#are two unrelated books by different authors

[tatti-enthusiast]

see, i've always struggled with names that are similar to each other. i used to think marilyn manson and marilyn monroe were the same person. i often forget the last name of singer and model kate bush and wonder if she's the same person as writer kate mosse and whether i would've heard of it if she had actually written a vaguely da vinci code -esque (?) thriller (??) trilogy (???). i still don't know which one is light and which one is L but at least i don't think L is short for light anymore

...if i've somehow got this wrong twice and it turns out that the actual crux of death note is some oneceler-levels of selfcest then don't even tell me

[queen-of-deans-booty]

FFF

Pairing: Castiel x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.7k (lyrics included)

Warnings: fluff

Summary: Sam and Dean introduce you to their angelic friend, Castiel, and you are immediately enthralled by him. Instead of jumping into something with him, you two take it slow and let the relationship flourish naturally.

Square Filled: FFF by Zara Larsson (2023) for @heavenandhellbingo

Author’s Note: any and all comments are appreciated <3

x

Hunting is something you try to stay out of. It’s not that you don’t think you have the chops to be a hunter, you just don’t want to be one. You’ve never seen the appeal of being one but you admire Sam and Dean for being one. You met them while they were on a hunt. A ghost murdered your coworker and they interviewed you. They seemed like genuine FBI agents until you saw them leave your coworker’s house covered in blood.

You kept in touch with them over the years and now you’re good friends with them.

They invited you to the Bunker to hang out so that’s where you’re heading. You’re in town for something unrelated so it’s nice to see the brothers. You don’t visit the Bunker often so you jump at the chance to when they want you to come. 

Despite their lifestyle, the Bunker is one of the coolest things you’ve ever seen.

When you get there, you knock on the metal door twice. Sam opens it and smiles widely when he sees you.

“Y/N! Welcome!” He pulls you in for a soul-crushing hug. “We just got started.”

“Cool. Thanks for inviting me.”

“Oh, yeah. Hey, we invited one of our other friends. His name is Cas. He’s an angel.”

“A what?” you ask, flabbergasted. 

As much as you try to stay out of their business, you can’t help but read about the different types of monsters they deal with. Still, you’d never thought angels were real. Maybe in fiction but never in real life.

“An angel,” Sam chuckles.

“Okay.”

You walk down the metal stairs and greet Dean who has a beer in hand.

“It’s good to see you, Y/N.”

“You, too. So, where is this elusive angel that I never knew existed?”

“Right here.” Dean steps off to the side and you look at the angel in a trenchcoat. “My name is Castiel but you may use the shortened version of my name that the brothers are so fond of using.”

“Right. For an angel of God, you’re… normal.”

“My true form is approximately the size of your Chrysler building.”

“Good to know,” you nod.

Not only are you starstruck by the angel, you think he’s adorable. If he’s going to be here, you’re definitely going to make an effort to visit more often.

Unusual, we got mutual friends Is it mutual if I kiss your lips? If I'm truthful, then it all depends on your feelings Crucial, how I'm leanin' in 'Cause I'm used to just divin' in I could lose you, that's the consequence of my feelings

Sam and Dean are currently on a hunt hallways across the country where there isn’t great internet service. They don’t know what they’re hunting so they asked you if you could do some research from the Bunker. You’re no hunter but you don’t mind helping them like this. You’re out of danger and safe inside the most secure place in the world against monsters.

Plus, Castiel is here, too. That’s always a plus.

It’s been a few months since you two met and you’ve been coming over every chance you get just to be with him.

Just so you’re not sitting in silence, you hooked up your Bluetooth speaker to your phone so that you can listen to music while you read through the many lore books. You and Castiel are sitting right next to each other; he’s so close that you can feel the heat radiating off him. It’s nearing winter so it’s getting colder outside, but Castiel is a radiator.

“Did you find anything?” you ask him.

“Not yet. Did you?”

“Nope.”

You flip through the book, half-paying attention to the word and half-paying attention to how close Castiel is. The song changes to a romantic tune, and you look up at Castiel who is already staring at you. You briefly look at his chapped lips that also somehow look soft, and you find yourself leaning in.

No! You stop yourself from potentially making a mistake. You’re known to jump into relationships and stay in the fast lane. It’s why you’ve never had a steady relationship with any of your exes. Castiel deserves better. He deserves more. You really like him and you can’t afford to lose him so you can’t be yourself.

You need to change and it starts with him.

Is there a spark for us Or is it just purely platonic? Is this a story arc? 'Cause if it are, it'd be iconic I wasn't gonna ask Afraid of asking you to dance

The best thing about winter is the frozen lakes. You love ice skating but you’re not very good at it. Growing up, you lived in a warmer climate that didn’t get cold enough for any water to freeze, so you took to the activity later in life.

You and Castiel have been hanging out more and more without Sam and Dean around. He might be an angel that will outlive you, but you’re falling for him every day that you’re with him. There’s something so pure about him. He hasn’t been tainted by humanity long enough to see the bad in life. He still believes that people do good simply because it’s right. It’s honestly refreshing to be around someone who still thinks that way.

“Have you ever ice skated?” you ask as you pull your skates on.

“No. I’m sure I can pick it up.”

“Yeah, just wait until you get on the ice.” You step onto the frozen lake and almost fall from being unbalanced. Castiel jumps up and grabs your waist to steady you, and you try to hide the blush creeping up your cheeks. “Thanks.”

“Please be careful.”

Castiel steps onto the ice and skates as if he’s a professional. You watch him with a parted mouth.

“How in the hell are you doing that?”

“It’s simply a balancing act.”

“Right.”

You skate but find that your feet move apart when you do. You struggle to stay upright, and Castiel stays near you to catch you if you fall. Most people wouldn’t find this enjoyable but you’re with Castiel so it makes it better. Plus, if you fall, you know he’ll catch you.

“Here, grab my hand.”

You bite back a smile and grab his warm hand. He skates next to you effortlessly, and you cling to his side to keep some sort of balance.

“Do you normally excel at things you’ve never done before?”

“Generally, yes.”

You laugh and continue to skate with him in the freezing cold. You try to turn but end up tripping over your own feet and crashing into Castiel. He is taken off guard so he falls to the ice with you on top of him. Suddenly, you start laughing either out of embarrassment or at the thought of why you decided to do this with him when you know you’re shit at it.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No.”

You put your hand on his chest to hold yourself up, and you suddenly realize how close you two are. Your breath mixes with his in the cold, but neither of you moves from each other. You’re so close that you can close the few-inch gap and kiss him.

“Your nose and cheeks are red,” he says.

“It’s cold outside. Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m an angel. I don’t feel the cold.”

“Lucky you, then.”

Castiel moves you off him with ease and helps you stand. He brings you back to the snow where you can stand comfortably and removes his trenchcoat. Without saying anything, he wraps the coat around you, enveloping you in his warmth.

The blush on your cheeks isn’t from the cold anymore.

Falling for a friend Falling for a friend, ooh Baby, don't pretend That you don't feel it too I know you do

Castiel is truly someone special because you’re walking from your hotel in the freezing ass cold and the snow to get to the Bunker. You have a rental car but there is no use in driving it because the roads aren’t safe for cars. Still, that’s not going to stop you from getting to the bunker where Castiel is.

The picnic basket in your hand is sealed tightly to keep the snow from entering it but everything else on you is covered with snow. Kansas winters are brutal. Three miles normally doesn’t seem like a lot but trekking in twelve inches of snow makes three miles feel like thirty.

When you get to the Bunker, you shake off the snow as best as possible before knocking on the metal door. Pain erupts from your knuckles from how cold you are but your hand is numb so you don’t feel it as much as you should have.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Dean asks when he opens the door.

“I wanted to say hi. Can I come in?”

“Shit, yeah.” He steps to the side and allows you to walk inside. You’re thrust into a warm environment that you’re already starting to defrost. You walk into the library to see Castiel sitting at the table. “What’s in the basket?”

“Just some food. I figure you two are hungry.”

“I don’t eat.”

“I always am,” Dean says at the same time as Castiel.

“Okay, well, here.”

