#and it uses analog but what makes analog horror /ANALOG/ horror is how it focuses on stuff from that time period in terms of-

[disruptivevoib]

sometimes I do wanna just build an online horror genre taxonomy

[ph1l5eyelash]

i think there was something weird about Gangle’s mask in episode 4 and people are not talking about it enough.

im just kinda throwing out ideas here, I have no concrete theory, just things I noticed and thought were interesting.

AND IF YOU HAVE OTHER THEORIES REGARDING ANY OF THIS, TELL ME PLEASE IM SO CURIOUS

OKAY SO, first of all, I think we can all agree Gangle was acting weird in this episode— like, uncharacteristically weird. that could’ve easily (and obviously at least partially) been the fact that she was literally at her breaking point, on the verge of abstraction, but between the creepy vision Ragatha saw and the weird analog horror training video, I feel like it has to be more than that.

Talking about the vision Ragatha saw… what the fuck was that guys and why is nobody talking about it????? gooseworx did say “i just thought it would be funni.” when asked about it, but she has also said she often misleads us with her answers to the point that its “borderline gaslighting”. this is clearly an example of that, something so incredibly ominous and seemingly unrelated to the rest of the episode would not just be thrown in for no reason… it has to mean something. not to mention the creepy face when she turned around looks weirdly— intentionally— similar to Pomni’s face while she was possessed in episode 3.

I have a theory that whatever was possessing Pomni had something to do with Gangle’s mask in episode 4.

Speaking of this part of episode 3, I don’t think Pomni’s possession was apart of the adventure, or at least, not how it was intended to go. Whatever was possessing Pomni was hurting her in a way we have not seen in other adventures— this was not unintentional trauma like her and Gummigoo glitching beneath the map in episode 2, that was obviously not supposed to happen. This was intentional. As Jax said, Caine would not do something malicious to the humans, it’s not in his nature (which he said in a “i know that for a fact” sorta way, which is a whole other conversation). Not to mention, he said this DIRECTLY after Ragatha’s vision of Gangle looking eerily similar to whatever was possessing Pomni. So what was that?

And not only did it hurt Pomni— “how’s your wife, Kinger”??? are you kidding??? and this was not said nicely, it was clearly mocking him. how could mocking someone’s dead (or abstracted i guess) wife be any LESS intentionally malicious????

also, Caine is forgetful. This is shown by him forgetting they have a suggestion box, and more interestingly, through Zooble’s therapy session showing that Caine forgets their trauma. With such a large emphasis on Caine forgetting Zooble’s trauma, it would not be completely unreasonable to assume that he forgets the others’ trauma as well. Kinger’s wife abstracting, for example.

So with this moment being outright malicious towards both Kinger and Pomni, and with Caine’s forgetfulness being focused on in the same episode, I feel strongly that this was not Caine’s doing. Or at the very least, “how’s your wife, Kinger” was NOT Caine’s doing.

That raises the question, if Caine didnt do this, what did? And how does it know about Kinger’s wife abstracting— how would an NPC in an adventure know anything about the characters outside of the adventure?

I don’t have an answer to that question, but I have a looser theory that could possibly be related??? this one might be a little far fetched, but hear me out:

During Gangle’s weird (WEIRD) analog horror training video, Jax asks “when did you make this?” Sure, this could be meant to be a funny line that doesn’t mean anything… but he has a good point. When DID she make that? And why does it get so meta and scary? Malicious… one could say— I mean, Jax was terrified.

In the video, she was clearly projecting her failed dream of being a manga inspired comic artist, but if whatever was possessing Pomni knew about Kinger’s trauma, and with the theory that it has something to do with Gangle’s mask, I don’t think its impossible that it could know about Gangle’s trauma as well.

Assuming that whatever was possessing Pomni is actually intentionally connected to Gangle or her new mask, maybe that’s what made the video, not actually Gangle.

That would answer Jax’s question of when she made it— she didn’t.

That would explain Ragatha’s weird vision.

While the video doesn’t have any direct ties to the possession or the face, it definitely has pretty significant indication that she’s not herself— whether thats literally or figuratively. and idk man it was creepy and weird. as I said, im not set on this theory at all, i dont have any concrete idea what was going on here, but i know it has to be something.

this scene and Pomni’s possession were the only moments in the show that felt like the characters were being intentionally harmed— the only instances where they were intentionally made to feel real fear. The characters know that they will not actually be hurt during the adventures, they know that Caine wouldn’t put them in that situation. Sure, Pomni got jumpscared and her eyes popped out, they were panicked when trying to escape the angel head, they were panicked during the whole truck-chase scene in episode 2, but they knew it was all just apart of the adventure and they were gonna be fine in the end.

This fear was different. This was real fear— and they were intentionally made to feel that way. These instances were the only time the characters were genuinely afraid that they were in real danger (aside from the abstraction and backrooms-void situations in episode 1, but obviously those were not intentional).

I think whatever this is is trying to intentionally harm the members of the circus.

side note:

Zooble just found a mask that specifically looks like its for Gangle in their box of parts? why??? obviously it was for Gangle, so why was it in Zooble’s box of extra parts? did Caine put it in there? I guess that would make sense cuz Caine gave them the parts, but again, why give them a mask obviously for Gangle?

Which could mean nothing…? But it is weird that Zooble just randomly happened to stumble across a comedy mask… or maybe i’m just looking too deep into that.

Im gonna definitely post more about whats going on with jax in this episode (“nobody is seeing this, right”, “caine wouldnt do anything malicious its not in his nature”) because that feels important, but thats a theory for another day. this episode had so so much good information and my theory brain is absolutely spinning.

anyways yeah, i dont know. I feel pretty strongly that Ragatha’s vision and Pomni’s possesion are connected and that whatever that face is is important, but again, these are just ideas and the second theory is kinda just spitballing. i dont know if any of this makes sense. either way, all the theories make my brain happy and gooseworx’s storytelling is so amazing to me, whether any of this is right or if im completely missing the mark, its so interesting and i cannot wait to find out what the fuck is actually going on in this show. gooseworx, you talented storytelling genuis you, mwah!

if you have any theories on any of this, please share!! i would love to hear your ideas.

[kates-dump]

My experience with Analog Horror/ARGs and why you should check them out

Marble Hornets: the classic, and a big favorite of mine for obvious reasons. I cannot stress enough how good and spooky that series is, and the ToTheArk videos gave me nightmares, love it! <3

If you're into Slenderman stories, you should definitely check it out. The acting is very well done and the story is awesome overall :)

The Sun Vanished: the ARG that started my interest for ARGs, and especially enigmas/internet puzzles. Unfortunately I was not smart enough to figure the stuff out by myself, so I just watched explanations on it. Highly recommended if you like post-apocalyptic settings and subtle horror.

