#bookclub hall of fame

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (20-26 Oct 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Historically Black Phrases: From "I Ain't One of Your Lil' Friends" to "Who All Gon' Be There?" (jarrett hill & Tre'vell Anderson, authors & narrators) - this has been on the go for a bit, as it's more of a 'dip in & out of between podcasts and stuff' type of book - hilarious and interesting af tho

😍 In A Mirrored Room, Talking To Myself (entanglednow) - 65K, steddie ghost hunter!eddie AU - great characterization, solid plot and legit fucking terrifying!

😍 Pro Deo et Patria (One-EyedBossman (desert000rose), SecretFandomStories) - Differently Okay Local Idiots #14 - 66K, stucky no powers D/s AU - Another great slice of life for these two, Steve gets mad at god and they both are trying so hard and being so resolute to not let the ways they are damaged break what they have together. As always, the writing is so precise and careful and expressive and wonderful. I love this series so, so much.

😊 The Limits of Duty (LeeHan) - stucky bookclub pick - 71K, entertaining stucky fantasy au

💖💖 +126K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

The Magic of His Touch (VelvetPaw) - hockey rpf: sid/geno, 32K - - loved the magic worldbuilding

halloween spirit (wearing_tearing) - stranger things: steddie, 2K - - short & cute with a fun cameo from a real horror movie

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Decoding the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Tombstones With Dr. Nicky Nielsen - Session 1: Ancient Egyptian Afterlife & Hieroglyphics

Spirits, Saints, and Souls: The Secret History of Halloween With Lisa Morton - Session 2: Halloween Comes to America

Seas The Day: Life Lessons From Cephalopods With Dr. Sarah McAnulty - Session 2: Flamboyant, Fun, and Freaky: Learning from a cuttlefish’s approach to life

Handsome - Bob the Drag Queen asks about movie musicals

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #10

Only Murders In The Building - s4, e5-9

What We Do In The Shadows - s6, e1-3

Gastronauts - s1, e2

Dr. Odyssey - s1, e5

D20: Misfits & Magic 2 - "K's Anatomy" (s23, e5)

D20: Adventuring Party - "How to Save a Life" (s18, e5)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

The A24 Podcast - A Little Danger with Sebastian Stan & Colman Domingo

The Sporkful - “Super Size Me,” Twenty Years Later

Weekend Edition - Little is known about the striped skunk's smellier, spotted cousin. That's changing

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Bessie Stringfield, Motorcycle Queen of Miami

Weekend Edition - A hidden tomb was found in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra

Big Gay Fiction Podcast - Swordplay, Subterfuge, and Romance with Freya Marske

Death, Sex & Money - Bonus: The New Era of Pop Womanhood

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Aftel Archive of Curious Scents

Pop Culture Happy Hour - We Watch Classic Movies For The First Time

Switched on Pop - The virtuosity of Stevie Wonder

99% Invisible - Spirit Halloween

Vibe Check - That’s the 1, 2 Step

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Woman Of The Hour

NPR's Book of the Day - 'How Women Made Music' reexamines the history of music with women at its center

Short Wave - 'Ghost Genes' Could Help Save The American Red Wolf

Code Switch - Spitting on Andrew Jackson's Grave with Rebecca Nagle

It's Been a Minute - Kylie Minogue's tips for staying on top

⭐ Decoder Ring - The Wrongest Bird in Movie History

Re: Dracula - October 24: Not Yet Reported

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Living on Mars

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The South's Hidden Confessional

Consider This - Emo music gets its flowers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Morning Edition - Why female pop artists have been screaming in their songs a lot lately

Ologies - Confectionology (CANDY) with Susan Benjamin

Wild Card - Seth Meyers likes being the punchline

Re: Dracula - October 25: To His Doom

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Venom: The Last Dance And What's Making Us Happy

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books - 638. Smart Bitches After Dark - Tara interviews Sarah & Amanda

⭐ Today, Explained - Is there a Dr Pepper in the house?

It's Been a Minute - The Billboard Hot 100's doom loop; Plus, a new kind of true crime story

Hit Parade - The Bridge: All That Bono Can’t Leave Behind

Re: Dracula - October 26: Continue Our Watching

The Sam Sanders Show - Roy Wood Jr: Finding Comedy in Political Chaos

Decoder Ring - The Surprising History of Halloween

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - The Voices of… BLUEY!!!

⭐ Imaginary Worlds - Who Gets to Survive: The Final Girls of Horror

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Chill Supermix

Presenting Sabrina Carpenter

Rancid

Kylie Minogue

The Hit List

The Original Albums…Plus [Jim Croce] {2011}

[bluesey-182]

if "cozy horror" is a thing then people vastly misunderstand what it is. the addams family is cozy horror (it was awarded best horror film in 1991 by the horror hall of fame, so yes it is considered horror). scooby doo is cozy horror. the mummy (1999) is cozy horror. but i just saw someone recommending "cozy horror" books and she said things like "the last house on needless street" and "the southern bookclubs guide to slaying vampires". both of those have extremely fucking disturbing content. "cozy horror" is taking horror elements like ghosts and making it into something that isn't terrifying (like scooby doo, or casper the friendly ghost). USUALLY it's making horror into something lighter and more family friendly. but you can't fucking look at adult horror content that is MEANT TO DISTURB and fucking call it "cozy". and i think if you have to preface a "cozy horror" rec with "please check the trigger warnings bc there's a lot" (a disclaimer I've seen only once amongst the dozens or mislabeled "cozy horror" rec videos/posts) then it's not cozy and you should shut the fuck up

also, it could be argued those books are "cozy" bc their endings are (spoiler alert) relatively hopeful, but if you have to wade through deeply unsettling and gruesome and disturbing content to get that ending, then it's STILL not cozy

ultimately the thing that's making me this angry is how irresponsible and harmful it is to call these things cozy. people might take these recs and go into these books completely unprepared for the fact that these are real horror books, and they might face content they weren't prepared for that can do serious damage. horror is (generally) meant to disturb and calling something like that "cozy" is extremely misleading in a way that can and will do real harm.

and i get that different people will have different opinions about what is/isn't cozy but i genuinely think if you're reading horror books with graphic fucking SA and abuse and other content along those lines and saying "this is so cozy" then you should not being making these kinds of recommendations

[separatist-apologist]

MB I'm not sure if you're still doing haters bookclub but boy do I have a suggestion for you. It's called Credence and mama... It's bad.

