#and tbh yes they look ridiculous but it has a good story

[crookedfivefingers]

[wandering-tides]

TNE Fandom where are you?

Sujin shippers where are you?

I have Fics to Rec

I don't really go out of my way to rec fics (and I dunno why I have never done this before on tumblr), but BY GOD, have these two fics taken a special place in my heart.

I ADORE everything about them.

They are both Suho x Hajin ships

But the ship aside, I am so incredibly grateful for the authors to have brought them to life and allowed us to read these absolute GEMS of a fic in this little, little fandom of The Novel's Extra.

Really, y'guys have no idea how giddy and excited I get at every update.

Now, the fic in question?

1. Flowers of Agápē by DescendedGaia (Not sure if the author has a tumblr or any other social media... but lemme know if you want me to tag you :) )

Kim Hajin is a failure. There's no two ways to look at that objective truth. It's a truth that resonates through how others look at and ridicule him. It's a truth that echoes infinitely inside his head, compounding and doubling down on his inadequacies. It's a truth, despite the unconditional love of two parents that soothe but cannot dispel those haunting doubts. Kim Suho is simply perfection. The desperate vessel and ideal of Hajin's "ifs" and wishes. Because Kim Suho, the protagonist of Hajin's novel, is everything Hajin wants to be for his parents and more. But, that same story falls apart at the seams the same way Hajin has lost faith in himself. Yet, as the common narrative dictates, everything begins anew with an innocuous email requesting to remake Hajin's novel, his desperation and desire incarnate.

*** Alternatively, the extremes of Korean culture break Kim Hajin into someone who feels much more acutely, and everything shifts to the left.

This is such a MASTERPIECE. Hajin's characterisation in here is just *chefs kiss*. For me, thats one of the biggest plus points in this fic. Hajin is so much more emotionally sensitive in here and feels far more acutely than in the orignal, as should have been.

This fic has been adressing almost all the points that made me frown at or dislike in the orignal novel and manhwa (and from what I can notice, almost every one too).

This fic is kinda a rewrite of the orignal novel, (tho the author follows the manhwa flow of the story) with added Suho interactions, and such good characterization of Hajin, I fell in love at first read LMAO.

So far, there aren't any major spoilers (unless you read the author end note, where they give their own tid-bits of the chap, which sometimes contain spoilers too, or go to the comment section which may sometimes give you spoilers to the novel lol) If you are caught up with the manhwa, or atleast the season 1 of manhwa, then so far there won't be any spoilers for you!

And I think i'll stop talking about it here cuz if I keep going, I think i'll end up giving in-fic spoilers Lmao

(Oh, btw, this updates every other thursday! So far, it's been consistent in its updates ^^)

So onto the next fic!

2. Mountain To No one by @thek1ngtalks (as k1ng0fn0b0dy on ao3)

There's a number on his smartwatch that leads to nowhere. Suho's gotten in the habit of texting it throughout his day. Today, it texted back.

_ Or, in a world missing Kim Hajin, everyone is worse off. Fixing this starts with (a lot of) text messages between a protagonist and his missing piece.

And Man.... where do I begin? I have SO MUCH to say about this fic but I think i'll end up spoiling the whole fic if I start lmao. It's just so good dammit. Just gonna say that this fic takes after the end of the novel, after the conclusion. Only couple few remembers Hajin in the orignl right? Well, in this fic, nobody does. But Suho is probably (???) Going to be the first to remember... I dunno tbh, the fic is only 2 chaps in (and yes, I really adore it already)

I love what the author did with Suhos character and how he is dealing with the aftermath of... everything. Same goes for Hajin, and I love where they seems to be taking this fic. How they characterizes these two main characters and everything.

Listen, I have a LOT to say but i'll just end up giving spoilers so really go read it for yourself. This is another MASTERPIECE of a fic and I am so grateful for its presence in this little TNE fandom TT

Really, thankyou for such amazing fics authors!!

And that's all from me!! Lol I was so excited while writing this XD (could you tell? Lol)

(I edited this post twice because of all the typos I ended up making in excitement LMAO)

[starstruckmoony]

style.

masterlist

pairing - sirius black x fem!reader

summary - you and sirius start dating after accidentally running into each other at a concert but confirm nothing, just to watch everyone lose their shit online.

trope/tags - band/celeb!au, instagram/social media!au, modern!au, fluff, terrible humour

word count - 991

warnings - language

part 1 / part 2 / part 3

yourusername added to their story

starmanblack

❤ liked by yourusername, bartyyy, bellatrixieb and 674,333 others

starmanblack mv leak?? 😱😱

tagged prongsyboy, rjlupin, pete__, maraudersofficial

3,942 comments

prongsyboy last time i did that they threatened to fire me

starmanblack lol i wouldn't worry, i'm irreplaceable

prongsyboy OI NOT FUNNY

rjlupin you're bold af for tagging all of us

starmanblack it's so you can take half the blame

mmmckinnon looks cheap

starmanblack get out

marymacdonald my serotonin levels rose a bit

pete__ are we still your favourite band?

marymacdonald forever and always pete 😚

user728288 did y/n like his post or am i trippin?

user862945 i already cried to the album don't make me cry again

user001991 boyfriend

user446622 you signed my shirt yesterday

yourusername

❤ liked by starmanblack, vance_emm, cissy_blck and 689,672 others

yourusername studiocore

tagged mmmckinnon

3,784 comments

starmanblack the amount of times i've tripped on those wires is bloody ridiculous

yourusername gotta love being a singer

starmanblack you're good at it

yourusername 😳

vance_emm seems like a cool aesthetic tbh

yourusername it's a lifestyle at this point

mmmckinnon we should write some songs together next time

prongsyboy and they can all be about how amazing sirius' hair is

yourusername i've got a few in the chamber already

starmanblack i'm blushing

user272720 does this mean y/n x marlene duet?

user647372 WHAT I THOUGHT U WERE ON TOUR

user327776 she's multitasking

user001911 are we all just gonna ignore y/n saying she's got songs about sirius' damn hair?

user338288 NO BUT I SAW THAT AND CRIED THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING GOING ON

user133543 uhhhh new album? pls say yes

user382809 OMG???

starmanblack added to their story

yourusername

❤ liked by starmanblack, lily_evans, vance_emm and 713,944 others

yourusername thank you for those three beautiful shows edinburgh! i shall be going home with lots of wonderful memories and a bag of gummy bears 💕 (special thanks to whoever gave those to my favourite security lady (alice ily 💓))

tagged ev.rosier

4,409 comments

starmanblack so when are you coming to london?

yourusername when are you free?

starmanblack can i slide into your dms?

yourusername you're free to try 😚

mmmckinnon my throat is so sore i can barely speak

casmeadowes i CAN'T speak

yourusername that means i was good 🤪

pete__ can i come for free next show?

yourusername we can negotiate

prongsyboy i volunteer to spectate from the first row

yourusername pay up prongsy boy

user055251 best experience of my life

user293929 I GOT A GUITAR PICK QUDOQIDJQJDJQDJQJSJ

user456268 can you fight?

user288882 SIRIUS LMFAOOO

user564400 i love him XHADJJAJSJA he's lowkey flirting

user919292 doesn't he have a gf though?

user444447 naw they broke up

user667634 I WAS THERE I WAS THERE

user709111 COME TO GERMANY PLS

starmanblack

❤ liked by yourusername, r.a.black, pandorasbox and 701,232 others

starmanblack unmatched unspoken w rizz

tagged rjlupin

4,111 comments

yourusername you look like you're about freestyle it

starmanblack rapping is my hidden talent

yourusername 😲😲😲😲

marymacdonald HOW did you make remus agree to that?

rjlupin i was bullied please come help me

xeno_lovegood is there context behind this?

ev.rosier there's never context with them

prongsyboy evan is right

user029390 someone make green screen edits i'm begging

user372919 are you and y/n dating?

user644211 ffs y'all are annoying af 💀

user747373 early halloween party?