The Mandela Catalogue: possibly the series that brought back my interest for these things. I have only watched the first two seasons of it, as I sadly lost interest after a while, but from what I have watched, I would recommend it to those of you who like horror with religious themes (which is a big thing for me) and most importantly, trust issues. Do keep in mind this series deals with more serious and dark topics, though you have probably heard it already.

Local58: the analog horror of all analog horrors, Local58 barged in before TMC took the spotlight. There is so much going on and all of it is very interesting and scary. America's pride leads to its doom, the moon can control electronic devices, and weird creatures spread through the world. If you like stories that leave you not understanding what the hell just happened but loving it anyway, you will love Local58.

Rocket Archives: A single-video series that has unfortunately been taken down for reasons I am not certain of. But if you're curious what it was about, the video presented a reality where us humans were forced to leave Earth with how hot it was getting, and moved to contained bubbles in space. Suddenly, uh oh! The sun's getting closer! Outer Wilds moment! Everything is melting! Humans are gone and the sun is... alive???

Analog Archives: made by the creator of Rocket Archives, has also been taken down but can still be found re-uploaded. The series is slightly similar to Local58, as in it also focuses on broadcast hijacking used for ending off humans. The series also includes a few religious topics that can get very dark. I love it. "Nature Show" makes me tear up with fear every time.

Gemini Home Entertainment: ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOMENT!!! I don't think I need to explain why I love this one so much. GHE leaves a lot to your imagination/speculation, while also twisting your head directly into the direction of the threat and forcing you to look at it while you squirm in fear. GHE is subtle in the most obvious way, obvious in the most subtle way, and most importantly, IT'S COSMIC HORROR, BABY!!! THERE IS A PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM THAT GOT HERE UNINVITED AND NOW IT WANTS TO EAT US!!! UGHHHH I can't put in words why I think it's so good, it just is. Watch it. The Gardeners are cute, I swear. There's even a plush of them.

Monument Mythos: something something alternate realities, something something time loops. I have not watched all of it, barely even half, but I deemed it a little bit too confusing for my brain. BUT! If you're into things that boogle your mind, you might really like this series! I mean, world monuments are alive, what could be scarier?

Vita Carnis: EW. (affectionate)

But, seriously, if you like gross, you are certainly going to like this series. It's meat, and it's alive. Although, I did stop watching it because it got a tad too graphic and violent for my taste, but if that doesn't bother you, then I recommend it a lot! The editing is soooo good, and some of the creatures are very likable and cute ^v^ (the others are gross and I do not want them near me I do not WANT FUCK OFF)

Don't Look at the Moon: Minecraft spooky. Do I need to say more?

[kadextra]

Imagine you have managed to lure & successfully capture a special, and dangerous animal in a cage. You brought it to your facility for a reason, to use it for something important that it can provide you, or that it’s capable of doing… and to run some tests.

You know this animal has a history of being extremely vicious, and that it’s really intelligent. You knew what you were getting into beforehand… you’ve heard the hundreds of horror stories, about it being capable of causing terrifying harm- and it hates being in a cage. it’s crafty and will attempt to escape, so you need to treat it nicely, with utmost respect. You have to pacify its temper while you run the tests, so you give it something to care for, other test subjects for company, and objects that it likes. enrichment to make it all more bearable to manage.

It works, and the animal has gotten attached to the things you provided for it! you see how much it cares for them every day, and that’s good because now it doesn’t bite back as much at the keepers you send in to monitor. All the tests are going smoothly. Sometimes, there are unfortunate accidents (it was in a particularly bad mood the other day and someone lost a few fingers) but that’s okay, things like this can be excused in the long run. It’s unwise to punish the animal, as it’s scary, and special, and you aren’t sure if doing that will make it become completely uncontrollable or ruin the tests/any of the benefits. Just continue using more enrichment and hope that works! there is nothing more important than having it be calmed in the cage.

Everything goes well for a while… until one day, when what you had given it to care for disappears. you don’t know where they went (or maybe you do) and the animal falls into a deep depression. you observe as it begins exhibiting stress-related self destructive behaviors like biting its own fur off. but those soon switch to threatening behavior. it starts slamming and tearing into the cage, openly attacking with fangs and claws at the employees, causing a ton of problems- it was only a matter of time until this happened. It has nothing to lose anymore, and you now understand the murderous rage that all those stories talked about. In the dead of night, you walk by and can’t see anything in the darkness but you can feel its sharp eyes watching your movements…. plotting.

If it got out it would certainly try to kill you.

One of the employees goes missing one day, on top of the animal being way more unstable and hard to deal with. While you try to solve this new problem, you tell everyone to halt their work and warn them to not make any sudden, startling movements around the animal + not go near the cage at all for the time being, in fear of it lashing out more. They are all following your orders to stay away. But unbeknownst to you, the missing keeper had actually fallen into the cage with the animal, who is now very focused on toying with its new prey...

When you find out about this, there will need to be a choice: face the threat directly, rescue the employee and risk punishing this already unstable animal for its actions in an attempt to get it under control (you have never done this before) or, cut your losses like previous times and just allow it to play with its toy…?

———

fun little analogy & speculation of the federation’s pov related to q!bad, with a sprinkling of special guest theory. the reveal that they’re scared of him & treat him kinda like a dangerous wild animal gave me thoughts :3

[manyworldsofdarkness]

What is CURSEBORNE?

This might be of interest to any World of Darkness or Chronicles of Darkness fans or any fans of Onyx Path Publishing and White Wolf in general. We could be getting a new urban fantasy horror game series soon.

On April 10th, 2023 Onyx Path publishing’s blog brought up a hypothetical of making their own urban fantasy game series. Of course this was in response to their lack of any new WoD or CofD products as they do not own the rights to those IPs and must have approval by Paradox before working on anything. Currently Paradox is more focused on supporting their v5 products with their in house studio, Renegade Games and are no longer contracting other studios to right supplements for them for the foreseeable future. Because of this, the 20th Anniversary World of Darkness games and Chronicles of Darkness lines aren’t getting any new releases and what has already been announced and put into production are the only things to release in the near future. The only way for Onyx Path to make more urban fantasy horror games is to make their own and while they only mentioned this as a possibility, the comments section of this blog post exploded into discussions over this new potential game.