I didn't even read it, I was listening to a blogger talk about it on YouTube and I swear I was that Lisa Simpson meme of her sitting at the dinner table in shock because I could not believe what I was hearing.

I wasn't sure if I was going to answer this because I did read Credence back when I was first into booktok. I have two things I want to say about this book and then I don't think i want to talk about it again because I hated everything about it.

I'm gonna put it under the cut, though I don't discuss anything triggering. Just in case people like this book and don't want to see me complaining

Dark romance should have some element of romance to it and I feel like the booktok girly writers have forgotten that aspect in their race to write the most outlandish things they can think of for booktok clout. There was no romance among any of the men in this book and if I'm asking myself, "what do they like about her?" and the only answer is her vagina, thats...not romance. Or really even escapist fantasy because you can find that literally everywhere in real life.

The writing was predictably atrocious that even if it had been good plot wise, it's just miserable to read.

I don't think that the kind of books you read say something about you personally. I think I could have liked a book with this premise if it had been done well. the problem is was not done well and forwent anything romantic in favor of "spice" but the spice was also off-putting most of the time.

Dark romance is dark for a reason, the themes are going to be uncomfortable and its not for everyone, I acknowledge that. I still think you as an author have some responsibility to like...care? About what you're writing? To develop your characters in a way that makes ME care about them so when they DO cross a line, I am still with them.

Penelope Douglass didn't bother with any of that and in some ways the book made me feel like this was fanfiction in the way that you CAN skip over characterization at times and throw them into scenarios because the readers already have familiarity with these people and therefor relate to them. Except here I had 0 knowledge of these people and since she didn't bother giving anyone a personality outside of being unbelievably stupid/a horny old man, when they did foul and fucked up shit I was like, put them all in jail.

Credence will always have a place in haters bookclub hall of fame because it was one of the first books that made me think maybe booktok is not reading anything interesting or well-written (though it took a few more of their recommendations before I learned my lesson).

[resbang-bookclub]

Resbang Book Club Hall of Fame 2017!

Hello hello Resbang Book Club participants! Here’s the fancy list of the fantastic folks who went above and beyond in this year’s Book Club season. Great job to all participants who submitted... and see you next year!

2017 Resbang Book Club Grand Champion: @jaded-envy with 15 Bookclub Resbangs reviewed, yahoo!!!!!!!

10+ fics reviewed: @silly-twin-stars !!!

5+ fics reviewed: @sahdah, @sleepdeprivedfemale & @innocentcinnamonbun !!!

Completed the challenge (all 5 assigned fics reviewed): @sandmancircus, @addude, @blinkfl0yd, @ricentipede & @thebrightestfell. Heck yeah!

Hall of Fame gang, come check out our Discord server for a special final surprise! ;)

Thanks for a great Bookclub season, everybody!!!

Love, The Mods ❤️

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Sunset Swerve - Part 5

Pairing: Luke x OC

Word Count: 4.9k

Warnings: swearing, partial nudity (the mooning scene in episode 4)

A/N: With this chapter we are all the way through with episode 4 and partially into episode 5! This is a longer one again but I really wanted to end this chapter where I did so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, on an entirely unrelated note: Happy Ace/Aro Awareness Week! As always, please let me know what you think and send me a message if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

Part 4  Masterlist

___

“I got the music mm mm mm,” Julie hummed, dancing slightly to the music pumping through her headphones as she made her way to her locker.

Jordan grinned, following behind her. She’d been bored that morning and she and Luke had gotten in another meaningless spat so she had decided to find Julie at school. She probably should’ve made her presence known earlier but Julie had been in such a zone that she didn’t want to interrupt; she really did have the music.

She didn’t say anything until Flynn arrived.

“It’s nice to see you back to your weirdo self,” the black girl said sincerely and Julie laughed.

“Thanks?” Julie laughed and Flynn grinned.

“How’s the band? Still hot? Still talented?” Flynn asked before leaning in closer and whispering, “Still dead?”

“Good, yes, yes, and rude!” Jordan answered, gasping dramatically at the last one and Julie jumped in surprise, whirling around to face the dark-haired ghost who was leaning against the neighboring locker.

“What are you doing here?” She hissed and Flynn’s eyes widened.

“Wait are they here?!” Flynn gasped, sounding slightly embarrassed by her previous statement.

“Ohh, right, it looks like you’re talking to no one, sorry.” Jordan apologized, moving to stand between Julie and Flynn, forming a sort of half-circle around the open locker.

“It’s just Jordan,” Julie explained to her friend and she nodded.

“Hey Jordan!” She waved at the now empty space that the ghost had been in and Julie and Jordan laughed.

“She’s over here,” Julie explained, pointing to what appeared to be empty air between them. “Anyway, the band are amazing. Luke, Jordan, and I spent the whole weekend writing songs.”

“Hell yeah we did!” Jordan cheered.

“Do you wanna hear them?” Julie asked, laughing at her ghostly friend.

“Duh!” Flynn gasped excitedly and the girls exchanged grins.

Jordan followed them through the halls to the band room, trying to get used to the layout of the school. When they arrived the room was empty and Julie made a beeline for the piano bench, Flynn leaning on the opposite side. Jordan opted to sit on the piano, something she hadn’t been allowed to do when alive because of the fragility of the instrument, however, as a ghost she was made of air and therefore weighed nothing.

“Ooh, please play Great!” Jordan begged, settling herself in a cross-legged position as Julie lifted the piano cover.

Julie laughed but complied, “Okay, so here’s a bit of the chorus of the first song we wrote,” She told Flynn before beginning the piano part.

“Cause we’re standing on the edge of great,” she belted and Jordan jumped in with some back-up vocals.

