#but it's about as necessary to the story as the sex workers arc was to Salvage

[muffinlance]

i just bought fox's tongue and kirin's bone, blacked out, and before i knew it i'd read the whole thing and all the skin stealer's son chapters that you've released. i adore it so so so so so much! i was curious, how many books do you anticipate will be in this series? have you planned it out, or is that question still open-ended for you? <3

The Book Fugue State is one of the highest compliments an author can receive <3

Re series length: I'm aiming for six books, but I think we all know what happens when authors say "the series will definitely be THIS long" (...then seven books later...)

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

4.75/5. Releases 9/24/24.

The Vibes: roommates with benefits, widower angst, porn star/boy bander, tons of banging; tons of emotional constipation

Heat Index: 8/10

The Basics:

Five years, former boy bander (and People's Sexiest Man Alive) Isaac Kelly suddenly lost his wife Brooklyn—and he'll never love again. Two years ago, Isaac had the first sexual experience since his wife died (I mean, his only sexual experience with anyone OTHER than his wife) in the form of a threesome with porn stars Jack and Sunny. NOW, he's back in Christmas Notch, moping in a mansion as he tries to write a Christmas album. Sunny's in town too, NOT moping as she tries to write a Christmas movie script. It's all too convenient for them to become temporary roommates... and maybe roommates with benefits. But all Isaac can offer Sunny is sex—and while that seems like a good idea to a woman who can't say "I love you", once she starts feeling feelings... It might not be enough.

The Review:

I knew this would be good. But it was better than good. It was the perfect culmination of the Christmas Notch series—the rare series that really just kept getting better. The three main books are all great, but each one was superior to the last for me (the novellas are fab too, but I need to rethink and rank them separately).

They're Christmas-y (but not so Christmas-y that I at all regretted reading this in July... I'll just reread it closer to the date). They're SUPER hot (more on that below). They're body-positive, sex worker positive (Sunny is no longer active in the industry once this story really begins, but she has no bad feelings about it) and deal with actual issues while maintaining a fun, heartwarming tone. Oh, and they're fucking hilarious. It's surprisingly hard to find romcom books that are actually funny, but—here you go!

What makes this book so special is that, while you have the framing of Sunny trying to find Isaac his muse while Isaac tries to help her write her script (almost like... a muse...), this is really a character piece. So much time is spent building up Isaac and Sunny's relationship. While I kind of refuse to call this "friends to lovers" because the reality is that these two are super into each other from the jump—albeit moreso physically than emotionally in the beginning—you do truly believe in their bond. Their emotional connection is just as intense as their sexual connection, which is, um, pretty intense.

And dude. If you read the previous books first—not strictly necessary but HIGHLY recommended—you'll see that Isaac is just... so depressed. Like, not leaving his house depressed. Ironically, his threesome with Jack and Sunny kind of jolted him back to life? And that's all it's supposed to be. So he's not in complete "wallowing in grief" mode here, but he is still very sad, and really only half-enjoying life. But Sunny is by no means a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She has her own responsibilities. She has her own goals. And she has her own problems—if this book has any weakness (and it's minor) it's that Sunny's problems aren't quite as dramatic or compelling as Isaac's. But they're still valid, and they're integral to her growth. Point is: Sunny has her own deal, and Isaac helps her with her deal just as much as she helps him with his, and they also both have a lot of growing to do.

But anyway, what Isaac's deal gets us is a lot of sweet, SWEET angst. Not the level of angst you'll find in some of Sierra Simone's darker works. Just enough angst to have me feeling the fucking emotions, though. There's a moment late in this book that is the conflict I was SO hoping would come up. A conflict that is honestly quite real, but still a gut punch. And soooo satisfying to see resolved. We may have a "snowmobile for your love" moment. Can neither confirm or deny.

Finally, it's a great time to see everyone in Christmas Notch together again. Bee and Nolan! Winnie and Kallum! The North Pole dancers! Luca and Angel! Krysta and Addison! And we get some really good Teddy Ray and Steph content. I love Teddy Ray. Such a unique character. Rarely do you get a "wholesome porn peddler" stepfather figure in a contemporary romance series, and seeing him get his HEA with Steph was incredibly sweet.

The Sex:

RIDICULOUSLY hot. All of these books are hot, but there was something about Sunny and Isaac falling in love, each encounter becoming more intimate, while remaining in such deep denial about their feelings...

I mean, photo booth sex... creative usage of gingerbread lotion (a big thing in this series)... butt stuff with the HERO as the recipient, something we don't see enough of in m/f romance... And Isaac is a bit bossy! Which we love to see!

You really feel like these two can be honest with their feelings in the bedroom, without words. Which I am SUCH trash for.

Also, loved how casual the book was about Isaac and Sunny both being bi, their threesome with Jack, Isaac being pushed onto dates (by Sunny) with men and women. It's just the norm, which is in fact standard for pretty much all Sierra Simone books. Love.

Anyway, this is great, a perfect finale for a series I've loved and can't recommend enough. Read it during the holiday season. Read it now. Read it next summer. I mean, read it ASAP because you'll love it. But I might do an entire series reread around Christmas, to be real. These are CLASSICS.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[triviareads]

What I appreciate about Liana De la Rosa's newest book and Adriana Herrera's upcoming book is that they decolonizes the Happily Ever After. A lot of HEAs in historical romances hinge on white upper-class acceptance— this can look like the ton actively socializing with them, and possibly even celebrating them. Even from a setting standpoint, where the characters end up by the epilogue feels indicative to me of what the author envisions as their happily-ever-after— a lot of them end in country estates (for the full domesticity effect), and some in big Western cities, often London.

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera completely rejects the premise of white acceptance being necessary, which is great considering the hero begins the story seeking that because he's a biracial Black duke who basically fought for his title and legitimacy. I honestly think the story could have gone either way despite the heroine also being a social outcast, regardless of her wealth and connections (the non-spoilery difference is that she's a doctor which was far more than an occupation back then for a Black woman; it was a political statement, and Aurora is also dedicated to helping women access treatments they're often barred from by the law), but it felt liberating to see that acceptance is no longer the priority, and that they travel the world to do good with, in part, the tainted inheritance he received from his white colonizer father.