Dean takes the basket with a smile and disappears into the kitchen. Castiel frowns when he sees you shivering from the after-effects of the cold. He can even feel how cold you are from where you stand.

“Come here.” You walk over to Castiel, not expecting him to pull you into his lap. He lifts your hands to his mouth and blows hot air on them, the warmth of it kissing away the numbing from the frostbite. “Baby, you’re freezing.”

Baby? His raspy voice? That’s enough to spring butterflies to life in your stomach. He’s never called you that before. The butterflies intensify when he opens his trenchcoat, wrapping you close to his chest. He leans down and kisses your cold cheek, and warmth blooms from the contact.

You look up at him and he softly traces your bottom lip with his finger, and you part your lips instinctively.

“I really want to kiss you,” he whispers.

You don’t say anything back, You close the gap between you and kiss him softly. His lips may look chapped but they are super soft. His grace dances across your body, warming you up.

You’ve definitely fallen for a friend.

x

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[literary-illuminati]

2025 Book Review #4 – Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

In the time between first hearing about Malazan and finally reading this, I have seen its reputation peak as The Only Fantasy Series anyone online recommended (long since dethroned by Sanderson), get submerged in the backlash, and finally just seem to fade from discourse entirely. In that time, I have been relentlessly peer-pressured and bullied (affectionate) into giving this ten-book saga a chance. And so, as a project for 2025, I will be endeavouring to get through it. Gardens, if it doesn’t live up to the hype (an impossible ask, really), is at least a very entertaining and engaging piece of sprawling epic fantasy to start it off.

Set in a sprawling, ancient fantasy world Gardens of the Moon is (to generalize and simplify) about the attempts of the Malzan Empire to conquer Darujhistan, last and greatest of the Free Cities, before the simmering discontent among its inner provinces and much-abused legions erupts into full scale rebellion. It is also about the various gods and immortals involving themselves in those attempts, most obviously the immortal (basically) elven sorcerer-lord Anomander Rake and his private war against the empire, but also including between at least two entirely unrelated sets of ascendant demigods and their schemes. The story is told through a whole myriad of different points of view, at least half of whom are fighting for the position of ‘main character’ in the narrative structure.

This is very much Map Fantasy, both literally (there are in fact maps and lexicons included in my copy) and figuratively – which is to say, in both tone and the tropes its drawing upon this is very much Epic High Fantasy in the Tolkeinesque tradition. It is, I’m told, actually based in some way on the author’s D&D campaigns – and if I hadn’t been told, I would have guessed. I cannot remember the last time I read a story where the setting and Lore so obviously preceded and is considered by the author to be as or more important than the particular narrative currently being told with it. Very nearly every single character, setting and concept that’s introduced feels like it’s being re-introduced, having already been the centre of a whole story in their own right in some other book. Which does an excellent job of making the world really feel like it has history, but does also just start to get exhausting at a certain point, and makes keeping track of the actual stakes more than a little difficult.

I want to say I came into this story blind, but that’s not really correct – I knew nothing at all about the story, but I’ve had a friend telling my little tidbits about the lore and metaphysics for years now. This was probably incredibly helpful for my reading experience – even compared to the rest of the genre, this is a story absolutely in love with Proper Nouns, even for fairly traditional fantasy concepts and tropes. If you just go with the flow and let them wash over you until the context clues start piling up I think you’ll probably do okay? But I can’t lie and say already knowing what e.g. a tiste, jaghut or warren was when I started didn’t help.

With that proviso – the series’ whole imposing reputation as impossible dense and indecipherable feels very overblown to me? Even if the exact mechanics of magic and godhood are pretty opaque, (almost) everyone’s motivations and desires are pretty clear and I was never at all confused by what was actually happening on-page or (in the character/motivation sense) why. Aside from the sheer number of POVs and nested subplots, in narrative terms it seems like fairly conventional, traditional (if higher powered and more magic-heavy) epic fantasy. Though saying that, I actually cannot remember the last time I actually read another example of the genre (would Witch King count?), so maybe my memory’s a bit warped here.

The book honestly surpassed my expectations going into it – or better to say perhaps that I had worries that proved to be unfounded. I was anxious going in that this would just be 700 pages of exposition and table-setting for the actual story that would unfold over the other nine books. Thankfully, while there was some of that (Tattersail’s whole arc, especially) you very much do get a complete narrative with its own stakes, climax, and conclusion here. If this was a standalone book, I’d be slightly annoyed at all the extraneous tangents, but it would hardly feel like I’d wasted my time. Which is more than you can say for some series these days.

But not to damn with faint praise - reading the book, I do absolutely get at least some of where the reputation comes from. Everything about the world does just oozes with care and attention, the plots cohere and occasionally compel, there are a number of really incredibly memorable set-pieces, and I actually like a solid fraction of the POVs. It’s probably the best execution of epic fantasy I can remember reading.

The ensemble cast is I feel either the greatest strength or most fatal flaw of the book as a reading experience. I always love the cast-of-thousands feel, but when taken to this level I’m sure a lot of people find it alienating and confusing. Admittedly I probably loved it more than usual here because some of the characters most heavily signposted and weighed down with narrative significance as The Protagonists were also just by far the least interesting or compelling parts of the book (I’m sorry but I simply do not care about Whiskeyjack even slightly, even leaving aside how he spent the entire book making things strictly worse and breaking things for unclear benefit to anyone).

The book’s character writing is unfortunately uneven, at least as far as drives and motivations though. Sometimes it’s interesting and subtle, somethings it sensible but a bit baldly stated and tell-don’t-show, and sometimes it feels painfully obvious when revelations and changes of heart occur on the timetable of the plot rather than the reverse (Captain Paran’s sudden-but-total disillusionment with the empire and willingness to risk life and limb for vengeance on his former boss and join an armed rebellion felt especially thinly justified, for such a major character).

Thematically the book is very interested in tyranny and subjugation, though I’m not entirely sure it had anything much to say about them. The portrayal of the Malazan Empire as this horrible world-eating engine of domination is rather significantly undercut by half of the sympathetic POVs we have being agents or officers of it driven to defection/rebellion by a nefarious usurper trying to purge the old guard who made the empire great (I don’t think a single characters says a positive word about the Empress in the entire book? And her only two loyal agents are positioned as the most villainous actual characters in the whole book). It being so prominent gives the history of the setting an appealingly tragic cast, at least.

Anyway yeah, I have quibbles (far too many words spent on characters making vague pronouncements of undescribed plans, some characters/elements introduced in the climax without real foreshadowing or buildup, for a book with this many POVs it comes embarrassingly close to failing the Bechdel Test, etc) but all in all this quite a really fun read. Looking forward to starting the next one next month.

[see-arcane]

How different are Dracula's Demeter and TLVOTD?

Oof. Okay. This is going to hurt me as a staunch THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER believer, but.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is very much the better story. By a wide margin.

Spoilers for The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Dracula's Demeter, and Dracula below

Just speaking on differences, TLVOTD does sadly tuck in that Universal Pictures nonsense about ~the sun hurts vampires~ and sacrifices some of the Captain's coolness and giving the Romanians and the Roma any respect due to the origins of the poor chick who got boxed up as a bloodbag stowaway. But it is still a very very well done Dracula as an Actual Goddamn Monster horror film. Even the close of the movie--yes, with more random action slapped on for cinematic reasons--leaves a door open for one last knife twist as OC Protagonist stalks off into the shadows to hunt Dracula down...

...and possibly accidentally-brilliantly nodding to a certain scene in the novel where the gang enters the Count's Piccadilly house and finds a bowl of bloodied water. RIP.

It's a good scary story and it built something enjoyable out of the Demeter chapter's foundation. Definitely a refreshing departure from the constant sexypire barrage of Draculas.

Dracula's Demeter feels like a con job by comparison.

Specifically because it opens so promisingly. It's very obvious that the author read Dracula front to back and loved what he read! He uses tons of direct lines from it! He has period accurate details dappled throughout for the Demeter's ship and crew! He does an admirable job of building up his own two Requisite Guy and Girl Stowaway Romance OCs so they can do Meaningful Things, just like TLVOTD's duo do! Dracula is sinister and erudite and--credit where it's due--delivers an absolutely nightmarish demise to poor Petrofsky. Holy shit.