“On the edge of great” Flynn jumped in surprise when Jordan materialized on the piano in front of her. Jordan grinned and sent a wink to the girl before continuing to belt alongside Julie.

“Great,”

“On the edge of great,”

“Great,”

“On the edge of great,”

“Cause we’re standing on the edge of great,” they harmonized the last line together.

“Wow! I like it!” Flynn complimented and Jordan beamed. “Definite Gaga vibes.”

“Thanks!” Julie smiled and Jordan frowned, confused.

She leaned back on the piano to whisper to Julie, “What’s ‘Gaga’?”

Julie laughed. “She’s a famous singer.”

“You don’t know who Gaga is?” Flynn gasped and Jordan shrugged.

“I died in ’95, dude.”

“We’ll educate you.” She stated and Julie laughed but nodded.

“I think we have an anthem with this next one, it was something my mom and I were working on.”  Flynn gave her a sympathetic smile. “Luke and I finished it. Check it out.”

“And it’s one, two, three, four times that I tried for one more night, light a fire in my eyes,” Julie sang and Jordan came in on the harmonies in the last line, “I’m going out of my mind.”

“That’s… That’s beautiful,” Flynn said sincerely and Jordan nodded in agreement before vanishing once more as the performance was over. “And my girl’s got a crush and his name is Luke.”

Jordan just about did a spit take without any water at the revelation.

“What! No!” Julie protested, staring eyes-wide at Jordan as if trying to convince her. “Luke’s a ghost.”

“A cute ghost.” Jordan snapped her fingers and pointed at Flynn for the point.

“With a perfect smile,” Julie admitted and Jordan snorted.

“Ha! I knew it!” Flynn cheered. “Just remember he’s made of air.”

“Cute air,” Julie shrugged.

“Just… don’t get hurt,” Flynn warned and Jordan’s heart warmed at the girls’ friendship.

Julie nodded to reassure her before turning to Jordan, with a look of concern. “Is that okay?”

“What? That you have a crush on Luke?” Jordan repeated, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed in confusion. “Just because I hate him doesn’t mean everyone has too!”

“I’m serious Jordan,” Julie insisted and Jordan frowned, “There’s a thin line between love and hate.”

“And it is a line I am careful not to cross it.” Jordan was firm and Julie shrugged, dropping it.

She shook her head amusedly at the girl before turning back to Flynn and filling her in.

“Anyway, it’s obvious you guys have a connection,” Flynn spoke. “Everybody’s been wondering when you’re playing again.”

“Play again? We don’t even have anything planned. We’ve just been focused on writing songs!” Julie protested but Flynn grinned conspiratorially.

“Luckily, your new market team has your back,” she smirked and Jordan’s jaw dropped as she connected the dots.

“Flynn, you didn’t!” She gasped, however, Julie was still confused.

“We don’t have a marketing team.”

“You do now,” Flynn grinned, pulling a flyer out of her backpack and handing it across the piano to Julie.

Jordan scooted over the top of the piano to get a look at the flyer, having to lean over and read it upside down.

“Julie and her Hologram Band?” Julie read aloud and Jordan grinned.

“Cute,” she muttered.

“You’re playing the school dance tonight!”

“Our first real gig! Flynn you’re a goddess!” Jordan squealed, jumping up to go squeeze the girl, her excitement waning only slightly when her arms just went right through the living girl. “I gotta go tell the guys!”

___

“We have our first gig!” She shouted when she materialized in the garage.

“We have a gig?” Reggie gasped, jumping up from his chair excitedly.

“Yes!!” Jordan yelled and before she knew it they were both yelling, holding hands, and jumping up and down in the middle of the garage.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Luke asked tiredly, interrupting them as he stepped through the garage door.

“We have a gig!” Reggie told him, the pair having stopped jumping to face the other ghost.

“We have a gig?” Luke’s jaw dropped.

“Yes!!” Jordan and Reggie answered in unison, the two ghosts nearly buzzing in excitement.

“We have a gig!” He shouted, finally getting on their level of excitement, and Reggie and Jordan echoed his words in their own shouts.

All of a sudden the three were bouncing around and screaming again, Jordan having jumped up onto the coffee table to scream the news to the sky.

“We need to practice!” She gasped, and the shouting stopped. Reggie pointed at her to affirm her statement and nodded.

“Let’s get to it. There are some Sunset Curve songs we can play,” Luke said, sliding on his guitar and immediately getting to business.

“I can pick up the missing rhythm guitar part,” Jordan offered, and Luke tossed her his music journal.

“First earmarked page,” he instructed and she nodded, flipping it open and looking it over.

___

“A school dance!” Luke repeated in shock before turning to Jordan, “You didn’t tell us it was a school dance.”

“Oh get off your high horse, Mr. We Play Bookclubs,” Jordan rolled her eyes and Julie nodded.

“Jordan’s right,” Julie agreed and the ghost in question smirked triumphantly. “This’ll be a good opportunity to build a following.”

“Yeah, we need to play whenever we can, wherever we can,” Reggie added.

“You guys are right,” Luke nodded. “Let’s rock those kids’ faces off, then play the clubs.”

“And then record a single that gets a billion streams,” Julie continued.

“I don’t know what that means but hopefully it gets us a manager and a tour.”

“And then we release a bunch of hit albums.”

“Put out a country album that does surprisingly well,” Reggie chimed in and the others turned to look at him funny. “What? I shred on the banjo.”

“Ooh! I play the fiddle!” Jordan gasped excitedly and Reggie grinned at her.

“And before you know it, we’re being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” Luke brushed past, sending them a judgmental look.

“Ooh! But one of us isn’t there,” Reggie said, “Because we had a blowout in 2032! My money’s on Jordan, just cause… y’know.” He shrugged awkwardly.

“Nah, that’s valid,” Jordan brushed him off with a shrug of her own.

“So what’re we waiting for?” Luke asked, filling the silence that had fallen upon them after Reggie’s comment. “Let’s get to work!”

“Uh, where’s Alex?” Julie asked, pointing out the blond ghost’s absence.