user327372 HELP ME WHAT

user654553 sirius you're famous 😭

celeb_gossip

♡ 32,982 likes

celeb_gossip not long after his split with actress emma vanity, sirius black has been pulled into some unexpected dating rumours with fellow rockstar, y/n l/n. the two singers have been leaving some interesting comments under one another's posts recently, and fans claim to have seen them together at marlene mckinnon's shows and several other occasions. the alleged couple, however, has not been photographed together yet. what do you think? 🤔 is this just another senseless rumour? 🤨 or is there something more going on? 👀 drop a comment and let us know your thoughts 😘💋

1,063 comments

user709111 never thought i'd see pictures of those two side by side

user900012 wouldn't be surprised if they were together actually

user915624 why does it even matter? 💀

user362625 they're just friends lmfao you all need to get a life

user422224 i thought y/n was dating evan 😭😭

user374848 HELPPP NO HE'S JUST HER PHOTOGRAPHER

user929397 honestly y/n should date me

user113231 PLS BE TRUE DHAHDJAJSHW

user800001 THIS WOULD BE MY DREAM

yourusername

❤ liked by starmanblack, pete__, casmeadowes and 700,512 others

yourusername one day i'm gonna release a song about this little demon and you lot better make it my most streamed track

4,995 comments

starmanblack ooo threats?

yourusername i need everyone to appreciate my pets

starmanblack i have a photo of him looking guilty after he peed on my carpet

yourusername use it as your profile picture

starmanblack done

maraudersofficial THAT WAS THE OFFICAL ACCOUNT SIRIUS

pandorasbox put it on an album and include limited edition photocards of him

yourusername can i hire you?

r.a.black cats are better

marymacdonald as a cat mother, i agree

starmanblack wrong but okay

user433322 I MISSED HIS LITTLE PHOTOS

user111000 AAAAHHGDHSHD CUTE

user726261 I WILL STREAM ITTT

user939290 even your dog got to meet sirius before i did lmao i'm hurt

user937344 SIRIUS WAS TGERE? WTF

starmanblack

❤ liked by ev.rosier, marymacdonald, lily_evans and 722,188 others

starmanblack dog

6,122 comments

yourusername is this your only good angle?

starmanblack it's a representation of how you see me

yourusername i will be contacting my lawyers 😤

yourusername i'm telling him to bite you next time

starmanblack bold of you to assume he'll listen to you

yourusername we both know he likes me more

starmanblack let me be in denial for a bit

prongsyboy woof

starmanblack don't bark in my comment section

prongsyboy ☹

bartyyy has this one contaminated your carpet too?

starmanblack no i was 3 seconds faster this time

user999291 you own this angle

user172777 YOU AND Y/N WE NEED ANSWERS

user866622 I AGREE WITH THE COMMENT ABOVE ME

user232655 EVERYONE LEAVE HIM ALONE 😭😭

yourusername added to their story

[f1amboyant]

All fine! Happy to share, and yes, this could be used for any pairing (or just platonic) but in my case this is a Charlos AU since they are the ones currently making me sad, Fred if I see you it is on sight

There are a lot of studies and analysis about what makes a mark a romantic or a platonic one and every single one has gotten to the conclusion that none really, the colors are simply a mark of soul compatibility in its way to look for companionship and intimacy; some even suggest than they have nothing to do with romance and actually the best couples are not soulmates. Absolutely bs if you ask Charles, how could your chosen one be someone who your soul doesn't yearn for? Call him romantic but he doesn't think he could love someone who his soul hasn't recognized as his.

Charlos jump the line of platonic and romantic like a rope across their years as teammates, Carlos has never been shy of touch so they always had contact but now they are so close it is impossible to denied that their souls are also close. Ferrari even makes a special livery for Monza one year in which Charles' car and suit are bright read with a yellow stain over his real mark and the side of the car, and Carlos' is yellow with a red mark over his shoulder and halo (so much merch it was sold, ridiculous, Charles doesn't know how to feel about people wandering around with red shirts with a yellow mark but Carlos says is cute si he'll let it go for now)

Everything breaks when Lewis Ferrari announcement, and Charles feels literally his soul bleed and then his heart breaks when he talks with Carlos on the phone and feels his complete devastation after this treason from Ferrari (Honestly Charles agrees, it is treason as well TO HIM, Lewis is nice and all but he is not his soulmate, he is not Charles'). The beginning of the season is torture, living every day like a countdown and to be fair, Carlos' gets over it quicker than Charles and will chat his ear off about contract negotiations and teams plans for the future and planning little dates for them in the next years because "I'm just moving down the paddock, I am not dead Sharls" but Charles is in agony and just wants to cuddle with his soulmate without talking about THAT. Everyone can see they gotten even closer through this and Charles doesn't even know anymore, does everyone want to kiss their soulmates stupid face after a near death experience? It is really licit to want to climb your soulmate like a tree when he shows up with the ugliest mustache ever seen? Charles is just aware enough to not act on his instincts and drop to his knees in front of Carlos (and the whole world tbh) after his Monaco win and asking him for a bj or his hand in marriage, he doesn't know.

But his breaking point (bc Charles is a little dense but not THAT dense) is after Carlos informes him that he has signed with Williams (just before a break, rude) and after the vacation he shows up in the paddock with a soft lavender mark up caressing the inside of his wrist and forearm and stories of Alex not only being his future teammate but also his new neighbor and Charles absolutely RED 🫣🫣🫣🫣

Hahaha to be continued I guess! This feels kinda long already for an ask but it was a good one to explote during my coffee break

Thank you for your kind words and letting me explore this in your page without the pressure 🥰🎨

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod this is so goooooooooooooood 😵‍💫😍❤️😵‍💫😍❤️😵‍💫😍❤️

Charles being a romantic and wanting his partner to be his soulmate, yes, of course, absolutely, that's exactly him.

The soulmate special livery???? Hello????? I'm DECEASED 😵‍💫 This is so good, so perfect, so fucked up of Ferrari and just so aighqghqopiughpqoughqg I NEED IT!!!

And then Lewis to Ferrari, and of course Charles would realize at that moment. At the prospect of being away from Carlos, he wants him so so bad. He can't take the separation (god, those early videos when Charles couldn't even talk about it and seemed so distraught every time the subject was brought on).

And then seeing Alex' mark on Carlos?? Seeing the future teammate mark his soulmate?? What if he replaces Charles?? That's not possible in Charles' mind.

Please please please tell me what's happening next?? What crazy thing Charles will do?? I NEED TO KNOW

(I kinda think Charles would ask something stupid, like offering a bj to Carlos or something like that instead of asking to date like a normal person)

(Also also, in my mind, it feels like Carlos has been in love with Charles since day one, but he just feels like nothing can happen and he just indulges in Charles' presence, enjoys their moment together but doesn't ask for more because he can never have more)

Feel free to come back in my ask box! I love this so so so very much 😍

[wetcatspellcaster]

Can I ask if you ended up romancing Lucanis in Veilguard and what your overall thoughts on it were? Like obviously it was ridiculously underwritten (I actually laughed out loud when he said he loved my Rook like bro….u don’t even know me) and yet after finishing the game I cannot stop thinking abt Them and consuming fic to make up for the lack of content lol. Somehow it still captured my waking thoughts in a way (is this a safe space) DA2 romances did not. Love your analysis so just curious abt your thoughts!

"oh my god... they were coworkers."

hello anon.

I would like to preface my answer with: yes, my Rook romanced Lucanis. And like a fool, I'm writing a fic about it. Bc that's the only way I know how to cope with this much unfulfilled potential, tbh.

my thoughts on the romance are under the cut bc I still have mutuals who are still playing and trying to avoid spoilers!

yeah, so, my feelings are pretty much the same as yours. The two most overwhelming thoughts I have about it:

the writing is so fucking inconsistent. like yes, it's underwritten, but surely that should mean the throughline is easy to follow? you'd think, wouldnt you! you'd think it made sense!

the two of them truly have NO chemistry as written. the romantic parts of their story feel so odd and out of place because there's no build up to them. in the words of my best friend, 'that's not a romance, that's a secondment placement'.