With all that, you can forgive the kind of rough editing and the way that (parentheses) and ALL CAPS ACTION WORDS get sprinkled throughout like someone who just peeled their stuff straight from Ao3. It's fine, it's fun. At first.

And then shit goes downhill and straight into Dracufetishland: Naughty Nautical Edition.

Because it turns out that where TLVOTD had Required Girl Character get to be a whole person and not a gossamer-dressed sexy lamp (even having been chomped), DD's Required Girl gets chomped and immediately goes full 'lol my human boyfriend is a loser compared to Count Fuckula,' in a way I might forgive if we were going for some unrelated vampire's story--but no. This is a Dracula story and she's in full Coppola mode.

She gets turned, ogles what's left of her reflection so we can talk about how hard and visible her nips are in a borrowed shirt, gets Dracuhorny, and ditches her boyfriend.

And then, when Earnest Englishman Boyfriend tries to burn the ship and save the day, he gets burned alive, and then Dracula orders Vampire Girlfriend to garrote the poor guy to death while wearing the convenient billowy white dress she brought onboard. And she does. Happily. There's not even a crumb of will or even dissent left in her the way we see with the goddamn Weird Sisters who were with him for centuries and actively tried to steal Jonathan from their master***, or even Bloofer Lady Lucy reaching for Art.

Just a pointless fuck you of a death that added nothing.

Followed by Dracula snapping Vampire Girlfriend's neck, double-kills her, and chucks her into the sea while chuckling about how silly it is to think that he would want a companion, ha ha!

...

Yes, I am also staring at the camera The Office-style, thinking about -checks notes- the Weird Sisters, Jonathan, Lucy, a random ass girl in Piccadilly, Mina...

Oh, that Dracula. Such a loner.

And all that leads to the Captain with the rosary--WHICH ISN'T EVEN HIS--and the last few chapters which are just pure padding about Dracula shoving the Demeter to shore. After getting a cutaway scene to Dracula hopping into Lucy's brain somehow to grope her while Mina watches. For reasons.

The book is, in short, pointless.

The OCs are pointless. Them being on the boat is pointless. Nothing they do, nothing the author has the crew or Dracula do, adds literally anything to what was already in the Demeter section of the book. There is no meat here, only voluptuous gristle.

And the thing is! The infuriating thing is! Because this is a Dracula*** story, it is still technically more respectful than the bulk of other writing and media about Dracula, because so much of it is doubly extra-fetished never-read-the-book never-liked-the-book utter garbage.

So I still have to give it 3/5 stars as a Dracula story. 1.5-2 in isolation.

Anyway, I'm going to go re-watch TLVOTD now

[zhoudadudugongjin]

Hey there I’m getting confused so I just thought I’d ask. You post a lot about NIF, various items with the word Kingdom, and now AA. The thing is a lot of the names seem to be the same and the faces(?)

Are these shows/stories related, if so how, and is there a watch order you’d recommend?? Thanks :)

Oh hello there I'M GLAD YOU ASKED

So.

The Three Kingdoms era was a period of Chinese history that spanned from about the end of the Han dynasty in 189AD to the the year 280AD (at which point China was finally re-unified). It was always a very popular era for the country, which gave rise to a lot of popular heroes. The first well-known person to make a full narrative out of the events was a fellow called Luo Guanzhong, who wrote a ~800k word novel called The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the 14th century, a highly romanticised (lol) version of events which brutalises some historical figures (r.i.p Zhou Yu) and glorfies others (incl. one of China's greatest blorbos, Zhuge Liang).

Here he is, in various forms:

So I started by reading the book, mostly because it's one of the Four Great Classic Chinese Novels, and I wanted to learn a bit more about actual Chinese history and culture instead of just watching endless fantasy.

And then after the book, I discovered that there are unsurprisingly a LOT of adaptations of it! Some are more faithful to the novel, others more faithful to history, and some are just... *War flashbacks from the few episodes I watched of The Three Kingdoms RPG*

As far as I am aware, the two main adaptations that attempted to serialise the whole goddamn story rather than just some parts of it, are the 1994 TV adaptation, and the 2010 remake. I decided to watch the 2010 first because I liked the look of it (and I also found a nice HD download of, with good subtitles).

The Advisors Alliance is kinda like the "bad guy POV" adaptation which focuses solely on the story of Sima Yi, who shows up towards the middle of ROT3K and (SPOILER) basically wins in the end. He's not actually a bad guy, but he's often portrayed as the antagonist because he was on the opposite side to history's greatest blorbo, Zhuge Liang.

It can get a bit confusing because this fellow, Yu Hewei, seems to REALLY LIKE the three kingdoms era because he has so far starred in no less than FOUR different adaptions as various characters. But he decided to really confuse everyone by being Zhuge Liang's beloved liege lord Liu Bei in the 2010 adaptation, as well as Liu Bei's primary sworn enemy Cao Cao in the Advisors Alliance (2017). So yeah, we all like to laugh about that.

Yu Hewei every time he sees someone is making a new ROT3K adaptation:

As for Nirvana in Fire, that's pure fiction and functionally unrelated to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (though perhaps the author took some inspiration, who knows?) But the main female lead is played by the same woman in both AA and NIF, the delightful Liu Tao:

And both shows also share another cast member, Wang Jinsong, who plays "disillusioned old friend of the king/emperor who now wants a divorce".

As for which you want to watch first? Well I guess that's up to you. Nirvana in Fire is a GREAT piece of fiction and is certainly more popular fandom-wise. If you're interested in digging your teeth into some messy, bloody political history full of homoerotic yearning, watch The Three Kingdoms. And AA is kind of like, a cross between the two!

P.S Red Cliff (2008) is another good fun adaptation that focuses on just a small part of the three kingdoms story, and has what I think is personally the best (or at least, fairest and kindest) of all the Zhou Yu portrayals.

[echodoctor]

What I've Been Reading Lately: Pale Lights

It is a truth universally acknowledged that H.P. Lovecraft was a little bitch.

Unlike Rhode Island's least beloved and most thalassophobic son, Pale Lights tells the story of a world where humanity exhibits the only natural response to eldritch horror: continuing to be a bunch of squabbling, scheming motherfuckers who honestly might collectively be more of a problem than the ancient gods of primordial darkness sharing this underground cavern/post-apocalyptic civilization with them.

It is the Fantasy Mediterranean and there are not two square goddamn feet in this giant cave world without something ancient and hungry lurking in it. Fortunately, we have the Watch, professional monster-hunters and tireless guardians of humanity!

Unfortunately, humanity is a perpetual motion machine of bad decision making, and there's always some asshole trying to start a cult to something that eats you.

There are boats! There are ancient magical technologies! There are elephants with a profoundly upsetting amount of heads!

This fascinating and intricate world is shown from two very different perspectives, as the book is split between our pair of protagonists: Angharad Tredegar, an honorable sword lesbian tragically forced into a very non-swords-and-women-related situation, and Tristan Abrascal, who would like you to understand that he's really just a little guy and to please ignore that completely unrelated trail of dead bodies.

Both of them are about to join the Watch or die trying.

The Watch will not be getting a choice in the matter.

The author does a fantastic job at balancing drama and humor, the mysteries and lingering questions are intriguing, and while the story can sometimes go dark places it never feels bleak or pointless.

Characters will try very hard to reach out into the dark and save people. Sometimes they succeed.

And even when they don't, it still matters that they tried.

Book one is fully complete, book two is updating every Friday, and both of them are available for free right here:

Contents include but are not limited to:

-Our Lady of the Sunk Cost Fallacy

-a man so handsome it almost makes up for his personality

-the early adoption of grenade-related technology

-Lucifer's abandoned hermit crabs

-an increasing amount of problems both caused by and solved with poison

-the Fantasy Communist Manifesto

-three to seven rats sharing the trench coat that is divinity

-and grandma

[hamliet]

hello hamliet, love your meta analysis and they always show me a different perspective. Would love to know your opinion on seperating the art from the artist, if it is possible and if so how to go about it?

A few principles:

Not everyone will reach the same conclusion about whether they are able to separate the artist and art, and that's okay. I can't listen to Michael Jackson. I know people who can. I do not judge them.