I think Liana took it a step further with Isabel and the Rogue because not only did the narrative reject the premise of white acceptance being necessary for an HEA, but on a feminist level, the white hero leaves behind his homeland to be with the heroine, who is Mexican and of Indigenous ancestry. In most historicals I've read, it's the heroine who ultimately gets swept up into the hero's world, regardless of whether he's of a lower or higher class than she is (ex: a recent ARC I read has a sex worker heroine who tearfully bids goodbye to a fellow sex worker because they both know she'll likely never socialize with the other woman after marrying an aristocrat). It was genuinely moving to read the hero give up almost everything for the heroine as a part of their HEA.

[gimmeromance]

GimmeRomance Glossary:

We’ve put this glossary together to give you all definitions for some of the words you’ll see both on this blog and in Romance in general. If you have any questions or think we’re missing a word, please send us an ask!

This glossary is organized alphabetically.

A/B/O: Short for Alpha/Beta/Omega, this is... complicated, but we recommend you take a look here if you don't already know what A/B/O is.  * Please don’t use the term A/B/O without the slashes -- Abo is considered a derogatory term for Aboriginal, and we honor the wishes of the Australian Aboriginal peoples who prefer that the term A/B/O not be used without the defining slashes.

Alien Romance: Usually, one MC is human, other(s) are from another planet. May include non-human genitalia and sexual acts.

Alpha: May refer to Alpha from A/B/O 'verse or Alpha of a werewolf/shifter pack. Generally sexually dominant. May also be shorthand for Alpha Hero.

Alpha Hero: One MC (usually the MMC) has a dominant personality.

Ancient World Romance: A Romance which takes place in an ancient civilization: eg. Ancient Rome, Greece or Egypt.

BBW: Big Beautiful Woman. A fat heroine.

Bestiality: Technically illegal on Amazon, but dinosaur erotica somehow still exists. Please don't make us go looking for titles to suggest to you -- though you might see the occasional Tingler on our lists!

Beta: Someone in an A/B/O 'verse or someone in a werewolf/shifter pack who's not the leader, but also not the lowest position in the pack. May also be shorthand for Beta Hero.

Beta Hero: A Beta Hero is the opposite of an Alpha Hero -- generally a man who is not dominant but softer and kinder.

The Black Moment: The moment (often around the 60% mark) where all hope of a happy ending seems lost. Often includes a temporary breakup.

Black Romance: Both (all, if it's polyamorous) main characters are Black.

BMWW: Black Man/White Woman. A specific sub-genre within Interracial Romance.

Bully Romance: One of the MCs bullies another one, usually before the romance begins.

BWWM: Black Woman/White Man. A specific sub-genre within Interracial Romance.

Chick Lit: A subgenre of Women’s Fiction which focuses on the trials and tribulations of a young woman and often includes a romance. Differs from Romance in that the romance is not necessarily the main focus of the story. Differs from Women’s Fiction in that the protagonists are usually younger and there’s often more romance. It's a fine line and some books are hard to precisely categorize, or may be considered to fit into multiple categories.

Clean Romance: We prefer not to use this term, but it can mean either Closed Door or No Sex.

Cliffhanger: A Romance which ends on a dramatic, unresolved issue. Common in contemporary romance trilogies where all books follow the same couple; rarely seen in historicals.

Closed Door: Sex occurs in the course of the story, but is not described.

Contemporary Romance: A Romance that takes place in the modern day.

Courtesan: A historical sex worker, usually on the expensive end of the scale.

Dark Romance: At least one MC who is not a good person. The romance can include such things as kidnapping, stalking, sexual assault, imprisonment, gaslighting, domestic abuse, and a whole slew of other things that are generally frowned upon in western society and might be considered illegal in some places. In the fandom world, stories featuring these themes might have the tags non-con/dub con, dead dove do not eat, and dark themes.

Dystopian Romance: Romance which takes place in a failed-state society where the government or the powers that be are often a totalitarian state and often end up being the antagonists of the series or story. Many of these take place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world, but not all.

Equal Triad: A polyamorous triad where all parties have sex with each other.

Erotica: Sex is the point of the story and often is the plot. Happy endings aren't necessary in this genre, but they do often happen. Not quite a part of Romance but very closely related.

Fade to Black: A method in which sex is often handled in Closed Door stories.

Family Series: A Romance series which follows a family, each book focusing on a different member of the same family finding their love interest. (Like Bridgerton!)

Fantasy Romance: Takes place in another world (not to be confused with Sci-Fi Romance which takes place ON another world). There might be magic, dragons, or other mythical beasts.

F/F: Female/Female

FMF: Female/Male/Female. A polyamorous triad where the two women have sex with the man but not each other.

Gilded Age Romance: American Historical Romance, from about 1870-1900, usually among the wealthy upper classes (e.g. the Astor 400).

The Grovel: The moment where (usually) the MMC is brought to his knees by love and has to apologize to the MFC for all his stuff-ups. We love a good grovel here at GimmeRomance!

Harem Romance: One man/many women. Generally the women do not have sexual contact with each other, only with the man. Some exceptions. * In Manga, Harem Romance involves one man flirting with multiple women but ending up with only one. In Romance, Harem Romance involves one man ending up with multiple women.

HEA: Happily Ever After. A story cannot be a romance without either an HEA or HFN.

Hero: The male love interest of a Romance. Sometimes abbreviated as a capital H.

Heroine: The female love interest of a Romance. Sometimes abbreviated as a lowercase h.

HFN: Happy For Now -- not quite Happily Ever After, but the characters are together and doing OK at the end of the story.

Highlander Romance: Historical sub-genre, takes place in the Scottish Highlands. Can cover an enormous range of dates from ancient world up to early 20th century. The men usually wear kilts.