The first one is the biggest issue for me. There are parts of the Lucanis romance that I genuinely enjoyed and found compelling! I somewhat controversially loved the scene in the lead up to the final battle! but the peaks and troughs (and outright plateaus) in the writing means that no single part matches up with anything that has come before or after. That's not even bringing in how he treats Neve if he's romancing her instead, which would be understandable (Neve is hot, and their romance gives the Treviso/Minrathous debacle a resolution if you're not romancing either of them) if it added up with anything that we see of his treatment of Rook!

i KNOW people are being weird about it and hating on Neve, but the problem isn't her. It's that Lucanis' dynamic with her seems to add a whole new alternative characterisation into the mix. To me, the most frustrating part is that nothing adds up. If he's holding back from Rook bc of his trauma and uncertainty, WHY is he romancing someone else? if he's got so much to fucking work through, why is he part of NPC romance plotline? it just doesn't make sense!

And people have started to reach the point where they're trying to make it make sense, glossing the almost kiss and how wildly different it is from anything else he does, or about the fact that the 'locking-in' dialogue is the most painfully platonic thing imaginable, and everyone's coming up with excuses and headcanons, and it's just... lads. it's just bad writing.

as for my second overarching... well. that's the one that's made me angry to write about it.

At the point of me writing this answer, Mary Kirby has now come out and said that the Lucanis romance is so underwhelming bc he's demisexual, and a virgin. which... you know... I could just personally find offensive from so many angles, the least of which being she seems to be trying to use diversity and queer language as an excuse or shield for what is... yep. bad writing.

But I'm sorry, *looks at my entire ao3 profile and whispers "bet"* that statement is just patently and stupidly untrue! you can write good demisexual romance, actually!

As someone who is on the asexual spectrum, and who writes romances and ships who probably all have a little bit of that asexual seasoning sprinkled across the top... Attraction and chemistry are different things. I have read and written many compelling romances with asexual characters - and you know what? regardless of the characters' orientation, their interest in another person and their appeal to another person is never in question.

If you wanted to write an ace-spec character as sincere representation, there's so many routes you could've gone down. But you chose the power fantasy of a romance - trust me, I know, because it's the same decision I make every time I open up a word document or an ao3 page. the least you could do is do it well.

I'm sorry, it's just bad writing.

As something of an introverted demisexual loser myself, I would love to see Lucanis as representation. But I can't. Because it's not true to any of my experience, and I just don't think it's actually written itno the game. It's being retconned to make up for the fact the romance has landed terribly, and the fact that so much of this game is underwritten and underwhelming and a disappointment.

It's why I think the fic will be good, because I know there's potential there separate from what we've been given. And it's why i'm now writing about it. I wasn't ever sure if this wip document was going to see the light of day, but I guess, if I want to see a demisexual romance actually done right, I've got to do all the fucking work myself.

But yeah, anon! I enjoyed it, and I unfortunately also see the fucking potential!!!! and now it's my problem!!!! and it's up on ao3!!!!

[kaija-rayne-author]

Review 2 in series for Dragon Age Veilguard

Spoilers for Veilguard

First part of review series is below.

I'm not an asshole disclaimer (same as the first one, if you read that, you can just skip down to the cut.)

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

9 hours in, 7 hours playtime.

Negative review

While I'm incredibly grateful that I can play this game, because I really hope the story actually starts soon, (yes, I said it, the pacing on this is terrible, and I'm both an editor and a writer, I have a clue). I hate to say... I am soooo glad I didn't buy it. Or I'd be demanding a refund. I didn’t actually look at the price tag, but it must’ve been around $80 Canadian. Given our cost of living crisis, that's obscene but whatever. Games are expensive.

It's just not worth that much in its current state. Sure. Games on release often have bugs. I kinda hate spending money to be an unpaid beta tester. BG3 had nowhere near as many.

My computer comes down right around the middle of the minimum and recommended specs. DA4 doesn't even make it get hot like BG3 makes it. So I'm really thinking glitchy game vs computer issues. Considering I'm not the only one it's happening to... welp. (I looked the glitch up, it's pretty common.)

5 out of 10 loads, my character glitches back to the stock elf body. And if I continue playing, it corrupts my saves and they won't load. It has also happened mid-battle, too. So I have to figure out which save to go back to before the glitch bit. Which, without pics in the save files is fun /s.

'Balanced' play isn’t. I play on tactician/hard in most games. I'm on balanced, and keep fucking dying. TBH I'm not extremely awesome with the controls and moves yet, but I'm not bad either. I honestly just think the bad guys are too overpowered (way too fast, hit too hard, and it takes too long to break their armour) for beginning levels. And yes, I have my Rook in the best armour I currently have. Maybe if I could carry more than 3 potions, it wouldn't matter as much, but IDEK man.

And you know what isn't actually any fun in games? Dying a lot. Also? Having to drop my difficulty level for regular bad guys less than ten hours into the game. It's still teaching me moves ffs, so is sorta the tutorial. I'm not a 'get gud' type. I think that's ridiculous. Gaming is supposed to be fun. If it makes it more fun to drop the level for a boss fight or whatever, more power to you. But I usually don't have to until end-game material. If I have to at all. It's honestly pretty rare. Load time is ridiculous, so every time an over-powered not-a-fucking-darkspawn slams my rogue (which I swear shouldn't be possible, I know how to fight with rogues, they're my first and favourite class), I get creamed because I'm bloody stuck in a place I shouldn't get stuck in.

I know they had testing on this. Wasn't that why the date was pushed back? My memory isn't great since COVID but I think I might’ve seen that somewhere.

Solavellans will likely be disappointed in the first seven hours. You see Solas twice. He may as well not even be in the game.

And I really hate to say this, but I'm just bored. I wasn’t itching to play it like I usually am with good games. (If a game catches me up, it's about the only thing I want to do.) I still loaded it up tonight, didn’t have anything better to do. (Because I'd probably have done that instead.) I'm mostly playing so I know what happens in the story myself. And I was hoping we'd get some answers to all this lore that lives in my head, rent free. So, whatever, I'm still hoping it will catch me up. I'll keep playing in hopes we actually get something resembling a story at some point soon.

And the number of editorial errors is ridiculous. Both developmental and copy.

'Cause bodies can't decompose in the Anderfels? Because nothing external lives there? Granted, I have specialized knowledge there (former forensic anthropologist) but, that isn't remotely how decomp works.

Does your 3 week old raw hamburger not rot because it was in a cold, dark place without any external decomposers? (My 17 year old knew the correct answer to that, so did my 12 year old.)

The primary forms of humanoid/mammalian decomposition come from inside us. Bugs don't even start showing up for a bit. Why do you think bodies bloat? Our gut bacteria going wild. Why do you think bodies are routinely embalmed? No bugs (usually) in a funeral home or morgue either.

And y'know? I actually outright told Epler on Twitter (before it went to complete hell) that he needed a better editor or 4 after playing DAI. And DAV already has more editorial issues than I noticed in the whole first half of DAI. Way to prove my point.

I'm an exacting editor. I'm pretty good at it. And I don't expect perfection in anything. Perfectionism is a trauma response, after all. But so many errors so soon? Really?

I'm not even getting into the story issues. Because I'm still hoping we actually, y'know, get to a story? And if I'm really lucky? That story will cover some of the glaring errors.

But so far? I'm not impressed. I've never, since I started playing DA games, been fucking bored.

Next one is here:

[thealexandriaarchives]

I'm trying to write more after a few years of a dry spell and digging into the 'Why' of why I'm not writing as much, and a big one I'm facing is a complex mix of guilt and shame that I've been praised a lot for having a very strong, terse style that will have longer descriptions but will always come back around to short, gut-punchy lines.

And at some point I think this writing style turned from being confident in my writing and knowing who I am as an author into a source of insecurity. I'll still write thousands of words in barely edited ADHD discord rambles or Tumblr meta posts, but when I turn to trying to produce anything more polished I am now hyper-aware of my style, and how much people have commented on its 'uniqueness' when its influences feel so very obvious to me? So my writing the last few years has lived and died in my drafts, feeling stilted, awkward, and stiff, or even more often has failed to make it past the brain to keyboard barrier.