That said I guarantee you everyone does this separation for something, so don't throw stones.

Being able to separate it doesn't mean someone endorses an issue. I don't think people who listen to MJ are CSA apologists. Learn to separate what art resonates with people from their own personal morals.

Don't deny what the creator has done. I can't deny that JK Rowling is a toxic transphobe who seems dead set on destroying trans' peoples lives and I want her stopped. Or that Charles Dickens tried to have his wife locked up in an insane asylum to cover up his affair.

Don't fight against justice for the creator. Sorry, JK, but I hope Imane Khelif who is not even trans ends up taking you to the cleaners in court. I want her harmful rhetoric to be stopped. It'd be nice if she changed her mind and repented . Take your own advice JK about how remorse is the only way to put a torn soul back together, but it hurts terribly. But I'm not holding my breath and in the meantime transphobia needs to be stopped.

Competing needs are a thing. Sorry, I have never read a series that addresses losing a parent in the same way Harry Potter does. I have read other series' about this. I've never read one that resonates the same way. I love the series but I do acknowledge the author is actively harming people and make efforts to combat transphobia in my own life.

Be sensitive to the fact that people may feel differently. I'm not going to recommend Harry Potter to someone who is transgender or tell someone they absolutely should read it and must separate author from art. They don't have to. There are some things I can't separate.

Don't deny privilege playing a role in what you can separate and what you can't. It does, because we all have different lives and different triggers, and it's good to check privilege. But life is also really short. Live in the tension. Don't try to ignore it or deny it away.

Have those discussions that are uncomfortable.

No ethical consumption exists under capitalism. I've been mostly boycotting Nestle for... thirteen years now? But I don't think everyone who consumes Nestle is intending to say "oh well" to child slaves in Africa. These children matter just as much as trans children, don't they?

Learn everything about something and something about everything, to quote a professor I once had. Care about everything. Focus all your efforts on one or two causes. You can't save the world but you can help save something.

Acknowledge the reality that humans are contradictory. I think HP as a story has the opposite thematic message to a lot of her current rhetoric. Which isn’t to say it’s perfect.

Don’t fall prey to the stupidity of suddenly denying that art is good bc the author or singer is evil. Every time I see ppl trot out the Ursula Leguin quote on HP I lose brain cells because it is empathically clear that people taking that as some kind of prescient insight have never understood Leguin’s books nor HP nor the complexity and contradictoriness of humanity.

Which also isn’t to say it’s wrong to notice problematic elements in said works that may relate to the issue or may be unrelated. Do critique.

[v3nusxsky]

Hello my love, I hope your day is going well. I have another agere prompt idea for you, sweet one.

Idea: Nat x r. Everyone gets bad days, and you were no exception. R smd nat have been together for 4 years now and knew eachother like the back of their hand. And from the moment nat and r woke up this morning, nat new r needed to slip. But, r being the stubborn ding dong she is, didn't listen to Nats advice and tried to carry on throughout her day like nothing was wrong. The key word is tried. The slightl headache r woke up with steady progressed into s full blow migrain by midday. R's head was throbbing and it was like someone was taking a baseball bat to the back of her head. And try as she might, r just couldn't finsh all the tasks she had set out to do today. And as Nat came back to their room on the avengers compound after a full morning of meets with the others, she found r on the sofa all currled and and crying. Instantly Nat new what was wrong, so she ever so gently made her way to r and kneeled down on the floor, coming face to face with her little sweetheart. As soon as r saw Nat she jumped into her arms and cried and was a  blubbering mess. Nat listened to her little love, offering praise and comfort. And after her little one calmed down she picked her up and took them to their bedroom. Changing into comfy clothes, getting her stuffy (Emer) and some colors books and pens. They spent two hours coloring and Nat watching over her little one with a smile. Every so often pulling r in to kiss her on the forehead. After coloring was done they went and snuggled on the bed, with Nat holding r close and running her fingers through r's hair. Telling her how beautiful and sweet and adorable and kind and perfect r was.

The rest I will leave up to you my love. I hope you enjoy it! I love you darling ♥️

Time with my baby

*Authors note~ hopefully there will be a fic of a different kind tomorrow:) nat and Agere melts my heart. Mentions of aunty wands 🥹 bc I'm a sucker for the love*

Trigger warnings~ age regression r little r mama bear Nat auntie Wanda headache crying etc?

Prompt~ see ask^^^^

No one is immune to the curse of a bad day, but for you and your past it felt as if the dark cloud of a bad day always loomed over you. In your four years of relationship you and your lover Natasha had gotten amazingly good at noticing the signs of a bad day, often being the only one who can make the bad day a little brighter. However, today it appeared you had chosen to be rather stubborn. It was clear to Nat that you were having a bad day and in need of slipping. But try as hard as she might, you were unrelenting in your efforts to pretend to be okay  here. So she did all she can do, let you carry on with your day in a hope that you'd come to here when you needed her help.

Only, you didn't. You kept pushing through. Well attempting to push through. What had started as a simple headache by now had turned into a full on throbbing migraine all by noon. You vaguely remember that Natasha had warned you of your need to slip and that it would cause this if you ignored it, and you also remember telling her that you'd be fine and that she was wrong due to not wanting to bother her. Natasha's schedule today was anything short of hectic and you'd be damned if you were to ruin it and make her stay with you because of your own weaknesses.

Your determination to finish all your morning tasks was battling against your throbbing head. Truly you wondered how it was possible to feel a baseball bat battering your head repeatedly but the more you tried to question it the worse your head became so you quickly gave up on that fight and some how tiredly made your way to the sofa in the compound for just a little rest. Really, you weren't going to sleep, you simply didn't have the time but sitting down never hurt anyone, right? Quickly resting your stinging eyes wouldn't hurt you as long as you made sure to be up and busy before anyone returned.

Although you allowed a nap for yourself you couldn't quite seem to drift off due to your raging headache, tears of pain and frustration began to trail down your cheeks as you just closed your eyes to block out the harsh light flickering through the compound. At times when you felt this bad all you could do is regret not listening to Natasha and slipping earlier, and now you are all alone with no one to comfort you, or so you thought.

Wanda returned earlier than Nat due to the fact Tony wanted to modify her suit, so naturally she went to check on you, she was almost like a sister for you, so when she heard your overwhelming loud thoughts she made her way to you. She could see by your thoughts you needed a slip so with a quick text to Nat she set out to help you.

"Pretty girl?" Wanda whispered causing your body to stiffen and struggle to open your eyes, "shhh it's okay y/n, auntie wands knows all bout it pretty, would you like to rest with me little one?" You managed a weak nod and lifted your head ever so slightly. Wanda slipped underneath your head and immediately brought her hands to your temples in an attempt to help you, despite her efforts she wasn't Nat and your little brain knew that. "Want mama" you whined miserably with a pout on your lips as tears trailed down your cheeks once more. "Wans want my mama I hurtys helps me" your whimpers were breaking your witchy friends heart, but thankfully with the half an hour she began to hear Natasha's rushed and panicked thoughts of you. "Ahh little one I spy someone's mama."

Just from the sight of you Natasha would've Instantly knew what was wrong, but having wanda's helpful insight was always a bonus. She knew how much you loved your auntie wands, so the fact you were still crying meant only one thing. You needed her. So it was unsurprising that as soon as Natasha knelt down to face you, you threw yourself at her, loud muffled sobs coming from you as you nuzzled yourself into her neck. Although it wasn't very clear Natasha knew you were apologetic for thinking you would be okay and she could tell by wanda's reaction that you didn't quite want to be in public in this state but had seemingly regressed smaller than ever before. "Ahh honey, it's okay mama has you now okay? You're such a good girl for me y/n, mama is so proud baby. You're okay and you're so safe with me and wands okay? Shall we go lay down ?"

Natasha easily lifted you into her arms with a quiet thank you to Wanda she carried you into your bedroom, immediately setting out to find the most comfortable pair of clothes for you she could. Once changed you settled on the bed with your favourite stuffed animal call Emer. Natasha changing quickly herself and grabbing some colouring supplies before joining you on the bed. Your migraine wouldn't allow for much, just enough colouring to soothe you into a slumber where Natasha wraps you up in her arms and protects her girl from the world. The only place you could ever sleep soundly was here, with her.

