#and for a MIDDLE SCHOOL GRADE book series no less!!!!!!

[wylansvanhendriks]

the way that jonathan stroud wrote lucy and lockwood as characters that directly parallel each other in everything!!! she Listens and he Sees. he’s the title character and she’s the narrator. she has this great power and he wants to build a great agency. when apart she’s just as reckless as he is. even down to their likes and dislikes: she hates orange juice pulp and he loves it if only to pretend he’s a whale. she leaves to protect him and he comes back to protect her. she wants to communicate with ghosts and he wants to fight them. they have matching white streaks!!!! they are the most alike and the most different and that is why they work. literally no one has ever created such a compelling relationship with such compelling characters!!!!

[gowns]

Why Kids Aren't Falling in Love With Reading - It's Not Just Screens

A shrinking number of kids are reading widely and voraciously for fun.

The ubiquity and allure of screens surely play a large part in this—most American children have smartphones by the age of 11—as does learning loss during the pandemic. But this isn’t the whole story. A survey just before the pandemic by the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that the percentages of 9- and 13-year-olds who said they read daily for fun had dropped by double digits since 1984. I recently spoke with educators and librarians about this trend, and they gave many explanations, but one of the most compelling—and depressing—is rooted in how our education system teaches kids to relate to books.

What I remember most about reading in childhood was falling in love with characters and stories; I adored Judy Blume’s Margaret and Beverly Cleary’s Ralph S. Mouse. In New York, where I was in public elementary school in the early ’80s, we did have state assessments that tested reading level and comprehension, but the focus was on reading as many books as possible and engaging emotionally with them as a way to develop the requisite skills. Now the focus on reading analytically seems to be squashing that organic enjoyment. Critical reading is an important skill, especially for a generation bombarded with information, much of it unreliable or deceptive. But this hyperfocus on analysis comes at a steep price: The love of books and storytelling is being lost.

This disregard for story starts as early as elementary school. Take this requirement from the third-grade English-language-arts Common Core standard, used widely across the U.S.: “Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.” There is a fun, easy way to introduce this concept: reading Peggy Parish’s classic, Amelia Bedelia, in which the eponymous maid follows commands such as “Draw the drapes when the sun comes in” by drawing a picture of the curtains. But here’s how one educator experienced in writing Common Core–aligned curricula proposes this be taught: First, teachers introduce the concepts of nonliteral and figurative language. Then, kids read a single paragraph from Amelia Bedelia and answer written questions.

For anyone who knows children, this is the opposite of engaging: The best way to present an abstract idea to kids is by hooking them on a story. “Nonliteral language” becomes a whole lot more interesting and comprehensible, especially to an 8-year-old, when they’ve gotten to laugh at Amelia’s antics first. The process of meeting a character and following them through a series of conflicts is the fun part of reading. Jumping into a paragraph in the middle of a book is about as appealing for most kids as cleaning their room.

But as several educators explained to me, the advent of accountability laws and policies, starting with No Child Left Behind in 2001, and accompanying high-stakes assessments based on standards, be they Common Core or similar state alternatives, has put enormous pressure on instructors to teach to these tests at the expense of best practices. Jennifer LaGarde, who has more than 20 years of experience as a public-school teacher and librarian, described how one such practice—the class read-aloud—invariably resulted in kids asking her for comparable titles. But read-alouds are now imperiled by the need to make sure that kids have mastered all the standards that await them in evaluation, an even more daunting task since the start of the pandemic. “There’s a whole generation of kids who associate reading with assessment now,” LaGarde said.

By middle school, not only is there even less time for activities such as class read-alouds, but instruction also continues to center heavily on passage analysis, said LaGarde, who taught that age group. A friend recently told me that her child’s middle-school teacher had introduced To Kill a Mockingbird to the class, explaining that they would read it over a number of months—and might not have time to finish it. “How can they not get to the end of To Kill a Mockingbird?” she wondered. I’m right there with her. You can’t teach kids to love reading if you don’t even prioritize making it to a book’s end. The reward comes from the emotional payoff of the story’s climax; kids miss out on this essential feeling if they don’t reach Atticus Finch’s powerful defense of Tom Robinson in the courtroom or never get to solve the mystery of Boo Radley.

... Young people should experience the intrinsic pleasure of taking a narrative journey, making an emotional connection with a character (including ones different from themselves), and wondering what will happen next—then finding out. This is the spell that reading casts. And, like with any magician’s trick, picking a story apart and learning how it’s done before you have experienced its wonder risks destroying the magic.

-- article by katherine marsh, the atlantic (12 foot link, no paywall)

[terapsina]

Ask Game for us Self-proclaimed BOOK WORMS 📖🐛

Name the best book you've read so far this year.

Favorite fantasy book(s).

Favorite fantasy sub-genre(s). (high fantasy, urban fantasy, portal fantasy etc.)

Favorite science fiction book(s).

Favorite science fiction sub-genre(s). (dystopian, superhero, aliens etc.)

Favorite romance novel(s).

What kind of common romance tropes do you enjoy and what kind do you dislike?

Favorite queer fiction book(s).

Favorite detective novel(s).

Favorite classical literature.

Favorite historical fiction.

Favorite horror book(s).

Favorite thriller(s).

Favorite humor and satire book(s).

Which genre(s) are your favorite?

Favorite trilogy.

Favorite finished book series.

Favorite unfinished book series.

Do you read new and less known books or only the big bestsellers?

Where and how do you find new books to read?

The book(s) on your school reading list you actually enjoyed.

Favorite example of a Chosen One trope in a book.

Favorite heist story book(s).

Favorite Young Adult book(s).

Favorite Middle Grade book(s).

Favorite novella(s).

What was the first book you remember reading as a kid?

Goodreads or StoryGraph (or something else)?

How many books do you have on your 'to-be-read' list?

How many books do you have on your 'currently-reading' list?

Do you mostly read through e-reader; reading app on phone; on your laptop; a physical copy; or by audiobook?

Name your favorite author(s).

How often do you read by listening to audiobooks?

Favorite book narration voice actor(s).

Least favorite trope in your most favorite book genre.

Your absolute most favorite character(s) from any book you've ever read.

The only example of your least favorite trope being written in such a way that you enjoyed it.

How many books have you read this year?

Do you read reviews before picking up a book?

Did you ever want to be a writer?

When you get ready for a week long trip to somewhere how many books do you download/pack inside the suitcase?

Do you buy hardcover book copies for previously purchased paperbacks and library books you enjoyed reading?

Title of a book you own that's in the worst physical condition you have. Explain what happened to it. Post a picture if you want.

The book(s) whose stories have become part of your very makeup.

What book(s) would you sell your soul to get a TV or movie adaptation of?

I like _____, recommend me a book to read, please (insert a book, or trope, or character, or... anything you like before asking for this one).

What are the last three books you read?

Do you leave reviews for the books you've read? How often?

Do you prefer hopeful, humorous, very emotional or darker books?

What kind of book have you never read but always hope to find at some point in the future?

[satorugojjo]

The more I read the more I don’t understand the absolutely homophobic coded hate for The Sun and the Star. Nico literally shares a homophobic experience he experienced in the 40s that shaped the way he viewed himself, reflects on it, and then comes to the conclusion that’s what made him react to Cupid so badly, and THIS is something to hate??? Nico, growing, learning to share, learning to not impose isolation on himself, learning to feel his emotions and let them out, to be there for people, to miss Percy and Hazel and Jason, actually developing, and people are like “ugh so boring and unrealistic, they ruined my fav character”

Well, sorry he’s not the miserable little edgelord you all desperately want him to be. Sorry that Will actually has some very understandable flaws, sorry that Percabeth aren’t perfect, sorry that you’d read book about the experience of coming out for an Italian raised boy from the 1930s and think it’s boring, sorry that you’d read about the trauma of his Tartarus experience from HoH and go “OVERDONE”!!! This book does have flaws but it is not Nico and Will.