I am incapable of writing the long, flowing epics I adore from so many of my friends, and over and over again my works shape themselves into highly crafted and pretentious (/neutral, intentionally telling myself over and over again this is neutral...) short stories instead.

And as the years continue I think I am aware we are all just a collection of our influences, but then I am the same half a dozen 20th century white men (a gender thought to unpack another day)

Isaac Asimov

Jorge Luis Borges

Truman Capote

(Some Dostoevsky & Tolstoy?)

Christopher Moore

Kurt Vonnegut

I ran a couple pieces I've gotten the most of this praise / feedback on through the newest version of 'i write like' and didn't get either Asimov (phew honestly, my love) or Vonnegut though. I got Cory Doctorow (whom I've never read so I cannot tell if this is good but it sounds correct for the story) and H.G. Wells which was also correct for the story and whom I grew up on. I tend to stylize as I write so both were heavy about the scientific method but 'about the direct clarity, accessibility and succinctness of the message' which sounds like my technical writing not literary stuff tbh. Also stuff about 'driving the story forward', I also have issues around the fact I prefer to write in present tense which seems not to be the preference, do they do this too? Is this some autistic science bro tech writer Sci Fi brain thing I wired myself with at a tiny age?

I think some of it is that I am fine with being Cringe & Pretentious if it feels Authentic to myself, but I am unable to reconcile that with the fact that it also feels like I am just Subconsciously Trying to Be Like My Faves. Which is ridiculous when you look at the fact my favorite narratives are all about eternal recurrence, being haunted by the narrative, humanity's patterns repeating themselves over and over again. I need some pithy narrative to remind myself that I am being hypocritical when I hold myself against this.

Yes, I write the weird, fucked up meta short stories just like the stories that most impacted me at the most pivotal times in my life. Big shocker, I'm throwing in my biggest kinks and they also say things about me as well when scrutinized. All writing is a mirror and self-reflection. All stories are the same story branching off the same Ur-Story told around a cave fire at various points.

What is fanfiction's italicized: Oh. Oh.

But an echo on Vonnegut's: So It Goes.

A person falls in love. A person dies. The story repeats again. I hate the phrase 'Kill Your Darlings'. The ghost of Truman Capote smokes a cigarette over my shoulder and reminds me to remove every unnecessary word.

So it goes.

This is basically journalling, but any not-white, not-men, ideally not-cishet names that jump to mind from that short list or other thoughts or ruminations are always welcome.

[no-shxme]

Question if you could rework Talon how would you do it? Like, if you have complete and total control of the character, can change things as far as the beginning or just progress his story. You can do whatever.

What would you do?

OKAY so i actually typed out a long ass response but then it got deleted so this makes me very sad faklsdjkljsfd but im gonna try and repeat myself. Disclaimer ofc this is going to be very long and its also just my personal opinion. No hate if anyone’s ideal talon is different.

So i can divide the changes i would make into like, 3 categories.

Core design

In game

Lore

I’ll go ahead and put it below the cut bc i know its gonna be so long (sob)

CORE DESIGN:

Okay im pretty sure i’ve said smth similar before but i cant remember. Basically i think talon’s core design fantasy conflicts with his design to an egregious degree. Riot’s goal is supposed to be to make the champ design fit the fantasy, but we’re supposed to believe he’s this cutthroat, efficient, STEALTHY assassin, who can kill with no mercy and climb all over the map and yet he’s got this jingle-jangle cape and also a hokey, non-retractable armblade. (this pisses me off bc zed has a retractable blade. So they DO exist.) also wild rift pissed me off bc when they redid their design of him they didn’t fix any of the issues and in fact made the armblade worse. How is he supposed to climb? It fundamentally conflicts with what he’s supposed to be. Get rid of both of them both. banished.

Granted, both of these things make his design more unique, but i dont think talon needs them. In fact their existence makes his own thematic design worse, as someone who’s supposed to blend in, supposed to hide in a crowd and be a nobody. He’s supposed to have a generic design. Maybe they can fuck with his cape a lil bit, but he doesn’t need to have this super notable look to him. Look at akshan. He’s just a shirtless dude (in a repurposed sol uniform) but he wears it well fr. 

As a side note: talon’s design in ‘the name of the blade’ is pretty good as a starting off point but it still has the stupid cape.

To be clear they will never change this i think. Talon’s armblade and cape are too ingrained in his old design so they’ll never be fixed, and this problem with it not matching his fantasy will only get worse over time.

Also i think base leblanc also looks ridiculous and is in the same boat.

IN GAME:

A new model + animations ofc! Hood toggle, + extra animation variants when vaulting over stuff. (over thin walls, thick walls, and side hops.) an idle knife flip. (oh and new splasharts ofc.) a new voice!! My current problem with the voice is that imo he sounds too old and deep, and also he suffers from being old (i hc him as between 23-25) and having few lines. Tbh i think talon would rock a raspy transmasc voice, or at least a raspy voice, prone to cracking bc he’s not super talkative.

random voice line ideas

New interactions with katarina, swain prolly, sett (as a treat) and ezreal. etc.

New joke response: “i dont get it” or “you talk too much.”

New taunt response: “be quiet.”

“Leave me alone” or “you’re annoying” after killing someone.

“I can climb that” when seeing sett or other eligible champs, both masc and fem. bisexual energy.

Lots of vocalizations. “Hah,” hrmphs, occasional “hm.”

A focus on shorter, more straightforward sentences as opposed to long wordy ones.

he will trigger more voicelines when by himself (for eg: in the jg) as opposed to around other champions. (yes im dreaming big.)

as an 'away from people or in the jg' voiceline: whistling. not like a tune or anything, just a few notes.

LORE:

Okay this is the really big one. I’m just gonna go all over the place.

Step 1: make him aro. MAKE HIM ARO. it doesn't need to be a big reveal or anything. Actually it’d be better if all of talon’s lore was lowkey. It can just be smth mentioned or implied on the side, but canon nonetheless. I hc him as bi too but the aro is way more important to me. WHILE WE'RE AT IT. riot please release an aromantic pride icon pls. every year i foolishly hope.

Step 2: i’d also make him trans. This isn’t a hard need for me but it makes his story/character stronger. Also i think its great to have open lgbt rep but i would like rep for people who are stealth too. Talon would be that. He likes to blend in, he likes to be unknown and invisible, he doesn’t want too much attention and he wants to be perfect. It’s pretty on the nose. I know people would be mad bc like, noo he wasn’t trans before, but i just dont care. My ideal talon is trans or at least gnc/nb-coded if amab. Also while we’re at it i’d also either give him autism with my autism ray-gun, or i’d just make him autism-coded. It just fits him. I think he realistically has anxiety and prolly some other personality disorder, if not a touch of tism.

Step 3: make the timeline of events around when he was adopted all the way to the kat comic more definite. Like how old was he when he was ‘adopted?’ (imo at least 13 but i can explain in a not already super long post pfpfpf). Retcon some of the kat comic. I think the most annoying part of it is how much he talks. I think riot thinks he’s like, a boring character, but he’s not. He’s just a NUANCED character. There are many different assassins in league that fit specific niches. (zed is evil shadow ninja assassin, akali is rogue wildcard assassin, pyke is the crazed executioner, yone is righteous, fizz is silly, katarina is proud and showy.) talon is already supposed to fit the most typical ‘assassin niche.’ like assassins creeds. Just let him be that. You don’t have to make him talk a ton, just amplify what’s already there. He’s a perfectionist, he does things in the most efficient way, he’s got layers and abandonment issues, and i think something that’s overlooked by riot is how he’s prolly a victim of manipulation and abuse. In fact i’d make that very clear, even by revealing that talon can’t read. That would already mean smth is up.