The next few blog posts afterwards continued the discussions asking people what they would like to see in a new potential horror game, such as a Masquerade system or signature characters as the comments sections only further spawned more discussion over this new world. Around this time too, Onyx Path announced their new unified version of their in-house system called Storypath Ultra, which should go without saying but will definitely be the system this potential game will be using. Then about a month later, on May 19th, on the official Onyx Path YouTube channel, this video was released https://youtu.be/fL1VPUzoB_Y?si=cR4ZPeb0wf9Kt6mM

A short seven second long animation of a murder of crows flying against a snowy tree line and the word “CURSEBORNE” forming as they all fly away. A short, mysterious teaser? Well for the next eight months Onyx Path would release a total of 30 videos of similar nature as of writing this post. Strange and short vignettes of classic horror tropes such as fog, spiders and recordings of monsters. Some would even be rereleased with minor differences and even text. I recommend watching some for yourself, there is a really eerie vibe to some. These capture more “modern” horror vibes when compared to WoD or CofD, some even feel inspired by analog horror or urban legends, the “Train” short particular reminds me of Japanese urban legends. Blog posts more or less stopped mentioning this potential game as time went on and mentions were then replaced with a strange picture of a moth, the same one at the top of this post.

On January 31st, 2024, 7:00 EST this website appeared https://www.curseborne.com/

CURSEBORNE, the title in all of those videos. The website has no text, just images of the same moth from the blog just posted all over a black background. Some will slowly fade in. Clicking on them will lead to a new page featuring one of the many teaser videos playing in your browser. Going back to the homepage, you’ll see a moth that appears to be glowing when compared to the others. Clicking it sends you to a Typeform quiz asking “Who are you?”. Answering it gives you a strange title such as “Raptor”, “Gaki”, “Archivist” etc. with a description of how you act. If I’d have to guess, these titles could be the names to new monsters or factions in CURSEBORNE. I’d like everyone who’s interested to please take this quiz and post your results on this post to see how many titles, or “paths” are found.

In short, it looks like Onyx Path is gearing up to make a new urban fantasy game using their own system. It’s not going to be World of Darkness with different names, but its own unique take on the concept.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

I request infection au stuff

People turn into literal analog horror creatures within a week. There is no known cure yet.

It affects all humans and monsters, including the skeletons.

Nowhere is safe. These things are everywhere. They are not sane and will actively hunt others.

Killing them is the only way to stop them. This is hard to do, as they regenerate unless their souls themselves are destroyed.

They can't go back home, there are too many infected there due to the boss monsters being the first ones that were infected.

The few of their friends they have found were already infected. All others are missing.

Their brother has gone missing. They have found confirmation that he is alive. They do not know if their brother has been infected yet.

Undertale Sans - He's not sure how he's still going. Maybe the hope to see his brother again. He built himself a little shelf in the mountains and he tries to use his sci-fi knowledge to survive, one day after the other. He knows he's hard to reach, so he's not too worried about the infected one, but at the same time, he's scared no one will find him and he will stay all alone his whole life. For now, he tries to stay positive, even though it's not easy.

Undertale Papyrus - He's on the road with Undyne and Alphys. They're good at protecting each other. Well, they were good until Alphys got infected, and it's clear she's doing worse and worse, but that's fine, they still have some time. Undyne is not ready to let go yet and Papyrus respects that as long as Undyne respects him not sleeping at night because he's scared Alphys might attack and infect Undyne and he just can't lose her. He doesn't know if he's selfish, but he's not sure what he would do all alone. At this point, he's pretty sure his brother didn't survive, so Undyne is the last one he can rely on to keep some hope. He's optimistic things will be better eventually. Or maybe he's lying to himself. Either way, he's not giving up now.

Underswap Sans - He used his leadership skills to build a small community of monsters and humans he's protecting. He's good at that, thanks to his experience as a police officer. He terribly misses his family and friends. Even though he made new friends along the way, it will never be the same. He tries not to think about his brother, it hurts too much. In an ideal world, he would be alive, but he knows Honey is not exactly a survivor. Just imagining him like those creatures is making him sick. He focuses on protecting his people, hoping they can maybe rebuild some kind of civilization eventually.

Underswap Papyrus - He never thought watching so many zombie films would save his life someday. Sure, he lost his brother, and everyone really, but he still has Asgore. They're living together in his house, which they upgraded as time passed to avoid horrible creatures to intrude. And so far it's working! They even grow some vegetables. He could never be thankful enough to find himself locked with someone who knows how to grow vegetables from literally scratch. They're keeping company with each other and trying to stay optimistic, even though some days are more difficult than others.

Underfell Sans - He's back to his old habits, trying to survive the best he can. He's glad he grew up weak in a shitty Underground. It's almost the same. Well, except he has to take care of Frisk and he never realized how hard it is to be a dad. The kid is scaring the hell out of him, randomly disappearing from time to time and he swears he can't continue like this. But at least he's not alone. He would do terribly on his own. Keeping Frisk alive is kinda the only thing that keeps him going. He promised Toriel he would watch over them, he's not giving her up. Plus it's fun to teach them new things!

Underfell Papyrus - He's living with Undyne in a small house they upgraded to resist the apocalypse. And Doomfanger. Living with Undyne is hard, not because of the apocalypse, but because they can't agree on anything and constantly bicker. They keep saying they will kill the other eventually, but the truth is that both of them are ready to die if it means the other will survive. They're not too worried though. Both of them are good fighters, and they want to survive until things get better. They know they can do it!

Horrortale Sans - He adopted a wolf-like style, living in the forest and hunting what he could find, animals or humans. He's fine on his own, back to a feral state, and it's best to not crossways with him. He's very dangerous. He stopped counting the scars, he's just survival instincts now. He'll be fine. He keeps searching for his brother.

Horrortale Papyrus - He's with Toriel and Grillby, on his farm. He refused to leave. The three of them already survived together, it's simply like the Underground, except there are more chances to find food. Since his farm is already producing vegetables and fruits, they're fine, and almost living normally, except they had to build barriers all around the farm to protect themselves. Willow still hopes Oak will come home someday, but he knows he's alive. The rare survivors that come and go all warned him about a weird monster roaming in the woods, hunting them. He knows it's Oak. He's not too worried. It's not the first time Oak ends in this state, but at least in this feral state, he's almost unbeatable. He's confident they will see each other again.

Swapfell Sans - He's terribly upset. Because the Queen forced him to follow her and separated him from his brother when it was the last thing he wanted to do. Then the Queen got infected and killed all of his soldiers, leaving him the only survivor and the one who has to deal with the consequences. Even if he's finally free, Nox can't celebrate. He's terrified his brother thought he gave up on him AGAIN and that he simply gave up somewhere, or got killed, or infected or... Nox is on his own on the road, desperately tracking his brother. He knows he's alive, or was alive a week ago. He just needs to find him. He refuses to give up.