“Oh, he’s with his ghost friend,” Reggie answered and Jordan wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Alright, well, I guess we can get started without him?” Julie said, unsure but the ghosts all grabbed their instruments.

The three ghosts gathered around Julie’s keyboard, Luke counting them off into the first song. Even without their drummer, it was a productive practice, Stand Tall and Great were really starting to shape up. They’d been running through the former when Alex walked through the door.

“Hey Alex!” Jordan greeted and Reggie waved.

“Where you been man?” Luke asked, skipping the greeting altogether. “We need to start practicing!”

“For what?”

As if she had heard Alex’s question, though they all knew that was impossible, Flynn walked in.

“Dance news!” She exclaimed, “I don’t have a date. But, I don’t care because I’m so psyched to see you perform!”

“Aw, we’re playing a school dance?” Alex whined.

“What do you guys have against school dances?” Jordan asked, equal parts exasperated and curious. “Is it cause you’re all dropouts or…?”

Luke glared at her before explaining to Alex, “Dances are how we get a following nowadays.”

“Yeah, c’mon Alex, get with the program,” Julie teased and Flynn lit up.

“The guys are here?” Flynn asked, eyes wide.

“And Jordan!” Reggie added, pouting on her behalf.

“It’s 2020, ‘guys’ is a non-gendered term now,” Jordan informed and Reggie nodded, his mouth going to an ‘O’ shape and Alex nodded affirmatively.

“Aw, Jordan, you’re one of the guys now,” Luke said sarcastically, insincerity dripping from his tone, and Jordan stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyway, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?”

Apparently, they couldn’t start working. In addition to the previous distractions, Julie’s little brother walked in to make an attempt on their lives. The boy threw salt around the room, claiming it burnt the souls of ghosts. Luckily he was a hack or they might’ve lost Alex. With Flynn gone to distract Carlos in the house, Jordan thought they might actually get to rehearse for their first official gig.

“Alright, let’s get back to it,” Julie said and Jordan nodded, moving back to her spot in the setup but Luke stalled them again.

“Yeah but remind me later, we have some Sunset Curve songs we want to show you.”

“Ooh, show me now!” Julie insisted and Luke grinned at the attention and interest.

Oh, that crush is gonna go right to his head, Jordan thought to herself with a sigh.

“‘Home is Where My Horse Is,’” Luke read as he pulled a piece of music out of his song notebook, “Reggie, I told you to stop putting your country songs in my journal.”

“Hey, that was a gift!” Reggie protested.

“Yes, it was,” Jordan affirmed, snatching the song out of Luke’s hand and examining it herself, “Ooh, we are gonna work on this, buddy.”

Reggie brightened and Luke rolled his eyes, handing the journal to Julie with instructions to check out the dog eared pages.

“Who’s Emily?” She asked as she flipped through the pages.

The ghost band froze while Luke lunged for the notebook. “That one’s not dog-eared!”

“‘If you could only know, I’d never let you go,’” she read teasingly completely misreading the song and the situation, “I didn’t know you were such a romantic, Luke.”

“He’s not,” Alex piped up, and Jordan felt simultaneously more and less stiff. “That one’s about-“

“No one.” Luke cut him off harshly and the whole subject was dropped immediately but the thick tension still remained. “If you go to the next page, I got a tune with a killer beat.”

He stepped away from the keyboard and picked his guitar back up and started playing the main riff.

“So you wanna sample.” Julie shrugged.

“Sample?” Luke asked, and the group gathered around the keyboard again.

“Yeah, sample someone else’s music,” Julie explained. “My mom and I used to sing that song at the top of our lungs in the car, it’s a classic Trevor Wilson song.”

“Uh, no,” Luke said. “It’s a classic our song.”

“Nuh-uh, I don’t mix up songs,” Julie insisted, pulling up her laptop. “I used to be best friends with his daughter, I know his music. Here, look, his first album had a bunch of hits but his more recent stuff isn’t as good.”

Julie turned her computer around and the ghosts froze, all of them recognizing the photo covering half the screen.

“Isn’t that…” Jordan whispered and the guys nodded.

“That’s Bobby,” Luke confirmed and Julie huffed.

“I just told you his name is Trevor Wilson.”

“Yeah, that’s great, then he changed it, okay?” Alex said, bouncing on the balls of his feet lightly as his anxiety kicked up. “Cause that’s Bobby, he was our rhythm guitarist.”

“Trevor Wilson was in your band?” Julie said skeptically but she was ignored by the guys who were still obsessing over their old bandmate.

“He looks like a substitute teacher,” Alex spat and Jordan couldn’t help the laugh she let out.

The guys all turned to glare at her for making light of this situation and she apologized quickly, looking down at her shoes.

“What’re his hits?” Luke finally asked quietly and Julie began to list them off, each one a Sunset Curve song.

Luke made his way to the back of the garage, throwing darts aggressively at the dartboard hanging on the wall. Jordan looked between the boys nervously as they coped with this news.

“Wait, this is… this is freaking me out,” Julie spoke, having a crisis of her own. “Trevor’s songs are kinda big to me. He introduced me to rock.”

“Yeah, Luke introduced you to rock,” Jordan sighed.

“Back when Carrie and I were friends, the three of us used to talk about music all the time,” Julie spoke, readdressing the guys, “He never mentioned you guys.”

“And that’s unbelievable!” Luke protested and everyone nodded. “I mean, he takes all the credit and he doesn’t even mention us?”

“Well, he was always kind of a self-righteous asshole,” Jordan pointed out.

“He’s rich too,” Julie informed them sadly, pulling up another set of pictures on her laptop. “He even has a helicopter with his face on it.”

The ghosts all gravitated back to the computer perched on the keyboard to see the photo. It was really an outrageous use of money, Jordan thought, to put your face on a helicopter. It was disgusting, it didn’t even look good.

“Where does he live?” Luke asked, bouncing slightly due to the magnitude of his anger.

“Above the beach in Malibu,” Julie shared defeatedly and the three boys shared a look before vanishing.

“Can you look up any of my songs?” Jordan asked quietly, wondering what had happened to her own legacy.