In terms of the kat comic: Cut out the whole part where talon monologues like an idiot at the end. While we’re at it, have kat kill the king, not that other guy. I think its a more interesting tie in and adds more character conflict. I actually hate how ‘good’ katarina was in the comic like she can afford to have more awfulness and then visibly grow out of it. Idc. continuing, i’d make it so that talon really thought marcus left, and then marcus returns just before the kat comic events and manipulates talon into trying to kill her. Idk this makes so much more sense to me i dont know why they had talon know about it the whole time, as if it didn’t kill his entire story that we’d been following for years. Like it was such an easy change to still respect what story he already had??? IT MAKES ME MAD. It also allows talon to have more obvious conflict with killing kat, bc their sibling connection improves in marcus' absence.

ALSO i like his scar in the kat comic but i’d like it differently instead of straight down. I feel like eye scars are pretty like, they all look the same yk. Can we vary it up or maybe give him a few more. He’s so pretty in the kat comic but he deserves more scars.

Also, in his high noon story i would not have fucking talon dish out the expository dialogue again. I love that story but it makes me mad how he just word vomits this whole story. Just put that shit at the beginning and leave him out of it. Or maybe find some way to explain that doesn’t involve clumsy paragraphs of expository dialogue. Sorry, no hate to the author but i think a character reciting a whole fable to someone is amateurish, lazy, and a disservice to his character. I would also make him and Yone the protagonists of high noon gothic as an au. Ive been meaning to make a post about it but they parallel each other very nicely. A demon going holy and a good man going hellish.

If i could i would legit canon-ship him with sett or with akshan. But thats ofc very indulgent and relies on setup.

uhhh extra bits that im thinking of:

retcon the going to shurima after failing to kill kat bit. i want him to fester. i would rather him be totally lost for a second and observe the wreckage of his lost family.

imo he never meets cass or soreana, because he enters the family in his teens when they're both already in shurima.

i think a really cool way to deliver talon's lore would be via other champ lore that happens to have him in it. with a consistent voice you'd be able to piece him together while still maintaining the theme of him being on the outside, lowkey.

OH I'D CHANGE HIS ICON BTW. his character icon doesn't look like him. dear god. dark brown hair pls, amber eyes. let it be so.

if i could i would strengthen the anarchistic themes he has going on in his skin lines. yeah let him go apeshit why not. let him be a thorn. let him break apart.

im pretty sure he's canonically short (looked the same size as kat in the comic) but if not. he is now. sorry bud.

oh as a final note. right now his parents are just Gone. but i would make sure that they abandoned him. its the strongest way to cause him to attach to marcus.

there's probably more but i really can't remember rn and its already so long. my god. thanks for this ask tho it was very fun to answer omg. if i ever become a famous author id beg riot to let me write smth for him. a novella or smth like garen first strike.

and ofc to reiterate, these are just my opinions. people can have their own versions of talon for sure, its all ok!

[ihopesocomic]

[Wall of possible spelling errors, my pride related]

I think the reason why people include homophonia, biphobia, acephobia etc. in content that's supposed to be about LGBT characters is to convey a form of empowerment.

Like "despite their homophobic parents X was finally able to come out and get with Z, and they've found friends that accept them" in that example it's showing preserverance it's creating a sense of hope for LGBT people still in the closet.

But then there's cases with TOO much homophobia in LGBT content, yes there are ofc sad stories that aren't supposed to end well and people watch them at their own risk. BUT this isn't the case for our lovely example MY PRIDE (I know it's referencing a lion pride but something's telling me it meant LGBTQ pride too)

I know the wlw romance isn't the 'main story' per say of My Pride, but it's the part most people talk about/ got advertised and it still takes up a large chunck of the plot.

But you see the problem is most of that plot chunk is taken up by everyone crapping on our LGBT characters. I cannot find a single supportive moment in this show where it's like "hey nothing it's okay to find other lionesses hot". The characters that are supposed to representing us get nothing but crap after crap, so any sense of empowerment they were trying to convey is killed because there's no satisfying end.

But that's just my take on it.

You are absolutely right, it was never a point of conflict for either of the characters. Like. Ever. The only time homophobia was ever a "problem" was when Proudmane said something all the way in episode 7, and even then there was no consequences for it. I will however argue against Hover or Nothing being treated badly for being gay in any capacity tho. Nothing was always ridiculed for being physically disabled. And Hover was sort of antagonized for being prideless, but that was never a personal conflict for her. And the way the two of them got together told me their love was only forbidden because Hover wasn't in the pride, not because they were the same sex. There was no context clues for homophobia being a thing and I presented plenty of times they could've included it in our review. Hell even Powerstrike was like "We don't kill our gays anymore" like what was the point then? Oh there wasn't one. You just happened to be taken over by the one Pride Law fanatic on the entire continent. Because "drama" I guess.

Just to point out to others tho, no one here argued against the existence of queerphobia in media. It has its purposes, like people recounting their own experiences, and making meaningful social commentary on it, but in most cases I've seen its about telling cishet people to not be queerphobic. Which. Sure one could argue that's a good use for it. I don't feel that way about it tho. More often than not, queerphobia exists in media that doesn't actually give a fuck about it and is just used because it's "expected" to be there, regardless of context, tone, messaging, etc.

Or my favorite argument in the case of My Pride is "it's irresponsible to not include it". Like that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. MP can't even take responsibility of its own trigger warnings, and they want to be judgmental about media that chooses to not include queerphobia? What, are people gonna /forget/ that queerphobia exists? Should people be told "Fuck you, that's reality, bitch" when they don't really wanna see it everywhere they look, cuz they already do? Give me a break. Maybe deconstruct why you think the existence of a queer person justifies the inclusion of discrimination. You can ask this same question about anyone tbh.

People just quite frankly don't know what to do with homophobia in fantasy, they just think it makes for decent plot elements, and to that I say "you're boring" and "Maybe take a creative writing course." It's especially egregious in MP because the homophobia in MP is as shoehorned in as the queer romance. (And Moonstrike's existence just creates a whole mess of questions the show has no intensions of ever answering.)

Like maybe the show didn't include any previous mention of homophobia within prides because it was never intended to be there in the first place. That would be MY guess. It would make sense since Nothing and Hover's failed Romeo and Juliet plotline is abandoned about as quickly as they get together, and served about as much purpose as genderbending the mouse in live-action Cinderella.

We've said this before, MP was stronger with the initial plotline, and including homophobia just made it unnecessarily complicated and stupid, especially since there was quite literally no consequences for it. Call me old fashioned, but discrimination in writing should have a point. - Cat

[kiefbowl]

Finally another person that hates HIMYM as much as I do. There isn't a show that I hate more tbh, like there are shows I dislike, but that damn show is something else. Just like you I hate what they did to Robin(and she's the only character I kind of liked; I liked Ted when he wasn't trying to be like Barney and when he would actually call Barney out, which sadly wasn't too often)...and I hate how more often than not the show treated Barney's treatment of women as a joke, or rather the show rarely called him out, and i especially hate the way they ended his character arc, I was like "oh now he'll see women as humans" *eye roll*-- I hate that trope so damn much. The show had potential, and the premise was interesting, it's just that the show was filled with the worst tropes and some of the worst characters on today's tv(or ever, really). I just cannot for the life of me understand its popuplarity.

Also, oh my god yes, I totally agree with you on that final season. What the hell were the writers thinking?!

>"I liked Ted when he wasn't trying to be like Barney and when he would actually call Barney out, which sadly wasn't too often"

one of the most unaware things the show does is pretend Barney is a foil to Ted when Ted and Barney are extremely similar in their views of women. The difference is that Barney is always on, and it's always a goofy heightened reality, while Ted will be written fairly straight wrt wanting to sleep with women.

>"I hate that trope so damn much."

a baby daughter fixed me is definitely one of the worst tropes and also is sooooo fucking lazy. they didn't build a story around Barney in which him having a baby girl in the 11th hour would feel cathartic, that's why it feels so cheap. If he had conflicted feelings about his life and about fatherhood at all, it would still be a lazy and misogynistic choice, but it would at least follow some story logic. it's like a big ass trifecta of shit: Robin and Ted endgame, mother dead, Barney has a fucking baby.

Writing that reminds me that they have Robin "fail" both of her love interests by not being able to have children since children are obviously the one true ultimate goal in this story. A child fixes Barney, and Robin wouldn't have ever been able to do that for him. Truly ridiculous. But anyway I haven't gotten that far yet.