Historical Romance: A Romance that takes place at least twenty years ago.

Inspirational Romance: Usually explicitly Christian, a Romance that includes religion and/or faith playing a major role. Usually does not include sex, swearing, or a lot of violence.

Interracial Romance: The main characters are of different racial backgrounds to each other. Some people only count Black/white Romances as interracial; we count two people of any races.

Love Triangle: One of the MCs eventually has to choose between two potential love interests.

Mafia/Bratva/Yakuza Romance: The MMC (usually) is a member of an organized crime gang. These often fall into Dark Romance, but not always.

MC: Main Character

MC Romance: Not to be confused with the MC -- this is Motorcycle Club Romance. One protagonist is a member of a Motorcycle Club.

Medieval Romance: Takes place between 500 and 1500 CE.

Meet-Cute: Something cutesy which happens to bring the protagonists together for their first meeting.

MFC: Main Female Character. May sometimes be styled FMC. See also Heroine.

MFF: Male/Female/Female. A polyamorous triad where the two women have sex with each other as well as the man.

MFM: Male/Female/Male. A polyamorous triad where the two men have sex with the woman but not each other.

M/M: Male/Male

MMC: Main Male Character. See also Hero.

MMF: Male/Male/Female. A polyamorous triad where the two men have sex with each other as well as the woman.

New Adult Romance: One or more MCs is 'college age', generally 18-25.

No Sex: There is no sex in the book.

Omega: Usually only used in either A/B/O or werewolf/shifter. Generally either the sexual submissive or the lowest-ranked in the pack.

Open Door: Sex occurs on the page.

Paranormal Romance: A Romance that includes a supernatural element.

Pioneer Romance: 1760-1880, mostly American, sometimes Australian. The Romance version of the Old West.

Plus-Sized Romance: A Romance that includes at least one character (most often the woman) being plus-sized.

Polyamorous Romance: 3 or more persons find their HEA/HFN in a Romance. May include any combination of genders. * If you want to shorten Polyamorous, use Polyam rather than Poly -- Poly is a shorthand for Polynesian, and we honor the wishes of the Polynesian community who have asked that the Polyamorous community use Polyam instead.

Post-Apocalyptic Romance: Romance which takes place after a cataclysmic event that decimates human population and destroys our society as we know it.

Protagonist: A gender-neutral term for a main character.

Pseudo-Incest: Actual incest romance is banned on Amazon. Pseudo means step-siblings, a step-parent or grandparent, uncle/niece (no blood relation), etc.

Rake: A historical fuckboi.

Redemption Arc: The journey of one character who has behaved badly, to understanding what they did was wrong and making amends.

Regency Romance: Romance centered around the period when the future George IV was acting as regent for his father, George III. Technically the Regency was 1810-1820, but the genre includes 1795-1837.

Reverse Harem Romance: One woman/many men. Generally the men do not have sexual contact with each other, only with the woman. Some exceptions. * In Manga, Reverse Harem Romance involves one woman flirting with multiple men but ending up with only one. In Romance, Reverse Harem Romance involves one woman ending up with multiple men.

Rogue: A rogue is a character who misbehaves in some way. This includes characters who drink, gamble, and sleep around -- but also includes pirates and gentleman thieves. Not all rogues are rakes, but all rakes are rogues.

Romance: Stories where the romantic relationship is central and integral to the plot which end in an HEA or HFN. If a book does not end with the couple (or moresome) in a happy relationship, it is not a Romance.

Romantic Comedy: A Romance which makes you laugh. The best ones are especially failboaty. Often features sitcom or slapstick antics but many just feature funny banter. A lot of contemporary Women's Fiction gets classified as Romantic Comedy and at least one of our mods gets very mad about that because having a cute illustrated cover and/or having a cat/dog in it doesn't make it funny

Romantic Suspense: The MCs must face and overcome a serious external threat to life and limb while finding their way to a HEA/HFN. Often overlaps somewhat with Mystery and/or Thriller.

Royal Romance: At least one MC is a member of a (usually fictional) royal family.

Rural Romance: The Australian version of Western Romance. The front cover almost invariably features a woman wearing an Akubra hat.

Science Fiction/Sci-Fi Romance: On another world or in space. MCs are usually human, but this sometimes crosses over with Alien Romance.

Shared World Series: A Romance series where each book is written by a different author, but locations and many characters are shared in common.

Shifter Romance: A Romance that includes a character or characters who can shift into animals. Includes (but is not limited to) werewolves. Sex generally occurs when the couple is in human form, but there may be knotting or other animalistic characteristics.

Small Town Romance: A Romance that takes place in a small town, usually in America but there are some Australian ones out there. Tend toward the very white. Often part of series that include lots of characters from the same town.

Soulmates: Not usually an abstract concept in the Romance world. Regularly seen in Paranormal or Fantasy Romance.

Standalone: A Romance which is not part of a series. Or it may be part of a series, but you do not need to read other books in the series to follow the plot.

Steamy Romance: We prefer not to use this term, but it means Open Door or sometimes Erotica.

Sweet Romance: We prefer not to use this term, but it can mean either Closed Door or No Sex.

Taboo Romance: Pseudo-incest, Teacher/Student, Underage. A romance which may be criminalized or considered unacceptable for other reasons in various jurisdictions.

Time Travel Romance: A Romance where at least one of the characters travels in time (usually to the past). In order to have a happy ending, may end with the present character staying in the past, the past character coming to and staying in the future, reincarnation, or some other solution.

Tudor Romance: 1485-1603, during the reign of the Tudor monarchs (Henry VII, Henry VIII and his three children, to the end of the reign of Elizabeth I). Sometimes Romances that take place during the Stuart period (particularly before the English Civil War) are grouped here.

Uneven Triad: A polyamorous triad where two of the parties do not have sex with each other, but only with the third party.

Unknown: As used by the GimmeRomance Mods, we don’t know how much sex there is in the story. This may be because we have not read the book or it may be because we have read the book but don’t remember how much sex there is.

