm hurt your feelings?, a slogan worthy of Dustin Henderson, the lovable wisecracker he plays opposite Wolfhard on the hit Netflix show. Matarazzo, also 14, is getting his trademark tangle of curls straightened, much to the delight of Noah Schnapp, who, at 12, is the youngest in this group of breakout stars that has helped make Stranger Things the most obsessed-over show in Netflix’s boundless roster of original series. Missing is Caleb McLaughlin, the energetic 15-year-old who plays Lucas Sinclair, but he’s on his way over in a black car, having just arrived from Los Angeles, fresh off an appearance at the BET Awards.

It’s the first time the boys have been together in several weeks, and none of them can pinpoint exactly when they were last in the same room. Ever since Stranger Things became a cultural phenomenon last summer, they’ve been swept up in a whirlwind of red carpets, talk shows, and fan conventions. And as the premiere of the sci-fi and horror fantasia’s top-secret second season nears, this summer has been overtaken by a flurry of promotional duties. Next week, while most kids their age are cooling off in pools or testing out the latest in roller coaster technology, Matarazzo and McLaughlin will be at Denver Comic Con, signing autographs and posing for selfies with wide-eyed fans. A few weeks after that, all four will find themselves inside the hallowed Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, where they’ll premiere the thrilling trailer for Season 2 to rapturous applause.

But on this day, even though they’re technically at work, the boys still find time to goof off. They are, after all, best friends—like brothers, even, they say—and there’s a lot of catching up to do, memes to be shared, and jokes to be cracked. “We used to call Noah ‘Señor Biebs,’” Matarazzo offers at one point, due to Schnapp’s Season 1 bowl cut and its resemblance to the former haircut of a certain Canadian pop star. “He hates it!” he says, just before he sticks his finger into Schnapp’s ear (playfully, of course).

Inside the bright and breezy photo studio on Manhattan’s West Side, publicists abound, but because these budding stars are still minors, there are also parents. It’s an unusual sight, and a reminder that despite having very grown-up jobs, they’re still not old enough to drive. Wolfhard, the Vancouver native who plays Mike Wheeler, is here with his father, as is Matarazzo, who hails from Little Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. Schnapp and his parents came in from Westchester County, north of the city. When McLaughlin, who grew up in Carmel, New York, finally arrives lugging a suitcase that’s almost as big as he is, he’s accompanied by his father, a burly man in an Atlanta Braves cap who goes around the room with his son hugging the other parents, a reminder of how tight the makeshift family has become since this odyssey began more than two years ago.

Stranger Things premiered as an underdog. Its creators, the twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, were unproven talents who had previously written for the Fox sci-fi series Wayward Pines. Except for Winona Ryder’s comeback as a grieving mother searching for her missing son, the cast was composed largely of unknowns and newcomers. But thanks to its double dose of supernatural intrigue and a nostalgic ’80s-tinged glow, along with a miraculous performance by a young British actress with a shaved head, Stranger Things quickly commandeered the pop-culture conversation in a way that few shows have done. In July, the show received a staggering 18 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series.

Created by the Duffers in the spirit of the Amblin-era entertainments they were raised on, the eight-episode first season is set in 1983 in Hawkins, Indiana, and unravels the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Will Byers, played by Schnapp, who vanishes in the first episode after an encounter with the show’s resident boogeyman, the otherworldly creature known as the Demogorgon. As Will’s three misfit best friends—Mike, Lucas, and Dustin—embark on a quest to find him, they uncover an alternate dimension they dub The Upside Down, and a sinister government conspiracy that may be responsible for opening it. They also befriend Eleven, the feral girl with telekinetic powers embodied iconically by 13-year-old Millie Bobby Brown.

Stranger Things began filming its second season under very different circumstances than the first. What once felt like a scrappy production free of scrutiny from outside sources suddenly had the mood and atmosphere of a major Hollywood blockbuster. “Netflix knew it would be a good show,” McLaughlin says, “but they didn’t realize how big it would be and that the whole world was going to freak out about it.” Because of that intense interest from both the network and the public, the set suddenly had a noticeable security presence shielding it from nosy onlookers and paparazzi, while network executives showed up to make sure their prized racehorse was galloping along. Suddenly, there were expectations. “We raised the bar pretty high with the first season,” says Matarazzo. “There was a lot more tension on set, in that we really needed to make sure it was good.”

When Season 2 premieres on October 27, a year will have passed since Eleven sacrificed herself to defeat the faceless Demogorgon and save the boys, in the Season 1 finale. Trying to squeeze spoilers out of Wolfhard, McLaughlin, Schnapp, and Matarazzo is useless. Extensive media training, including detailed notes on what they can and can’t discuss, have transformed them into a rare breed: teenagers who can keep a secret. What they can say: Season 2 is bigger, darker, and scarier. There’s also a new character in town, played by Sadie Sink. (According to the Duffers, Millie Bobby Brown was “relieved” to have another girl on set.) “She’s a skater, sort of a punk girl, and she slowly becomes part of the group,” says Wolfhard, who also says his character will be depressed and “a loner” in the wake of Eleven’s disappearance. What they can’t say: pretty much everything else. But it’s not just scoop-hungry journalists who harass them for info. “Whenever you get recognized by fans, most of the time they ask you if you’ve got any spoilers for Season 2, and I’m like, ‘No, none, not at all,’” says Matarazzo. “It’s definitely kind of stressful.”

One of the biggest changes for the new season is the expansion of Schnapp’s screen time. Because his character spends much of the first season trapped in an alternate dimension, Schnapp spent a good deal of time at home in New York while everyone else filmed in Atlanta. “Last year I would drive up to the studio and everyone would be like, ‘Hey, Noah, we’ve missed you! How’ve you been?’” says Schnapp. “This year was a lot easier because last year, I’d have to go in and out of school, and that was hard. This year I could focus.”