Every single interaction feels meaningful, the focus on emotion, growth, light, happiness, connection, love, friendship, and more is what is quintessential PJO to me. It’s not full of adventure after adventure and that’s perfectly fine to me. They’re navigating an emotional minefield. How the fuck can this fandom sit here and complain about the lack of emotional depth in Blood of Olympus and then when they do get it they’re like, “oh no no no this is the WRONG kind, I want him to stay miserable, I actually don’t want to read about his sorrow from his POV, I don’t want Nico to be MATURING” GROW UP?

Nothing about Solangelo so far feels OOC to me, and every time they do it’s actually even pointed out to us that it IS ooc, and we get to see how they feel about it. This is exactly what I expect from canonical middle school sunshine/darkness tropes.

Also, this is VERY IMPORTANT so pay fucking attention. THIS. IS. NOT. A. MAIN. PLOT. BOOK. IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE BREAKNECK PACING. If this was an anime, this would be a sweet little OVA arc. This is a side story, just the same way the Percy/Thalia/Nico story was. It’s a companion book about two side characters. Why are your expectations as high as a main series book? It’s a NICO AND WILL book, it’s not anything more or less. Another thing to remember? Canonically this is meant to be the year 2011. The RRverse is very anachronistic where current year elements feature in a timeline where it shouldn’t, but EVEN SO, it still feels at best 2015. More importantly? It’s only been a year since Cupid. A singular YEAR. For reference the pandemic started 3 whole years ago.

I can’t stand fans sometimes, you’ll jump on any bandwagon of hate without exercising a single shred of critical thinking or nuance, and then conveniently forget a whole bunch of things that are GOOD for the minor flaws this book has. This isn’t a 10/10 book, it’s probably a solid 7.5!!! Stop treating it as if it’s 3/10. And I stand by what I said before. We need more middle grade LGBT lit! Is this the BEST out there? No. Is this however bad? No. And before you guys come for me without having a molecule of reading comprehension, it’s OKAY to not like this book. It’s not okay however to make sweeping statements of hate as if everyone who enjoys this book is a blithering idiot.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 10/22/2024

rare tuesdaypost with no fallow sections. i CANNOT find the exact image i am looking for (mouse-drawn person sitting on bar stool with ankles crossed and blushing with eyelashes) but i feel like i found a lot of things this week that charmed me immensely. rare many such cases of many interests intersecting.

listening

almost exactly a year ago i wrote about jolynn j chin's SHIFTED, a piano jazz piece where the time signatures change on every bar, which came with an explainer video that is, spiritually, a physics video.

she's done it again with OFF TIME and a full album of equally bonkers concepts. i have a brain that is fairly good at manipulating 2D things (yarn, fabric) into 3D things but i do Not have this kind of math brain. wild shit.

-

reading

thank you philip for overseeing the photography of this trio of DELILAH DIRK graphic novels from Tony Cliff. i saw these on the library shelf and went "holy shit i read one of these as a webcomic in high school".

very well-paced indiana jones and james bond adjacent pulp adventures, with a soupcon of steampunk conveyances for taste. delilah started life in 2007 when strong snappy female characters were far less common. this is particularly...not quite grating, but very notable in the first two books (published in 2013 and 2016 respectively). they are intended to be middle-grade (disney villain falling deaths, no tits or ass, etc), but they punch far above their intended age range. a particularly interesting reckoning with the long-suffering native guide trope. not a series overly concerned with historical accuracy, although it's certainly more grounded in real history than you might expect of a middle-grade pulp adventure graphic novel. more colonial political concerns than i remembered or expected.

the art is really killer in all three books. tony cliff really knows the effect of a good page turn spread.

he also has a very charming way of illustrating continuing action across a huge panel. all four shots are from The Pillars of Hercules (2018) bc it happened to be the last one i read and the one with by far the most ambitious art.

-

watching

tubi has acquired the streaming rights to most of the batman animated movies. i keep getting served ads on instagram for an upcoming animated film about batman and the yakuza, where the premise is that a portal from real-life japan has opened up over gotham and the yakuza are pouring through like a demonic horde. this seems to be a sequel to batman ninja (2018, dir. Junpei Mizusaki)

Batman, along with his allies and adversaries, finds himself transported from modern Gotham City to feudal Japan.

batman ninja includes the lines:

I’m going to rule this country and turn it into a kingdom of monkeys and rewrite the history of the world!

and

What am I going to do with you, Batman? You’ve destroyed a perfectly good giant robot castle!

i would describe this as more of a feature-length animation showcase than anything else. the haters on letterboxed didn't even give it an average of 3 but that's bc they hate fun. this is some real weeb shit. this is not a grimdark or particularly thoughful batman entry. this is an entry to clap your hands in glee at the giant gundam vs monkey army fight. they have once again done my favorite comics boy jason todd dirty but what the fuck else is new.

so much fun even on just the like tree field guide level of identifying the six or seven animation styles. plus everyone's feudal japan looks are sick as shit.

was it Good? no. was i delighted at nearly every moment? fuck yeah.

-

playing

EXCEPTIONALLY charming embroidery-based game jam game, Cross Stitched by Panzerr here for free on itch.io. made in godot. god bless.

(image from the developer) you've got your little baba yaga house gundam in the center constantly firing projectiles, and you have to keep these fucking birds back. you can WASD around the edges of the tapestry, and your health is in the top (i really love how it gets "ruined" dark chunks taken out of it as you lose health, like a piece of embroidery decaying) and the bottom black bar of motifs fills up as you make progress towards adding another level and another piece to your powerup level tapestry.

(following images from me) you do have to think about your placement and plan it out a bit, and you can't embroider over something you've already stitched. would not recommend surrounding your initial base damage motif with other motifs bc then you've sort of fucked yourself over. a really simple concept (a good bite size for a game jam) elevated by a very fun visual style and great music. really delighted me! i am so jaded by my time in the video game marketing mines that i forgot they can be fun actually!

-

making

unphotographable: too many bugs in my house! tried to replace the weatherstripping on my front door and discovering that both the front door and the storm door were installed incorrectly and should probably be replaced.

in better news, the newest pathetic little waif in the office bathroom has been freshly neutered and will be going to a nice cushy indoor home next week-ish. whenever he is fully recovered. the most polite cat i have ever had in this carrier: did not piss, shit, or throw up.

KO'd by six cc's of various goops. poor man.

[honeii-puff]

A NEW THING: Conceptualizing Middle-Grade Book Series into YA

Inspired by some stuff @ein-keiser does

So basically I'm going to take a middle grade book series I've read before and adapt it into YA; basically making it more adult. This is mainly for the concept and not me rewriting it all (rewriting 9+ books of KOTLC is not on my to-do list this winter)

And my first one is: KOTLC! Aka one of my favorite middle-grade book series.

(this is also going to be similar to @ein-keiser's format by how he does things)

KEY CONCEPTS:

-In the books, the main kind of focus is taking on the Neverseen as the Black swan, and very focused on the rebel groups. I want to touch on the politics a bit more of it; pointing out all the wrongs of the Council, The Neverseen, and the Black Swan, show how all of them have flaws in the way they handle things. -Sophie isn't going to have as many abilities, since I think 5 is overwhelming for both her and the readers. She'll keep her Telepathy and Inflicting from Elvin abilities and have her teleporting from the Alicorn DNA, but i think I'm going to erase the Polygot ability and streamline the Enhancing ability to just having more enhanced Telepathy and Inflicting instead of being essentially a battery for others. -The Moonlark symbolism is definitely going to be more prominent, about equally as prominent as the Black Swan's swan and the Neverseen's eye

SETTING:

-The Elvin world will relatively stay the same, but the species will be a bit more intermingled and less separated, aside from the Ogres, who prefer to keep their distance. Elves aren't seen as the superior species by everyone else, but they do have that inflated sense of self. The Elven council is smaller, with 7 members (odd number to prevent ties; a lot of the council members were just... there not really doing anything before), and there are representatives from the leaderships of the other species that they meet with regularly. -The society is very classist against talentless Elves and those of other species who also don't make the bar of what considers them "normal" -Violence is still very frowned upon by the Elves, and Elves themselves are all vegan, but some other races aren't. While they are all about the timeline of extinction, they also don't eat meat because they biologically cannot handle ingesting it. Due to Sophie being genetically weird, she can't eat meat, but her body can handle other animal products (Dairy and Eggs), so she was raised vegetarian (Kinda makes the 'soybean' thing funnier).