Swapfell Papyrus - He's not doing well. He's not a survivor, he never was, and each day is a new hell. He's on the road, trying to flee the horrible creatures that are following him, and he can't rest anymore. He doesn't know where is his brother. He waited for him for as long as he could and just accepted he was probably dead, until a human told him they met a skeleton a few days ago. Rus still hopes his brother will find him before he gets infected. He's not sure how long he can still hold on. He's tired.

Fellswap Gold Sans - He has no limits since he lost his brother. He feels guilty he wasn't there when their camp got attacked and now his brother is probably dead. He's on a killing rampage. If someone ends on his way, they die. He doesn't trust anyone anymore and he's going to make the whole world pay for the loss of his brother. That is until he spotted some hints that Coffee might actually be alive, and focused only on this. He will find his brother.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - He had to flee when some creatures ambushed him while he was waiting for his brother, and since then, his existence has been a nightmare. Coffee is starving, dehydrated and he didn't sleep for days. Maybe it's luck or destiny, but some random children saved him from agony. He's following them around now, hoping they can make it until Wine finds them. He knows Wine is coming. Wine can't die, he's the strongest monster he knows. He just has to be patient.

[madeitlate37]

Vita Carnis by Darian Quilloy

Why yes I am giving my favorite series Halloween week, but consider this an advertisement for why it deserves it.

Vita Carnis is a relatively new, (in terms of Analog Horror), show that has gained a large following and has even been theorized on by MatPat—before he retired.

I think I mentioned in my first post that season one of The Mandela Catalogue was my favorite when I first got into the genre. To be specific, upon my first viewing, I had trouble falling asleep and would compulsively check every potential hiding place in my room before going to bed.

Upon my first viewing of Vita Carnis, that went on for months, instead. In fact, over a year later, I still do the routine “Mimic check” despite not living alone.

Now, before I risk spoiling the series, let’s get the spoiler-free qualities out of the way:

• Hive mind threats, the neat part is that this so far only applies to one section of the threat.

• Twisted security, we have security footage, documentaries, infomercials, and personal footage plenty of variety in where the story beats are coming from.

• Competent characters, not everyone, but do expect to see people/groups who actually try to do something about their situation.

• Biology lessons, the first thing you learn about the threats is how they function on an anatomical level, adds to realism and demonstrates added care and effort.

• Mini-retelling, about once per video—at least in season one—the audience is presented with a fragment of what’s “really” happening, and even then there’s the possibility of it being inaccurate. Untrustworthy sources are a major theme of season one.

• Not safe at home, one of the threats—being as vague as possible—is pretty much the sole reason I had trouble falling asleep for so long because it is entirely based around attacking it’s victims in their home.

• Safety guides, the threats have existed for decades, and the people living in this world behave like they have. As I said with untrustworthy sources, we have conflicting reactions and handlings of it, but the major players clearly approach them with knowledge.

• On-screen payoff, there is technically a scene or two which couldn’t have been recorded, but they have such visceral content in them that you don’t entirely notice. This is also played up through the use of very good effects.

• Varied but same threats, similar to Gemini, they are very different in how they are a threat—if they are a threat at all—but come from the same thing.

Now, onto the more risky analysis:

It’s a little hard to pinpoint exactly what I love best about this series, from the consistency in quality to the scientific facts to the secret videos throughout the new season that’s coming out now.

So, I’m just going to try and begin with why I was so scared, more specifically. One threat in particular checks every box of aspects of a monster that I find scary: Uncanny valley (depending on age), silent but dangerous, solely focused on humans in a way that makes sense, etc..

The main thing that drew me into this now that I think about it, was how the foot chain was visibly affected in the world of Vita Carnis.

With every direct threat, the one I mentioned above especially, Darian has taken a lot of care to describe the science behind all of them and their dangerous mechanisms. All to demonstrate the key theme that humans, in that world, are no longer at the top of the food chain, and are in a prey position again. Something that instinctively strikes fear into humans as a species.

What makes it mire real and visceral is, as I mentioned above, the science and how the people in this world react to this. One can argue that humans are in that situation with other types of monsters like werewolves, vampires, demons, etc., but Vita Carnis has descriptive explanations for how these threats work, has safety guides for them, and despite that, still makes it clear that in that world, we still have to fear for out lives on a constant basis.

The new season that’s coming out is geared more towards learning the potential source of these threats, but the first season was all about understanding why the threats would be so unbeatable and terrifying in real life. Darian also does a great job with effects, mainly using practical effects in the first season. Granted, it doesn’t look great all the time, but it’s another example of just how much effort he puts into this series.

I mentioned that Midwest Angelica wasn’t my favorite because I was personally tired of seeing literal religious themes in stories, had a different guess as to what the threat was that killed momentum on my end, but Vita Carnis didn’t necessarily give me a chance to guess. At least not with the first few episodes, in fact, those first two episodes were a decent subversion in terms of introducing the main antagonists.

The current season is leaning more into the “cultish” and “researching” part of it, but it has kept its momentum nonetheless, at least for me.

It’s not for everybody. But on the Analog Horror subreddit praise it like crazy, and I’m holding back quite a bit because I could get into direct spoilers, but it’s just not everybody’s cup of tea, just like how Midwest Angelica wasn’t mine. You may find that the goofier/unrealistic moments effects wise ruin the immersion for you, or this second season will lose you, or maybe biology videos aren’t scary.

However, if you are like me and intrigued by these things, it is, just like Gemini and Midwest, on YouTube. Go check it out if you’re interested (but be warned that despite the first seven videos being put into one documentary, there is content cut and added)!

As for next week…

[jacobsbadwig]

I have this long standing analysis of YA media dropping the ball on themes and consequences for its main characters giving them huge plot armor. What I realize the frustrating part about them is that often they are fantasy or fantasy adjacent, the authors accidentally create these huge worlds and severe problems and implications, but ironically, their main characters are separate from the world they inhabit via tone or their characteristics or mindset not aligning with the world (aka 21 century American mindset in a fantasy that takes place in 18th Russian analog iykyk)

Like Bella’s story being a romance while everyone else in a horror or gothic novel or pseudo vampire thriller or fantasy series is like odd as @panlight often points out mentioning SMeyers unwillingness to really lean into the vampire of it all. Honestly in a non first person story, this could be played for laughs to even be interesting.