Urban Fantasy: A subgenre of Fantasy which takes place in a world that’s often somewhat like our own and often includes a romance. Differs from Paranormal Romance in that the romance is not the main focus of the story. It's a fine line and some books are hard to precisely categorize, or may be considered to fit into both.

Victorian Romance: 1837-1901, the reign of Queen Victoria.

Western Romance: Takes place in a Western state, usually rural. There's probably a ranch and horses involved. Someone's wearing a cowboy hat.

Women’s Fiction: A genre which focuses on a woman’s life and may or may not include a romance. Differs from Romance in that the woman’s individual journey is the main focus of the story.

YA: Young Adult. Fiction written for teens with teens as the main characters. May or may not be Romance.

—

This post will be updated as needed.

Last Updated: 06/05/2021

[nichester]

Review: Extracurricular

Media Type: Korean Drama

Genre: Teen drama/Crime/Noir

Summary:  Ji Soo, a diligent but poor high school student is saving for college and paying rent by moonlighting as a pimp.  His precarious balance of school and work begins to fall apart when another student, Gyu-ri, discovers the truth about his job and wants in.  Things spiral quickly out of their control.

Why you might care:  If you enjoy watching teenagers do crime and get realistically in over their heads; if you are interested in dark shows with Really Good performances (in particular from the leads, who have enough chemistry for us to buy their toxic but unbreakable bond) or if you are interested in any of the themes of crime and class struggle.

Why you might not care:  Give this one a pass if you don't like your shows dark and/or are looking for a happy ending. Importantly, pay attention to potential triggers in this show! (Suicidal ideation, self harm, violence against women, sexual assault, hallucinations, and torture all occur, although not always explicitly, on this show.  Feel free to message me if you need more detailed warnings!)

Trope Bingo! Partners in crime/Bonnie and Clyde; enemies to sorta? lovers, literally I have no idea how to categorize their relationship

If you liked _______, try ______!

Can't say I've watched much in this vein! I've heard that School 2013 or Sky Castle are both excellent dramas about struggling high schoolers, but which have less grim endings.  The Get Down is a great netflix show also about marginalized teenagers struggling to pursue their dreams despite the crime and violence they're surrounded by.

~Spoilers (not anything detailed but just to be safe) and overall thoughts under the cut~

Plot:  I'll be honest, I'm not a big plot girl. Unless there's something stand-out about a story's plot, I tend to consider it more as a vehicle for character development than anything else. In this show's case, I was on the edge of my seat in horror for most episodes. The plot unfolds in a seemingly inevitable negative spiral that takes all of our characters down and leaves them far worse off than when they started. This show did rely a lot on coincidence, both positive and negative. Usually I would consider this a flaw, but I think it worked well here as a way to portray a random, unfeeling world around the characters and to emphasize the precarious nature of their situation.

Central character(s):  I was really attached to both of the leads. They had the convincing contradictions and vulnerabilities of deeply troubled teenagers, and their different traumas and personalities played off of each other well. For all of Ji Soo's smarts and skill, he has a startling naivete and a tendency to panic when things don't go according to plan. Gyu-ri is equally smart, but loud and manipulative in contrast to Ji Soo's awkwardness and isolation. Gyu-ri pushes Ji Soo to try to expand his business to make up for his unexpected losses (decisions that drive the plot), but this goes against his every cautious instinct.  Ji Soo tends to focus on maintaining what little he has, while Gyu-ri fully embraces the philosophy "the best defense is a good offense." Indeed, Gyu-ri is reckless to the point of suicidal, but the later episodes reveal a protective instinct that seems to be as unexpected to her as it is to the audience, an instinct which continually drives her to throw herself into harms way in defense of Ji Soo.  The strongest development that both characters had was in their relationship with each other, which led them to be both braver and more open than they had ever been in their lives. But their involvement with each other and their reluctance to cut ties is part of how they got to where the show leaves them--cornered and bloody.

Romance:  Technically this show has no romance, but I think it's fair to say that the leads develop an obsessive, Bonnie and Clyde-style relationship that is partially romantic in nature. Ji Soo has a distant crush on Gyu-ri at the beginning of the show, which she exploits. Honestly, some of the funniest moments in the show come from the contradiction between Ji Soo's side-hustle as a pimp and his complete and total inability to speak normally in Gyu-ri's presence. His disillusionment with her is genuinely painful, but necessary for their relationship to become one of equals. Their grudging partnership is abrasive, but their bond feels very convincing. No matter how much they resent each other, they're more strongly drawn to each other. (Watching Ji Soo pack up her discarded chip bags to bring with him on the run is just….. Its so….. Kids make me cry ok!)  It's clear for both of these lonely and deeply messed up kids that simply having a partner--someone who they can reveal their ugly sides to and depend on--is an intoxicating feeling. By the end of the show, they'd kill for each other and probably die for each other. The show smartly doesn't ever "consummate" the romance--they don't really have enough downtime when they're not actively fighting to make it convincing, and despite everything they've done both characters are still very young.  If there is a second season, this is a ship that is likely to sail (but possibly crash and burn).

Side Characters/Side plots:  In a show like this one, which depicts a marginalized and frequently abused group of women, the presence of sympathetic characters who are also members of that group is crucial, or the drama would feel exploitative. This show's most prominent side plot depicts an underage sex worker, her post-traumatic stress response to a violent client, her struggle over whether or not to speak to the police, and her desire to find genuine human connection, whether it is with her shitty boyfriend or with her pimp. (Their odd father/daughter relationship was one of the most moving parts of the show!) While I thought the writing was sympathetic to Minhee's situation, she is frequently used as a reminder of the human consequences of the other character's actions. This is both good and bad--it's important to remind the characters and the viewer of how damaging their behavior is, but it also risks treating her as a more of a tool for the lead's development than a thoroughly explored character. Up until the last episode I think the writers gave her a distinct enough arc to avoid this pitfall, but depending on her ultimate fate (in a theoretical season 2) I could change my mind.