THEMES:

-It's definately more political than the original version, diving deeper into the councils wrongdoings, as well as the wrongdoings of the Neverseen and even the Black Swan. Sophie goes rogue for a while before eventually joining back up with The Black Swan. -Less focus on romantic parings when it comes to Sophie; Other characters will get romantic relationships though.

FOXFIRE:

-like the books, Foxfire is a school specifically for Elven Nobilty, though it is like a fancy prep school; there are other general Elven schools that you can go to regardless of class, and some that also have students that are other species. Like a prep school, Foxfire has optional dorms (And are only allowed for those ages 14 and older with permission from their guardian), but students aren't allowed to live in their dorms during breaks from school longer than three days. For that, they are required to be at home with their guardians. -The classes provided in the books stay the same.

CHARACTER DYNAMICS:

-It would be centered around the og main trio (Sophie, Dex, and Marella) more, with Keefe, Fitz, and Biana joining in (ofc the Twins when they come along too) - The stuff with Dex having a crush on Sophie will be omitted, instead having Dexiana coming later in the books - Keefe and Fitz stay close through the books instead of distancing from each other. -Stina and Maruca wont be as big of characters

aaand there we go

[alaydabug2]

Okie dokie

Gonna get sappy/personal on here

I'm pretty sure the reason I'm so attached to kotlc is because it helped me through a tough time in my life

When I first read kotlc it was the summer before I went into seventh grade

Some important background information

I was in a trio group in late elementary school and in sixth grade we had a fall out

One person was being a jerk and narcissistic so me and the other friend broke off in our own little duo (my best friend kaylee)

Well end of sixth grade Kaylee tells me she's moving schools and going to public school (we were at a private school at the time)

The thing is I had other friends....kind of

Tbh I'm pretty sure I was the pity friend in that group

It's not like they were mean to me or anything, but I had zero in common with them

Not the same humor, same sports, same interests

Nothing

I was also the friend that got pushed to the end of the table so I usually didn't participate in the conversations much (and if you know me irl I love to talk)

But that summer I had just finished The Mysterious Benedict Society before school ended so while we were in the city for a doctor appointment we went to the bookstore so I could find something else to read

I was in the middle grade section and was just browsing when kotlc caught my eye

Idk what it was but i was just DRAWN in by it

Like it was a black hole or smth (sometimes I think it was God giving me what I needed at the time)

Read the back looked at the series

I told my mama this was the one I wanted

She asked if I wanted tk look some more before choosing

I said it was this one I wanted

So we went home and I read the first book

Fell in LOVE

Continued the series and just got immersed with the characters and the story

Then of course unlocked cliffhanger made me want to scream

But I went into 7th grade with that freshly in my mind and idk.... I think my brain just kind of... latched onto it

It was my comfort when I was the friend who had to walk behind the rest of the group on the track because their wasn't enough room

It's not like I could just easily get new friends

Like I said I was in a private school at the time

There were only 11 people in my GRADE in 7th

I had pretty slim pickings and that was the best I was gonna get

Then of course I moved schools and went into public school

But at thus point it's 8th grade

Everyone pretty much has their established groups and it's hard to REALLY get included

Like you're in the group....but not IN the group if that makes sense

I've always had a pretty tough time fitting in

You guys have seen how I act

I act like this irl too

And that's obviously going to be hard to find someone who acts like j do without being weirded out

My personality is just loud

So again I fall back on these books

Cause the characters aren't going to leave me

The characters aren't going tk stab me in the back

The characters aren't going to tear me down

They aren't going to exclude me

So I hold onto these characters and find comfort in them and relate to them and just hide jn the world of the Lost Cities cause THATS where I want to be

Yeah things aren't perfect there

But heck at least I can have friends there that care about me and have sparkly flying horses and dress in ball gowns just to go to the store and I won't feel as lonely as I do now

I can just escape the world here and pretend nothing else exists except the sparkly castles and go fight bad guys and feel like I'm doing something useful instead of just sitting at home with no social life cause I'm never invited to birthday parties and I don't feel close enough to these people to invite them anywhere else myself

Going into high school this year idk if it's going to be better or worse on that end but I just know that these charach are able to take care of me when no person irl can

Of got these characters I've got this amazing world and I've got this fandom

Sometimes that in itself makes me feel less lonely than I am

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Tales from a Not So Bratty Little Sister

I know, I know. I admitted in my last post that I have too aged out of the series to enjoy it. But I still keep coming back because I have to know how it ends. . .

I have a feeling it might be coming soon, but Russell is certainly stretching it out.

Russell said in an interview that she always wanted to do a book in the series from Brianna’s POV and as this is the fifteenth (!!!) anniversary, it was time to do it.

Like I said numerous times before, I think she is squeezing this as long as they can. This diary takes place over the course of one day plus the morning after as Nikki gets ready for the day before high school. Not that she ever says “high school” but she does say she’s ready to put all the middle school drama behind her so I’m taking that Russell hasn’t retconned Nikki from eight grader to seventh grader or something, thankfully.

Actually, it starts out promising. Nikki notes that her friends have already gotten started on new extracurriculars with Zoey working on a music-youtube channel and Chloe making friends with the drama girls, branching out and all that. I wish Russell had worked this in the previous books so it doesn’t seem to be coming so out of the left field but still, I like the idea of them branching out. Brandon is working at Fuzzy Friends as usual.

It makes Nikki feel a little insecure to see them getting ready for the next phase of their lives while she is freaking out over her first day of school outfit just like last years. So she resolves to be a more responsible friend and get her butt into maturity.

Unfortunately, the book doesn’t go deep into that. Nikki freaks out at the slightest problem and takes Brandon saying he has a job at Fuzzy Friends as evidence of being friend-zoned. Girl, he has kissed you TWICE!!! He exhibited jealousy when another guy was interested! You were his date on Valentine’s Day! You are not in the friend-zone anymore!

But there is a nice section where in picking up headphones for Zoey, she selflessly gives up her chance to shove through a mob to get limited edition headphones in order to help a frazzled employee not get trampled. It reminds the reader that at heart, Nikki is a kind person when it comes down to it. Although she has her selfish and melodramatic moments.

But that’s it because her diary ends up in the hands of Brianna when she is struck down with appendicitus. You could really tell that this is a filler book as Russell has Brianna make copies of Nikki’s illustrations from previous books with Brianna’s commentary on them. In my most optimistic opinion, she was using it as a nostalgia, looking back at funny sister moments for the 15th anniversary.

Still, there’s not much new to be gleaned from this and the moral of appreciating sisters was already done in book 8 (and better I might add).

Also, I thought this might be the one book where Mackenzie doesn’t make an appearence, signifying that Nikki is moving on to high school and won’t have to deal with her again. . . and she pops up in the last ten pages for a two page cameo. It was so. . so unnecessary that I feel like Russell is contractually obligated to shove her in. The excuse of her visiting Nikki in the hospital was implausible within the universe and without. It was kinda aggravating. She’s less nemesis and more of a pest at this point.

If you had to include Brianna, why not have Brianna be at Mackenzie’s house because she’s still friends with Mackenzie’s little sister? Easy and will feel part of a plot.

And well, that’s it. This could have been filled with potential with Nikki veering at the edge of high school and deciding to take stock of her diaries to become a more mature person who communicates with others and has self-esteem not to jump to the worst conclusions. Maybe go back to her art skills like when she won the eight grade art contest, return to her roots. But nope.

I don’t know why I have so much investment. Maybe it’s because I still want answers about Brandon like his absent parents, his French background. . . I mean I can guess that they died when he was young but like I want to hear it from him and have a meaningful moment between Nikki and Brandon where they make it official. It was such a mystery and it hasn’t been mentioned since book 5 I think? Completely dropped. Same with Theo and Marcus coupling with Zoey and Chloe. And the newspaper. And so on.

[softgrungeprophet]

dear followers and friends

please Recommend Me Some Books (or short stories/anthologies)

(stuff i like below)

Will read:

Sci-fi, hard or soft

Urban fantasy, magical realism, science-fantasy

Horror/suspense, thriller, mystery, paranormal, body horror etc.