Word count~1315

[patemi-pk]

ITALY - Part 4

Let's do now the book-shop editions that have been flooding the book market in recent years. For this section I need to clear things up: before 2014 the italian Disney publisher was Disney itself, through Disney Italia. Disney Italia had two branches: the magazines one and the book-shop one (Disney Libri). When Disney gave up at publishing directly comics here they sold the two branches to two different companies. The magazines were sold to Panini, while the Disney libri line was sold to Giunti. Initially the divide was set and clear, but things eventually became more blurry, as Panini brought Disney magazines to comic shops (which are, from a legal perspective, specialized book-shops) and to make prestige books for that market. In recent years Panini entered the book-shop market proper, so, now, Panini and Giunti both sell comics in book-shops. Generally there are two types of books sold there: prestige editions carefully curated and prestige Vattelapesca, both mainly sold first and foremost to the generic reader, or the generic comic reader, thinking less about the Disney conoisseur who could be interested. But there are cases where it is the opposite, so I'll detail all of those. I'll start with the Panini line, and then shift to Giunti.

Disney Classic (2019-)

This line of books is pretty easy to explain: it presents the italian translations of the IDW Taliaferro collection and the Fantagraphics Barks and Gottfredson collections. The Fantagraphics ones were started by Giunti, who later gave up on the project, which was revived by Panini. While these books initially translated carefully the original articles, as times went by they featured original ones. We don't know why, but some have speculated that a rights issue arose.

I Grandi Maestri Disney (2023-)

Weird series. As Grandi Autori was being rebooted, Panini started publishing some books dedicated to Disney authors for the book-shop market. They were hardcover reprints with articles detailing the life and works of some relevant artist... but mainly people who have already been covered by Grandi Autori. And these aren't prestige editions of Grandi Autori, as this is curated by a different guy (except the Barks book). Two different series with the same goal, albeit for different markets, were seen as a weird publishing choice by Disney fans, but things got even more weird, as Panini started to use this label to publish unrelated books about Disney... places. The identity for this series remain a mystery.

Disney Special Books (2021-)

This is the random folder for Panini books distributed in book-shops. Really random, as we can identify different categories of volumes published under this label. There are the books featuring recent Topolino sagas: Evaporati, Lord Hatequack, the Artibani/Pastrovicchio vintage trilogy, the Enna/A. Pastrovicchio vintage cinema bilogy, Blue Peaks Valley, La ciurma del Sole Nero, Il destino di Paperone, etc. Then there are some prestige books collections of classic Disney comics, some of them have an even more prestige edition in this same line: the regular prestige books have been Messer Papero, Paperino il paladino, Storia e Gloria, Topolino e i grandi esploratori, Victorian Ladies (interestingly, most of them had been featured in the previous Tesori Disney title). The ones who got an even more prestige treatment, oftentimes with recoloring, have been Mickey's Inferno, The Ice Sword (only the first story), La Strada, A Christmas for Shacktown. Then there are new editions of some vintage collections, to attract the older generation of readers, I gave examples here. And then there are random books, whose goal is just to have a specific story or series or theme in a book-shop. And some of these aren't even book-shop titles, as the Korhonen collection or the Donald Duck 90 one or the Once upon a mouse in the future book, as they were sold in limited steel(or wood)boxes.

Letteratura Disney Panini (2023-)

I didn't even know these existed as their own series, as I thought they were part of Disney Special Books, but appearently the parodies books are part of a separate line. And they feature Disney parodies, as it's easy to tell. They have articles and behind the scenes.

PK Omnibus (2023-)

I don't think it's distributed in book-shops, but it seems that it is categorized as such. As of now we have 3 volumes out of 7 for Pkna. If it goes well they could even continue with Pk2 and Pkne. It is curated by Valerio Paccagnella.

And now, let's shift to Giunti.

Le più belle storie Disney (2013-)

One could argue that this is Giunti's flagship title. It was started by Disney Libri and it reprints random stories based on the theme that each volume features. Rarely they publish original stories, as in the Donald's 90th birthday book, or in the ancillary and now deceased title Amici del Pianeta (the last Estrella Marina adventure was published there). Volumes here are targeted to the generic audience and are quite cheap, compared to the Panini books. These are hardcovers.

The Best of le più belle storie Disney (2018-)

This title reprints some stories appeared in the previous series, often mixing more books, and other times they are using original indexes, insted of a compilation of previous volumes. It's weird, I know, but the penultimate one is good. These are softcovers.

Le più belle storie Disney pocket (2022-)

These are cheaper softcover reprints (with less pages, so not really integral reprints) of some books from the main title.

Le più belle storie Disney special (2016-)

This title started as reprints of Disney sagas, but soon it diverged and now it is dedicated to reprint Witch chronologically. And I'm pleased by this choice. These are hardcover volumes.

Disney Comics Collection (2023-)

This series publishes random titles, which may be linked by the fact that they are productions initiated by Disney Global. in fact Giunti used it for Diary of a Wacky Knight (only the first volume as it was later reprinted and complited by Panini), the recent Witch reboot and an adaptation of Nightmare before Christmas.

Capolavori della Letteratura (2016-)

Parodies tend to fare good with the generic reader, so it seems obvious how one of the main publications of Giunti would be one dedicated to them. Having a parody next to the original work may improve sales of both, I think. Recently they are publishing original comic stories and illustrated tales too. I highlighted this trend here.

EXTRA

I Classici della Letteratura (2024-)

And so Giunti is over. I would have finished, but there is another title going on these days. In the tradition of newspapers supplements and newstands collections, RBA is publishing a new edition of the Disney parodies. It's the 4th one, as the first of this kind was published attached to Il Corriere della Sera in 2006. As in every edition, there are some additions of newer stories to the canon. It seems to aim at an international reach, as there is an edition being published in Mexico at the same time. The covers are by Carmen Perez and Tony Fernandez, known mainly for their dutch works.

[mask131]

So you want to know about Oz! (4)

Now that we got the topic of the Oz books out of the way, let's talk about... The MGM musical! The 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz"!

Or rather, let's NOT talk about it. Let's talk about... its alternate continuity.

"Alternate continuity" or "alternate Oz" are terms cherished by Oz fans and scholars, because they allow one to navigate through the maze of Oz adaptations.

I don't want to talk here about the MGM movie per se, because A) there's way too much to say and B) everybody knows it or saw it, so I don't need to explain what it is as thoroughly. But I want to insist on a specific and given point... The 1939 musical COMPLETELY changed the game.

It is an adaptation of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", yes. And it is the most famous and acclaimed Oz adaptations that ever was - to the point it is a landmark of American cinema, and a key part of American popular culture. But, and here's the important part: it is also not at all a faithful adaptation of Baum's novel. It is a very loose adaptation that omitted, reinvented and added MANY, many things - and the problem is that, since the movie is much more famous and well-known than the original novel, it created its own "alternate continuity" of Oz works, completely dissociated from the original novels by Baum (and other authors). These are two different worlds, that start from the same story-point but diverge in many, many ways.

In this post, I want to look at all the works, movies and adaptations that present themselves as prequel or sequels to the MGM movie, and that build together this "alternate Oz continuity" that is the 1939 continuity.

How do you recognize these works, and separate them from the ones more aligned with the old novels? Simple! All you need is to look out for key details that were introduced by the MGM musical!

The Wicked Witch of the West is considered the supreme evil of Oz, and is depicted as having a green skin and being clad in black.

There is only one Good Witch, Glinda Good Witch of the North.

The magical slippers are Ruby Slippers, not Silver Slippers.

Insistence on Oz being a "dream lord" paralleling the real-world

The Wicked Witches are sisters, and not just unrelated allies in wickedness

And other details of the sort. Alright! Ready? Let's go!

Let me begin with something a bit obscure... The 1990 cartoon "The Wizard of Oz".