The ghost rattled them off, none of them showing up in the search and she breathed out a sigh of relief, though she also was a little upset. She was grateful that none of her previous bandmates had betrayed her posthumously like Bobby had, but she could help but be sad that Apollo 81 didn’t go on to fame without her. Instead, it appeared that the band broke up completely after her death.

“Alright, well, at least there’s that,” she muttered softly before poofing out herself.

____

“Moss, why are you here?” Luke spat when she appeared and she rolled her eyes.

“I’ve grown soft in death,” she sighed dramatically, leaning against the glass banister. “You all seem to have forgotten that I didn’t just hate your band out of principle. That asshole,” she jerked her thumb towards the top of the stairs where ‘Trevor’ had just disappeared, “Was always a condescending dick to me. And besides, I thought bandmates had each other’s backs, right?”

Luke narrowed his eyes but Alex and Reggie mustered up genuine smiles for the girl.

“Right,” Luke needed, “Welcome aboard, Moss. Now let’s go haunt his stealing ass.”

Jordan and Reggie whooped as they followed Luke up the stairs.

“Wait!” Alex called and they all stopped to peer at him, “It’s just my first time haunting someone, I wanna make it special.”

They all gave him various looks of shock and disbelief, each clearly portraying how weird of a statement that was.

“Yeah, I hear it,” Alex sighed, answering their unspoken questions. “Okay…”

They found Bobby in probably one of the most rich-white-guy rooms Jordan had ever seen. He was meditating, just like he had told Carrie he would be but the practice and the room reeked of Hollywood’s insincere obsession with Eastern cultures. This was going to be way too much fun, Jordan thought before the ‘haunting” began. They caused all kinds of chaos: blowing out candles, starting the CD player and the shower, and topping it all off with Reggie writing “Hello Bobby” in the fog on the bathroom mirror and Alex trapping him in the room. They followed the grown man as he ran down the stairs and into his helicopter.

“Quick! Let’s moon him before he gets away!” Reggie suggested as the watched the chopper take off from the pool deck.

Jordan rolled her eyes while Luke grinned, both boys already reaching for their belt buckles.

“He can’t see us,” Alex protested and Luke laughed.

“Oh, it’s not for him bro,” he explained and Alex shrugged. “C’mon Moss, drop trou.”

“Oh, absolutely not.” She said, crossing her arms.

“What happened to bandmates having each other’s backs?” He dared, throwing her words back at her.

She narrowed her eyes but reached for the button of her pants, never one to back down from a challenge, especially not one from Luke Patterson. They all laughed as they wiggled their bare asses at the helicopter but the moment ended quickly as Julie stalked outside towards them.  

“So, did you guys have fun in there?” Julie asked rhetorically, crossing her arms angrily as the ghosts pulled their pants back into place.

“Okay, you would’ve done the exact same thing if he stole all your songs,” Luke protested, matching her outrage.

“But you have new songs, with me, and with Jordan,” Julie argued. “The best way to get back at him is for this band to do great. And for this band to do great we need to play dances, then clubs,”

“And then tours, I know,” Luke finished apologetically.

“I’ll see you guys at the school,” Julie sighed, “We go on at nine. Please don’t be late, there’s gonna be a lot of people there.”

“We got it, alright? Don’t worry,” Alex reassured and Julie nodded, heading back inside the house.

“I don’t care what Julie says, I’m glad we scared Bobby,” Reggie spoke up after a moment. “In fact, I wish we had done more. Maybe written ‘thief’ across his forehead!”

“And Alex, how did you shut the door?” Luke asked, amazed. “Yesterday you could barely open the garage door!”

“Learned that from your new friend Willie, didn’t you?” Reggie theorized and he and Jordan shared a knowing look.

“Yeah, he taught me some things and we screamed in a museum,” Alex shared gleefully, though a little shy, and Jordan awed at how cute it was. “…Long story,” he covered, not wanting to explain it.

“You think he has any other tricks up his sleeve?” Luke asked.

“Only one way to find out,” he shrugged.

When they reappeared they were in a park by the beach, not far from where two skateboarders were being ticketed.

“Hey, what’s up man!” Willie called as he boarded over, “You brought friends.”

“Yeah, these are my bandmates, Luke, Reggie, and Jordan,” Alex introduced and Willie alternated between bumping fists and forearms with the other ghosts.

“Cool, I’m Wille,” The long-haired ghost introduced himself, “So, did you guys come to learn some tricks?”

With a small flick of his wrist Willie set off the sirens on the cop vehicles, and the skaters scattered as the officers panicked. Just as easy as he turned them on, Willie turned them back off and they watched as the cops huffed, realizing the skaters were long gone.

“Do it again! Do it again!” Reggie cheered, slapping Jordan’s arm excitedly.

“Actually, we were thinking something a little bigger,” Luke said, sliding slightly in front of Reggie. “An old bandmate stole our songs and we wanna confront him.”

“Ah. Is this old bandmate of yours a lifer?” Willie asked and the other ghosts gave him a confused look at the terminology.

“Oh! ‘Lifer’ is fancy ghost slang for the living,” Alex chimed in and realization dawned on his bandmates’ faces and Reggie let out a quiet ‘ohhh.’

“Then yeah, he’s a lifer,” Reggie said, adding extra emphasis to the new term.

Willie’s face fell at the information.

“I’m sorry guys, even I don’t have the ability to make ghosts visible.”

The guys’ faces fell and Luke shoved his hands in his pockets, turning away from the group.

Jordan sighed defeatedly, “So much for that.”

“There is a ghost who might be able to help,” Wille finally said, obviously uncomfortable with their sadness. “I’ll take you to him. Meet me where Alex and I met at eight o’clock.”

The guys all nodded and Jordan smiled thankfully. Though she didn’t have an uncontrollable need to get revenge on Bobby, she couldn’t handle the guys’ moping over it.  

Willie poofed away not long after and the rest of the ghosts returned to the garage.

“We’ll only have an hour,” Jordan warned as they got ready for the night. “Remember, Julie said we go on at nine.”