Dark fiction and light fluffy fiction are equally acceptable to me, including dark romance or books which deal with difficult or heavy topics

Romance elements, LGBT characters, gender fuckery is my bread and butter also

Well-written erotica is fine as well, esp if queer

Totally fine w/ werewolves and vampires and stuff like that

Interesting, compelling characters, regardless of whether it is character-driven or plot-driven. Messy, angry, complex, fascinating, dissectable characters (and/or plots)

Thoughtful deconstructions, genre blends, etc. are also great, including fairy tales and spec bio, experimental fiction, etc.

Period fiction is cool; historical fiction about real historical figures is less interesting to me. I prefer fictional characters in my fiction stories... (as funny as it is to talk to Karl Marx in Assassin's Creed)

Adult fiction, YA — Prose fiction mostly, poetic prose is great, some poetry is fine, and I have no problem with flowery language

I like well-crafted prose and am fine with pretentiousness or big words and literary fiction-esque stylings.

Not super interested in ~coming of age~ stories per se. Am however often interested in stories w/ protags who feel unmoored or lost, do not know what their goals in life are, etc. or exploring sense of self, identity, and so on.

Also not interested in middle grade or very pop cultural or meme-y fiction. I am fine with camp or some comedy or silliness but, man. I'm 30 and too picky to read the next RP1.

Mostly prefer fiction

Really enjoyed The Devourers (Indra Das), unfortunately bounced off of The All-Consuming World (Cassandra Khaw) mostly due to prose style (I liked the concepts and characters, not so much the execution). Also really enjoyed Mayhem in Manhattan (Wein + Wolfman) and the Lethal Protector novelization, lest you think I'm too good for superhero novels.

I also like Clive Barker fwiw and enjoy most of Vonnegut's works. I liked House of Leaves when I read it in college.

some of my fave comics include a lot of prose-poetry narration, evocative scenes, emotional musings and similar, and this can also apply to books etc. I like to write and read poetically influenced prose.

as an amusing comparison, as a teen I enjoyed Yolen's Dragon's Blood (and related books) and disliked Pern a lot, so that probably says something about my tastes. I was also obsessed with Eragon but I was 14 so. Also enjoyed The Hunger Games series in college, dislike most of John Green's work. Liked Uglies in middle school.

made it maybe 10-15 pages into Calculating God before calling it quits. Did not like that one.

[theladyragnell]

How did you get to a stage where you love your writing so much you don't care about marketing it? I have had trad pub in my head since I was 13 years old and struggle not to think about what others would think of my writing even even I tell myself it's just for me :(

Oh, anon, I wish I had easier answers for you, or really any for-sure answers at all.

First, I just want to say that for me, this is a few different questions! Wanting to do traditional publishing, loving your writing, and not caring what people think are all related, but they don't have to go together all the time.

Because I do still, in my pie in the sky dreams, want to be traditionally published! I read a lot, and I love my writing, and I think that my writing does stand up to a decent amount of what's coming out, but it's not currently a path I'm pursuing, which is largely because publishing is full of Nightmare Tasks for people with difficult brains (query letters my beloathed), somewhat because of how the industry is treating workers and authors these days, and somewhat because of how hard I find criticism to take.

Which leads to, as you say, struggling with what other people think of your writing. And I do! When I post a new fic, or share a new story with a friend, I get anxious and I want people to like it! But nonetheless I write things I love and want to write, because I have tried the "write trends" thing and tried the "write things to make a specific person happy that I'm not into" thing and popular as the results might be, and they're fine stories because I'm a good writer, but I don't love them or come back to them.

But also, that "that I'm not into" thing is very important! Because I do still care a lot what people think of my writing. It's just that I count myself as one of those people, and I try to write for certain people or subsets of people, not the whole world, because the more people I try to please, the blander and less like myself I feel like my writing gets. So I try to write for myself, and also I'll write a trope or relationship dynamic a friend likes, or I'll write for a subset of a fandom that has a particular taste, or I'll just make up a guy in my head (positive). It becomes an exercise in triangulation! This is something I do a lot with exchange fics, where I try to find a midpoint between my tastes and my recipients' tastes, something I find very enriching. So yes, I do care a lot what other people think!

But the loving my own writing ... that's a mix of a lot of things. Some of it is experience. I have been writing as a major hobby for literal decades, and I write fast, which means I have written enough to feel comfortable with my skills. Some of it is wrapped up in the previous point, where writing things I love makes me love my writing more, which means even if I'm not writing publishing trends (my pacing is slow and has too many conversations! I don't like a lot of the current romance genre trends, much less SFF romance trends!) I still love what I'm doing.

But it's also learning and growing so that I know my writing is getting better! It's analyzing what an author I love has that I lack and trying to find my own way to it. It's learning to use language in new ways when I'm not a very language-forward writer. A lot of times, it's trying (and frequently failing, because this one is hard as hell and easy to do wrong) to find the core of my id on a certain trope or relationship dynamic and go all in on it.

I love my writing because it's mine, and my writing is the way it is because I love it. I loved my first embarrassing gel-pen-in-a-cat-notebook "novel" in seventh grade, and I love the epic 6-book sci fi romance series that I finished most recently and may someday be brave enough to self-publish. None of them are trendy. But for me and the people the stories matter and have mattered to (friends I no longer speak to from middle and high school passing my handwritten works back and forth in the middle of class, friends who read my works as I write them or when I finish them now), and the people they might someday matter to, I don't think the trendiness or the marketability matter.

And I don't think they will for you either someday, anon. <3

[coridotmp3]

i bet this would look beautiful on film (1)

chapter one// somethin' stupid - frank & nancy sinatra

words: 417

warnings: reader is nicknamed "Honey", they/them pronouns used for the reader, this first chapter is just entirely emails :')

summary: "Why did you even agree to come on this trip if you all you can think about is leaving?"

"Did you ever think that maybe I missed you too?"

(Or, the one where Honey desperately needs a photographer, and Bob desperately needs a break.)

read on ao3||series masterlist||masterlist

From: Mx. Honeydew <adewadventure@lglmag.com>

To: Robbie F :) <hardyboyrjf42@gmail.com>

Subject: Trip Down Memory Lane?

-------------

Hi, Rj! I know it's been a while, so this may seem pretty out of the blue, but I ran into your mom at Anne-Marie's shop today (speaking of, please tell your sister that her croissants are nothing less than heavenly and that I have dreams about her gingerbread latte).

She let me know that, in a couple of weeks, you're going to be in town on leave. Sorry, I know that you probably didn't want that information publicized, but don't blame Lucille! You know that she loves to brag about you and your family to anyone that will listen. Especially, her baby boy Robbie :)

She also mentioned, between her many updates on your life as of late, that you're going to be around for about a month this time. Well, it just so happens that your second week of leave coincides with a trip I have to take for the magazine. A trip that my favorite photographer just backed out of...

If memory serves, you were pretty fucking fantastic with a 35mm back in the day.

I was wondering if you would be willing to don your Minolta for one last adventure? For old time's sake? It could also be a good opportunity to catch up! I would love the chance to get to know the version of you I've missed out on these past few years.

There's no pressure, though! Only accept if you really want to! I just figured I would reach out since I could use the help and, according to Lucille, you could use the change in scenery.

If it's any incentive, the magazine would be more than happy to compensate you for your time and for any images that end up being used in the article!

Let me know either way! Hope to speak to you soon, Robbie Floyd :)

Honey xx

Mx. Honeydew (they/them)

@/adew.adventures on instagram

Let's Get Lost Magazine est. 1993

---

From: Robbie F :) <hardyboyrjf42@gmail.com>

To: Mx. Honeydew <adewadventure@lglmag.com>

Subject: RE: Trip Down Memory Lane?

------------

Sounds good. Let me know when, where, and how much film to bring. I'll book a plane ticket as soon as I can.

It's good to hear from you, Honey.

- Robert

P.S. the seventh grade email account? really? please, just text me next time, okay? i'd like to be spared any embarrassing middle school flashbacks thank you (xxx) - xxx - xxxx

Next Part

(a/n: this fic was inspired by "people we meet on vacation" by emily henry and each part will be named after a new song :) i'll post the full playlist soon !!)