Tone:  The tone is dark, tense, and constantly on the verge of slipping into chaos. Hallucinatory sequences play out as Ji Soo and Gyu-ri imagine themselves killing people, destroying things, or being buried alive. These sequences emphasize the character's instability, while also establishing the camera as an unreliable narrator of events in a way that pays off in the ambiguous final moments. The fantastic acting is buoyed by the directing to depict the precarious state of the leads' minds as their situation spirals further out of their control. Ji Soo's scenes feel claustrophobic and paralyzing--when he ventures out of his apartment to talk to Gyu-ri or to go to the café you get the blinking, shuffling sense of something emerging from a cave. Gyu-ri, on the other hand, is a loose cannon, and her scenes have a jittery, dangerous edge to them. As a whole, the show is excruciatingly tense and frustratingly unresolved.

Theme:  This show is a full-fledged tragedy. It is a brilliant example of a negative change arc, with all of the characters taking more and more drastic actions while still managing to retain our loyalty. I think the writer's are clear that although none of these kids have made good choices, the real tragedy lies in how they have been abandoned, used, or neglected by the adults in their lives. The few adults who show any care for them are either relatively powerless themselves (like Mr. Lee and their teacher) or too late to avert disaster (like the prosecutor). Extracurricular is a grim look at how we fail vulnerable children to the point that even a boring, average life seems like an impossible dream.

[kokkuri3]

I think VnC’s treatment of female characters is better than in PH, where most of them were props, tools to further the development of males, *coughLacieyoudeservedbetter*, tools to humanise the males *coughAdayoucan’tfixhimwithlove, endlessly forgiving and impossibly saintly *coughreallyAlyssyou’rejustgonnaforgiveJacklikethatyouarenotangryatall??*, amongst other problematic tropes.

VnC’s treatment of female characters is absolutely better than PH’s-- in fact, I’d say VnC was one of the few shounen manga to consistently treat its female characters with the same passion and respect as its male ones. One thing I say often is that VnC feels as thought it was written with Mochizuki having acknowledged PH’s problems (the complete lack of nonwhite characters, the continual mistreatment of female characters, the at times facetious treatment of issues such as incest or pedophilia which is... Not A Fan) and to that effect, I think she is making a deliberate effort to make multiple female characters with their own arcs which exist outside of men, who have important relationships with other women, who are capable of agency in the same capacity as their male counterparts.

This post isn’t really about VnC though so I’m not gonna sing its praises much anymore. I’ve talked before about how, despite being written by a woman, despite clearly acknowledging misogyny as a chronic problem among violent men PH is... not especially self aware when it comes to the misogyny of its own narrative.

I’ve made my thoughts on Lacie clear before (see here) and particularly how I believe her treatment was one of the times where PH’s treatment of women was particularly remarkable in that it’s good, despite her arc being drenched in misogynistic abuse and violence. I absolutely wish that the atrocities pinned on Lacie being not her fault was made more clear (aside from what I said in the post, and Oz saying that Lacie would never desire for the destruction of the world she loved) but I don’t think her writing itself was misogynistic-- I’d even go as far as to say it was feminist, though, obviously, I’m open to disagreement.

What most certainly does piss me off, however, is the writing of Ada’s arc. Yesterday I joked about Ada being the ‘anti-Lacie,’ and while it was a joke, I still intended some seriousness with it. Unlike Lacie, who was forced to constantly reevaluate her morals and the positions of her and her loved ones as a person whose existence was an inherent sin and who was abused throughout her life, Ada’s arc is built around the fact that she has never had to question anything. Similarly, while Lacie’s arc is about how she sought her own agency despite being surrounded by and allowed only those who were at best complacent in her suffering, Ada’s arc is about how... she continually sought out and apologized for a misogynistic predator despite being surrounded by better options.

The gender of the Core of the Abyss is something which I think warrants a separate post, but the official translation refers to the Core as being female, and for nearly the entire story she takes the form of a girl. Lacie reached out to an entity referred to and most often perceived as female, sought to understand her, and was abused as a specific consequence of this. Ada, meanwhile, made no real attempts at sympathy for her female counterparts. She never sought to question the circumstances of Noise, or Echo, or their relationship with Vincent. She gave forgiveness for crimes she had not been affected by nor did she even understand; her defense of Vincent was done not out of concern for Noise’s psyche but out of unquestioned pity for her abuser.

Ada’s arc bothers me for its utter lack of agency. She was a teenaged girl, expected to fix a predatory, abusive man in his twenties, and throughout her arc she is given no real means of choosing other options nor protecting herself. Her decision to defend a predator was not even an educated one; she simply did not know. Nor did she ever really come to understand anything about Vincent, aside from brief glimpses into his past. Ada is dragged around by the plot, pursuing an abuser she did not know was an abuser yet still felt sure she could heal, being forbidden from choice-- where she was not denied choice in the sense that she lacked the knowledge to make one, she was denied choice via other characters forbidding her. She was not allowed to protect Vincent though she wanted to because Vincent felt it was too dangerous to allow her to, she was not allowed to remain beside her friends and family though she wanted to because they felt it was too dangerous to allow her to, she wasn’t allowed to stay with Vincent because it was too dangerous, she wasn’t allowed to see him again because it was too dangerous... and she’s never given the choice to do anything but go along with it.

Alyss’s forgiveness of Jack is... a more complicated issue. That Ada “forgive” Vincent-- along with many of their other interactions, I might add-- felt utterly meaningless to me. Ada had never really perceived Vincent as performing a slight against her, being perfectly willing to assign any violence he committed against her as either her own fault, or part of his mental illness, thus Not His Fault. That Alyss forgive Jack, who was violent towards her, who she understood as victimizing her and others... I don’t like it, exactly, but at least it’s not the same.