>"I just cannot for the life of me understand its popuplarity"

I have thoughts on this, looking back on old subreddits I think a lot of people hand waved unpleasant parts of HIMYM because they wanted to believe the set-up they were seeing was intentional. Most of it was not as intentional as believed and it ended up being poorly done for the actual planned ending. Case in point: the internal life of Robin is clearly not something the writers cared about. But because the story is focused on who she loves and wants to be in a relationship with, fans thought 'well the internal life of Robin is being treated seriously, so I will read into the subtext'. I think this also comes off because Cobie cares about Robin's internal life. I don't think the writers ultimately know why Robin loves Barney, but I think Cobie knows. I wonder if the writers ever really cared what the actors believed was true about their characters. There needs to be some give and take on this even if writers ultimately gets to decide how the story plays out.

Additionally, I think the five leads are very charming and elevate a lot of material, they all have exceptional physical comedy chops. People liked the characters when they were good, tried to close their eyes when they were bad, and hoped the good parts were leading somewhere satisfying.

[chevelleneech]

Dude, BuckT*mmy shippers on Twitter are losing it. There’s obviously nothing wrong with shipping two characters who are canonically dating, but they stay trying to uplift LFJ as if he’s a main character or some saving grace to the series.

I say this with as little bias as possible, but he is barely a recurring character at the moment. The only reason his episodes made noise, is because they led to Buck finally kissing a man. People who never tuned into the show but knew about the Bi!Buck fan theory jumped onboard, but that wasn’t because of L. It was because no one could believe a hit tv show actually turned a major headcanon canon.

How his fans and their shippers have managed to convince themselves that T*’mmy and LFJ by proximity is so popular the network itself has decided to withhold his appearances on set to boost rating in the season 8 premiere, is a mystery to me. Do I think he’ll be in the premiere? Yes, T*mmy and Buck ended on what appeared to be good terms. It wouldn’t make any sense for him not to be in at least the first three episodes, tbh. At the same time, he apparently hasn’t been seen on set at all, and no one from the cast has been seen hanging out with him the way they do each other. As such, it’s being speculated he was written out. Which is also so incredibly normal for television when it comes to actors landing lead roles elsewhere.

So all of this to say, I’ve been watching production from the sidelines, because s7 was a let down for me. In a few ways than not, so I’m really just trying to wait and see if Tommy is actually still relevant, because his character sucks and LFJ’s fans suck even more. That said, I still think him being gone in a blink doesn’t make too much sense unless they fired him because of his social media posts. RG was a lead in the series when his issue happened, but he also wasn’t the one saying slurs. Like an idiot, he defended his then girlfriend, which if a lawyer has to argue in defense of him, are two different things.

Anyway, I think BT shippers and LFJ fans should just chill out. Talk about potential storylines and what y’all want to happen in s8, but otherwise, let the craziness go. LFJ is not a victim of online bullying, nor did he reinvent Buck’s story. Buck said himself he checks out guys, but also… it’s all fictional. Buck doesn’t have a real sexuality nor is his relationship with T*mmy in real danger, because neither of them exist in reality.

I know y’all want T*mmy back, but at the end of the day, if the character or actor doesn’t fit, they don’t fit. And it has nothing to do with Buddie shippers nor Buddie as a ship. If the writers looked back on the relationship and chose to go in a different direction, that’s just what they chose. Which, if they did, is very normal for Buck’s relationships in the series as a whole. Something people would know if they watch the prior six seasons.

Point is, no on is out to ruin yalls fun. 9-1-1 is a show that has been thriving, which is the very reason ABC bought it in the first place. So whatever happens, happens. But trying to make a random side character more important than currently necessary to not only the central plots as well as paint the actor playing him as more important than the veteran cast in the show, is ridiculous. Liking and even preferring LFJ is fine, but this isn’t his show. He’s a guest.

[yuujispinkhair]

dued i saw someone say the panel words under sukuna said 'a wedding is on the line when a war is about to break out'. and i am like what!? sukuna better not be getting married i will go into the at manga and fight him.

Also how do you feel about people saying they hate the maga of jjk now. them saying the writting is poor and its losing its touch and something about the season 2 art looks bad

Heyyy babe <3<3 Oh, I think that part about the wedding was in chapter 217 because Yorozu challenged Sukuna to a fight, and if she wins, she wants him to marry her. Sukuna was like, "Yeah, whatever. You will not win against me anyway. But in the unlikely case that I would lose, defeat is like death to me, so you can do anything you like to my "corpse"." LMAOOO he was dramatic. I love him so much!! But from what I see, Sukuna wasn't interested in Yorozu a thousand years ago, and he isn't interested in her now. It's a one-sided crush.

And about the hate some people have for JJK and Gege: I think the problem isn't the story. It is certain "fans" who forgot the nature of the source material or who think fictional characters are real people etc.

Tbh I blocked a lot of people during the last few weeks because of their negativity toward the current chapters and because of their hate toward Gege. I think mostly it is antis who cry about what they think is incest in the current chapters because Sukuna is inhabiting Megumi's body and Yorozu is inhabiting Tsumiki's body. It's ridiculous really, but every other post in the spoilers tag was about this. I blocked all of them. But yeah, I think antis are trying to drag JJK and Gege through the dirt because they think the manga is pRobLeMaTiC. I really hope they will do everyone a favor and just stop reading the manga. Like, if you don't enjoy something, then please leave it behind and read or watch something you actually enjoy. It will bring you much more peace and happiness.

Personally, I enjoy the current chapters a lot! I love that we see the main characters again and that we get lots of plot. I wasn't a big fan of the culling game because, for my taste, there were too many fights with too many new characters. I am just not interested in those, and I don't understand the cursed techniques anyways. So that wasn't for me, but I know that fights are a big part of the genre and that there are lots of people who enjoy those and love to analyze them. So it is absolutely ok that those fights played a big part. Personally, I am happy that we get more plot again atm and that we see our beloved old characters again <3

So yes, I think everyone got things they enjoy. The story had it all: Plot, fights, new characters, old characters, big plot twists, some fanservice, etc. So I don't understand why people would say it isn't good. Especially the latest chapters are super interesting, I think.

Sometimes I feel like, people are too used to living in their fandom bubble and that's why they complain about canon. For example, I saw some people say that they don't like how comedy-like the Sukuna and Yorozu chapters are while such tragedy is happening to Megumi and Yuuji. But I don't understand this since JJK has always been filled with humor like that, and it is one of the things that I love the most about it.

[housewarningparty]

Hi hi! I was wondering, how do you choose what to read next? I know you get recs from friends and I assume you read stuff from authors you already know you like, but beyond that, how do you hear about new books? Goodreads? Sometimes I have a million books I want to read but other times nothing at the library is of interest to me and I tend to get stuck there mentally while waiting for my books on hold to be available 😂

Also, do you have any recs for horror books about ghosts? I want to read a good ghost book :) bonus points if there are sapphic ghost books!! 👻

there are a bunch of places i check in on to keep up on new titles or find out about interesting backlist stuff

first, for new releases, there are different columns/websites that exist just to catalogue the new stuff coming out (mostly from major publishers, if you're looking for indie or selfpub these probably won't help much)

io9 has their Bookshelf Injection column of new SFF (and some horror) that gets published every month

Jumpscares has a similar list for horror titles

for a more "literary fiction" bent you can always check out Bookmarks' Best Reviewed Books of the Week posts

If you're looking for a little more editorializing/reviewing I'd start looking around on sites like Book Riot (example lists include: Best Werewolves in books, 9 Books with Disabled Main Characters etc) or Electric Lit (Example: 10 Must Read Books set in Cairo, 7 Books About Grotesque Bodies).

Additionally, there are places to get recommendations that feel a little more tailored and personal. There are podcasts I enjoy for this (mostly for horror) like Talking Scared or Books in the Freezer. And there's always booktube (though finding a reviewer you like can be tricky) I like TheShadesofOrange, Petrick Leo, and Jess Owens.