(Never mind Smeyers surface understanding of the novels and plays, that she references as Bella’s favorite stories. As a former English teacher, her understanding and Bella’s understanding is in fact of someone who read some classics in high school but didn’t necessarily delve into the commentary and themes of the works focusing on the aesthetics of the romance rather than understanding what said purpose romance actually serves in the narrative as a critic or other wise. Insert ‘Smeyer doesn’t know what star crossed lovers means and refuses to learn rant)

Ironically, Bella having a romance in her world is portrayed as the exception when we look at other characters, even the uncivilized vampires, she is in fact the norm.

What makes Bella special other than her shield she gets at the end? She isn’t even the only one with great control. There are other hybrids. She is special because the text tells us she is. I’m not going to compare her to other female protagonists because my point isn’t about Bella as a character but rather how her narrative allows her to be special without really, really setting her apart from everyone else.

Just about everything the narrative says is specific to Bella’s story can be found in other characters backstories (that honestly don’t matter but do matter as a comparison that Bella is the exception to the rule rather than the example as I stated above.)

I think a lot of people cling to the Twilight saga (and other YA novels) but simultaneously desire more from the narrative because we want to feel special without doing the work, which isn’t wrong especially at a young age when you are finding yourself, but once we reach a level of maturity, we want our gifts and specialness to allow us to love ourselves and move in society as it drives our lives.

It’s why we cling to characters like Carlisle who doesn’t have known powers and has had series of trauma and has to actively rise above it. Or Jacob who is beaten by the narrative and should have been a symbol of how fate is myth and bullshit and circumstances may forge your path but choices and perseverance can alter it or make the path better.

I wanted to discuss @fuckmeyer Come Nightfall along with other Twilight reimaginings and how I feel as though, hers is the best damn thing we have. But while trying to write out my thoughts and why I feel as though I could never accomplish something like that, I ended writing this post after many posts about Star Wars. Honestly, I am reminded about two ideas: we are protagonist in our own stories and we are also side characters in others. Meaning we are chosen ones chosen for something greater but that doesn’t mean no one else is a chosen one.

Maybe that’s why I have out grown YA novels. Adulthood is in fact learning that you are hot shit but not always hot shit but other people also make sure your shit stays hot and you also make sure theirs stays hot too.

At the end of this thought process, I am left asking what was Bella actually chosen for. To be born a vampire? A Cullen vampire? A vampire in general? Edward’s wife and Renegades mother? Did she actually take the Volturi down (no but I’m posing the question) Or did she deny the call to what her purpose was.

If the last thing is true, then someone must rise to take her place.

I think Come Nightfall and other ideas answer this question and make it clearer that Bella chose her path rather than it being forced upon in a way the OG Twilight didn’t convince me. At the same time, fics and musing that pose other answers are just as compelling.

As for me, I believe Bella Swan denied her call arguably the call was declined for her the moment Edward entered the picture or maybe when she went to the Volturi (the Volturi of it all is for a other post but they should have killed her or turned her like WTF? Dumb). But also Bella Cullen’s only purpose in the narrative was to be Edward’s wife and Renesemes’s mother regardless of her earlier apprehensions.

[proselfshipsafespace]

(I love how friendly and responsive you are to every ask, it makes this blog feel fun and interactive ^v^)

Anyways, I'm a soulbonder who both selfships with and is soulbonded to my fav characters from my fav shows and I love them all SO! MUCH! 💖 These characters are my partners, my family, my friends, and it's been amazing having all of them come into my life (I have ~25 now!). We play games together, we kiss and cuddle, they make sure I'm never alone, they take care of me, support me, I support them and help them through griefs they have leftover from their canon sources, and of course, we have kinky, sexy fun too 😉 I also love the rich worlds they live in and I love seeing what they're up to and how they interact with each other (polyselfshipping for the win, we are just a big love nest of interconnected relationships!) I would love to share the wonders of soulbonds/thoughtforms to the selfship community and have more of us be soulbonders so we can all smoochy smooch and be there for the autonomous/living character versions of our F/Os and have them hang out with us in our daily lives as much as we imagine scenarios of us and them together in various AUs. If any selfshippers are curious about soulbonding, what it is, how to do it, why would you/the benefits, etc. I would love to answer questions about it! (I also hope to very soon make a lot of thorough how-to and essay posts too) Also, it's possible many of us are already soulbonders (interacting with a character that has "come to life" in our minds) without even knowing it!

(thank you!! i really do try my best to give my responses or perspective or advice because ive seen other blogs in the past that use the same responses for things and i want to stray from that as much as i can and give my actual thoughts or responses so i appreciate it ^^)

soulbonding is interesting to me, and while i have tried to read about it, i got too busy or distracted so i just ended up squinting at my screen like an old person LOL but from my basic understanding of thoughtforms (NOT FROM ANALOG HORROR I PROMISE (LYING THROUGH MY TEETH)) and soulbonding, i feel like my adhd distracts me too much to be a soulbonder because i am WAY too focused on a million things that sometimes im just like "OH SHIT OH SHIT- oh hi blorbo :) i love that guy. OH SHIT OH SHIT-"

maybe if i make a thoughtform of my f/os theyll do my work for me /lhj

[deviiancetv]

The Misconception of Doja Cat (Controversy & Era Analysis)

Heyyoo, so this post is going to be a smaller version of a bigger analysis video I plan to make in the near future about Doja Cat’s Scarlet album. I’ll be sharing my thoughts when it comes to Doja Cat, her recent Scarlet era, the controversies that have followed, as well as how I think she could’ve been conceptualized this era.

There will be a video that comes along with this post some time in the future on my channel, so follow me on YouTube ≫ deViianceTV

In the meantime, let’s talk briefly about this Scarlet era. The themes, concept, and messaging + what I would’ve fixed if I was in the room with her

Scarlet is an album that thematically is about Doja creating this alter ego to be used as a way to lash out at her haters and people who wanted her to fit in a box that critics placed her in. A scarred starlet rebelling against the public eye and people’s perceptions of her.

The concept is a bloodied version of Doja’s alter ego, Scarlet, who symbolizes the bruised and broken version of her that is being reborn into someone confident, tapping into her inner creativity, esoteric intrigue, and embracing her natural beauty.

There are MANY things from this era that I would fix such as making this era a dynamic story of self-discovery through visual and sonic versatility. One example I would’ve loved is, if she had split this album into two separate pieces of art that bounce off one another in themes and symbolic representation. The first side of the album having dark horror Punk/Rave Rap elements, odes to video games and horror movies she likes. The other side having sultry R&B elements with a lighter tone of inner peace as she accepts her more melodic and jazz roots.