I’m not sure “forgive” is even the correct word for what she did-- she acknowledged him, and she was gentle, but she never told Jack that she forgave him. Vincent’s dialogue during Retrace CIII supplements this in saying he suspects that Alyss’s feelings for Jack are the same as his own.

Vincent feels unable to either forgive Jack nor reject him entirely, feeling that he had done too much good for him to ever really hate him. Alyss, similarly, felt too strong a love for Jack to reject him outright. She never expressed sympathy for his actions, nor did she make any attempts to defend him. There was no misunderstanding on Alyss’s part on whether her love for Jack was unhealthy, but she loved him nonetheless. When she finally “finds” him, she offers no words of kindness. She simply expressed her gratitude in having done so before calling him a hopelessly lonely man, making no further attempts at even acknowledging him.

Of course, there is the inherent misogyny of a character arc about a young girl infatuated with an adult man, to the point of destroying her other relationships in pursuit of it. That Alyss was deliberately isolated and that Jack be the only person aside from the other Alice and the Core of Abyss-- two entities that cannot be meaningfully separated from herself-- is an obvious contributor, but that does not erase the problematic aspects of her arc. Then there’s the matter of Alyss’s wish to die being the only one treated as though it was a necessary evil, as opposed to a reflection of the individual’s personal instability that should be addressed through supporting them as opposed to killing them. It’s sort of an unfair double standard, and that the plot make Alyss’s death a necessary evil is a matter of author choice, not something inherent to the work.

On the topic of other instances of misogynistic writing in PH as a whole, there’s the matter of Alice and Sharon’s arc. While I don’t think either arc is in itself misogynistic, both characters are totally ignored in favor of their male counterparts. Despite Alice being one of the most important characters in the series, she has almost no narration and is frequently characterized as, to quote a friend of mine, a “feral animal.” She’s not given the same emotional or psychological depth as Oz or Gil, despite having around the same number of appearances and being the plot’s catalyst. Sharon has her own arc, theoretically, but we only ever see it within the context of Break or Reim despite being more of a main character than the latter. That Sharon spend entire volumes not appearing a single time is a recurring joke. A major part of her characterization-- that she feel insecure in relationships due to her halted aging-- is not revealed until the last chapter of the comic. Her arc ends with her marrying to a character who... I wouldn’t have been upset if the two of them had had any real interactions outside of Break, but they didn’t. There’s no inherent problem with their relationship except it’s boring and rushed.

Then there’s the matter of the sheer number of female versus male characters whose purpose in the plot is to die violently-- the Flower Girl, Vanessa Nightray, Bernice Nightray, Miranda Barma, Mary, etc. All of these characters did little or nothing to actually progress the plot, and all are murdered by a male character with the exception of the Flower Girl (who is a sex worker in the anime adaptation, and while I don’t know the canonicity of that, I feel it worth mentioning). 

Ultimately, PH suffers a lot for Mochizuki’s internalized misogyny. Her narrative seems over eager to forgive perpetrators of misogynistic violence, and in many ways over eager to characterize sympathetic men as misogynists. A Pandora Hearts without its themes of misogyny seems... nearly incomprehensible, though that’s in large part because of how meticulous the narrative as a whole is. The improvements Mochizuki has made subsequently, though, are noticeable and greatly appreciated.

[iblameashley]

Star Trek Picard S1 Ramblings

Not that anyone from CBS will ever see this or even care if they did – once you create art you create a critic. I’m the critic and I am not a “toxic fan” for not praising every little detail from Star Trek Picard Season 1.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Spoilers<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

So ST: Picard ended its first season and I have spent the last week or so thinking over the series. There was so much and yet so little I am still finding it difficult to find the words to describe how I feel about it.

Lets start with the pilot (Season 1 Episodes 1, 2 & 3.)

First and foremost, I despise 3-episode pilots. They are almost always a waste of time, and the story can almost always be condensed into 2 episodes. This was no different for Picard. I understand that this was meant to set-up the world of Picard and also allowed new fans to be introduced to the world of Trek, but it seriously delayed the plot.

I also believe that if you are new to Trek, you don’t really need a whole lot of set up. The basics can be conveyed rather easily; Picard was a part of a Space Navy called Starfleet. He lives on Earth, it’s a paradise in the 25th Century. He’s being asked for help from a stranger and that will launch him on an adventure that takes him back into space. Honestly, Trek is easy to slide into.

What could have been:

This is the part of my review where I get to Fannon my own idea’s.

Season one as it was could have been completely different and still lead into the events that we had. I would start my ret-con around the attack on Mars.

Pew Pew

The Pitch: Its is only a few months before the Hobus Supernova explosion will reach the outer Romulan colonies, killing hundreds of millions. Admiral Picard is attempting to oversee the final phase of the operation when he discovers a Romulan Spy in Starfleet Ranks. He sets out on a search to discover the true identity of the spy and stop their plans to hijack the Synth construction workers. Along this adventure he meets with Dr. Soji from the Daystrom Institute – a genius cyberneticist, and his trusted friend Raffi who discover the plot may be more sinister than just hijacking of synths, and may hold a dark fate for the planet of Mars.

Episodes 1 & 2 Would be the set-up. Episodes 5 & 6 would reveal the plot about the Zhat Vash and their goals and Episodes 9 & 10 would have the Mars attack happen, reveal Soji as a Synth and the connection to Data and that he (or some part of him) may be alive.

There are things from season 1 I enjoy, though! I just feel this story was rushed and yet… so poorly executed it felt slow.

Excuse me, this is my emotional support crew. Where I go, they go. #foundfamily

For Example, my Pro’s:

·      Visiting Chateau Picard

·      Ex-Tal Shiar agents working for Picard

·      Use of real-locations! Real sunlight! It felt more REAL.

·      Swearing (subversive opinion!)

·      The Archives

·      The holograms of Rio’s as the crew (And by extension the use of Holograms more freely in the Star Trek Universe)

·      Elnor. <3

·      Seven of Nine <3

·      Hugh <3

·      Picard and Hugh hugging

·      Locutus (any reference)

·      Soji’s meditation Journey

·      Soji-hulk. Soji-smash.