Although he’s rescued from The Upside Down, we last saw Schnapp removing a slithery creature from his mouth, a telltale sign that not all is well with Will Byers. For Schnapp, whose character mostly communicated through Christmas lights in Season 1, the new episodes meant new challenges as an actor. “Shawn Levy, one of our directors, was telling me, ‘Noah, you have something really big this season. We have a lot in store for you, and you should get really excited,’” he says. Schnapp felt the added pressure, and would sometimes text his TV mom, Ryder, for extra help with particularly emotional scenes. “We knew we needed a strong actor in case the series moved forward into a second season, because we knew he was going to be a centerpiece,” says Matt Duffer. “We needed not just a good actor, but a really, really good actor.” Schnapp rose to the occasion, according to the Duffers. “Shawn [Levy] was like, ‘We’ve had a Ferrari sitting in the garage all of Season 1, and now the fucking garage doors are open.’”

The Duffers knew that casting child actors, who have a tendency to favor exaggerated performances over naturalistic ones, would make or break their show. “There’s really nothing worse than a bad child performance,” Ross Duffer says. “You couldn’t have any weaknesses, or the eight hours would be excruciating.” Along with their casting director, the Duffers saw what they estimate to be 900 kids, an undertaking they say was easier than it sounds because they could tell within the first few minutes if the actor had what they needed. “You’re looking for something authentic, and most kids don’t have it,” says Ross. “There are the ones that are obviously well-trained, but they feel too Disney, like they’re winking at the camera.” What the Duffers found with their four young male stars were kids who seemed like actual kids.

Matarazzo was the first one cast, his audition so impressive that he found out he got the part on the way back from the airport. “We didn’t really even know who the Dustin character was until we found Gaten,” says Matt Duffer. “He was sort of a generic nerd with glasses. He was a stereotype.” Matarazzo, whose sense of humor inspired the Duffers to transform Dustin into the show’s primary source of comic relief, has grown up with a condition known as cleidocranial dysplasia, which stunts the development of bones and teeth. “We wanted to make a show about outsiders, about kids who didn’t fit in and who were bullied and made fun of,” says Matt. “Gaten was really able to tap into all of that.”

McLaughlin and Matarazzo had known each other from their days as stars in two of Broadway’s biggest shows. Matarazzo portrayed Gavroche in Les Misérables, and McLaughlin played Simba in The Lion King. They’d often see each other in a park frequented by “Broadway kids,” as Matarazzo calls them. “When I found out Caleb had gotten Lucas I was like, ‘Caleb? Where do I know that name from?’” he recalls. Wolfhard and Schnapp established an early connection, too—sort of. “He doesn’t remember me, but I remember him,” Wolfhard says. “Because I asked him what other projects he had done, and he said, ‘I was the voice of Charlie Brown in The Peanuts Movie.’ I was like, ‘What?! You’re Charlie Brown?’ I was so pysched about that.”

Although they had all crossed paths during the audition process, usually around the hotel pool or at chemistry reads, it wasn’t until they arrived in Atlanta to begin production that all four boys, along with Millie Bobby Brown, found themselves together in the same room for the first time. If there was a first-day-of-school feel, it made sense: They met in a classroom, which is where the young cast of Stranger Things still spend most of their time when they’re not filming. That grueling schedule means the only opportunities they get to really mess around are between takes, and sometimes during them. “We have laughing problems,” says McLaughlin. Matt Duffer elaborates: “We definitely have an issue, where we can’t get through a take without someone busting up. They’re always making each other crack up—the number of takes ruined by laughter is in the hundreds.”

Schnapp was at summer camp when Stranger Things dropped on Netflix. He wasn’t allowed to have his phone, but shortly after the series premiered, one of his counselors happened to check his Instagram account—80,000 followers. The next day it was 85,000. “I was like, ‘Wait, what’s going on?’ I think I was at one follower before that,” Schnapp says. Wolfhard also remembers that odd rush of watching his followers skyrocket and realizing his life was changing right in front of his eyes. McLaughlin felt his anonymity evaporate the first time he was recognized. “In L.A., this kid came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, are you Caleb Reginald McLaughlin?’” he says. “And I’m like, ‘What? You know my middle name? That’s nuts.’” 

The connection between the boys is strengthened by the surreal turn their lives have taken, circumstances that most kids their age can’t relate to. When Matarazzo, McLaughlin, and Wolfhard met Barack Obama last October, as guests of the White House’s South by South Lawn festival, the former president, who’s a fan of the show, told them he especially enjoyed their on-screen camaraderie. That bond exists offscreen, too, and has only gotten stronger with every award show and panel. “They really are my best friends,” Matarazzo says. “We can relate to each other a lot more than other people can. People try to understand everything that goes on, but they can’t unless they’ve been there.”

“I don’t think any of the kids would say that our friendship is similar to the friendships they have back home, because it’s not,” says Wolfhard. “No kid has ever really had an experience that I’m experiencing right now—it’s a unique sort of friendship.”

Wolfhard is careful not to bring his work home with him. “If you go home and all you talk about is acting, then you’re a douchebag,” he says. “Your friends don’t want to hear about your professional life, they just want to mess around.” Plus, when you’re 14 years old, talking about work is never cool, even if it involves facing off against a faceless interdimensional demon. The boys are also learning that with a great number of Instagram followers comes great responsibility. “We have to be more cautious with what we say on social media and in public,” says McLaughlin, who was shocked to lose followers after he openly rooted for the Golden State Warriors during the NBA playoffs.

While Netflix has yet to make an official announcement, a third season of Stranger Things is a given, meaning the boys are all but guaranteed to live out their teenage years on one of the most popular shows on television. The Duffers, then, will have to follow in the footsteps of long-running properties like Game of Thrones and the Harry Potter franchise in making sure their child actors don’t grow up faster than their characters. “It’s terrifying,” Matt Duffer says. “I shouldn’t even be highlighting this, but if you watch Season 2, they’ve grown from Episode 1 to Episode 9. I’m terrified one of them is going to have a major growth spurt basically in the middle of shooting. But as long as they’re growing outside of the course of our shooting, I’m not too worried about it, because we just have to build it into our story. As much as you would like to keep some of it more continuous, every time we take a break between seasons, we have to make a year time jump at least.”