I don’t take Doja as much of a lyricist all the time. She has instances when she can be very witty with fun bars that have pop culture references, and double entendres, but she’s not overly lyrical in her songs. She should’ve taken more time on this project to better compile and write her songs with formatting structures and great analogies that have you think… instead, we essentially got her venting about how rich she is and how she was being attacked online. And then there’s the butter toast line which was just not good lol.

Honestly, another thing that ruined this era is the fact that there were too many controversies involving the time she dissed her fans, her romantic relationship with J Cyrus, and her self-identity issues that have plagued her career since she became mainstream. A lot of these things could’ve been handled better, had she not lashed out on social media, and showcased the cracks within her character. She is to blame for the many times she’s been canceled, by not growing and evolving or even holding herself accountable for her transgressions.

I may be overly critical of her, but that’s because I KNOW she can do so much better, than what she’s given us. I’m hopeful that the next era will be more developed, thought-out, and less drama-filled, focusing on just the music, with standalone videos. Doja IS meant a bonafide star, but Scarlet is a bloodstain on her discographic career… an aesthetically pleasing bloodstain, but still a bloodstain nonetheless.

[freddy-and-friends-au]

The Freddy & Friends: Legacy ask box is now open!

——————————————

An introduction to Freddy & Friends: Legacy

Freddy & Friends is an AU created by Roux36 Productions set in the Five Nights at Freddy’s IP.

As opposed to focusing on a single “what if?” question for the AU, F&F is a rewrite of the FNAF story in its entirety, constructed from the ground-up to tell a more realistic, character-driven take on the original story, initially intended to be an animated series.

This version of the AU is no longer being worked on. The current version of the AU is called "In Loving Memory", a Five Nights at Freddy's analog horror series with a vastly different story.

——————————————

What asks will I answer? (Examples provided)

Lore (Ex: How do the spirits work?)

World-Building (Ex: Who made the pizza recipes at Freddy’s)

Headcanons (Ex: Who’s Jeremy’s favorite music artist?)

Events (Ex: How did _____ react to ______?)

Beta content

———————————————

Click the keep reading to learn more about the Freddy & Friends AU! >>>

If you want updates on what Freddy & Friends currently is, visit the In Loving Memory Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/in-loving-memory-au

——————————————

How much thought did you put into this?

It’s not that I’m a massive nerd, but it’s just that I’m actually a massive nerd.

Animatronics are loosely grounded in real-world mechanical engineering, giving them plausible designs for them to have existed in the 1980’s (down to the very components that make them function.)

The restaurant itself has regulations and procedures to manage the animatronics during the day (this varies depending on the restaurant).

The restaurant layouts themselves have been redesigned to be more coherent with the rules of architecture.

The animatronic characters themselves have their own lore and personalities within the cartoon world.

I have a full list of employees who worked at both Afton Robotics and Fazbear Entertainment.

The rules of the spirits are grounded in real-world cultural beliefs, as well as typical ghost hunting traditions.

No character is written to be two-dimensional. The characters don’t just do stuff for the plot; they do them because it’s in-character for them to do so. They’re not just ghost children haunting the animatronics. They’re also human.

Note: In regards to In Loving Memory, this section remains mostly unchanged.

———————————————

What was canon?

Basic media taken into consideration:

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4

Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes

FNAF World (Surprisingly)

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location

Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Movie

Details Only taken from:

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

The ideas of these media were the content detrimental to the story of Freddy & Friends. However, the story of them had been changed so drastically that canon knowledge was considered unreliable when talking about the Freddy & Friends AU. Some things remain the same, but it’s recommended that knowledge of canon game/book/movie events NOT be used as a reference regarding Freddy & Friends content.

What was the same?:

Mike Schmidt and Abby Schmidt’s character had remained almost exactly the same as in the movie. (Movie)

Michael Brooks is Golden Freddy (Novels)

Elizabeth Afton being killed by Circus Baby (Games)

The Bite of ‘83 (Games)

The Bite of ‘87 (Games)

Bonnie is blue

What had changed?:

Michael Afton does NOT exist—was replaced by Fritz Afton

FNAF 4 Crying Child became the Puppet

FNAF 4 Bullies were the Missing Children

FNAF 4 Bullies were NOT bullies

The haunted animatronics have personalities, and are capable of verbal speech.

Sammy (Charlie’s twin brother) was killed instead of Charlie

Sammy became Spring-Bonnie

Charlie is NOT an android

Very few employees (including night guards) actually died at Freddy’s

Foxy was responsible for the Bite of ‘87

The animatronics are limited by the technology of the 1980’s, and therefore have software limitations that aren’t present in the games

Circus Baby’s Pizza World was renamed to Circus Kingdom Pizza World

The names of the Funtimes were changed to align with the re-theme

The Funtimes were NOT built with the intention of kidnapping children

The Funtimes were haunted

The Scooper does not exist

The FNAF 4 gameplay is a dream, and not child experimentation. (What FNAF 4 specifically was will be elaborated on in its own post.)

The Toy animatronics have been renamed to the Junior animatronics

The Junior location is Freddy Jr’s Pizzeria

The individual Junior characters have in-universe names beyond “Junior Freddy” and “Junior Bonnie”, etc.

The Juniors were haunted

There is no such thing as “Remnant”.

Vanessa Shelly is NOT William Afton’s Daughter

Steve Raglan and William Afton are two different people

Removed Herobrine

Please note that not everything has been changed in the transition over to In Loving Memory.

(Aforementioned name changes):

Spring-Bonnie - Springles the Rabbit

Circus Baby - Circus Sadie, AKA Sadie the Circus Princess

Funtime Freddy - Freddie the Ringmaster

Funtime Foxy - Foxy the Flying Fox

Toy Freddy - Freddy Fazbear Jr.

Toy Bonnie - Riley Rabbit

Toy Chica - Penny Pecks

Toy Foxy/Mangle - Bridget the Fox

——————————————

Thank you!

If you made it to the end, I wanna thank you for showing interest in this AU, especially if you were here when the Tumblr went live! It's been a long road with at least five rewrites and twice as many redesigns. I'm happy to have shed some new light on the project with a new direction and a new story!

If you want updates on what Freddy & Friends currently is, visit the In Loving Memory Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/in-loving-memory-au.

- Roux

[starfayy]

Writeblr Intro (cuz i forgot about this)

AYUP everyone my name's Fleur, i'm a 19 years old woman, im cishet and painfully neurodivergent (AuDHD and MADD). Im also brazilian and christian so there's that! (Trilingual beast coming at ya!)