[violencewithwings]

January 2024 reading wrap-up

If you’ll notice, I read very few books this month (especially compared to December, but even compared to my usual 6 books minimum a month). I am currently in the throes and insanity of first love, so I might not read much for the first few months of this year. I do miss reading, but how am I supposed to fall in love with book men when I have a gorgeous, sweet man right in front of me?

Books read ˋ°•*⁀➷ 4

Books DNFed ˋ°•*⁀➷ 0

Five-star books ˋ°•*⁀➷ 4

Fourth Wing (reread) - Rebecca Yarros

January 11th, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve been anticipating this reread for a while. I couldn’t wait to be re-immersed in the world and see how differently the book read after reading Iron Flame. I was not disappointed, and in fact, I gave this book a higher star rating than I did on my first read. This world is very easy to get obsessed with and immersed in, and I still love Violet’s character so much. Rereading this book also made me appreciate Xaden’s intimidating front so much more than I did originally. I was able to fully sink into the present in the book instead of worry about what was coming, and I really enjoyed it.

Rereading the end of this book made me realize that most of the issues people complain about “popping up” in the second book (aka Violet and Xaden arguing) actually started at the end of the first book pretty much as soon as they got into a relationship. This shifted my perspective of the second book quite a bit, honestly. This was also the first book I tabbed as I read as well, so it was a new and fun experience for me. I can’t wait to read the next book.

The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

January 21st, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So, fun fact: this was my best friend’s favorite series when we were in elementary and middle school, but I had serious anxiety as a kid and couldn’t read anything more tense than Amelia Bedilia until I was about thirteen. I tried reading this series about four years ago but it kind of bored me? Reading it now, I’m completely unsure why, but I digress. Me and my brothers are watching the show, and being in my reading era, I decided I wanted to read the books too, and now the four of us are reading the books together as well 😆

This book was so much fun. Percy’s inner monologue took a little bit of time to get used to since I’m used to reading books from the perspective of teenage girls and adult women, but he was a very fun character to follow. I’ve always loved Greek Mythology, so getting to read a modern book with the gods was very intriguing. I thought the world was very immersive and the characters were fun. I can’t wait to see how this story progresses over the next few books.

On a side note: I can’t imagine Percy as anything other than Walker with his curly blond hair and blue eyes. Annabeth was a bit harder since Percy describes her so often in the books, but she’s kind of just a blurry haze in my head 😂

The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan

January 24th, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’d told me I was going to be eating up a middle grade book series this year, I’d have laughed in your face. This book was so good. Tyson has to be my favorite character in the whole series so far. He’s so adorable 😭

This book, like most middle grade books, was slightly predictable. It doesn’t help that I’ve gotten probably at least one spoiler for each book, but that didn’t make the reading of it any less fun. Percy and Annabeth’s relationship is progressing a bit, and I love to see it. They trust each other a bit more in each book.

One thing I really loved about this book is that it was only 280 pages 😆 I needed a short read tonight that I could wrap up before I went to bed, and this delivered! I’m chomping at the bit to read the next book, but alas, it’s still on hold at the library. I’ll get my hands on it soon enough…

Destroy the Day - Brigid Kenmerer

January 29th, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was everything and more I wanted out of a final book in this series…I mean…COME ON! For one, I LOVE Harristan, and we got a whole lot more of him in this book. I was eating those chapters UP!

Corrick and Lochlan had a lovely bonding in this book after being at odds with each other for the entire series, so that was nice! I really appreciate that they were able to get over their hatred for each other eventually and become really close friends 😭 the last chapter with them at the end is so near and dear to my heart, you don’t understand.

I won’t get into the nitty gritty of this plot because that was on the back burner in this story. What I LOVED about this book was the romance Harristan got. He and the person he ended up with were two characters I had been hoping something would happen between for a while and then out of nowhere - it happened! I squealed when they kissed for the first time. I’m so glad they got their happily ever after because that is truly all I ever wanted for them <3

I love this book. Read this series, I promise it’s good.

[m0ther-of-p3arl]

across the great divide (there is a glorious sunrise)

chapter one: autumn leaves falling down

or: i had an idea for an au and just. ran with it. yeah um this is based on another piece of media, a book series i really enjoyed that is very popular. perhaps you can guess? anyway. things will be revealed soon enough. hope you enjoy!! (also: it's about time i write an owen-centric fic, huh)

(4304 words)

Ever since Owen Giutivi was very young (two years, three months, and five days old, to be specific), he’s always known almost instinctively that there was something different about him, something a little weird, a little off. Maybe it’s something in the way he tends to always be mentally leagues ahead of the rest of his class, maybe it’s something in the way he’s always been able to understand subjects most adults would have no idea how to begin to go about comprehending. Throughout his formative years, Owen was always pushed to go further, work his incredible mind as hard as he could, whether by his well-meaning but demanding parents, or the teachers and child specialists who were there to witness it when he was reading 500-page novels in first grade.

Yeah, there’s really no doubt about it: Owen has always been extremely, if not astoundingly or even scarily smart- he’s been labeled a genius, a prodigy, a million words that honestly couldn’t mean less to him. The most important part, the only part that really matters, is that he almost never meets someone who gets it, who doesn’t act as if he’s some freak because of his intelligence. And he supposes that’s why he gravitated towards Charlie: a part of him can tell, even from a first glance, that there is something strange, something more unusual than what you see in a typical middle-schooler, about Charlie too.

Owen first met Charlie Sickle when they were both twelve, almost thirteen, at the start of Seventh Grade. Charlie was the new kid in school, and Owen sat next to him in Social Studies (the best class, no one could ever convince him otherwise). Obviously, they hit it off right away- he was a refreshing blast of fresh air in the face for Owen, with his strange habits, ridiculous energy, and always over-excessive swearing. Charlie is, hands-down, the funniest guy he’s ever met. Within minutes, he’ll have Owen laughing so hard he feels like his stomach is going to split in two, aching with howling snickers that carry over the whole room when they’re supposed to be reading quietly, earning glaring looks from other students and loud shushes from their teacher.

But Owen doesn’t care, because he’s around Charlie. And Charlie never cares about anything anyway.

And it’s incredible, because for the first time, Owen has someone who understands him, who’s willing to be his unwavering partner in crime, through thick and thin. Charlie brings out a part of him Owen thought he had lost, he lets Owen be a normal kid again- when he’s with Charlie, he isn’t the genius, the freak, the quiet kid who all the teachers adore, when he’s with Charlie, his intelligence isn’t his defining trait, his only trait.

When he’s with Charlie, he’s just Owen- and he’s happy. Charlie and Owen, Owen and Charlie- they became a conglomeration, never one referenced, by children and adults alike, without mentioning the other. Within a month of meeting each other, they became inseparable. Owen’s parents don’t approve of their friendship- of course they don’t. Charlie is extroverted, and an undeniable loudmouth; basically, everything Owen isn’t. Charlie breaks him more out of his shell every day, he lets Owen be something more than the perfect prodigy everyone adores.

Owen supposes the old saying, opposites attract, really is true- because where Charlie’s outgoing and boisterous, Owen is studious and quiet. Where Charlie has no qualms going up and asking whichever person he currently has a crush on out on a date, Owen can never even bring himself to say more than two words to the people he’s attracted to. Charlie skips classes and blows off quizzes and has the worst grades in the class, if not the entire school- and yet, Owen never gets anything less than perfect marks and straight As in all his subjects. 

But somehow, through all this, Owen’s grades have never slipped, and Charlie has learnt when it’s best to be loud and when to hold in his jokes- because the thing about Owen and Charlie is that they only ever rub off on each other in the best ways possible. Owen means it when he says that, quite literally, there are almost no downsides in their friendship. They’re thick as thieves (and twice as crafty), and though they are shunned and generally unpopular, it doesn’t even matter.

Neither of them really have any other friends, but they don’t care because it’s enough to just have the two of them, brothers in all but name, a bond between them that no one could break. Charlie is quite literally the only reason Owen managed to get through middle school without completely pulling into himself, and for that, he is forever thankful.

