#bribs

[alexander-the-greatest1987]

These take a lot of work to create, only to never be used again

[bigmeatpete69420]

Brib

One let me get pretty cloae which is nice

Lesser golden finch

House finch

And i think a song sparrow

@todaysbird

[jaimistoryteller]

@lourek

pennant-winged nightjars have a silhouette i’m literally obsessed with. you see the vision

[aiicheerios]

Bazongas

[sunshine-1nc]

Never mentioned i play star rail, BUT TAKE SOME SUNDAYS IN COMPLETELY DIFFRENT STYLES

[crayonsandclovers]

Very cool! Very informative! Made me very happy!!!!!

i posted this ages ago on twitter and no one cared so im hoping i will find some bird likers on this app. ardeidae fancam!

[nervousmonolith]

i put him in the bird machine smile (click for better quality its good i promise)

close ups

taglist: @monachopsissssss @lefthandedbastard @getwoold @xpoolboy @apollos-boyfriend @purpledthots @pcbblebrain @orangekingfisher @pericrayola

[norbezjones]

Bez Reviews Independent Books 1: Memory Leak

Hey everyone!  I wanna do little reviews/writeups for the independently-published books I find on itch.io, and so, here I am.  I want to review one book every month or two (or quicker, if I’m lucky); it’ll get me reading more, and get authors who often go without feedback some thoughts on their work!  I think it’ll be cool for everyone!

If you want your book reviewed, the only requirement I have is that it’s hosted on itch.io.  Even if itch is just one of many places you can get the book, I want to review books that have a home there at least.  Feel free to get in touch with me with your books—I’m @NaomiNorbez on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Pillowfort, Threads, and Instagram; I’m @norbezjones on Tumblr; I’m norbez2.0 on Discord.

Looking forward to seeing your books! <3

__________

The first book I’m reviewing Is Memory Leak by @maxkirin !  M. Kirin is a streamer who I happened to follow not long before their book release.  That’s how I heard about it.  Some light spoilers below, but nothing too big is revealed.  Most of the major stuff discussed you can read about right on the book’s itch page.

The plot is basically this: a trouple made a controversial game that won many awards, and also got lots of hate.  Now, they’re trying to make a new project to follow up such a release, but spooky things are happening.  Will they find out why strange events are occurring, or succumb to the haunting?

Everyone’s trans, and I love it.  Adrian’s trans.  Eva’s trans.  Casey’s . . . idk, very queer at least.  She’s also missing for a while, which has turned the game making trio into a duo as they’re trying to finish their new game based on Twelfth Night by Shakespeare.

Most of the book is about blackouts & memory loss, which occur as development goes on.  Reading about those things hurt.  Especially the part where Adrian says, “It didn’t matter if he didn’t remember. He was making something. Something that mattered.” (pg 17-18).  That hit hard, as someone who’s experienced intense periods of memory loss in the past—that was during my pseudo-dementia era (more on that here if you wanna hear the full story).  I had a similar thought to Adrian when I was making A Single Ouroboros Scale while I had pseudo-dementia.  I was desperate to make an impact because I was convinced I would soon forget everything I knew, including how to make games, and everyone would forget me in turn.  It came out as well as you can expect from a very sick, depressed person (which is to say, not good), as I talked about in the postmortem.  I imagine that for our game development trio, the same result occurs.

The hauntings in Memory Leak are rooted in real-life problems in the game development industry, mainly crunch and overworking yourself in order to meet a deadline.  Though in the case of Adrian, Eva, & Casey . . . was a deadline ever specified?  It’s strongly implied, but not overtly stated, as I recall.  Regardless, as a creator in the internet/social media age, you do have to act quickly to release new works, or the public will forget you.  Perhaps that’s why they feel like they need to work as quickly as possible.  There’s some irony in that—the characters’ rush to be remembered, all while they forget more & more.  It’s sad sometimes, the things we sacrifice to be known.

Also, it turns out the famous game the trio made, King Leer, possibly indirectly caused the death of multiple people, and that isn’t mentioned until about halfway through the book?  It’s surprising how that information flies out of nowhere, like a sucker punch.  If one of my games indirectly caused a person to die, I would be haunted by that for the rest of my life.  But the trio seem to have gotten over it, somehow.

My main little nitpick about the writing is that Adrian is referred to as “the young man” quite a bit, and I didn’t like that.  It felt too impersonal, distant.  That’s also something I do in my own writing, referring to the character as anything but their name to avoid saying their name too many times in a row (I blame my OCD [which I literally do have, that is not a figure of speech]).  So maybe it irks me because I see myself in that repeated action. 

As much as I like the writing style, I do have to acknowledge that it keeps us as a distance from the characters.  They’re young men, young women, lost souls.  It’s like we’re also haunting them, a ghost from beyond getting a peek into their lives from the top-down.  The chapter openers reinforce this: in those, you, the reader, are brought into the story, from a second person perspective, and given information about Starling games from YouTube videos, forum posts, messages, etc.  We see them win Game Of The Year, watch as fans deride & praise them, stuff like that.  It’s definitely an interesting way to give us information.