·      TNG REUNION!

·      7 of 9 tertiary adjunct of BORG QUEEN

·      Spot II

·      More Synths (though less than I was hoping for)

·      Synth alliance (in concept)

·      Picard flying a ship

·      Gay Seven (or, Bi? Not-straight Seven!)

...My face says “where am I” and my eyes say “not a single thought has ever passed through this head”

And then there are some things that I would put on my Con’s:

·      Soji Dying so early on

·      Jurati / Maddox relationship. Gross. (age difference)

·      Far too little of my favorite Ex-Tal Shiar Romulans

·      Narek. I like nothing about him.

·      The holograms of Rios and their “backgrounds” / Accents

·      Ichebs death!!!! >:(

·      Vjayzl (Don’t know if that’s the spelling. Don’t care. She and her name were terrible)

·      The whole Stardust City episode. Ugh.

·      Narek / Soji Relation-shit

·      Riker and Troi having a dead child because ~~reasons~~ Wasn’t necessary.

·      Borg rebellion too short.

·      Dr. Alton. Should have been Maddox.

·      The flowers? Like??? ????? !!! ????!?!?!??!!?

·      Beacon = Large; shoots beams of light.

·      Tentacle porn Synths (also obvi evil)

·      Ctrl + C, Ctrl + V Starships

·      Gay Seven (or Bi?) **see below**

 And that’s it I guess. Overall, if I had to score Season 1 of Picard out of 10, I’d give it a solid 6.5.

There was a lot that could have been done better, and they should have created a more cohesive story that would leave a few threads open for a renewal (before they knew they were being renewed) but have a conclusion to the main arc. The references to prior Trek were nice, but references don’t make for a good story. I hope going forward we get a more tightly bound story. And for fucks sake, someone show Elnor the damn cat! He’s waited long enough!

Role model and Queen.

** Now some of you may be wondering about the Gay 7 of 9 thing being in the con’s too. Let me be clear. I am Gay, and I support the LGBTQ+ community and its representation in media. My issue is less to do with Seven being gay or bi, and more about how that was literally just dropped at our feet last minute. FIRST OF ALL, she’s clearly been eye-banging Janeway for years. Gimmie that or nothing! I’ll write v-jazzle off as rebound fuck during a rough patch with Janeway.

This part is harder for me to articulate, but I hope y’all will get the gist. Showing lesbians sharing an intimate and non-sexual moment on tv is taking the easy route. Its in the same vein at Catsuits for women on old trek. It is meant to appeal to Straight Boys. In this way, lesbians are generally more accepted than gay men. The flip side to that is, lesbians become more fetishized.That is a separate issue and another topic for another day. It deserves its own post.

If Star Trek wanted to really be more progressive, give us some more gay men in non-sexual yet intimate moments. I know we have DISCO and Staments/Culbur, but there is still such a huge stigma around gay men because TV still equates it with sex. Show me men who just like to cuddle! Get them holding hands and making heart-eyes at each other. Maybe season 2 will open up some possibilities on that front. Until then… if they majorly fuck up what they started with Saffi(Seven/Raffi?? Anyone? Is this a thing?), imma be pissed.

[kclenhartnovels]

Episode Two

[Episode One]

Kate startled awake around midnight as music suddenly blasted in the apartment.

It started with a sensual saxophone solo, cresting with a low, steady back beat and a crooning voice that spoke of cheating lovers and nights of passion. Kate sat up abruptly, clutching the sheets to hold it over her naked chest. “DeWitt!”

“It’s alright,” they called, standing in front of the window and pooled by the neon city lights. They had sent Kate to bed fully clothed, and they had been the same, but now the pair of them were nude, and DeWitt didn’t seem at all surprised. “We were supposed to be having sex by now, that’s all. The music is to cover up the sounds.”

“But where is it coming from?” she asked, twisting her head to try and find the source. She had to shout over the volume of it, but she was sure that her voice was husky for a different reason.

DeWitt shrugged, toying with an unlit cigarette and leaning their forehead against the cool windowpane. “The same place the dramatic chords come from whenever someone dies. Or the trendy pop music whenever there’s a big battle scene.”

“But I’ve never heard that before.”

They lifted their head, and for once their lips cracked in a smile. “Really? This is the first time you’ve heard the sex music?”

She nodded. Her curly hair bounced with enthusiasm. “Yes, and Trent and I have had sex a lot. It seems every time he comes home from a night of danger, I patch him up and scold him, and then we make love all night. I’ve never heard this before.”

“That’s good,” DeWitt enthused. “It means we’re starting to break your narrative, and you can see outside of it. I mean, it’s not great for your eardrums, but it’s a step closer to saving your life.”

“How long is this going to last?” she asked, dropping the blankets in favor of holding a pillow around her ears. A black bar politely appeared to cover her nudity.

DeWitt shrugged. “Usually doesn’t last longer than a few minutes. It’s a story, after all, not an erotica.” Their eyebrows lifted a moment. “God, I hope this isn’t an erotic fanfiction arc. Those always go bizarre directions, and you never know who they throw in as a crossover.”

“What?” Kate yelled around the pillow.

DeWitt offered her a smile. They pushed away from the window at last, pouring two glasses from a bottle of whiskey whose label was politely tilted to hide the brand. “This is how you can tell we have no sponsors,” they remarked, picking up the bottle and turning it. No matter which way it faced the light, the label was crossed with odd shadow, and all that could be made out was WHISKEY in all capital letters.

The music at last faded off with one last triumphant blast of saxophone. Kate dropped the pillow with a sigh of relief. Her hair was attractively rumbled, and she pulled her shirt back on without trying to find her bra. “Why is that whiskey gray?”

They shrugged. Their hat had appeared on again, but no other clothing. The long shadows politely created a deep blackness between hip and thigh. “Some of the things I bring never seem to get colored. There are days my skin is gray, too.”