In 1990, a Wizard of Oz cartoon started airing on television. This animated series proposed itself as the direct sequel to the MGM movie. Dorothy, still with the ruby slippers, returned to the Land of Oz, called by Glinda due to new troubles brewing in Oz: the Wicked Witch of the West was resurrected. The series is mostly about the group of heroes travelling through Oz, encoutering various Oz folks (purely invented for the series) and defeating the various schemes of the Wicked Witch, while trying to catch up with the Wizard of Oz, whose hot air balloon is tormented by the West Wind...

Unfortunately, due to poor ratings, the series was never renewed beyond its first season. Even worse, it just... kind of stopped mid-season. 13 episodes were created (I am not even sure all were aired?) and... the show just stops. No conclusion, no ending, it just stops. Sometimes, the two-part opening episode "The Rescue of the Emerald City" is edited as one short animated movie.

Much more famous: the Disney movie "Return to Oz", from 1985. One of thes "obscure Disney movies", one of those "weird fantasy sequels", one of those "dark 80s children movies"... There's multiple reasons why this piece became a cult-classic today.

It is most notably one of the many instances of Disney trying to create an Oz product in line with the MGM movie, despite not having the rights to do so, and thus playing around with the public domain of the Oz novels. This movie presents itself as a sort-of-sequel to the MGM movie (sort-of because, since they couldn't make an actual sequel, they have things that do not match - like Dorothy's new appearance - and things that do match - the slippers are ruby). In terms of inspiration, it is mostly a retelling of the third Oz novel, "Ozma of Oz", but with various elements taken from the second Oz novel "The Marvelous Land of Oz". For example, one of the villains of the movie is Mombi, the witch from "The Marvelous Land of Oz", but her behavior and appearance are those of Princess Langwidere, a secondary antagonist of "Ozma of Oz".

Another famous attempt by Disney at gaining their ground on the MGM-Oz domain is this movie:

2013's "Oz: The Great and Powerful". Meant to be a prequel to the MGM Wizard of Oz (but stll placing itself in its own continuity, since it couldn't be an ACTUAL prequel), it tells the story of how Oscar (the Wizard) arrived in Oz, and how the power-struggle between the three Ozian witches put itself in place. And it was... it was not a great success. In term of Oz adaptations it is recognized today to be between "mid" and "failure". (It is still VERY pretty though)

Speaking of Oz failures...

Do you remember THIS movie? "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return"? Oh that's one messy story...

"Dorothy's Return" (2013) was an animated movie adapting one of the novels written by Roger S. Baum, L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, called "Dorothy of Oz" (1989). And it did... VERY poorly, despite the huge amount of money and advertisement put in it. But you know what's even funnier? Why does the movie has such a long title? Because "Legends of Oz" was actually a HUGE franchise project. There was this plan to create a big line of animated movies and derived products, of which "Dorothy's Return" would have been just the first step. The movie came out, did poorly... and the entire franchise was canceled. But not without a lawsuit being opened for the shady practices and financial ruins behind this project... Yeah it is QUITE a story!

Still within the domain of modern Oz movies people do not particularly like...

The Tom and Jerry Oz movies!

These animated pieces are part of the modern trend of putting Tom and Jerry in famous movies (there is also the very unfamous Tom and Jerry + Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie). The first movie, "Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz" was basically just Tom and Jerry being present during the MGM movie. And... that was it. Oh yes, they did include the Jitterbug deleted scene but you know. It was just that.

Less known is this movie's direct sequel, "Tom and Jerry Back to Oz". It was less talked about than the first one, despite being at least more original! It is notably a loose adaptation of the third Oz novel, "Ozma of Oz".

More successful and beloved: 2017's "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz".

Just like the 1990s series, it is a children cartoon presenting itself as a direct sequel to the MGM movie, but unlike the 1990s series it was HUGELY successful. It aired for three full seasons, and while it is placed within the MGM continuity, it notably modifies several details so kids could be able to get into the story more (Dorothy is a little girl, the Wicked Witch is replaced by her daughter), and sprinkles several elements from the novels (Ozma, queen of Oz, is a recurring character). It is mostly a... I'll say "slice-of-life" type of show, about Dorothy and her friends just... living in Oz, solving problems if they are, avoiding the various schemes of the Wicked Witch's daughter.

Now that we looked at all the most "recent" incarnations, let's take a look at an older classic: 1972's Journey Back to Oz.

This animated movie is a loose adaptation of the second Oz novel, "The Marvelous Land of Oz", but presented as a sequel to the MGM movie. Tip is replaced by an MGM-looking Dorothy as the protagonist, Mombi is depicted as a green-skinned witch and the cousin of the deceased Wicked Witches of The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy's voice is provided by Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland.

And to conclude it all a movie that... nobody seems to have noticed upon its release?

2000's Lion of Oz. An animated musical movie for children, adapted from Roger S. Baum's novel (yes, still him) "The Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage" (1995) ; but still placing itself, by the characters' design, under the legacy of the MGM movie.

This movie presents the backstory of the Cowardly Lion, who, as it turns out, was a lion Oscar Diggs brought with him to Oz, and who, before meeting Dorothy, underwent a quest to fight the nefarious plans of the Wicked Witch of the East...

[awindandtruthliveblog]

[Wind and Truth: Chapter 135]

Ishar gave the darkness? It was truly something he was doing? But he is also two men. He held some back.

Maya panicking is good character

Hey Adolin, I know this is a stretch, but could the armorspren simply barricade the door?

Adolin seeing through Maya's eyes is so cool. Different bond entirely.

Plate spren? On the deadeye honorspren? Also dead?

Is Adolin, like, bonding Shadesmar or something? Or, the other way around? Where the spren show up on Roshar according to the KoWaT author because everyone thinks of them, the deadeyes are thinking of Adolin?

Ooh. Oaths are made from honor. Promises are personal.

Idk about the given explanation of thay difference, but hey, works for Adolin

"Adolin commanded"

I looked back. Seems Tanavast didn't think BAM's plan would work. But, it would be a temporary peace, and then without Rayse. And with Honor not leaving the Vessel. Would have been better if Tanavast didn't pull a Dalinar. Hell yeah shatter that gem.

Huh. It was the fifth. Abandoning the Fourth entirely, perhaps? Also, unrelated, is Szeth's spirit fully attached yet or

Haha Nale's spren said the word. 12124->Auxiliary. And on purpose. Probably not a good idea for being your own person. Syl's had this whole turmoil thing, maybe she can help.

Nightblood! You really are a great sword :)

Oh dammit Ishar. You literally just make everything worse. You're afraid of Nightblood and you should be.

Wait what's this miscount? Szeth did it too. I'm not gonna figure it out on my own, unless it's Notum. Just gonna let the book tell me.

haha she said ass

Oh no Ishar can hit people with the depression beam

No! Syl too! Fucked up. And Nale!

Also the Honorbearers. Anyway, our characters have all been through this. They'll work it out. It'll just hurt real bad for a minute.

Hm. Do you think the Hierocracy is gonna get more attention later? Is it necessary anymore?

Also the Restitution, nice. The skulls are a little ominous though.

[wot-tidbits]

Brandon Sanderson on his first experience with the process of adaptation as author:

"I have a fun story here. Early in my career, someone optioned the rights to make one of my stories (the Emperor's Soul) into a film. I was ecstatic, as it's not a story that at the time had gotten a lot of attention from Hollywood. I met with the writer, who had a good pedigree, and who seemed extremely excited about the project; turned out, he'd been the one to persuade the production company to go for the option. All seemed really promising.

A year or so later, I read his script and it was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. The character names were, largely, the same, though nothing that happened to them was remotely similar to the story. Emperor's Soul is a small-scale character drama that takes place largely in one room, with discussions of the nature of art between two characters who approach the idea differently.

The screenplay detailed an expansive fantasy epic with a new love interest for the main character (a pirate captain.) They globe-trotted, they fought monsters, they explored a world largely unrelated to mine, save for a few words here and there. It was then that I realized what was going on.

Hollywood doesn't buy spec scripts (original ideas) from screenwriters very often, and they NEVER buy spec scripts that are epic fantasy. Those are too big, too expensive, and too daunting: they are the sorts of stories where the producers and executives need the proof of an established book series to justify the production.