All four actors say that they want to remain in show business into adulthood. Wolfhard, who obsessively studies the filmmaking process while on set—he’ll star in the remake of Stephen King’s It, in theaters this month—is eyeing a multihyphenate career as a director, actor, and musician. Back at the photo shoot, Matarazzo and Schnapp gather around his iPhone to watch a video Wolfhard co-directed for a friend’s band, Spendtime Palace. Earlier this year, McLaughlin, who is a trained dancer, played a young Ricky Bell on the BET miniseries The New Edition Story, an experience he describes as “historic.” Matarazzo wants to continue acting, but not forever, and is keeping an open mind about other aspects of the industry. Schnapp, who took his first acting class at the age of six, describes winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series as one of the greatest moments of his life, and is doing exactly what he wants. (The boys, who describe the awards as “very heavy,” keep them in their bedrooms, except for Matarazzo, who has been meaning to retrieve his from his grandparents’ house. )

“They all love what they’re doing,” says Matt Duffer. “They love coming to set, they love working, they love acting. In terms of the fame thing, it’s a side effect that I think some of them are more into than others. You’re worried about, ‘What if they realize this isn’t their true passion?’ They’re so young. But this year those fears went away. They’re all very committed to this. That’s the important thing, that they enjoy what they’re doing. And that they’re passionate about it.”

[headintheclouds76]

NEW FIC!

The Curse Of The Black Flame

Synopsis: Welcoming his niece to his home of Salem on All Hallows' Eve, Clyde Logan has planned the best evening of trick r' treating for his beloved niece Sadie. Accompanied by the lovely Lady Ophelia, Clyde muses at how wonderful the night has been going. However, with their youthful challenge of superstitions and the lighting of a cursed candle, the night of festivities becomes their worst hours of a nightmare when they unwittingly summon three malevolent witches. Relying on their wits and courage, they will do anything to save the town from the perils of dark magic and the witches' wrath.

Happy reading everyone at

[fictionz]

New Fiction 2024 - October

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo (1955)

Don’t read this book if you want happy endings. Do read this book if hope and loss are a part of the tragic miracle of existence.

El huésped by Guadalupe Nettel (2006)

The you that you are can sometimes be a certainty, but sometimes there’s a nagging possibility that you’re not just you, but a village of you, and there may come a time when another you decides you’ve had enough.

"Taxi" by Kousuke Oono (2017)

Real I Saw the Devil behavior.

Dr. Franken II dev. MotiveTime (1993)

At first glance it's a basic 2D platformer with some clunky controls, and it appears to repeat what the first game did. But then the game expands into a complex Metroid-esque adventure full of item hunting and backtracking. They don't always make it clear what the player needs to do next, and the manual points out that it's best to create a map, so perhaps that's the intended slightly frustrating experience. But I still found it to be an impressive effort with good visuals for a Game Boy game and enough meat on the bone to keep a player engaged for some time.

Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster dev. Amazing Media (1995)

I played it because it features Tim Curry, and there was certainly Tim Curry throughout the experience, but by the end I wish there had been more Tim Curry. I feel like there must be hours of cut footage because the game clearly gets cut short in various places as the devs decided they needed to wrap it up. Without Tim Curry, it's a Myst-like adventure with convoluted item hunting that leaves the player hunting for the one piece of paper containing a note that triggers the next story event, or fiddling with contraptions that have to be manipulated in very precise ways or they reset in frustrating ways. The saving grace is a save system that allows for infinite save scumming. Prepare for weeks of exploration with this one.

Escape from Frankenstein's Castle dev. PlayFirst & Spark Plug Games (2010)

It feels like a standard object hunt/adventure game on the surface, but it's not as demanding of the player in terms of finding objects in each room and plays like a first-person adventure game with some mini games sprinkled throughout. I like the mood it sets and though the cutscenes are simple they go a long way toward conveying the story.

The Wanderer: Frankenstein's Creature dev. La Belle Games (2019)

A singular work in the medium, and particularly as an adaptation of Mary Shelley's original story. The gameplay isn't as expansive but it serves the need of the beautiful narrative, art, and music that is expertly woven together. The few puzzles that appear throughout the experience aren't overly challenging and do reward the player's exploration of the environments. Just an overall amazing game and I'm so glad I played it.

Transformers One dir. Josh Cooley (2024)

There's no accounting for the disaffected.

Monster Summer dir. David Henrie (2024)

A classic tale of don't trust adults.

A Different Man dir. Aaron Schimberg (2024)

Satisfaction is the unattainable illusion.

All Hallow's Eve dir. Damien Leone (2013)

Stitching together bits and bobs into something grotesque.

Frankenstein vs. The Mummy dir. Damien Leone (2015)

You wait and wait and it doesn't really hit, does it?

Terrifier dir. Damien Leone (2016)

A series of unfortunate encounters with clowns.

Terrifier 3 dir. Damien Leone (2024)

The lore is so deep at this point. At least now I know what I'm getting into with these.

Allá en el Rancho Grande dir. Fernando de Fuentes (1949)

Making a go of the hard life.

Donde nacen los pobres dir. Agustín P. Delgado (1950)

If we can't understand each other, when does one side demolish the other?

La Hora Marcada - "Concierto Para Mano Izquierda" (1988)

The hand that cons.

La Hora Marcada - "El Hombre de Negro" (1988)

You did nothing wrong.

La Hora Marcada - "El Juramento" (1988)

You can just leave.

La Hora Marcada - "Un Viaje de Buena Voluntad" (1988)

They're not coming after you, they're coming with you.