She was currently sitting on the floor in front of the couch braiding her hair into a half-up style while the guys lounged around the garage, already changed into their outfits for the performance.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Luke said, leaning over to grab the eyeliner she had left on the coffee table. “If we even make it on time.”

She had managed to find some of her own belongings in the loft including some makeup, however, it had long since expired so Julie lent her some of her own. They figured it would be safe to share the products as it’s hard to get diseases from someone made of air and vice versa.

Jordan rolled her eyes at the comment, tying a small elastic around the second braid. “There. Finished and it’s only seven-thirty.”

“It only took you an hour,” Luke scoffed and Jordan rolled her eyes.

The hour had been spent picking out an outfit (she had opted to stick with her usual look of a cropped shirt, mom jeans, converse, and a flannel tied around her waist), borrowing makeup from Julie, applying said makeup, and then doing her hair. It was an hour reasonably spent, she thought, especially with the constant distractions from the ghost boys.

“I haven’t done makeup in twenty-five years,” Jordan shot back, “Excuse me if I’m a little rusty.”

She was. It had taken her several attempts to get the winged eyeliner down when she used to be able to get them reasonably symmetrical in one go while alive. She’d nearly thrown the pen across the room in her frustrations but remembered it was Julie’s so she couldn’t lose it.

“Whatever,” Luke said, sitting up from his position lounging across the couch and swinging his legs over to rest next to where Jordan was sitting. “So what’re we doing for the next half hour?”

Jordan made a show of picking up her book, waving it at the boy slightly to answer his question before opening it to pick up where she’d last left off. Luke groaned, reaching over to grab the book from her hands.

“Nuh-uh. Not cool, Patterson. Give it back.” Jordan scolded, reaching out for the book.

“Why can’t you do something more interesting,” While Luke was busy whining Jordan grabbed her book back from his hands.  

“Reading is interesting, though I know you wouldn’t know since you can’t read.”

“I can read!”

“Oh, my bad,” She feigned an apology, “I’ve just never seen you do it.”

“I read music all the time!”

Jordan just blinked at him for a moment.

“Yes, obviously, Luke.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m aware that you can read. Now can you let me read, please?”

Luke grumbled something under his breath that Jordan couldn’t be bothered to try to decipher before falling silent. Jordan smirked slightly at her victory and began reading but after a few minutes, she felt the couch shift behind her and could suddenly feel the ghost boy breathing on her neck.

“Do you mind?” She asked, turning to glare at him but nearly smashing their heads together, not realizing how close he was.

“Nope,” he said cheekily, popping the ‘p’ sound and continuing to read over her shoulder, “Who’s Annabeth?”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Jordan muttered exasperatedly.

“She seems kind of stuck-up.”

“Patterson I swear if you don’t give me some space I will find a way to kill you again and it will be painful.”

“I’m just trying to read your book,” he pouted. “It seems interesting.”

“You can have it when I’m done,” she compromised. “You’re missing the whole beginning anyway.”

This seemed to be a good enough answer for the boy as he nodded before poofing to where Reggie and Alex were hanging out in the back of the garage. They stayed like that for the last half hour, no major spats between Luke and Jordan which was quite impressive given their track record, and Jordan was able to get through a couple chapters of her book. With the ability to get lost in her book, it felt like hardly any time had passed before they were all gathering around Alex to go meet Willie.

They didn’t stay on the Walk of Fame for long, Willie almost immediately teleporting them to the interior of one of the classiest looking buildings Jordan had ever seen. Multiple chandeliers hung from the ballroom ceiling and it seemed like nearly everything was lined with gold.

“I gotta go make sure everything’s cool, but I’ll be right back,” Willie said, heading down one of the hallways and leaving the four ghosts to look around.

“The Hollywood Ghost Club,” Jordan read a nearby plaque out loud.

“This place is creepy,” Reggie said, scrunching up his nose.

“Well, so are we,” Alex chimed in and they all leaned over the balcony railing, overlooking the ballroom.

It was packed with well-dressed people, all of them older than the teenage ghosts. Jordan looked down at her own outfit, fiddling with the sleeve of her green flannel.

“I think we’re a little overdressed,” Luke smirked, nudging Jordan with his elbow and she rolled her eyes but she felt comforted by his words.

Just then Willie reappeared, leading them down the grand staircase and into the ballroom with a dramatic flourish of his hand.

“Just so you know, we only have until nine. We’ve got a gig with Julie,” Alex explained and Willie nodded.

“No worries,” he reassured.

Willie was just explaining how the people in attendance were all lifers who had paid a lot for a glimpse at the afterlife when a sharply dressed man approached, offering to walk them to their table. They had front row seats for the stage and Jordan could tell they were all excited to see whatever performance would be occurring. Jordan also noticed the large clock hanging over the stage that read 8:30.

“Hey guys, I’m gonna head to the school to help Julie set up,” Jordan said, patting the back of the chair that was meant for her as the rest of the group sat down.

“You haven’t even seen the show,” Willie protested and Jordan smiled apologetically.

“What about confronting Bobby?” Luke asked, face hardened at the thought of the traitorous former bandmate.

“You guys can teach me everything you learn, right?” She said, smiling reassuringly at the boys. “Besides, I don’t want Julie sitting alone before our first gig, she’s probably super nervous.”

The boys nodded thoughtfully at that.

“Right. Don’t forget, we go on at nine.” Jordan said before poofing out.

She reappeared at the school. Julie was sitting backstage with a piece of equipment Jordan didn’t recognize.

“Jordan! You’re here!” Julie exclaimed and the ghost girl grinned. “Where are the guys?”

“I wanted to get here a little early, figured you could use the company,” she answered, trying to reassure the clearly nervous girl.

“They’ll be here though, they’re just wrapping something up with Alex’s ghost friend.”

Part 6

___

Taglist: @oopsiedoopsie23 @meangirlsx @angryknightstatesmantrash @onlygetaway @deni-gonzalez @advicefromnixxxx 

[hisoknen]

Hi there, Raph! You’ve been chosen as one of the first new recruits for the BNHA Bookclub!