It is because of Charlie, of course, that Owen regards Seventh Grade as the best year of his life.

Then, Eighth Grade came.

——

It’s the first day of Eighth Grade, and Owen is a jumbling ball of nerves. His worries mostly stem from a wondering if things will be the same between him and his best friend, who he hasn’t seen all summer- Charlie was at an all-summer camp that he’s always spoken of vaguely throughout their friendship, and hasn’t been able to properly contact Owen the whole summer. They had sent a few half-hearted letters, but they both felt it wasn’t the same, and broke off correspondence.

Luckily, Charlie was back in town in time to receive his schedule, and through texts he and Owen have managed to figure out that they share most, if not all, of their classes. Owen is elated, of course- and from what he can tell, Charlie is too (Charlie always gets so excited at the stupidest things, Owen loves him for it). But that doesn’t change the underlying anxiety that bubbles under the surface as he gets ready to see his best friend for the first time in nearly four months.

(Honestly, Owen doesn’t know why summer breaks have to be so long. All that one can do during that time is have way too much time to think- and Owen wishes vehemently he had less time to do so. He would rather be in school, reviewing stupid math equations he learnt years ago.)

Stepping out to the bus stop, backpack weighing him down anew, binder slung over his shoulder by its strap, Owen notices a chill in the air uncharacteristic for early September in Philadelphia. The sky is overcast, the color of the clouds similar in hue to Owen’s favorite blue-gray sweater, of which he has donned at the moment.

The other kids at his bus stop consist of some eighth graders like him, some seventh, and a couple giddy sixth graders excited beyond belief for their first day of middle school, and Owen takes stock of them all, plastering his face with a familiar dulled-out expression. He doesn’t have the heart to tell the sixth graders that there really isn’t anything super exciting about this, doesn’t have the heart to tell them they’ll be burnt out by the time the month is even up. He stands lazily by the bus stop sign, leaning against the familiar metal pole as he has so many times before, eyes grazing across the scenery, a stagnant scene he knows like the back of my hand- a street corner washed in swathes of gray, the only color the specks of green and yellow drifting across the tops of trees.

A wind gusts past, and Owen shivers. If the bus doesn’t come soon, by god, he’s gonna- like- swear, or something. He stifles a snicker at his imagination, currently painting a picture of Charlie, shaking a fist down the empty street, cursing at the sky and blowing puffs of condensation out of his pouting mouth with every breath.

(The fact that no one speaks to him at the bus stop is so stupid. He genuinely does not need more time to think about anything, especially how lonely- how lonely he isn’t. He’s fine. Owen’s fine. Why would anyone ever think anything else?)

The bus does come eventually, ten long minutes, punctuated only by the music blaring through Owen’s headphones, later. He huffs out a sigh and yawns, stretching up to the clouds, before resigning himself to his fate and clambering up the steps onto the already-crowded bus.

Immediately, a familiar face pops up from behind a seat in the back, his green eyes bright and smile contagious. Owen feels a similar expression begin to worm its way across his face at the sight of his best friend, and he quickens his pace, sliding into the schoolbus seat beside Charlie as if no time has passed.

“Owen! Owen fuckin’ Giutivi! It’s been a while, hasn’t it!” Charlie ruffles Owen’s hair, giving him a quick hug, and Owen sticks his tongue out at him, relief washing over his body like a summer rainstorm. 

“Hey, Charlie,” Owen grins back, affection blooming within him as he flicks his best friend across the forehead. “Hope your summer was well good, mate!”

“Oh my god, I forgot you were so… British,” Charlie mutters lightheartedly to himself upon hearing Owen’s accent, slamming his head back into the fake leather of the seat with a half-laugh. “My summer was great, you?”

“Meh,” Owen answers truthfully, shoulders still permanently slumped as he leans back to join Charlie. “I stayed at home a lot, there wasn’t much to do. Maybe someday I can come to that fancy camp of yours.”

It was just an offhand comment, but Charlie’s face brightens immediately, his smile somehow growing even more. “Holy shit, dude, that would actually be amazing. Hopefully you fit the camp requirements, I think you’d really fit in there.”

Owen stares at him incredulously, the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smirk. “Charlie Sickle. In all the long long months you’ve known me, have I ever been the type to fit in anywhere?” When he doesn’t respond, Owen sighs and speaks again. “The answer to that, by the way, is no.”

“No, but I’m serious! I actually think you would love it there.” 

(Owen mentally recoils at this, unconsciously folding into himself. He’s not- he’s not that kind of person, he’s not like Charlie- he can’t just make friends wherever and whenever he feels like it. Owen is so drawn into himself, it’s honestly a miracle he hasn’t disappeared entirely at this point. Doesn’t Charlie understand he’s his only tether to the rest of the world? Doesn’t he realize that without him, Owen might as well be a robot for the amount of living he’s actually doing? Can’t he see that the majority of Owen’s summer has been spent staring at the same spot on his bedroom wall in silence?

And the fact that Charlie seems so sincere only serves to make his statements even more ridiculous. Honestly, he should know by now that Owen is about the most antisocial guy out there. It’s one of the constants of his life that he doesn’t fit in anywhere.)

Owen hums noncommittally, pulling out his earbuds and sticking one into Charlie’s ear as well as his own, as is their tradition. “You choose first?” he asks, deftly changing the subject, and Charlie nods vigorously (completely oblivious to Owen’s discomfort, but that’s fine, he’s fine), grabbing Owen’s phone and opening Spotify. Within seconds, a song is screaming through Owen’s headphones, and he reaches for his phone to turn down the volume, cringing as the noise only increases. Of course he had pressed the wrong button. Charlie rolls his eyes and helps Owen out, lowering the volume significantly until he can relax again.

“What’s the song?” Owen asks. Charlie is bobbing his head to a ridiculous degree, exclaiming loudly whenever the beat drops. 

“Sex Sells by Lovejoy,” he answers, stretching. “Fucking banger, right? It’s by my friend Wil’s band- he also goes to my summer camp. I think you’d like him.”

(Maybe Owen would like him, but no one ever likes Owen. Except Charlie. There’s a reason why Owen has never made any friends in his life other than the boy sitting obliviously next to him right now, humming along to a tune only the two of them can hear. Charlie is his fucking lifeline.)

“His music is good, anyway,” Owen half-agrees, trying to mask his surprise at the rememberance that he is not, in fact, Charlie’s only friend in the world.

“Yeah, he’s usually the main leader of this, like, campfire singalong shit we do nightly, along with the other members of his cabin, cuz they’re all kind of music dudes. They like to flaunt it too. Fuckers,” he mutters, clear-cut affection in his voice that causes Owen to squirm with a kind of unprompted jealousy. Charlie clears his throat, continuing quickly. “Anyway- yeah, Wil has a really nice guitar- it was his dad’s and its sound is, like, really fucking good. Feels like it carries for miles, and that’s even without a mic.” Charlie’s head is still bopping to the music, and Owen belatedly realizes that he’s doing the same, albeit less ferociously.

“I’ll give you an eight out of ten for that,” he admits, and Charlie’s eyebrows shoot up in satisfied surprise.

“You hear that, boys?!” he yells, those in the general vicinity shooting annoyed glances his direction, and Owen snickers under his breath at his friend’s ridiculousness. “Charlie Sickle wins again!”

Their conversation continues lazily on the way to school, taking turns choosing new songs to play for the other. 

(The rules of their game, one Charlie invented some time in the first few months of their friendship, are as follows: the two of them take turns choosing a song- it has to be a new song they haven’t ever played for the other yet, as well as one the other has never heard. Then, the person who isn’t choosing takes a listen and rates the song on a scale of one to ten, which corresponds to the number of points the chooser gets. At the end of the bus ride, the person with the most points wins for the day and gets the other’s cookie at lunch.)

Unsurprisingly given his strong start, Charlie’s won for this day- as he and Owen step off the bus, the wind carrying on it the scent of something foreboding, Owen tacks up their final scores at thirty one for Charlie versus twenty three for Owen, and he resigns himself to a cookie-less lunch.

“Hey, Owen, do you remember who our homeroom is?”