La Hora Marcada - "La Visita" (1988)

The best of the bunch so far.

La Hora Marcada - "Larga Distanica: Hawaii" (1988)

Not my brother's keeper.

The Terror - Season 1 (2018)

They may not find you, but they'll never let you rest.

[ticketmastersince2k4]

Zenescope - Omnibusted #25: Halloween & Christmas (2011)

Happy New Comic Book Day evening and All Hallows' Eve², Ticketholders!

Today, I revisited the Christmas and Halloween specials from 2011. My opinions on them haven't changed much since I first re-read them in 2017, including a Halloween segment that has an "old ClipArt" feel to its art style but enriches Belinda’s character in a context like we haven't seen since the Fear Not Giant-Size, and adds a sympathetic dynamic to her relationship with Sela (especially in light of Volumes Nine and Ten).

Enjoy!

[comrademutancy]

notes about Derek Jarman's The Last of England (1987) / Harry Potter / Remus and Sirius / a fic rec

- I don't think I've read a definitive (cultural) history of Harry Potter that properly situates its production within the context of late 20th c / early 21st c British life. it is uncanny that it was first published the month after the election of New Labour, and the last movie (part 1) about six months after the defeat of New Labour. (Deathly Hallows part 2 came out in 2011). there's somewhat of a gap in the canon hp timeline, and the story itself only lasts so long: the 80s when nothing much seemed to have happened in universe but an interregnum, and then later, after everything ends in 1998 and then again in 2017 when "all was well." see, in the harry potter world, the lacuna was when England according to Jarman unravelled, the time of revitalized action more or less the exact time when Fukuyama proclaimed history over, and then soporific endings when history returns, d:ream OVER, actually

- don't wanna be crass or thinkpiece lite but can't help mulling this over bc there's a series of (semi experimental?) hp r/s fanfiction (one of them inspired by Derek Jarman) that I haven't read yet but have been making careful circuits around. I group it with other shot-through w politics fanfic as late millenial attempts at reckoning w empire, post 90s academy pomo/poco hegemony, through the prism of tumblr/mass popularization of/access to said poco/pomo university humanities hegemony

- consider, crassly: the naked man and the clothed balaclava-clad one fucking on the flag. ok which one of you is the sirius and which one is the remus?

- trying to make sense of history in pop cult. and then history: other. the oddities in the mismatching is how these (re) imaginings happen

- side note in an review comprised only of side notes, reminded by the Derek Jarman cameo in Prick up Your Ears: I still don't get how Stephen Frears can go from making the stuff he does in the 80s to High Fidelity in 2000 to Victoria & Abdul in 2017. his endorsement of Corbyn even in 2019 provides part of a clue, I guess...

- thinking of the landscape of The Last of England, when reading this: with the words going out like cells of a brain. the ratata of machine guns are absent, but I imagine everything else fitting quite well. even the wedding at the end, of a tempo with the gruesome portraits at 12 G and then finally Sirius's return [jkr disclaimer statement: none in notes and otherwise unknown, as it's an orphan'd work but can't imagine a disclaimer stronger than orphaning yr work so]

[tahelms85]

Stole this from someone else on a tag.

A book recommended by a librarian Saint X by Alexis Schiatkin

A book that’s been on your TBR list for way too long Wicked by Gregory Maguire

A book of letters Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves

An audiobook The Otto Digmore Difference by Brent Hartinger

A book by a person of color Their Eyes Were Watching God by Toni Morrison

A book with one of the four seasons in the title Suddenly Last Summer and Other Plays by Tennessee Williams

A book that is a story within a story Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

A book with multiple authors The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

An espionage thriller The Davinci Code by Dan Brown

A book with a cat on the cover Pet Sematary by Stephen King

A book by an author who uses a pseudonym The Regulators by Richard Bachman

A bestseller from a genre you don’t normally read Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shatterly

A book by or about a person who has a disability Deaf Utopia by Nyle DiMarco and Robert Siebert

A book involving travel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

A book with a subtitle Monster: The True Story of the Jeffrey Dahmer Murders by Anne E Schwartz

A book that’s published in 2017 Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

A book involving a mythical creature It by Stephen King

A book you’ve read before that never fails to make you smile Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

A book about food The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C Morais

A book with career advice One For the Money by Janet Evanovich

A book from a nonhuman perspective The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

A steampunk novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

A book with a red spine Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by Harry Potter

A book set in the wilderness Call of the Wild by Jack London

A book you loved as a child The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone

A book by an author from a country you’ve never visited Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

A book with a title that’s a character’s name Coraline by Neil Gaiman

A novel set during wartime The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A book with an unreliable narrator How's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

A book with pictures Amelia Bedelia Means Business by Herman Parish

A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

A book about an interesting woman The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

A book set in two different time periods A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

A book with a month or day of the week in the title Mad Hatters and March Hares by Ellen Datlow

A book set in a hotel The Shining by Stephen King

A book written by someone you admire This Time Together by Carol Burnett

A book that’s becoming a movie in 2017 Berlin Syndrome by Melanie Joosten

A book set around a holiday other than Christmas Cupid Strikes…Three Times by Ajme Williams

The first book in a series you haven’t read before A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sara J Maas

A book you bought on a trip The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

ADVANCED: A book recommended by an author you love One For the Money by Janet Evanovich

A bestseller from 2016 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne

A book with a family-member term in the title A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

A book that takes place over a character’s life span A Prayer For Owen Meaney by John Irving

A book about an immigrant or refugee We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu

A book from a genre/subgenre that you’ve never heard of Dungeons & Drag Queens by Emma Alice Johnson (bizarro fiction)

A book with an eccentric character A Series of Unfortunate Events by Daniel Handler

A book that’s more than 800 pages The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

A book you got from a used book sale Wicked by Gregory Maguire

A book that’s been mentioned in another book The Outsiders by SE Hinton

A book about a difficult topic Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (OCD)

A book based on mythology The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