I've been a writer since who knows when, started to write fanfiction in the worst fandom i could've started (...the beatles), went to an amazing fandom -that turned out to not be that amazing but my writing and storytelling evolved exponentially so im grateful- to now being more focused in original works

I'm currently writing a book with my friend (@serenity-of-waffles)*, and i might probably work in scripts for comics, animations and maybe games????? Let's see-

yeah im an artist too hehehe

Genres i enjoy reading/writing: Fantasy, Scifi, Romance, Thriller/Suspense, Horror, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Here comes the lists of things i like to see in a book and that i tend to write it in my own stuff:

FOUND FAMILY!

A good well written romance sometimes doesn't kill ^.^ (im a cliché beast, careful)

Tragic Backstory? Sign me in

NEURODIVERSITY

Supernatural ocurrences and creatures. Analog Horror, Psychological Horror as well

Super heroes? Yes

Mythological metaphores

I write for both Youth and Adult (im a sucker for children's books they can get so dark suddenly and is amazing)

Mystery elements yesyesyes a good suspense

Deep relationships

Consequences. I love consequences.

Historical plots and period inspired fiction

Super powers, creatures, magic, a whole well made worldbuilding (Tolkien wannabe)

SOOOO what am i looking for??

FRIENDS! People to rant about my silly stories and worlds!

More writers to follow and engage and and- ykwim

Current WIPS? hmmmmm

• Eden Fables: The Inkweaver's Diary - (*NOT WRITING ALONE) So this one i won't give much detail, just know that me and my friends we're going absolutely insane over this book and the entire possible series and is our child, you're not fucking ready. The best fantasy book i ever written in my life TRUST ME. Blame Tolkien and C.S Lewis for inspiring us so much- (sorry for the vague synopsis muahahahah) A story of a boy displaced in time and space as he finds his heart and returns to his throne, finding a family along the way while dealing with the craziest adventures.

• Boreal City (future comic :O) - A retrofuturistic cyberpunk super-hero universe about many different points ot view and adventures that are actually connected (like the Marvel Comics universe or DC comics). Its being one of my favorites so far im having so much fun doing it hehe

Its very inspired by many superhero and retro-cyberpunk media, i cant count here how many hehe Synopsis (for at least one of the stories): From a family of superheroes, turned into a villain by his own demise, and disappearing for 5 years, GlitchWave makes his stupendous comeback in an unexpected redemption arc, and it all starts when he meets his brother again.....

• Gritia's Great Mystery - An amazing story about a corrupt kingdom trying to hide all evidence that god exists, aside from other...cruel crimes against certain groups of people. The aesthetic is a mix of enlightnment era, renassaice and victorian age, all together mixed with elements of thriller, romance, mystery and BIG drama. Maybe one of my most serious stories, since i wont hold back in the critics n shit

The Crown Family of Gritia, for centuries, tries to make the existence of the Mighty King, aka god, a tabboo, or even erase him from all existence, alongside his followers. Anything that goes astray the status quo is suscetible of punishment (or worse....)

That makes Spencer's life a bit complicated, even if he doesnt know abt the Mighty King's existence, he's part of a secret society...lets see where this goes right?

OOF DAMMT I SPOKE A LOT HUH SORRY IM A TALKER! Hope to find more writer friends along the way ^.^

[trickstarbrave]

actually setting aside the controversy for urbanspook/the painter. i saw some people trying to defend the story's goals as "he's inspired by slasher flicks, and slashers are horror. why does every analog horror series HAVE to be psychological? we just arbitrarily decided that"

and i dont think that's fair. we didnt arbitrarily decide all analog horror has to be psychological. there are other genres in analog horror--it can be social commentary, focused on disease, focused on technology. there are mysteries in some, some also function as ARGs, and some where there simply isnt anything to focus on. some are more psychological and narrative focused and some have pretty gratuitous violence or showcase some absolutely stunning technical skill be it in art, programming, or film making.

but the reason there is no slasher genre is because analog horror is a long form story telling medium. it is primarily shown in analog style visuals in piecemeal 'episodes' on youtube. slasher flicks are a valid horror medium and they have their strengths and weaknesses, but i don't think any slasher fan has ever gone "man i wish this movie was actually in 15 parts online". im not the biggest slasher film fan, but the biggest things i seen when people who ARE talk about it is the sense of build up and release--a catharsis. it is much harder to do that in a long form video series without appealing to speculation. its hard to just say "wow someone got brutally murdered in this graphic description and heres the portrait the killer made of their victim based on how they died! wish we could catch the killer" for 15 videos.

like maybe if you were very skilled you could make a slasher style analog horror. the painter definitely isnt that despite the inspiration. shock value is just ONE part of slashers and still needs to be utilized appropriately. showing people disturbing things because said disturbing things Exist is not the only thing that makes up slasher films and is stupid to try and reduce it to that. he didn't utilize the shock horror well. he isn't taking into account how good slasher films are made and what their strengths and weaknesses are compared to the strengths and weaknesses of long form storytelling like analog horror. instead it feels like he just used analog horror because analog horror was popular, which isn't a good reason to pick a particular genre or medium.

[nice-to-meet-you-im-a-crytid]

How To Be a Magical Girl (Introduction)

This is an introduction to my original story as the title states. This will not be a comprehensive lore dump just a ramble of what the story is like and the many (many inspirations behind it

Disclaimers: This is a story in EXTREMELY EARLY production, This is mostly for fun and for me as a writer to both build a fanbase around my work and get used to jotting down ideas.

Inspirations: I'm staring with my inspirations for the story since they heavily explain where I was heading for pretty much the rest of the story.

First really big one is the anime Madoka Magica, so there's a lot of cutesy-ness mixed with body horror and some darker themes too in my writing. This also effects my art style quite a bit if you've seen any of my work on my tumblr page. Of course there's the magical girl aspect and an obvious school setting. Speaking of school settings my other inspiration would have to be My Hero Academia. I'm mostly referring to the slice of life/school aspects and the earlier class focused episodes. I think the world building in My Hero is really cool and I think it shows quite a bit in my own world. Also the technical aspects of becoming a hero in the earlier episodes have given me a good idea of how I'd like my own story's made up profession to work on it's own technical scale.