Owen sighs, exasperated, and rolls his eyes- because honestly, it is just like Charlie to not know. “Did you, like, leave our schedule at home or something?”

“Pff- fuck, are you, like, accusing me? You think I could do something like that? Jeez, dude, I’m hurt- gonna have to find a new best friend, I guess…” Charlie trails off, and though there is no fire behind his words, Owen can’t help it as his heart picks up speed at the thought of having to do all this alone, he knows Charlie’s making a joke, but Owen doesn’t want to be alone-

“We have a Mrs Pemberton,” Owen notes for Charlie, trying to get himself under control, and the shorter of the two nods before the two boys lapse into comfortable silence, just two best friends against the world. Or at least, Owen hopes that’s what they are, hopes that’s what Charlie sees him as. He doesn’t know what he’d do if it’s not.

(Later, Owen will look back and berate himself, because he should have noticed the way Charlie stood shakily, the way his eyes darted back and forth, as if on the lookout for something. He should have noticed the way Charlie’s jokes weren’t as well-thought-out as usual, the way his usual ridiculousness felt forced and fake.

Owen should have noticed that, as they made their way to Mrs Pemberton’s room, Charlie just got worse, sniffing the air and hovering protectively over Owen’s shoulder. But hindsight’s twenty out of twenty, Owen supposes, because in that moment, nothing had seemed amiss to him.)

They step into their classroom and, almost immediately, Charlie freezes in place, his limbs becoming rigid and an expression of barely masked horror spilling across his face, the change as drastic as if someone had poured paint over his head. It’s only then that Owen glances back, concern etched across his features. Charlie’s always been shorter than Owen, but at that moment, he looks like he wants nothing more than to grow to a humongous size and swallow something whole (Charlie doesn’t seem angry, though. He just seems scared). Honestly, Owen is quite put off.

“…Mate, you good?” He asks, brow furrowed in a mix of confusion and worry. Charlie nods a little too quickly, Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he swallows, his complexion having turned pale and sickly-looking. Owen follows the gaze of his eyes as they trace across the room, to a big bulldog that, for whatever odd reason, is sitting underneath the teacher’s desk.

It has jowls that rival Winston Churchill, and a glare to match. Its ears stick straight up from its head, triangle-shaped and alert, teeth sticking up from its underbite onto its upper lip. Its fur is matted, a dusty brown color, and Owen can’t help but wonder if it’s well cared for, whoever it belongs to. Also, last he checked, it’s a rule that dogs of any kind are strictly not allowed on school property, so he’s slightly apprehensive as to what one is doing here right now.

If he didn’t know better, Owen would swear it’s staring straight at him.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Oh, uh, shit- I’m fine, just- just a little scared of dogs,” Charlie mutters, the obvious lie grating and rough in Owen’s mind, flurries of worry and possibilities floating across Owen’s mind in a familiar and foggy blizzard. He’s brought back to himself by Charlie gesturing towards the animal under the desk with a jut of his chin. “Let’s just find our seats and stay far, far away from it.”

Owen nods, though to be honest, he doesn’t really understand what the big deal was. As far as he can tell, it is just a neglected, grumpy-looking bulldog that has no reason to be there- and sad and unsettling as that is, he honestly doesn’t understand why Charlie is acting so skittish. That is Owen’s first mistake.

Three minutes later, after he and Charlie have found their seats (right next to each other, by some stroke of luck, and Owen is immediately so relieved that he feels like he could cry) the bell rings and their teacher still hasn’t arrived. The bulldog is still sitting menacingly under the desk, and Owen’s starting to get a little unnerved, as the beast is definitely staring at him- its gaze hasn’t slid from his face the entire time he’s been in the room. Charlie is still acting really jumpy, like, oddly so, and the rest of the class are impatiently waiting, annoyed whispers passing between friends and desk neighbors.

Finally, after several minutes have passed, the door swings open, and a young woman walks in. Her woven and plaited hair is the color of spun silk, a blonde so yellow Owen thinks there’s no way it can be her natural hair color, with skin as pale and freckled as a smoothed river stone. Her lips are warm and pink-tinged, curled up in a seductive smile, with piercing blue-gray eyes that seem to hold secrets deep within. She wears a bright pink dress that looks almost like a ballroom gown, with white and lighter pink accents at the waist, neck, and cuffs, and she seems to slither as she walks.

The teacher has arrived, but she is like no teacher Owen had ever seen. Not in a good way, either- just looking at her causes the skin on the back of his neck to prick up and crawl uncomfortably, and with a glance over at Charlie, Owen can tell he feels the same.

“Greetings, class!” She spreads her arms around her, motioning like she’s hugging all the class, voice like frozen honey against a backdrop of fluorescent lights. 

(Owen notices with a slight spike of apprehension the way her smile seems to be just a bit too wide, her eyes are far too blank, staring ahead with a kind of manufactured happiness that Owen sees far too often on his own face. The difference is, however, that on her face, it looks almost sinister.)

“My name is Miss Pemberton,” the woman continues, either oblivious to or ignoring Owen and Charlie’s discomfort, “but you all can call me Madeleine. I’m so excited to get to know every single one of you this year!” She goes off on the classic teacher spiel, the one that never gets more true regardless of how many years it’s repeated, and Owen and Charlie exchange a knowing glance and a snicker- at least this part of the strange woman’s appearance is something they can both agree is somewhat normal.

The rest of the day passes in a dull, stretching swathe of rules and policies, how to read schedules, et cetera, et cetera, as first days back at school often do. When the bell rings for recess, it’s a welcome sound, and Owen can’t wait to get out onto the field, to lay in the grass and banter back and forth with Charlie.

But just as he’s pulling back on his sweater, the sharp and honeyed voice sounds from across the room. “Owen, dear?”

(Her voice sounds wrong when she says his name, there’s something underlying it- a quiet, almost imperceptible sound of static, and Owen can feel his arms erupt in bumping bouts of gooseflesh.)

“Yeah?” He answers, turning back to face Miss Pemberton. 

“Why don’t you stay in for a little bit, honey.” It’s not a question, and again, there’s something off about her voice, it’s too flat and lilting- it sounds like a snake’s approximation of what a human sounds like, a good attempt tainted by venom and fangs. Owen begins to feel uneasy, the feeling catching up with him even more than before. The bulldog is still staring at him, beady and unblinking eyes trained on his own.

Charlie speaks before he can respond, his eyes wide and a glaring clarity that Owen doesn’t understand spreading across his face. “Um, no, actually, I don’t think he will be staying in- come on, dude, let’s go-”

Charlie’s hand tightens around Owen’s wrist, and he begins to pull him out of the room. Owen goes willingly, his heart rabbiting illogically, and oh god, he is scared and he doesn’t know why-

“Oh… but I insist,” Madeleine says, her teeth too white, eyes too blank, pupils so small all Owen can see are her blue-gray irises, pulling him in, closer, closer-

Until Charlie’s grip on his wrist jolts him back to reality.

“Uh, just give us a second- I’ll be right with you.” Owen shoots her his best ‘I’m a star student, how could I lie to you’ smile and lets Charlie pull him out into the hallway, where the shorter boy grabs his shoulders and looks him dead in the eyes, more serious than Owen’s ever seen him. 

“Owen, listen to me. I am going to give you something, and you are going to go back into that room and deal with… that. I will be right here. I promise.”

“Char- why-” Owen is so confused, he has no clue what’s going on.

“I can’t help you with this,” Charlie mutters, face downcast. “I literally can’t fucking help you with this- shit, Owen, I’m so sorry. But this was going to happen at some point or another- your scent is just getting too strong, there was nothing I could do anymore-”

“My scent? Charlie, what the heck are you talking about?” It has to be another one of Charlie’s jokes, a bit that’ll have them both in tears with laughter when it reaches its end. But for once, Owen can’t see a trace of mirth in Charlie’s eyes; as he searches desperately, he cannot find a single hint that he is joking. Charlie doesn’t say anything, only stares at him with a kind of deeply sincere anger- it’s not directed at him, though, that much he can tell.

And so Owen takes a deep, shaky breath, and nods. He doesn’t know what he’s agreeing to, has no idea what Charlie’s asking him to do. All he knows is that, standing right in front of him, is the only person in the world who he trusts, he would do anything for him.