[thebobby1432world]

Mitali Mayekar Wiki, Biography, Age, Height, Weight, Family, Net Worth

Mitali Mayekar Wiki: Mitali Mayekar is an accomplished Marathi television and film actress. She is best known for her roles in popular Marathi television serials such as Bhagyalaxmi, Tu Manjha Sangti, Ladachi Mi Lek Ga, and Unch Maza Zoka. Mitali made her Bollywood debut in 2009 in the movie Billu with Irffan Khan and has since appeared in Tamil movies like Urfi and Yaari Dosti. Mitali Mayekar WikiPhysical Stats, Career & More Born on September 11, 1996, in Mumbai, to Uday and Sujata Mayekar, Mitali developed an interest in acting at the age of 9 and attended Vidya Patwardhan's Acting Workshop. She began her career by playing Sayali in Zee Yuva's TV show Fresher's and also starred in Anubandh as Malvika.

Mitali Mayekar Wiki Her foray into the Marathi film industry came in 2015 with the movie Urfi. Additionally, she has participated in the Marathi reality show Maharashtracha Favorite Dancer, where she reached the semi-finals. Mitali currently attends Ramnarain Ruia College in Matunga, where she is pursuing a bachelor's degree in mass media.

Mitali Mayekar Wiki

NameMitali MayekarDate of Birth11 September 1996 (Wednesday)Age (as of 2023)26 YearsBirthplaceDadar, Mumbai, MaharashtraZodiac signVirgoNationalityIndianHometownDadar, Mumbai, MaharashtraSchoolBalmohan Vidyamandir, MumbaiCollege/UniversityRamnarain Ruia Autonomous College of Science and Arts, Matunga, MumbaiEducational QualificationMass CommunicationReligionHinduism HobbiesSpend time in nature, photography, music, traveling, and readingTattoo(s)• A colorful balloon tattoo on her bicep • An oak tree is done with black ink on her bicep • Mountains inked on one of her ankles • Waves inked on her ankles • A small heart outline tattoo inked on her pointer finger • Instagram logo inked on her wrist • 'Always' with a symbol of deathly Hallows inked on the arm • A portrait of her pet dog Dora with two hearts inked on her legRelationships & MoreMarital StatusMarriedAffairs/BoyfriendsSiddharth Chandekar (TV Actor)Marriage Date21 January 2021 (Thursday)FamilyHusband/SpouseSiddharth ChandekarParentsFather- Uday Mayekar (entrepreneur) Mother- Sujata Mayekar (homemaker)SiblingsSister- Shreya Daflapurkar (stylist, blogger, and entrepreneur)FavoritesFoodAnything junk ActorRanveer Singh, Ranbir KapoorActressDeepika Padukone, Priyanka ChopraFilmBollywood- Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) Hollywood- Disney Pixar's Coco (2017)SnackMaggiHobbiesSpend time in nature, photography, music, traveling, and readingIndian Sweet DishBesan LadooSongLag Jaa Gale (Lata Mangeshkar)Car CollectionMahindra Thar Physical Stats, Career & More ProfessionActressFamous RoleGunja in the movie Billu Barber (2009)Physical Stats & MoreHeight (approx.)in centimeters- 162 cm in meters- 1.62 m in feet & inches- 5’ 4”Weight (approx.)in kilograms- 56 kg in pounds- 123 lbsFigure Measurements (approx.)34-28-34Eye ColourBlackHair ColourBlackCareerDebutBollywood Film: Billu Barber (2009) as Gunja Marathi Film: Yaari Dosti (2016) TV: Asambhav (2008) as Dr. Samant's daughterAwards, Honours, AchievementsBest Influencer Actress Award at DIA Lokmat Digital Influencer Awards (2021) Disclaimer: The above information is for general informational purposes only. All information on the Site is provided in good faith, however, we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on the Site. Read the full article

[quoteoftheweekblog]

QUOTATIONS - LUCY WORSLEY’S ‘JANE AUSTEN AT HOME - A BIOGRAPHY’ (FIRST PUBLISHED 2017)

First sentence:

‘To generatons of Austen worshippers, the site of Steventon Rectory is hallowed ground.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.9).

The authorial voice:

‘But then, when they were almost home, Mr Austen and Cassandra met upon the road “Jane and Charles, the two little ones of the family, who had got as far as New down to meet the chaise, & have the the pleasure of riding home in it’ ...

You must know, as Jane died so young, that this story of her life does not end happil. But do please fix in your mind this sunny scene, when she was six-and-a-half, because in this beginning there is also much that prefigures our devestating end. Imagine Jane happy, if you will, life before her, running through the Hampshire fields on a summer’s evening, eager to see Cassandra once again, and to bring her home.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.35).

On writing:

‘ ... they spent most of their time deep in the rainy countryside, writing stories because there was nothing else to do.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.48).

‘She writes about the very act of writing: “I must get a softer pen. - This is harder. I am in agonies.” “I am going to write nothing but short Sentences”, she determines, finding it hard to gather her thoughts, “Oh, dear me, when I shall ever have done?” ‘ (Worsley, 2018, p.173).

On Jane Austen:

‘Jane’s great achievement would be to let even the ordinary, flawed, human girls who read her books think that they might be heroines too.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.52).

‘One of the reasons that her novels work so well on the screen as feature films is because she conceived them like plays, scene by scene, with dialogue propelling the story forward.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.78).

‘People often long to know if the eternal spinster Jane Austen ever had sex with a man. The answer is almost certainly not.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.112).

‘For Jane, then, it doesn’t matter what books you read, even if your choice is ‘trashy’ Gothic novels. It’s what you make of them, how you behave in consequence, that counts.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.230).

‘ ... the way Jane lays out her paragraphs, and the frequent use of italics to indicate which words should be stressed, were all intended to aid someone “performing” the novels aloud ... It looks like Jane’s books encouraged women’s voices to be heard: not only as words on the page, but also out loud, in real life, in the drawing rooms of late Georgian England.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.323).