Setting/Plot:

How To Be a Magical Girl is a novel in the works centered around the coming of age stories of a large cast of girls (15-16 yr olds) who go to a magical school and as the title states learn how to be a magical girl both as a job and as people. One really big theme is light academia which includes love of learning, friendship, and overall loving life. Another is also perspective as many of the mini stories are written is different POVs and hopefully if I can get a book or two into the world each one would also be in a different POV. This does lead to a large cast of characters all of which have different backgrounds, cultures, and unique dynamics with each other along with different places in each others stories. This is also one big coming of age story which is very dear to me as I, myself am coming of age as a young author, so this story is a huge reflection on my own experiences. The biggest most prevalent theme besides light academia is trauma and more importantly healing! The main monsters that these magical girls fight in fact come from trauma and each of the girls have their own troubles to work through along the course of the story. The literal setting of the book is of course the school: St. Amia's International School for girls! Pretty much think Hogwarts but made of quartz. Legit though lots inspiration came from European design and architecture (Scottish castles, French Chateaus, etc.) in alignment with the book's theme. Here is link to the Pinterest mood board Worldbuilding: Obviously there is magic in this world. It takes place a couple hundred years into the future, magic is very well integrated into the modern world, i.e it's used as an energy source, magical creatures are common place across the world, it's even a normal and often required course in schools. Magic itself is a learned skill that all people can have the ability to advance in and excel at. My best analogy for it is it's like sports, if you run everyday you gradually get better and you could even make it a profession with enough training. And also like sports there are certain skills and abilities that are better for each one, flexibility and strength are both good for all sports but would be best used and trained in particular ones. This also translates over to types of magic and skills. (These are not the best comprehensive notes of my story's world so I might make an in depth post for the whole thing, tell me in the comments if this gets enough attraction!)

If this post somehow reaches you and maybe you even like it give it a reblog so others can have the chance to find it too in mess of an algorithm. And maybe even leave a comment if you'd like to see more from me!

☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

[persy-r-bozo]

My dreams are so wierd.

Like im at someone's beach house with friends but I'm uncomfortable so I text my mom to come get me . it's 10 pm and the house is in the middle of a small parking lot In front of the beach, there's a golf course a few walks away. And a train track RIGHT next to the road that's up the cliff by the parking lot.

Then a wierd apocalypse happens, it's on the news. Zombie monster like creatures that run and crush you. And an alien that lives in the sea. It has a smart mouth. Teasing you as it breaks people in half and eats them with popcorn.

My mom gets me and we drive down this road I never seen before. But in the dream I know its the way home. But she suddenly lunges the car into the woods and meets up with a friend of hers I've never met. She Has four horses.

They talk about plans and what they are going to do but I am Lazer focused on a giant wierd wooden clock that is above her window. I just stare at it while they talk.

There are mice people too apparently. They are really chill and wear lil clothes. But they have thier own issues. Seeds are making thier forest unbreathable at night. But they don't want to come here, we clearly have our own problems I suppose.

But they give us a vhs tape, and I play it. It's a old video of a suburban house at night the camras shakey, every once in a while white screen with black text appears.

It reads.

"I wonder what my daughter is doing

And I wonder.. why or how she's doing it.

But I wonder

If she even exists."

And the house that they are filming lights turn off.

I spent the rest of the dream looking and petting horses.

Truth be told I honestly love it when I have dreams like this, they are wierd and all over the place. But they follow a story line. Like some 4th grader was asked to make a story for class and they made this.

I'm thinking about that video the mice gave me still. No clue what it could mean if anything. Maybe it was my brain trying to make some poetry for whatever reason. Or make a analog horror I guess lmao.

[macksmediadiary]

Chuck Tingle - Camp Damascus 6/6

#book #horror #queer fiction #autistic fiction

I sit in my bed finishing this book. My boyfriend is right beside me masturbating. I can't imagine a more "us" scene.

We are an autistic gay couple. I am questioning-gray-ace, and he is as far from the ace spectrum as one gets. There is a lot of danger in this scene; just as his christian upbringing has tied his natural urges to shame, so too is shame tied to my moments of not getting into the mood when my partners do. But we are navigating it well, in our practiced way. When he finishes, I lean over, contented, and kiss his forehead. He smiles up at me, eyes clear and sparkling. We our being ourselves with each other to the fullest, and receiving nothing but love and acceptance back.

My first thought is of Willow holding Rose's hand, tapping out her counts with her. It's almost too perfect an analogy; I can't believe I'm not making this up. Autistic gay love has the power to take physiological facts about us that others' misguided love and imperfect expressions of other emotions have tethered to deep feelings of shame and guilt, and recontextualize them as normal, acceptable, and good. In my relationships, in my wider community, I am accepted, I can take off the mask, I can explore who I really am at the core.

Camp Damascus is a very well-crafted journey through a few connected concepts. Chuck Tingle is not playing coy with any of them. From the language he uses on his blog, I had started to guess that the villains of the story would be demon worshipers, or perhaps devils themselves, wearing the coat of the righteous; a warning that those who claim to be on God's side may be against Him. One of the ways the book surprised me was what it says instead of this. The people who will use demonic methods to achieve their ends believe they are on the side of the righteous, and this makes them all the more dangerous. For the most part, though, the book wears its symbolism on its sleeve, and is not afraid of being very explicit with its messaging. Kingdom of the Pine is not special in its thinking, only its practices.

The craft of this book was also at the level I needed to learn about writing from it. The way it jumps between scenes and expresses the passage of time is very natural, and very focused. I struggle a lot with plotting out my books, worrying a lot about structure and how to get characters from one place to another. My TTRPG background has me focus a lot on journeys, but I can struggle to allow myself to focus in on what matters. Camp Damascus gives you all the logistics that matter, like how Rose achieves her most important successes, and the plot-relevant mechanics of the universe and specific machines. It is also a lesson in having the perfect protagonist for your story. It is very natural that Rose succeeds because of the things that are most core to her, because those things are what the story demands of her, and at the same time the story works around the journey she needs to have as a character. The way these elements work together is something I will consider in my own writing. There are smaller things, too, in the writing that I am thinking about but would take too long to explain

A lot of thematic content in the book is not new to me, and a lot of the religious trauma content does not really connect to my life. However, some of the ideas are making a big impact. In particular, the expression of what love can do and what it is worth is impacting how I think about love in my own life. This book makes me appreciate the love I have with my boyfriend in a slightly new way. It also reminds me that I have a large accepting family that enhances my life in many ways. I will never again be at risk of ending up in a place like Rose at the start of the book. Just as surely as she is free from her nightmare at the end, I know my community has me for life.

At the same time, this is certainly a horror novel. There are scenes in this book so grotesque that they will have me shuddering for weeks. I don't have much to say on the topic, but could not leave out that the fear and discomfort are very real in this book. At the very same time, there's something else that this book very much makes me feel:

Love is real.