“Okay. Take this.” Charlie reaches into his backpack and pulls out a moldy, bruised orange, and before Owen can protest, he presses it into the other’s palm.

“Charlie, what the heck?” Owen’s laughing now, the utter ridiculousness of this situation crashing down on him. He assumes that he was wrong, that it is a bit, but when he looks down, Charlie’s eyes are still devoid of any silliness.

“Look, I know it’s really fucking weird,” Charlie mutters. “Definitely wouldn’t be my choice, but that’s what X said to give you, and even if it’s a shitty orange, who the fuck am I to argue…”

Owen blinks, completely lost.

“Right, fuck, sorry. Just… take the orange. You’re a fucking smart kid, dude. You’ll know what to do.” Charlie states the words with a fabricated confidence, and Owen can’t help but think it feels like he’s trying to convince himself as well as Owen.

And then, with a salute, Owen’s best friend pushes him forward, back into the room, with nothing but a moldy orange clutched in his sweating hands.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The EU is Forever

April 25, 2014, was a dark-ass day for those of us who loved the Star Wars Expanded Universe canon. I was literally in the middle of the end of my first year as an MA student, and 2/3 of the bookshelves in the apartment my then-fiance, now-husband, shared held my Star Wars books. I'm not here to say that every book was great (lookin' at you, Splinter of the Mind's Eye), or even that every bad book was in so-bad-its-good territory (heart eyes at Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor), but the Star Wars EU got me through high school. So let's talk Young Jedi Knights.

There is no "these were the first Star Wars books I picked up and fell instantly in love with" story with these books, my journey to the Star Wars books was random as all hell, partly because this was the franchise that really taught me how to marshall and organize a sprawling set of books, do the research to read them in something like an order, and really start to engage deeply and take notes. (There may have been a 4-inch binder full of notes. It might still live in my Dad's house.)

I actually was first introduced to Star Wars (the original trilogy) when I was TA-ing in 8th grade and that teacher needed something to keep her class occupied for a couple of days. In the last week of school that year, I basically lived in the library and read the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. Needless to say, I had QUESTIONS. Because I still hadn't figured out book research, I then picked up Vector Prime, and STILL had massive questions, once I got over *that* scene.

Young Jedi Knights wasn't the first Jacen and Jaina I picked up--I started with some of the novels earlier when they're younger--but I loved this series. This particular cohort of Jedi ended up being so crucial for so many reasons to the EU timeline, and seeing their training, their friendship, their mishaps, and how they interact with the galaxy made the later novels just so much more poignant.

There was a sense of YA speedrunning a lot of pretty common coming-of-age tropes (lookin' at you, Zekk... honestly, he and Kyp Durron needed to learn to BACK OFF and take no as a goddamn answer) and a boarding-school-in-space vibe, but there were also a few things that I thought were done particularly well. I wouldn't be me if I didn't call out with how much nuance Tenel Ka's arm loss was handled, particularly in terms of letting her have time to grieve and allowing her to adapt on her own without bowing to Ta'a Chume's frankly ableist attempt to use the incident to pull her graddaughter further into her Hapan heritage at the cost of her Dathomiri one. Seriously, for a YA book published in 1996, this was learning to live with a disability done really well. And I appreciated the hell out of Tenel Ka herself not letting Jacen do the guilty hovering and overcompensating with unnecessary and unwanted help. That was an excellent boundary to set, and quite frankly is something that people TODAY are terrible at, so this whole storyline was well done.

Equally well done was the fleshing out of Raynar and Lowbacca in the Diversity Alliance arc. Poor Raynar started so pompous and so absolutely unconsciously privileged, but watching your father self-sacrifice to protect humanity at large is a stiff price to pay to learn a little humility. (The absolute kicker is what happens during the Yuuzhan Vong War and subsequent Swarm War; poor Raynar does NOT have an easy run of life).

Lowbacca was an interesting look at friends/siblings dragging you into an extremist perepecting and RAPIDLY getting in over your head. There is also an interesting look at those who choose to stay in those organizations and those who choose to escape. And again, this was 1997, so the massive resurgence in fascism, right-wing extremism, and incel-ness wasn't the monstrosity it is in the year of our lord 2022. The Diversity Alliance arc just got more relevant the older I got, not less.

The Solo twins are, objectively, the marquee characters in these books, because the EU objective was the Skywalker/Solo show. Just straight out, Jaina is my favorite Solo kid. No contest. Her entire arc over the EU was twisty, detailed, nuanced, and never anything less than fascinating, and that began from the first books that focused on the kids. Her training on Yavin 4 in these books really solidifies her as technical. Jaina likes machines; she likes to take things apart, put them back together, and make them better. She is, like her father and uncle, a pilot at heart. That said, I'd be lying if I didn't say that both she and Jacen are a little one-note 1990s YA protagonists. They have their one major things (she's a mechanic, he's basically the Star Wars Kratt Brothers) and their things and relationships drive everything. They are arguably not the most interesting characters in these books, but they do tend to drive the books because they are the Solo twins.

That said, the plots, side characters, and general vibe of these books made them some of my favorites, and the nostalgia is strong with these books.

[transmasc-wizard]

WRITBLR INTRO THE THIRD

About Me:

Beck or Beckett, minor, he/him & it/its (mutuals can call me Nico)

disabled and queer, and so are most of my OCs

horror, fantasy, and occasional sci-fi writer; mostly YA

i like to explore themes of corruption, hope, war, friendship, humanity, and healing. i also like angst!!! much of it!!!!

i have a disabled blog, @chroniccoolness, a book blog, @tobias-fell, and a fandom blog, @trans-michael-shelley

i do not want to interact with transphobes/radfems, other bigots, people with minors in their DNI, or harry potter blogs

i also do art sometimes

My Current Most Active WIPs:

"gay fairytale series" (placeholder title): a 5-book loose fairytale retelling. the first book follows five teenagers who have found out they are potential pawns to end the world, and must travel across kingdoms to a prestigious annual ball in order to kill the monarch that wants to use them in the first place. tags are #wip gfs, #wip gfw1, #wip gfw2, and the OC tags. (OCs: Angel, Bea, Hope, Oliver, Corey, Rowan, Tasya.)

"the other ones": a half-epistolary standalone horror novel. three teens host a podcast about the supernatural that leads them to investigate the strange forest at the edge of town. they go in--only to exit hours later, covered in blood, unable to remember anything that happened, and with a new companion: the previously missing Keisha Carter, who warns of monsters coming just around the corner. Further investigation into the forest reveals a crueler side to everything... and everyone. Tags are #wip the other ones and the OC tags. (OCs: Astrophel, Elisa, Hyacinthus, Keisha.)

WIP tags for other less active WIPs you can also browse: "#wip nt21" (thriller about a private art school), "#wip val saintly" (urban fantasy about a girl who saved the world adjusting to her life afterward), "#wip oddities" (middle grade portal fantasy about bravery, friendship, and autism), "#wip gilded/rotten" (epic fantasy heist about people who would kill or die for each other, and what happens when one of them does both)

[andiiieplagg]

the lockwood & co netflix series comes out this month and i am SO. WORRIED. 

firstly, this is my favorite book series of all time, ever since i read it back in the fifth grade. i’ve been there for the releases of each new book. in middle school, me and my friends would discuss each new books cliffhanger ending. i LOVE this story and these characters. to this day, i will say that it is my favorite book if anyone asks me, and i’m in college at this point!

i have been so excited ever since just rumors of this show were announced in 2017, because i know that it has the potential to be such a great thing. i’ve always said that this series needs a bigger fanbase. we have very few fanfics(less than 500 on ao3 & several years ago it was half that), a couple of fanartists, and the majority of the fandom is the same twenty people on tumblr. there’s some on instagram, but still. it’s the 2nd smallest fandom i’ve ever been a part of. 

the point being, i have so much love for this world and it holds such a special place in my heart. i’ve always wanted more people to find it too, but now that the show is almost here i’m so worried that it won’t be what it has the potential to be. 

rant over, i just wanted to get some of my thoughts out before jan 27 :)