‘Only with Austen did women begin to think that they wanted - no, needed - to find Mr Darcy.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.407).

On cross stitch:

‘A sampler made by a “Jane Austen” - probably in truth a member of the Kentish branch of the family - features a quotation from “The Book of Common Prayer” dated 1787. “In the Time of trouble I will call upon the Lord and he will hear me”, it reads, in tiny neat cross-stitches, a praiseworthy double-whammy celebration of the  submission of both fingers and the mind.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.53).

‘It may seem to us that there is more to life than cross-stitch, but to make things neatly was a real pleasure to the Austen ladies.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.53).

‘There was self-interest, here, too, for while stitching, ladies’ “thoughts could be their own”, rather than at the beck and call of other people ... ‘ (Worsley, 2018, p.53).

On the novel:

‘The novel was still young, an art form that had only emerged in the last few decades. Many Georgian readers looked down upon prose fiction as frothy and feminine, possible even degrading and dangerous.’ (Worsley, 2018, p.56).

‘She was not alone in forming this new habit of voracious novel reading. In each decade from the 1760s to the 1790s the number of novels by women being published jumped by 50 per cent ... It was widely believed to be a form in which female authors could excel.’ (Worsley, 2018, pp.83-4).

REFERENCE

Worsley, L. (2018 [2017] ) ‘Jane Austen at home - a biography’. London: Hodder.

[kavrillia]

According to https://blog.fostergrant.co.uk/2017/08/03/word-counts-popular-books-world/ ...

A novella is usually between 20,000 and 50,000 words

The average novel is usually between 80,000 and 100,000 words

An epic novel is anything over 110,000 words

Uh...what’s a 375k monster?  A super mega ultra epic novel?

Fantasy novels are typically 90,000 to 110,000 words

Good thing they said “typically,” because have they seen tomes by GRR Martin, Robert Jordan, or Brandon Sanderson?  Theirs can be utterly ridiculous.  Ooh, in fact, further down on the same webpage they list ASoIaF lengths:

A Game of Thrones – 298,000 words

A Clash of Kings – 326,000 words

A Storm of Swords – 424,000 words

A Feast for Crows – 300,000 words

A Dance with Dragons – 422,000 words

The entire A Song of Ice and Fire series (so far) – 1,770,000 words

I feel right at home there!

Now to compare my brick to some famous literary works that I’ve read:

Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte – 107,945 words

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain – 109,571 words

Lord of the Flies, William Golding – 59,900 words

Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Wolf – 63,422 words

The Color Purple, Alice Walker – 66,556 words

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson – 66,950 words

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway – 67,707 words

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens – 183,349 words

Hmm.  Well.  I’m sitting at three or four of those combined.

Then you get to famous boat anchors like Les Miserables (530,982 words), War and Peace (561,304), Gone With the Wind (418,053), and Bleak House (360,947).  I’m in better company there.  (Alas, I’ve never read any of those titles.  The only ones on the 110K+ word non-genre fiction list that I have read are Jane Eyre (183,858 words) and Sense and Sensibility (126,194).

Some famous fantasy series that I’ve read:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – 76,944 words

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 85,141 words

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – 107,253 words

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – 190,637 words

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – 257,045 words

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – 168,923 words

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – 198,227 words

The entire Harry Potter series – 1,084,170 words

The Golden Compass – 112,815 words

The Subtle Knife – 109,120 words

The Amber Spyglass – 168,640 words

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe – 38,421 words

Prince Caspian – 46,290 words

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – 53,960 words

The Silver Chair – 51,022 words

The Horse and His Boy – 48,029 words

The Magician’s Nephew – 64,480 words

The Last Battle – 43,333 words

I’m frankly surprised that my computer didn’t spontaneously combust when I pasted those last two series so close together.  Pullman and Lewis would NOT have a polite conversation... [Here I went off on a tangent ranting about how I read 2 1/2 books in the His Dark Materials series thinking it was a fun fantasy universe, only to have it swerve into Christianity bashing that implied I was an idiot for believing any of it, all with the subtlety of an anvil.  I deleted said rant because it was long and off-topic.  It’s also been 20 years since I read those books, and like 30 since I read C.S. Lewis’ series.  Moving on.]

Lastly, it’s only right I compare my opus to H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, since that was the initial spark that lit the inferno of my universe, way back when.  That one is a mere 59,796 words.

So yeah.  I’ve written a lot.  Which I guess is a good thing.  Maybe.

As of right now, the Kavrilliaverse encompasses 14 word documents, 784 pages (single-spaced), and 375,152 words.

The place where it naturally divides itself into two books (i.e. where there's a two-year time jump) would give me one book of 266 pages/128,914 words, and one with 518 pages/246,238 words. That's awfully lopsided, unfortunately, but I'm not sure what to do about it.

My options are:

1. Write a bunch more for part one to bring it closer to the length of part two

2. Figure out how to break up part two into two books and make the whole thing a trilogy (very hard unless I do a huge cliffhanger at the end of book two)

3. Just have two books that are very different lengths

4. Keep it as one huge 784-page book.

[whitexblackrose]

The Hallows Read Tale

As many know if you’ve followed me for a few years, while a new film student many years ago I was inspired by Neil Gaiman’s All Hallows Read and put a new twist on the All Hallows Read to practice my craft. I write a short tale of spooks and frights, record it, and post it. (Someday in the future I hope to get things animated for full spooks.)

I’m a bit behind on my visuals for the video but the story is done. If it’s not up tomorrow then it’ll be up on Wednesday.

And just a small teaser, this year the title of this tale is “The Ridiculous Haunting” a tale inspired by a friend’s story of his resident ghost.