This is a discord server community born with creators in mind. We have channels dedicated to writing resources, beta readers, commissions, and more! There are also channels for you to chat with some of the other Pro Heroes - such as Eraserhead, Red Riot, and Chargebolt! There will be non-obligatory events that you can participate in weekly and seasonally, which can earn you hero points and club coin. As you rack up hero points, you’ll move up on our Hero Hall of Fame, and club coins can be cashed in for prizes such as personalized fanart or a one shot, or even some BNHA merch! 

As always, this is meant to be a fun place for writers to explore their gifts - even if you don’t want to participate in events, it’s a good way to connect with other writers and to learn from them! If you’re still interested, then publish this post to let others know about our fun new project!

We look forward to seeing you in the server, or reblogging your amazing content! And, remember - go beyond, Plus Ultra!

~ BNHA Bookclub Moderator Team

[bnhabadass]

BNHA Book Club

Hi there, Nora! We want to invite you to the server/community, but it looks like your submissions aren't open. Please see the link here for your acceptance letter! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ICYiXFqhyuOLxjBcXoy2prg0eGsZKnDk/view?usp=sharing

You've been chosen as one of the first new recruits for the BNHA Bookclub!  This is a discord server community born with creators in mind. We have channels dedicated to writing resources, beta readers, commissions, and more! There are also channels for you to chat with some of the other Pro Heroes - such as Eraserhead, Red Riot, and Chargebolt! There will be non-obligatory events that you can participate in weekly and seasonally, which can earn you hero points and club coin. As you rack up hero points, you'll move up on our Hero Hall of Fame, and club coins can be cashed in for prizes such as personalized fanart or a one shot, or even some BNHA merch! 

As always, this is meant to be a fun place for writers to explore their gifts - even if you don't want to participate in events, it's a good way to connect with other writers and to learn from them! If you don't think this server is for you, that's perfectly fine! Just send us a quick message to let us know that you're not interested so we can remove you from our VIP guest list. If you're interested, then publish this post to let others know about our fun new project!  We look forward to seeing you in the server, or reblogging your amazing content! And, remember - go beyond, Plus Ultra!

[resbang-bookclub]

Resbang Book Club Hall of Fame 2018 <3

Third time’s the charm!! Hi Resbang Book Club participants! Here’s the list of the lovely individuals who went above and beyond in this year’s Book Club season. Great job to all participants who submitted! Without further ado, the winners are:

2018 Resbang Book Club Grand Champion: @infantbluee with 14 Bookclub Resbangs reviewed, yahoo!!!!!!!

5+ fics reviewed: @addude & @blinkfl0yd !!!!!

Completed the challenge (all 3 assigned fics reviewed): @sandmancircus, @ricentipede, @trueeasiann, @sharks833 & @sojustifiable. Heck yeah!

Winners, as per tradition, come check out our Discord server for one final recognition :)

Thanks for your patience with this post, and thanks for a great Bookclub season, everybody!!!

Love, The Mods ❤️

[carasueachterberg]

I’m still figuring out this being famous gig.

Not that I’m famous in the everyone-knows-my-name way, but famous enough to have my bad-hair picture splashed across the centerfold of the New York Post, my book mentioned in People Magazine, a live interview with the “most listened to pet talk radio show in the country” and lots of dear family and friends turning out for my book launch.

It’s exciting and overwhelming and humbling.

I don’t know how to say thank you enough, and truth be told, I feel a bit guilty. I know of SO MANY amazing people at OPH and its partner shelters who are doing so much more than me and my little foster home. But I’m grateful that I can do what I do, knowing that it’s only because of so many other people, not the least of which is my husband Nick and my three kids who have suffered through the poop and the plunder. Just this morning Grits destroyed one of Brady’s socks and Billie Jean got the other.

Before I give you the reality of my past week, I have to say one thing – I AM NOT COMPLAINING.

I’m not.

Seriously, I’m beyond thrilled.

But while it might have looked great online, there were plenty of moments when I was well aware that I’m really not that important! The dogs helped out a bit in hammering home that point.

Let’s start with the launch party at Gunpowder Falls Brewing Company. There was fabulous food provided by my amazing bookclub (you ladies ROCK – Thank you, thank you, thank you. I owe you all big time.)

OPH was out in force with lots of foster dogs and volunteers and plenty of support. We even had one of the dogs get adopted that night – which I take as a GREAT omen for this book.

Maybe one of the coolest surprises was that Sadie (aka Harriet Beecher Stowe), the cover girl showed up!

As well as a few other stars of the book: (Okieriette, Fannie, Snapdragon, and Edith)

Everything went great, although Billie Jean was very stressed whenever she didn’t have me or Nick in her sights.

About midway through, a passing rainstorm hit and we had to huddle together under the tents, while avoiding the steady drips as the tops of the tents filled up with water. It didn’t last long and most everyone stayed dry and we resumed out party, but in the chaos of the storm I completely forgot that I’d planned to bring out the gorgeous cake at the midway mark and when we were cleaning up later I discovered it behind the bar still in its box. Still, it was a super-duper night.

The next day I said goodbye to Biscuit and Muffin who took off for their forever homes.

These little hounds have been a joy – surprising me with their very un-houndlike neatness. Despite a serious battle to rid them of worms that involved cooking a lot of rice and chicken, I’ve loved having them here. They are seriously lovable pups. Grits is still here, but no doubt his family will come for him this week. Frankie and Billie Jean are keeping him from missing his sissies too much.

If you’d like to meet him in person, join us at the Black Flag Brewing book event, where he will decidedly steal the show!

Friday night found me at Aaron’s Books in Lititz, one of my favorite little towns. I’ve been a patron at Aaron’s for years and always valued the excellent selection, the staff notes, and the excellent recommendations. Edith and Nancy made the trip with me. By the end of the night, Edith was a pro at signing books.

Tink (aka Summer Shandy) also made a brief appearance with Deb and Scott but the stress of the busy bookstore proved too much and she made an early exit.

Several generous patrons gave donations for the shelter tour which I was able to combine with a few other donations from the book launch to purchase a large aluminum Karunda bed for one of our shelters. Instead of dragging it along with us in the van, I had it shipped directly to the shelter. Best of all, I talked with at least two families who were seriously interested in fostering!