There's also reddit (r/fantasy, r/horrolit, r/lgbtbooks, r/printsf are the main places I go to). Goodreads does have its uses, though admittedly I use it more to track my own reading and to follow friends, authors I like, and a handful of reviewers whose opinions I trust. Overall, I think the GR community as a whole is a total clown show and I don't put much stock into the rating system there.

If you have some favorite authors and they are on goodreads or social media, I'd say it's usually pretty worthwhile checking out the books they're hyping up.

finding new or interesting books is pretty easy, but choosing what to read from my own, admittedly ridiculously huge library? that's trickier. tbh, i mostly go on vibes.

alright for the second part of your question.

i love a good haunted house story!

anyone you ask with any taste at all is probably going to give you the answer i'm about to, but if you haven't read it yet, the #1 haunted house book I can recommend to you is Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. It's a classic for a reason. If it sweetens the pot for you - the character of Theo is a lesbian. There's great subtext between Theo and the book's main character, Nell. A scholar recruits people who've had experiences with the supernatural to stay with him in a purportedly haunted house to see if they can come up with proof that ghosts are real. Shit gets whacky. One of the finest american novels ever written, regardless of genre.

If you want more sapphics and less house it might be worth checking out Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth (yes, the Cameron Post author). I had some issues with this one. I wouldn't say I didn't like it, but I know a lot of people liked it more than I did. It's very queer, has an interesting dual timeline - one plot set in the past tells the story of a mysterious tragedy befalling an early 1900s girls boarding school, the other plot is about a movie being made about those events in the present day.

The Red Tree by Caitlin R Kiernan - okay this one IS also about lesbians but it's probably the darkest book on this list. A struggling middle aged writer moves into a creepy old house after the death of her girlfriend by suicide. In the house, she discovers a lost manuscript of a previous resident who had been researching local folklore and documenting sinister events seemingly linked to the gnarled, tree on the house's property. Things do not go well. Very well written (have some issues with Kiernan but they're an incredible talent and, worth mentioning, they're the only genderfluid writer in the genre that I know of)

Another book I always recommend on this topic is Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow. It's a HUGE anthology of short ghost stories. Some of my favorite horror short fiction ever written is in this collection. It's a great way to be introduced to some of the best horror writers around right now - Datlow is a legendary editor. I recommend anyone interested in horror check out her collections. The stories in Echoes are varied in theme and from a variety of different voices.

Other ghost books that whip ass

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi - after his wife is killed in a mass shooting, a man gripped with grief discovers a secret she'd been hiding from him for their entire marriage. He picks up an investigation she had been secretly pursuing that sets him on a collision course with an apparent serial killer. A story of grief and the secrets we keep from the people we love.

The Good House by Tananarive Due - a woman has to return to her childhood home, still awash in the grief of losing her teenage son there two years ago. While staying there and with the help of an old friend, she begins to unravel the strange tangle of tragedies that have surrounded the house since her grandmother's time, and to uncover the truth of what really happened to her son. A story about generational trauma and breaking cycles.

The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp - this one's great on audio. This book is told in the style of a posthumously published book from a VICE style douchebag journalist who was attempting to write a book that would once and for all disprove the existence of the supernatural. Extremely unlikable main character, but that added to the experience for me - I was very stoked to get to the part where bad things would begin to happen to Jack Sparks. This one's got a lot of dark humor and some genuinely scary scenes. Love it. Wish more people would read it.

Hope you find something in there you like! Good luck!

[sapphire-weapon]

Why is he your favorite VA for Wesker?

Tbh the first time I heard him in game I thought he was Krauser. Like he’s just been stripped of personality in every aspect, voice, appearance, acting, etc.

He sounds like every other wannabe Batman video game character. I’ve heard the whole ‘well he sounded like a bond villain in 5’ and yes he might’ve but it was funny and memorable and now his voice just sounds so forgetful and generic.

but im curious to hear your opinions

i've been asked this question like five different times (almost as many times as i've been asked about lily gao), and i'm just. tired of the question because i'm tired of people looking at wesker in a vacuum. wesker doesn't exist in a vacuum. wesker exists in a series called resident evil.

idk if you've noticed, but RE isn't going for "funny" in the Remakes anymore. bond villain wesker worked in OG because that was the tone that the series was trying to strike to begin with. it's not trying to strike that tone anymore. so anyone who wants him to go back to being a bond villain wants him to stick out among the cast in a really bad way and feel out of place.

i've said this before, but when i first heard craig's voice come in over ada's radio, i got hit really fucking hard with HOLY SHIT THAT'S WESKER. THAT'S THE MOST WESKER THAT WESKER HAS EVER BEEN HOLY FUCK.

you thought he sounded like krauser for the same reason that i immediately knew he was wesker:

menace.

krauser always had a menace factor to him, but wesker didn't. this goes back to the whole "wesker shouldn't be funny anymore" thing. wesker is The Big Villain of the series. he should be menacing. we should feel scared of him -- or, at the very least, he should make us anxious and/or uncomfortable. he's not a morally gray "hero of someone else's story" villain. he is a menacing villain who gets off on psychologically torturing the heroes.

and that's why i always didn't like the bond villain approach to him in the first place. there was always something very sinister about wesker that got lost in translation because he sounded so fucking goofy.

it's not lost anymore.

craig carries a level of tension through his performance that makes it sound like he's always five seconds from snapping, and he does it in a very calm way, so you really have no way of knowing when he's going to pop off and raise his voice. you have no way of knowing when he's going to get violent, because he sounds like he's constantly skirting right along the edge of it.

and it's a good choice for wesker because wesker's particular brand of sinister has always had a sexual component to it, and sex and violence are very closely related psychologically. like i said, wesker gets off on chris's angst and jill's suffering. he now finally sounds like someone who would.

and on top of all of that, craig also has a very... i like to say he has a "radio voice" in his performance of wesker. it's deep and smooth-sounding and very breathy at times; if he were to be given a radio show, people would listen to it just because they'd enjoy listening to him talk. that's also fitting for wesker, because we know that wesker lived a double life for about 20 years.

i can't see dc douglas wesker charming his way into jake's mom's panties, because he's such a ridiculous human being. he always has some snide lilt to his voice. he's just barely this side of snidely whiplash. if he told me i looked beautiful, i'd be like "lol so how much money do you need to borrow?" but if craig burnatowski wesker told me i looked beautiful, i'd probably get the dokis, just because his voice is smoother and he sounds more serious overall.

the same principle applies to him betraying STARS. peter jessop did a fairly good job with wesker, but i couldn't see dc douglas or richard waugh wesker as a leader to look up to, because, again, they're both skirting the line of snidely whiplash. it'd be like "oh, there's a traitor in STARS? couldn't be the guy who sounds like a fucking cartoon villain, could it?"

like. get dc douglas and richard waugh out of your head. stop thinking about them and just look at wesker's lines of dialogue written out on paper. craig captures the character's voice better. he just does. and if you think it makes him sound "generic" then chances are you don't like wesker as a character as much as you think you do.

and now i never want to answer this question again lmao

[practicecourts]

20 questions

thanks @charmsandtealeaves & @wearingaberetinparis for the tag. I'm not sure how interesting the answers will be so I'm cutting the post here ;-)

How many works do you have on AO3? 20

2. What's your total A03 words count? 215,620

3. What fandoms do you write for? HP

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

a) Not the Doctor Crazy texting Muggle AU, oneshot, meet-awkward ridiculousness ;-) b) Head Over Handlebars For You Muggle meet ugly, Amsterdam, bicycles, Geese, the WIP that got out of control, only 1 more real chapter and 1 epilogue to go... c) It Was A Clear Black Night, A Clear White Moon - Hogwarts, oneshot roaming outside the castles on a Full Moon. I do love this story a lot myself, so I'm happy to see it here! I like to combine something serious and with something lighter. d) Shall We Shag Now Or Later? Rated M, Not inspired by Austin Powers BUT I did have a great time looking up those ridiculous scenes and dialogues. Classic crazy movie! Order Mission gone wrong, Jily forced to go under cover (wriggles eyebrows) e) When it Tastes so Damn Good another @jilychallenge oneshot, prompt along the lines of melting icecream - let's share... 5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