[imreadingafuckingbook]

                    All Hallows Read Recommendations 

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero 

For fans of John Dies at the End and Welcome to Night Vale comes a tour de force of horror, humor, and H.P. Lovecraft. The surviving members of a forgotten teenage detective club (and their dog) must reunite as broken adults to finally solve the terrifying case that ruined them all and sent the wrong man to prison. Scooby Doo and the gang never had to do this! 1990. The teen detectives once known as the Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in the Zoinx River Valley in Oregon) are all grown up and haven't seen each other since their fateful, final case in 1977. Andy, the tomboy, is twenty-five and on the run, wanted in at least two states. Kerri, one-time kid genius and budding biologist, is bartending in New York, working on a serious drinking problem. At least she's got Tim, an excitable Weimaraner descended from the original canine member of the team. Nate, the horror nerd, has spent the last thirteen years in and out of mental health institutions, and currently resides in an asylum in Arhkam, Massachusetts. The only friend he still sees is Peter, the handsome jock turned movie star. The problem is, Peter's been dead for years. The time has come to uncover the source of their nightmares and return to where it all began in 1977. This time, it better not be a man in a mask. The real monsters are waiting. With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids taps into our shared nostalgia for the books and cartoons we grew up with, and delivers an exuberant, eclectic, and highly entertaining celebration of horror, life, friendship, and many-tentacled, interdimensional demon spawn.

full spooky recommendation list here

[gwen-tolios]

Books Where The Ace Character Has A Relationship

There needs to be more of these. Some of us do want relationships!

All these books have canon ace characters - word on the page vs headcanons fyi.

1) Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann. This book gets a lot of buzz, as it should, for its portrayal of a black ace girl navigating a relationship. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31625039-let-s-talk-about-love

2) Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver, and the other stories about Parole. This has a poly relationship with an ace character and a whole lot of other rep. It reads like a blockbuster action movie, if that's your thing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31938167-chameleon-moon

3) Thaw by Elyse Springer. Featuring a relationship between a model and a librarian, I love how this is such a standard romance novel. All the beats are there - it's just got an ace woman in it ^_^ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32673586-thaw

4) The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke. Wolf is demisexual (hello ace brethren) and his romance is his B-plot. This is completely okay because trying to sabotage Hitler takes priority. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38650956-the-spy-with-the-red-balloon

5) Returning to You by Gwen Tolios. That rare partnership between an ace and aro character (neither of whom are aro ace), full of pining, family drama, and going from friends to lovers. As aces do. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60497147-returning-to-you

6) Three Stupid Weddings by Ann Gallagher. Fake dating, friends to lovers, but make it gay and ace? Yes. You need this. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41074778-three-stupid-weddings

7) His Quiet Agent by Ada Maria Soto. This is a classic ace romance, released way back in 2017, that reads like the gentle sickfic in the hurt/comfort tag on Ao3. Nurse your ace coworker back to health, and now you're a couple. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35238838-his-quiet-agent?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_9

8) Making Love by Aidan Wayne. This features an aro and a ace character realizing they're falling for each other in a world of cupids and succubi. Suuuper fluffy. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33120447-making-love?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_26

9) Enchanted Soles edited by Sasha Miller. This is a queer anthology featuring stories about shoes, but the last story called Hallowed Veil is the gold star. It features TWO ace characters, one in a relationship, and highlights the spectrum of desires. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30075296-enchanted-soles

10) How to Be Ace: A Memoir Of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess. Non-fiction graphic novel about growing up ace, including dating troubles. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54403237-how-to-be-ace

[weirdo09]

i’ve seen many people do these so it’s my turn

my name’s cadence but i don’t mind any nicknames

my b-day is nov 6th, making me a scorpio ♏️

i’m a INTP(i think 🤔)

i’m somewhat of an artist 👩🏾‍🎨

I’m a huge bookworm and astrology nerd 🤓

my big three: scorpio ☀️ scorpio 🌙 scorpio rising

my fav shows are stranger things, i am not okay with this(ily),family reunion(my comfort show, reminds me of my fam), she-ra, half &half, martin(ik I sound old from these shows but it’s all thanks to my mum), hey arnold, the owl house and many more that i can’t think of

my fav movies are IT(2017), IT chapter two(2019), the curse of bridge hallow(my girl, priah did so good on that movie), do revenge(can’t watch it but i rlly want to), batman(2022)(nirvana 4ever), luca(my water babies 🌊), Thor:Love and Thunder, anything marvel and many more

things l love

marvel

my followers :)

my wifeys, @adorewillbyers,@adoremaxmayfield, @l0v3c0r3e(idk if we still married but ily), henry creel, @thebylerfiles(ilysm) <333, @wigglyworms<333

strawberries

autumn 🍂 (my birth season)

rain(my fav kind of weather)

books

reading

drawing

writing ✍️

binge watching TV

obsessing over shows(or a better word hyper-fixating)

fashion

skirts & high heels(they give me confidence,ok)

tumblr(obvi)

vecnussy ;)

cats 🐈‍⬛

romantic gestures 💖

my ships(I have a lot so only some)

byler(obvi)

elumax

lumax

madwheeler(platonically)

henclair(platonic or romantic)

wheelclair(platonic or romantic)

bywheelclair(romantic or platonic)

jargyle(😍)

ronance

steddie

murray x alexei(rip) (forgot they ship name)

dni

homophobic, sexist, racist, pedophile

sooo, that’s all(for now)

peace out ✌🏽, cadence <333

[thegildedbee]

10.28 [ ghosts ]