So this writer never had a chance to tell his own epic fantasy story, though he wanted to. Instead, he found a popularish story that nobody had snatched up, and used it as a means to tell the story he'd always wanted to tell, because he'd never otherwise have a chance of getting it made.

I'm convinced this is part of the issue with some of these adaptations; screenwriters and directors are creative, and want to tell their own stories, but it's almost impossible to get those made in things like the fantasy genre unless you're a huge established name like Cameron. I'm not saying they all do this deliberately, as that screenwriter did for my work, but I think it's an unconscious influence. They want to tell their stories, and this is the allowed method, so when given the chance at freedom they go off the rails, and the execs don't know the genre or property well enough to understand why this can lead to disaster."

This quote is made 5 days ago.

I am sure I do not need to spell it out how this quote can very specifically to be connected to one other certain TV fantasy adaptation to the point it explains the situation pretty much verbatim.

SOURCE

[londonfoginacup]

Dude I’m slogging my way through a batch of books from the 1800s trying to figure out if they’re out of copyright or not and that’s TOO HARD so I’m just gonna post about something totally unrelated I’ve been thinking about.

I haven’t actually seen it in this fandom at all but probably because our fandom didn’t exist pre- 2010. But like there’s been a general *idea* circulating recently that fic authors are *too sensitive* now and in the old livejournal/forum days people *begged* for critiques on their fics. They think it’s insane that we, the authors of today, keep telling people to stop being assholes and putting negative comments on fics.

And first of all, I’ve got sort of a “and then everybody clapped” mentality about it. Like I’m just side eyeing anyone who’s like “yeah I wanted everyone to give me HARSH FEEDBACK so I could IMPROVE” as if Hans Christian Andersen himself didn’t lay down in the mud and cry when he read a bad review. It is not in human nature to be like “here is my precious child now everyone give her a good prodding with a knife”. It’s just not.

But ALSO you know what was DIFFERENT about LJ days? The community was SMALLER. I might be more willing to risk some negative critiques if the fandom is just me and, say, 300 other people who are so insanely into said fandom that they’ll track down a fucking livejournal community for it. Fandom is SO accessible now that 1. The Normal People (no offense) are involved and 2. Much YOUNGER people are involved. And that’s a big demographic shift!! (Okay “normal people” needs explained but like. A quick explanation being that fandom used to be for the people who would unabashedly say “squee” and “glomp” and wear cat ears in public. If you are not that level of brazen you may be slightly on the normal side. It’s not bad. It’s just different).

Like I personally do not want a negative critique left by someone who hasn’t figured out that a negative critique isn’t “I didn’t like this plot so the fic sucks”. I TOOK A CLASS ON CRITIQUE IN COLLEGE. I do not expect a high schooler who stumbled upon my fic to be able to leave a helpful negative critique! They’re new to this!

But also like. I’m gonna be real. I don’t care what a stranger thinks of my fic. If they post a negative critique on my fic and I read it and I cry, that’s not me caring about what a stranger thinks, that’s me walking along and being punched in the face by a stranger. I still don’t care what the stranger thinks but I will be getting a restraining order bc I don’t want that to happen.

I *will* sometimes go to my friends whom I *trust* and say “hey this fic is a mess pls help” and they DO they say HELPFUL THINGS. And maybe that’s actually what Fandom Olds are thinking of. Because in a small fandom community you can TRUST people! Like being in a church of 20 where everyone has known everyone for forever versus being in a mega church of thousands. I’m not gonna trust a rando in a mega church. I’m gonna trust Linda from the tiny neighborhood church because she makes the best pizza casserole and she cat sat for me once. Expecting critique in a tiny livejournal community =/= expecting critique in the vast ocean of ao3.

Anyway I’m getting on a tangent. The point is, is authors aren’t *weak* for not wanting negative critique. It’s natural. I don’t know you or your history with fic. I will take comments and compliments because that is fuel in the fire of a writer’s heart. That’s symbiosis. I will not let you prune my writing tree with big loppers because I don’t even know if you’re a tree surgeon, and pruning a tree in the wrong places KILLS IT. DON’T BE A TREE KILLER. Yes this is two completely unrelated metaphors. No im not changing my them.

[nkjemisin]

Things in my ask box

Hi folks. Every so often I get questions from folks that are good, but which I worry might catch them some flak from my other readers or whoever. Sometimes I answer those people privately, but in general I prefer not to do private replies to asks; for one thing, other people might want to know the answer, and for another, I've had a few awkward situations result from doing so (basically just people going parasocial on me), and I think that sort of thing is less likely when it's clear I'm talking to everyone. So, I'm going to handle these awkward asks by just treating them as Q&A questions -- without showing that person's username and where necessary, altering the question in order to protect their identity. I've got a few of these stored up, but just gonna do two this time for length and time reasons. I'll get to the rest later.

Are you a proshipper?

Yep. Feel free to alter your decision re following me on social media now that you've read that answer. But I believe in "don't like, don't read," and that fiction doesn't indicate what an author really believes (because it's fiction), and that there's no subject matter too immoral to explore on its face (everything depends on the execution), so... yep.

2. I love the Broken Earth trilogy, but I have to say, the middle book really didn't go anywhere, literally. Essun stayed in Castrima and Nassun moved around a little more but mostly stayed in the same place too. It killed a lot of the story momentum for me. Why did you decide to do this?

[spoilers for Broken Earth books, though I'll try to minimize them and will put a "read more" before I get there]

Because I felt like it. I'm not saying that defensively, I'm just noting that the answer to pretty much any question you might ask a writer about why they do a particular thing is... because they felt like it. Period full stop. Sorry that wasn't what you wanted to read! It was, however, the story I wanted to tell.

To elaborate... different people have different expectations of trilogies. That's because there are a lot of different ways to handle them, narratively speaking. Sometimes a trilogy is really a group of shared-universe stories taking place in the same world but not necessarily featuring the same characters, and with unrelated plots. Some are telling a single story, but through different POVs and smaller plot arcs that each have their own terminuses; that's what I did with the Inheritance Trilogy, for example. And sometimes, as I did with the Broken Earth books, the author is just telling one big story broken up into three parts. (There are more ways to do a trilogy than this, but let's keep this brief, lol.)

Now, there are a lot of ways to handle this kind of story, but a pattern that most of us are used to is:

Book One: Introduction to the world and important characters and the apparent stakes;

Book Two: Deep dive into the important characters and world, thus giving the audience a reason to care more; and

Book Three: Now we really know the stakes and shit just got real! Now we care what happens to the characters when EVERYTHING! BLOWS!! UP!!!

(I am feeling very silly today, sorry.)

We're familiar with this pattern because we see it all the time, especially in American media. It's a variation on the three-act structure seen in plays and other narratives. It's the basis of our most popular longform stories! The original Star Wars trilogy did it. The Mass Effect trilogy did it. (Andromeda was a separate story, probably meant to be the start of a new trilogy.) The Lord of the Rings did it, prequeled by the Hobbit and mirrored by the Silmarillion. I mentioned those examples because the middle stories of each all exhibit the same traits: a drastic change of pace or location for the protagonists, putting the protagonists through personal character growth arcs, and poking at minutia or seemingly unimportant aspects of the world (which usually end up pretty important before all is said and done).

Now let's answer your question. Spoiler warning again:

In the Broken Earth, we got introduced to the Stillness and Essun in Book One. There was a lot of physical movement in that book as Essun was on the road for most of it (as were other characters), but the plot itself was relatively simple: A bad thing happened to this person and she needs to go somewhere and find someone, to fix it! And then pretty much the entirety of that book's narrative was "Who is this person, why does the bad thing matter, and how close does she get to finding her missing person?" Then in Book Two, we learned a little more about this person, a lot more about her impact on other characters including the one she's been trying to find, and we spent a while learning about orogeny, the Obelisk Gate, and what the stone eaters have been up to. I cheated a little on this; there wasn't room to do a deep dive into the backstory of one pivotal character, but I did finally reveal that this character is the "secret" narrator of the whole trilogy, and made his agenda clearer. I ended up putting his "deep dive" into Book Three instead, where it was particularly relevant to the STUFF! BLOWING!! UP!!!