YES!!! I LOVE comments, incredible to have evidence someone read something I thought up and wrote and then left a comment telling me what it made them feel or just to say they liked it. IT IS AMAZING !! all caps worthy amazing. I do turn of notifications now for those because I became too addicted, so now I try to check once every so often. I do intend to answer all of them.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angtiest ending? My saddest ending is probably Silent Night (it's not Jily but a series of moments in the life of Hope Lupin) There's quite some bits that I've written for it, but I'm not sure if they are coherent as chapters, so there's only 2 currently posted. Angst versus sad, I'd have to say my microfic Jockey has the angstiest ending, but mostly because I know what is going on) and I promise the end of the whole fic (if I ever get to writing it, won't be angsty)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I love happy endings... I'm hoping to succeed with bringing HOH to a satisfactory happy end. I think I will. Most of my one-shots also have a happy or hopeful ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind? Ha, I thought I'd never... but for a writing challenge I wanted to join due to severe FOMO (i'm only human) I did, and I rewrote that into Shall we Shag Now or Later (Idk if anyone wants to know but I literally took almost all the time available thinking of REASONS why my jily would end up in smut pall position and in the end joked I'd just start of with *low voice* "Hey, Evans, we should shag," and take it from there... This turned into M-rated smut (I'm a little foggy on the difference between E and M still) also not sure what constitutes *kinds* of smut, but that 2 shot was more Smut with little plot. By now my wip Jily who really suffered from a lot of sexual unreleased tension finally got some release, so there's some Smut with plot as well, these days (HOHFY)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Nope, I don't think I will (unless a certain type of AU would count as a cross over)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope, not that I'm aware of, I'd be appalled and also absolutely flabbergasted if someone would go to the trouble, tbh.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope again, I might translate my own fic in Dutch (although that would be so incredibly weird that I don't actually mean this)

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? No, but it sounds fun. I am soon adding my 3 line to the express.... there's that ;-)

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Jily, lames, Limes. 15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Life's a beach and then you dive. I want to rewrite it. I've again not outlined this fic very much, but I've so many plans... Maybe, I should ideally have a time turner to add a few hours to my days. bc I now realise how much work it would need to write it up how I want it to be lol. But there's some very personal stuff in there so who knows. I do like to finish stuff that I've started so... I hope i will, i'm not sure of it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Ok, disclaimer as I'm Dutch I'm very bad at this. BUT ... channeling inner Sirius Black: I'm good at making characters feel realistic, I'm good a little plot twist at the end, at humour (which is of course entirely personal) , I'm good at sneaky throwbacks to canon, I'm relatively good at looking at my own work with a critical eye and improving myself, as well as letting go of things that are * good enough* as they are, as this is * a fun hobby* (anyone want to share what they like about my writing - or what they think I could improve on, tell me in the comments )

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Thinking I'll do more in the time I have... and not outlining, I've tried honestly, but I've not found a way that really works yet, but still I have these huge fic ideas creep up on me, so Ideally I'd like to get way better at following some sort of outline instead of discovering my way through it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? As I'm not a native English speaker and my fic HOHFY is set partly in Amsterdam there's some Dutch dialogues * i never even bothered to translate them, I'm so sorry. I'm currently also putting some French in my secret finish before posting fic, that will take a while though and it's only tiny bits as it's more the odd word here and there.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I never posted anything for it, but my first fanfic ideas were set in Tortall (Tamora Pierce) who knows, one day I might venture over there.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Here Comes The Sun I've recently got a lot of lovely comments on fics that weren't less than a week old (yeah!) and reread this one for Myster May because of it & enjoyed it a lot (idk, I don't do favourites, not really.) But I can see quite a few of my own strengths in this one so I'm putting it up here as a fave.

Tagging if you're not already been asked a million times and feel like doing this, no pressure at all, xx @chierafied @chiechie97 @tiffanytoms @oneofthesirens @suzyq31 @ohmygodshesinsane @jfleamont @uncertainwallflower

[chirpsythismorning]

Hi! I can't stop thinking... Why so many people insist that Will doesn't have / can't have powers, only the connection with Henry-the Mind Flayer? Some of them are so sure, they even make fun of who thinks that Will with some sort of powers could be the plot twist that changes the way we see the whole story.... I think that would be awesome, not ridiculous.

Many milvan fans think that, and Henry's stans too. But what's the problem? Character in a sci-fi show about superpowers has powers. Wow. Unbelivable.

Don't get me wrong, we all have our own biases (a lot of toxic milkvans vehemently deny the possibility of Will having powers, for obvious reasons), but what I think it really comes down to the original intention of the Duffers in terms of Will what they always had planned for him.

A lot of fans think that certain concepts being explored would just be flat out bad, assuming those concepts come out of nowhere, and/or in a way that feels like we've been cheated.

For example, a lot of fans feel strongly about not wanting the show to ever involve time travel at any point, with most fans agreeing on this to a large extent, arguing that it would feel like a cheap reset, changing our entire understanding of the overall show.

You could also make the argument that a lot of Redditors feel this way about the possibility of byler whenever it's brought up genuinely, where they say it's not possible because there weren't enough signs to support it and so if byler did happen, it would ruin the show.

The main problem with this, is that we're assuming that the story hasn't already hinted about these things, with the intention to explore them from the moment they hinted at them.

Like when it comes to time travel, we have a main character that goes missing who is literally dressed like Marty McFly from Back to the Future, which was a film also referenced a lot in s3. Not only that, but time itself has been referenced A LOT since the very beginning. And we even have the upside down stuck on the very moment Will went missing on Nov 6th 1983 (in his Marty McFly fit). And so yes we can have our doubts about it being as good as we hope based on other media and how they've all depicted time travel, but to say it wouldn't be fitting or it would be coming out of nowhere would be naive.

And same with byler. There are definitely signs, it's a matter of being willing to acknowledge them, actual view them and think about them each individually and all together (assuming you are willing to do that). If you're willing to do that then it suddenly is an undeniable obvious direction that the show is going. And yet there are plenty of people out there that will never see it that way, until it's spelled out to them with everything being explained.

I think what it all comes down to is the show itself having hints over the seasons, with it being apart of the Duffers original plan from the beginning, to some extent.

No matter what, even if I don't like a choice they make about a certain concept, I don't know if I could critique them that much about it if it was actually intentionally put there from the beginning? Like props to them, I'm not gonna be mad if at the very least, it fits? That would be my main concern, that it came out of nowhere with no signs. But I doubt that's going to be the case for the surprises we have in store for the final season, TBH I think all of them will have been foreshadowed at some point.

And that also goes for Will having powers. I can see why fans might be against it, because they are choosing to imagine that it would go down in the most unsatisfying way possible. And they're also choosing to not look deeper at things that clearly hint at it over the seasons, all because of a bias based on whatever they feel that's stopping them from that, big or small.

Personally, I'm a twelvegate truther at the moment, and so I have my own thoughts when it comes to the likelihood of Will having powers in some capacity (yes). And I genuinely came to that conclusion based on hints in the details since the first episode.

People need to realize, the Duffers want more than anything for the show to have rewatch value forever and ever. And by making all these hints really subtle in the details from the very beginning, only to be revealed at the end, they are not only shocking the people experiencing it in real time, but they're also setting it up in a way that makes it even more satisfying for future generations. Not only is rewatch value being considered, because I would argue that's the most important, but also think about all the people that will hear about ST in the upcoming years, knowing how it ended because it was spoiled to them in passing. Those kind of viewers would immensely enjoy those details about time travel or byler or Will having powers, stretching all the way to the beginning.

Right now so many people brush off the details as unimportant, and we're able to do this freely because we still don't have all the answers yet. That's fair for now. But when we do get all the answers in the end, people will have everything in front of them waiting to be confronted, it'll just be a matter of everyones willingness to accept it as reality at that point, even if it's not what we might have thought we wanted based on what we were/weren't willing to see.