A big issue is that we’re told a lot that these characters love each other, but that bond isn’t quite shown to me. One can argue that it is between Adrian & Eva at least, but Casey?  In the beginning, it seems like she dislikes Adrian & Eva, but then there’s still a scene where she cries while apologizing to Adrian for yelling at him, saying how much she loves him.  I got the sense that she clings to Adrian & Eva because she used to love them, for a long time, and she doesn’t want to let that go.  Because to let that go would be venturing into unknown & very awkward territory.  How do you break up your polycule if you rely on them to earn a living and make games?  Short answer: you don’t, so you pretend instead.  And when you pretend enough, it can become real again.

This is a problem because the love these characters have for each other is a core tenant of the book, especially in the climax.  I wish we could’ve spent more time seeing how they fell in love with each other, back when Starling Games was new.  At least Casey’s love for the others becomes clearer as the book goes on; that’s a good thing.

As for the big twist, I saw the first part of it coming from a mile away.  That’s not a bad thing—a good twist should fit the plot & themes, not be 100% unpredictable, and this twist did.  The second part of the twist is mentioned on the book’s page, but the execution is so interesting you can almost forget that fact.

Last note: I was hoping the book would tell us why the works the trio make are so fucked up, if they’re a reflection of the soul, or just dark spurts of creativity.  The reason is revealed, and it’s fascinating—after all, if we’ve learned anything from The Beginner’s Guide, it’s that art doesn’t always reflect the author.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  It was a very interesting story about the struggle of game development, and how our search for a legacy can haunt us.  The characters are interesting, and the story is very well told.  I would recommend it.

If you want to read Memory Leak, you can do so FOR FREE right here!  Give it a look!  Please!  I’m begging you!

Thanks for reading!  The next review will be of To Wield The Darkest Night by Beau Van Dalen.  But I don’t know what I’m doing after that, so please send me your lovely books!

[lcftyambiticns]

Here's a soft uwuwu HC as well to, uh... even the asshole/nice scale? Jk, no, it probably won't. Anyway

He likes watching the birds on his balcony in the morning. Every now and then, he'll scatter some breadcrumbs along the balustrade for them.

[only-one-brain-cell]

Derek the second he hears about Max: *runs into the BAU* MOVE BITCH *shoves JJ out of the way*

JJ: excuse me???

Derek: *runs to Spencer* WHERE IS SHE

Spencer: hi????

[f3l1c1af0x]

do y'all want a tutorain on how to draw Creators (or Harpers) wings?

i feel like I should make one just in case but I feel like it would be confusing

[lavenderspence]

@mandarinmoons is offering me a brib- sorry, a kind donation to write a spencer angst fic I just told her about🙄

not cool ket, not cool 🙄

[darealjack]

Finished the doodle of the cute birb I saw yesterday

Original by @filibusterfrog

Any feedback is appreciated

[aiicheerios]

I found out how to export the speed paint on procreate >:>

[memphisboomarts]

Beak and Talons

Chapter One: Home After a Long Day

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

Based on a personal headcanon that Max got wings after a game of Goose Goose Duck.

Along with other headcanons: Fae Krista takes on a more Butterfly form and has antennas Bird Shifter JP, can change into any bird he likes Herobrine Jerry, don't ask Squirrel Ross Pooki is human but everyone thinks his some eldritch being and he just never corrects them And then Max which you'll figure out through the book :D (More will be added)

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

“Welp, that was fun,”

Ross yawned as we stepped through the portal into our home world. 

“It was, I need to work with the killers more,”

Max joked appearing behind Ross and walking a bit further into their home world looking for someone.

“Maybe, maybe not,”

Jerry chuckled as Pooki and him appeared and stepped out of the portal. 

“Welp, time to go get some-.”

“Max!”

“Krista!”

The three still standing in front of the portal jumped at the yelling, but their shaken faces turned to fond smiles as they watched the couple run up to each other and almost fall to the force when they collided. 

“Hello, love,”

Max smiled, as he hugged his girlfriend tight.

“Hi, you guys had fun?”

Krista asked kissing Max on his cheek. 

“Always, hopefully, next time you can join us for Goose Goose Duck,”

Max spoke, giving Krista one more squeeze before pulling away. 

“Hopefully, I've just been busy with projects and adding on to our house,”

Krista added waving the others bye, before taking Max’s hand and they started walking to their place. 

“Want me to yourself?”

Max teased, giggling as he watched Krista's face turn red.

“Of course! Now come on I got to show you some of our new plants!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Urg…,”

Max keened while sitting in his shared bed, and stretched his arms.

“You alright babe?”

Krista slurred watching Max through slit eyes.

“Yeah, my back feels a bit sore probably from the game last night,”

Max shrugged whilst getting up from their bed. 

“You go back to sleep, I’ll wake you up for breakfast ok?”

“Ok..,”

Krista groggily said before falling asleep instantly. 

Max smiled at his lover before walking towards his dresser and pulling out clothes to change into. While he was getting dressed into his day clothes, he turned to close by and caught a glimpse of red on his back. He made a questioning noise before turning slightly to see a red patch of skin; he examined it for a bit before shrugging and putting on his shirt. He had to go feed his dogs and cat and make his girlfriend some breakfast.

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

(Chp 1) (Chp 2) (Chp 3) (Chp 4) (Chp 5) (Chp 6)

If you don't want to wait for the next chapter, or don't like to read on tumblr here is a AO3 link!

Anyways enjoy!