Saturday’s adventures took me to Monument City Brewing in Baltimore where the brewer is a two-time adopter from OPH. Angelica Church (now Milly) and Violet Beauregard (now Hildie) are growing up as brewery brats at MCB. Both girls, along with two more Hamilton pups, and my very FIRST FOSTER, Galina, joined me for the book event.

Snoopy’s family came to MCB to adopt him, which was super cool. Before they arrived, though, we pimped him out collecting donations for OPH.

Huge thanks to Lisa, Pam, and Mary Beth for helping me start to finish and to Steve for taking lots of pictures. The event was so much fun it ran a few minutes over, so I was pressed for time as I headed into beltway traffic. I was scheduled to do a live radio interview with Talkin’ Pets at 5:10pm.

At 5:03, I’d just crossed the state line to PA and I had a serious dilemma.

I had to pee.

There was not enough time to make it home before the interview, so I swung into the PA Welcome Center and prayed my phone wouldn’t ring while I was in the crowded bathroom. I’d just returned to my car when the host’s assistant called, so I sat in the rest area watching parents wrestle with children, truckers smoke cigarettes, and dogs do their business as I was interviewed on live on national radio.

The next day the New York Post article came out and I could only shake my head when I saw the picture that actually made the paper. It was one of the last one’s the photographer snapped when I’d sweated off my makeup and my hair was plastered to my head. So much for looking good for my national debut! My arms are full of puppies though, so likely that’s all anyone saw.

This week promises to be more of the same. Lucky for me I still have Grits and Billie Jean here to keep me humble. In fact, Grits managed to sneak off with my copy of People magazine yesterday. By the time I realized where all the little pieces of paper scattered through the front hall were coming from, he’d eaten the page that had the People’s Picks on it.

On Sunday, we had my parents and all the kids for a celebratory dinner and I’d saved the part of the cake that featured the book cover for our dessert. But while we were having a nice meal on the porch, Billie Jean managed to get the cake off the counter and eat the entire thing! (note to her future adopters – she has a stomach of steel and had absolutely no ill effects!)

Here’s the complete schedule –

I’d love to see some of you at any of the upcoming events. I’ve got frisbees (400 of them because the manufacturer accidentally doubled my order and when I reported the mistake, they told me to keep them!), treat bags for pups, and at many of the events, a few stars from the book ready to sign/paw with me!

At non-bookstore events, I’ll also be selling these super cool mugs with all the proceeds going to OPH!

  Thanks for reading!

If you’d like to know more about my blogs and books, visit CaraWrites.com or subscribe to my monthly e-newsletter.

If you’d like to know more about the book, Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs, check out my new website, AnotherGoodDog.org, where you can find more pictures of the dogs from the book (and some of their happily-ever-after stories), information on fostering, event schedule, and more!

If you’d like to know how you can volunteer, foster, adopt or donate with OPH, click here. And if you’d like more regular updates of foster dogs past and present and extra puppy pictures, be sure to join the Another Good Dog facebook group.

I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to comment here on the blog, email carasueachterberg@gmail.com or connect with me on Facebook, twitter, or Instagram.

Best,

Cara

  My #fosterdogs are keeping me humble on my road to fame. #anothergooddog #booktour #weletthedogsout I’m still figuring out this being famous gig. Not that I’m famous in the everyone-knows-my-name way, but famous enough to have my bad-hair picture splashed across the centerfold of the…

[resbang-bookclub]

Welcome to RBBC 2018!

Hello and welcome back to Resbang season! While the writers and artists are hard at work creating the content we will soon consume, we Bookclub Mods have some info for you about this year’s Resbang Book Club!

Who are we? What do we do?

For anyone new to Bookclub, our mission is to read all participating Resbangs. We do this with your help! Everyone who joins this year will be randomly assigned three fics that don’t contain any of the squicks/triggers you ask not to receive. From there, you just read and review those fics (or more, if you’re ambitious!) and submit the reviews to us to be counted towards our Resbang Hall of Fame, where those people who read and review the MOST fics are celebrated!

We also run AMAs (Ask Me Anything) for any participating Resbang Bookclub author who wants a chance to talk about their work live with Bookclub readers.

What’s new this year?

Based on feedback we got from you guys last year, we’re changing a few details in how we run Bookclub! This year, we reduced the number of required fics from five to three, because even though 65% of survey respondents said that five was a fine number, we also had comments saying it was too much when also trying to write/art for Resbang, given the timeline we were on!

That said, we’re also changing the timeline this year. We’re trying to give everyone a breather after the final posting day and when we start AMAs so that people have more time to read long fics before AMA scheduling begins. More info on the exact schedule to come!

AMAs are also different. This year, we are requiring that all authors who wish to have an AMA first submit at least one review before they get scheduled. One commenter in our survey asked, “Why make authors participate to do AMA?” and we thought it was important to address this! 

The point of Bookclub is to bolster the community that fandom needs in order to thrive. If you are only here to advertise your own work, Bookclub is not for you. We feel very strongly that fandom needs active participation by both readers and content creators (who are often readers themselves) to function at its best, and we do not think that reading and reviewing one fic is too steep a price for the time we put in to hosting and recording the AMAs. If you have any questions about this, feel free to send us an ask or email us at resbangbookclub@gmail.com.

Awesome! How do I sign up?

This year, signups will open on December 1, 2018 and close on December 14, 2018 at midnight EST. We’ll send out more info on how to sign up when it gets closer to the opening date!

[resbang-bookclub]

How are fics randomly assigned? Do we get to put in a vote to which fics we know we want to R&R or is it completely random through spreadsheets or something?

Hello! We number all of the fics and use a random number generator to roll three fics for each person. Before we officially assign them, we check to make sure that the posted warnings on the fic do not conflict with a reader’s squick. If a rolled fic does, we reroll. 

If you have fics in mind that you want to R&R that you are not assigned, still send us your reviews for them because they’ll count towards your standing in the Bookclub Hall of Fame!