The reason a lot of readers complain about "Middle Book Syndrome," I suspect, is because of this pattern -- and because of their expectations. A lot of people come at a middle book expecting Book One Redux. That's what you often get in shared-universe trilogies -- Book One over and over again, roughly the same balance of characters vs events each time, in a familiar setting. We're conditioned to want that, I think, from other episodic works. Comic books, for example: When I was working on FAR SECTOR, my editor at the time explained that I needed to try and have a fight or action scene in most of the issues. I hate fight scenes -- sorry! -- so that was hard for me. TV shows -- the ones that aren't themselves telling a single big story over time -- do this, too. I think of it as the "If You Liked X, Then Try... X!" structure. Absolutely nothing wrong with this structure, by the way. I'm just describing it, not throwing shade. I'm a big fan of stories like this myself.

But even for audience members who were expecting the Three-Act Trilogy structure instead, that middle book is going to be jarring. It's supposed to be jarring. The refugees have survived the first book but stopped to dress their wounds and regroup; the adventurers on a quest have reached an impasse and need to find allies and grind to build up their strength; the stalwart hero has just suffered a massive setback and needs to overcome their own doubt or character flaws. A good way to handle this is to take the characters out of their familiar space, and put them somewhere new, or give them a very different kind of challenge. [Mass Effect and LOTR spoilers] Oh, no, Shepard died and their team broke up! What now? Oh, no, Frodo and Sam are on their own trying to get to Mordor! They're just these little guys! How are they gonna make it? If you got overly attached to Shepard team from ME1, or the Fellowship, you're in for a rough ride in these followups. But the jarring nature of this kind of followup is absolutely necessary. An author who does this knows they're going to lose some readers, when they do it. Clearly I almost lost you! But I stand by that choice, because I think it made the whole trilogy better.

Sidebar: I'm old enough to remember the controversy back when "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. Critics haaaaaated that movie! It was too dark, they said; wasted too much time on unimportant stuff. Too much character work, not enough space battles. Then it became clear that audiences loved the second movie even more than the first, precisely because it was darker and because Luke spent so much time futzing around with Yoda and because there were all these girl cooties romantic moments between Leia and Han. A lot of the critics backpedaled at that point, with some of them even acknowledged that they'd been hoping for Star Wars All Over Again and not What Happens Next That Is Not Star Wars. They'd simply brought the wrong expectations to the story.

This is not to say that you have the wrong expectations, Ask-er. Maybe you were expecting exactly that structure, and you just don't like the way I handled it, or you think I did a poor job. Every reader's experience of a story is different, and not everybody's gonna want to pick up everything I throw down. But you asked why did everyone stay in one place, and this is why: to do a deep dive into the character of the Stillness itself. In a story where the setting was as much a "character" as the people in it, I felt it necessary to show enough of that setting for readers to care about it. Would you care, for example, if the town of Brevard (Damaya and Schaffa spend one night there in Book One) got blown off the map in Book Three? Probably not, because I spent no time on any of its citizens or issues. A lot of people cared about Castrima, though, by the end of Book Two.

Whoo, this got long! Hope it answers your question, Ask-er.

[hpowellsmith]

How do you feel when romanceable NPCs get together with each other? I'd love to hear what you do and don't like about it!

I hate it too in general, but I think it depends on how it's presented.

I saw people before mention that when an RO always ends up with another NPC in every route where the MC isn't romancing them, then that just feels like a weird personal insert of the author. I agree.

When a game is all about the choices of the player, then it feels like this completely defeats the whole purpose. It makes the reader feel like the route where they did romance that character didn't matter at all because RO canonically would rather be with NPC. So why make them a romance option in the first place? It's fine if non-romanceable NPCs get together, even better if I get to play matchmaker, but then don't make them romance options for the MC. (I'm looking at you DA Veilguard because boy this pissed me off so much in the game)

I always assume that those authors who force ROs together (without player choice) never expect the players to make several playthroughs where they romance different characters but then lol they don't know their audience at all which is... not a good look.

On the other hand, if the game gives me a choice about it in the form of "hey do you want these two to start dating?" then thank you, now we're talking! I can say no, or I can say yes. Feels like matchmaking again, but it doesn't figuratively erase my past routes where I happened to romance one of those characters, plus, it gives me a cool new choice to make.

I think you did an excellent good job with this in your own books (and sorry this got long).

this is in response to the question:

How do you feel when romanceable NPCs get together with each other? I'd love to hear what you do and don't like about it!

This was great to hear, thank you! (and there's never a need to apologise about writing a lot!)

I want to gently disagree on a couple of things:

First, that authors who write romanceable NPCs getting together don't expect players to play several times. On the contrary, I imagine that a lot of authors who do this know players will play multiple times, and think it's fun to show how different outcomes can unfold in response to different choices from the player. I don't know this for sure, because I'm only one person, but when I've written it, that's part of why (and I always assume people will see things more than once, whatever the scene!)

Secondly, particular relationships feeling "canon" - again speaking only for myself not for other authors, I don't consider any path or relationship canon. Anything that branches is all equally canon or non-canon in my eyes!

All of that said, I totally get what you mean about wanting it to be part of the player/PC's choices - I do think it can be great fun to matchmake and it's something that the player can opt into or out of however they feel. I think as with a lot of things with interactive narrative, introducing choice and agency tends to make things that someone might not enjoy if it was framed in a different way feel better.

Sidenote, it's a bit of a balance working out how to do it without it feeling like characters giving an odd amount of control over their lives to the PC, though! I think I could get away with it in Royal Affairs because the PC is just so fancy, but in other situations it might feel a bit weird.

(I have been thinking a lot about choice and responsiveness in my current outline actually - unrelated to NPC-NPC romances, but about some plot elements/setpieces and twiddling the "player agency" dial in various directions to make things feel fun and impactful)

[unclevladscorner]

On sock puppets, pen names and Freydis Moon

First, lets talk about the difference between a pen name and a sock puppet becauese lots of authors use pen names. This includes me.

I use two names- Uncle Vlad is for my games and erotic short stories on itch. I do not intend to take this name off of itch or Tumblr. I will publish Sword of the Voivode under T.G. Joye. This is mostly because my legal name is used by several entities to publish other work already, and I don't want to be mixed up with unrelated works that are not my own.

Sock puppets are almost exclusively online handles used to harass and manipulate people. Freydis used both- sock puppet accounts often tended to also be pen names for other styles of writing.

While neither of these things is a crime per se, some of those alternate personas engaged in digital brown face. While also not a crime per se, it is in very poor taste.

Here's where things get absolutely FUCKED-

Freydis is an award winning latinex author who is; by all accounts, not a latinex person. Freydis also engaged heavily in multiple forms of bullying, which I have been on the recieving end myself. This bullying largely targeted minorities who are underrepresented in fiction- allowing Freydis to boost themselves as a supposedly marginalized author as they harrassed many trans, non binary, and people of color out of publishing own ownvoices work.

I've seen the effects of Freydis's predatory behavior first hand on transmasculine writers- many were afraid to leave their sphere of influence after becoming attached to Freydis, in spite of the bad behavior. Many more were harrassed off of various platforms- like Discord and Twitter- cutting them off from a small but tight knit community.

I am one of those people who was harassed off of Twitter, and have not made any inroads into the digital writing community b/c I feared backlash from Freydis. I've spent the last two years trying to figure out what I was going to do once I released Sword of the Voivode. While not erotica, I still felt fear to publish on Amazon due to Freydis's past harassment. It is a miracle the book has come this far in the process and I will be publishing it later this year.

Many, many more people were manipulated into believing Freydis with an unwavering, cult-like fervor, making it impossible to even have a conversation about years of abuse and manipulation going on behind the scenes.

The Takeaway-

We need to be better to one another, both by being more supportive of those within our own communities and by questioning our loyalty to any one person. We talk about believing victims, but never in the context of bullying and I think that has to change here and now.

We also need to boost each other like there's no tomorrow. Many ownvoices works have been left languishing in obscurity because Freydis took up so much space in multiple minority communties. Boost those books you felt unsafe to do so before. Boost your own. We need to lift each other up and engage with one another more readily to really undo the hurt done to us.

Be safe, and be kind to one another,

-Your Uncle Vlad.