Halloween is just 'round the corner, so this final Friday of fic recs means it's time for the list to expire, and to join the sheeted dead: it seems appropriate, then, to give over week 4 to ghosts. Sending out wishes to one and all for a splendid All Hallows' Eve, snug in the knowledge that the ghostly presence of 1895 continues to reappear in so many variations across the future, and, most compellingly of all, due to the fabulousness of fic writers and the gifts they bestow. 👻

previous weeks 10.21: most spine-chilling adversaries 10.14: occult transformations 10.7: tricks to treats ......................................................................................... ~in order of word length~ The Haunting of 221B Baker Street by earlgreytea68 (2012), rated M, 10388 words. We know from the start that: Sherlock hasn't survived the Reichenbach Fall; is very much a (spectral) presence; and is surreptitiously resident at 221B. Unaware of the latter two facts, John has decamped from Baker Street, but when Mrs. Hudson has trouble keeping tenants because they report the flat is haunted, he comes back to investigate. Experiencing a moment of emphatic ghostly dramatics convinces him that "if anyone was going to figure out how to be a ghost just to be a pain in everybody’s arse, it would be you" -- and he promptly moves back in. 221B is something like a deserted island in which two shipwrecked flatmates -- one alive and one not -- negotiate the perplexing terrain engendered by that great divide. The bittersweet premise starts out weighted more toward the bitter, although their journey through various forms of emotion (reminding me quite a bit of the film Inside Out) eventually delivers them with a never-to-be-forgotten rightness to the other end of the spectrum. A stunningly-executed love story that takes you on a deep dive into John's and Sherlock's personalities as revealed through their interpersonal dynamics -- which is why we read Johnlock fic, yeah? -- this is a fic that is supernaturally good, in all senses of the good word good.

podfic by magiccranberries

A Thousand Kisses Deep by Susan (2017), rated E, 12689 words. This fic is such an exquisitely cut gem that it is thrilling (I guarantee that sentence will make perfect sense once you read the fic). A soul-satisfyingly second chances reversal of time narrative, in which a Sherlock who is old in body and spirit is informed by a ghostly visitor one sleepless night that a wish by John is being granted -- that is, if a Sherlock returned to 2010 can set things right. The incredible amount of readerly fun that results from following Sherlock's high-spirited romp as he makes his way through his gob-smacked deductions (about his reinstated younger body, about the perfection of his only consultant in the world London life, and in aid of his race to outwit the fates), brings about an equally incredible amount of heart-melting readerly rapture at the romantic entanglement that ensues. The different bits of call-and-response literary flourishes evoked in the text lend an already deeply-layered story an extra-dimensionality that goes beyond the temporal paradoxes. The epigraph to the story is from Leonard Cohen, and is a perfect distillation of the story that unfolds: And fragrant is the thought of you / The file on you complete / Except what we forgot to do / A thousand kisses deep.

podfic by podfixx

He's Coming To Us Dead by Vulgarweed (2014), rated E, 13397 words. Part of the Bone Fiddle universe (but can be read alone), set in 1970s Appalachia, a place where enigmatic trouble-magnet Sherlock Holmes has drifted to, and to which Vietnam war vet John Watson has returned home. The two have semi-secretly taken up with each other in ways undeniably mutually satisfying, although the strain that possible apparitions place on their connection turns out to be scarier than the 'haints' themselves. This is a classic ghost story, steeped in local and Doylean lore (tragic love for the first, Baskervillean unease for the second). A fic full of questions answered and unanswered, in which Sherlock observes, "when we've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable -- is still fucking impossible." Like everything in the BF universe, this is a totally absorbing ride through the ways in which Sherlock and John reveal themselves to each other and to us, indelibly inscribed in smart, funny, captivating prose that gives us an addictively realized picture of them.

De profundis by darcylindbergh (2017), rated M, 32036 words. This is a charmer of a tale, sprung from the premise that since the age of 12 Sherlock has been able to see ghosts, and which uses that fact to ingeniously repurpose the elements of A Study in Pink in all kinds of clever ways. The ins-and-outs of what seems to be his singular ability to attract the attention of ghosts upends Sherlock's life, accompanied as he often is by the dearly-departed-although-not-yet-gone, and the fic's depiction of his inventive interactions with them -- exasperated, yet tolerant and kind and gentle -- has a winning sui generis tone that is sweetly absurdist. The chief plot point hinges on Sherlock's uncertainty when he meets John Watson as to whether or not he's alive or dead, a question that is stubbornly resistant to resolution over the course of the next day as he and John become increasingly enamored with each other as they team up to tackle the serial suicides, leaving the reader with an enticing puzzle to try and solve before Sherlock does.

The Cost of a Wish by slashscribe (2015), rated E, 102493 words. Since John Watson was a boy, he's had to contend with the terror that grips him due to the "formless spirits and ghosts that it seems only he can see," which press against him in threatening ways as a darkly massed cloud, chilling him to the bone, whenever he dares to venture outdoors. The desperation he feels one day suddenly lifts as he flees down a familiar street and ends up at the door of a building he's never seen there before. He tells the woman who opens the door that he has no idea why he's there, but the deep rumbling voice from the man at the top of the stairs gives him one word in reply: "Inevitable." Sherlock is the proprietor of a wish-granting shop, and the fascinating series of events that take place reveal the many mysteries of Sherlock, John, and the ways in which their lives have been entwined. The Sherlock series’ characters turn up in especially memorable ways, along with an enchanting cast from the Japanese manga the fic it is fused with -- including what is the most ridiculously cute animal in all of Sherlock ficdom, a Pipe Fox spirit creature, whose mysterious nature brings John and Sherlock closer in many endearing ways.

........................................................................ *fic reblog recruits, perhaps??? ❤️ @totallysilvergirl @blogstandbygo @mydogwatson @keirgreeneyes @helloliriels ........................................................................

[a-ramblinrose]

Just One Word Book Photo Challenge || October 31 || Freebie: Read This Month

102. All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen  ★★★☆☆

103. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs★★★☆☆

104. Coraline by Neil Gaiman ★★★★★ [RR]

105. Carpe Jugulum by by Terry Pratchett ★★★★★

106. The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★★

107.There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya ★★★☆

This is late because I’ve been sick.

Also why It isn’t finished yet. Not a fun book to read while nauseous. I think 80% finished gets it into the picture though.

So ends my All Hallows Read!