Kate took the glass with a little smile, the ice rattling too-loud. A bead of condensation rolled over the edge of the glass and skipped across her fingers. “You were saying something about breaking my narrative?”

DeWitt pulled on a pair of pants, and sat across from her. They laced both hands around their glass, and stared into it as if it held all the answers. “It’s the only way to pull you from the story before the writer decides to kill you off. Sometimes keeping you absent will make the writer forget about you, but the artist seems very fond of you.” They glanced up again, watching the way the neon lights caught against her dark skin, a myriad of color that highlighted her cheekbones, the curve of her jaw, the angle of her shoulder, the ice in her glass. “We may need to take more drastic action. You need to break up with Trent.”

She dropped her glass. It shattered. Ice skidded across the floor, landing in a pool of light.

“His villain’s name is Frosticle,” DeWitt muttered, then swore. “Foreshadowing.”

“I can’t break up with Trent,” she said, clasping DeWitt’s hands. “I love him, Agent. He’s--I’m nothing without him. And he needs me.”

“He needs you to further his story.” They squeezed Kate’s hand, then stood to get a broom. “I’ll go with you in the morning, and we will see if we can’t get you quietly written out of this story before you end up in a refrigerator. Or worse.”

“What could be worse than being put in a refrigerator?”

DeWitt swept up the glass. “Oh, Ms. Jackson, I’ve seen so much. Strapped to barrels and blown up while the hero saves a future villain instead. Dropped from a clock tower and and killed inches from the hero’s fingers. Shot with a bullet meant for the hero. Killed as they are confessing their love, killed while pregnant, anything to make the pain worse for the protagonist. Spy movies are even worse--I’ve seen girls encased in gold, attacked by dogs, drowned in oil, poisoned, hit by cars, eaten by piranhas, and shot more times than I can count. It’s a dismal world for the devalued woman.”

“I don’t feel like Trent devalues me.”

“It’s not Trent that I’m worried about. He’s not the one writing this, after all.” They stole a glance towards the window as day broke too quickly, sending lances of red across the floor. Too bright, too red, and DeWitt was sure that the artist was laying the doom on a bit too thick to expect Kate to last until nightfall. They would have to move faster. “Let’s get coffee, and go find your boyfriend.”

****

DeWitt swore that, despite being a city that spanned ninety square miles, Sugar, Honey, Ice, and Tea was the only coffee shop. They couldn’t remember ever seeing another one, but despite that, the line was never longer than it took for them to complete a conversation, and there was always a table available to sit.

“Have you ever noticed, Ms. Jackson, the incongruities of our daily lives?”

Kate fussed with her spoon, stirring her coffee more than necessary, though the swirl of cream and coffee refused to blend. “I’ve noticed that my coffee never cooperates.”

“It’s more satisfying to ink a high contrast swirl like that,” DeWitt said sympathetically. “Look around a moment. Do you ever remember getting coffee from any other cafe? Do you notice anyone familiar, even though you come here every day?”

“How did you know I come here every day?”

“Ms. Jackson. Where else would you go?”

She wasn’t sure what to say, just screwed up her face and stirred her coffee with more force. “I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to people when I’m in line.”

“What about the workers?”

Her gaze flicked up, settling on the perpetually sullen goth girl manning the register, her colored contacts and lip ring never so much as twitching from the long line of flirtatious regulars and complicated orders. Behind her, a man worked as barista, his shoulders at least twice the width of the machine, the steam billowing in front of his face. His jaw was too square, and his brow too heavy, and DeWitt couldn’t help but think it was extremely lazy henchman design.

“They’re the same as I see every day,” she said mildly. “The barista hardly ever says a word, aside from calling out orders. His name tag says Joe, but everyone behind the counter calls him Steve. The cashier’s name is Demeter, and she hates it. She’s dating a man named Harold, and she hates his name, too.”

“I don’t think I would like the name Harold, either,” DeWitt agreed, still watching the barista fill orders.

“Hey, do you think we should think up a first name for you?” Kate asked brightly. “I mean, something aside from Agent.”

They shrugged. “Truth be told, Ms. Jackson, it doesn’t bother me any longer. Let’s focus on you, first.”

“I think you’re overthinking this, Agent DeWitt. I mean, we’re in the middle of a coffee shop. What could possibly--?”

“Kate?”

She whirled around, her hair flying out behind her to take up at least three panels. Immediately, she smiled, and stood to meet the young man who called from the door. “Trent!”

DeWitt swallowed a groan. Trent Terrigan was precisely what they expected: shapely muscles even in their civilian clothes, a mop of blond hair that they supposed was charmingly messy, and troubled green eyes. A perfect poster boy for a superhero. DeWitt could already see him holding Kate’s body, screaming at the top of his lungs in the middle of a broken building, the light pouring in through the shattered ceiling.

“Kate, where were you last night? You never answered my text. I was so worried.” Trent crossed the distance between them quickly, and pulled his girlfriend into his arms. Kate’s head fit perfectly against his chest, tucked under his chin as she hugged him back. “When I got home and you weren’t there, I thought--oh, I thought something terrible must have happened to you.”

“I had a weird night,” she answered at last, and stepped back. She touched a fresh bruise on his jaw with a frown. “What happened?”

Trent pulled his head away, and looked off into the distance above her head. “It’s nothing.” DeWitt could see the flashback panels appearing behind Trent, showing quick clips of a battle with some great beast made of ice.

DeWitt cleared their throat, and stood at last. “Ms. Jackson.”

“Oh! Yes.” She pulled out of Trent’s arms, though reluctantly. “Trent, this is Agent DeWitt. I was staying with them last night.”

“Agent?” he repeated. “What agency do you work with?”

“The SCPA, Mr. Terrigan, and we’ve placed Ms. Jackson under our protection. And she has something she needs to tell you.”

“ASPCA? She’s not a dog.”

“Wrong acronym, Mr. Terrigan,” DeWitt corrected. “Common mistake.”

Kate tilted her chin, and stood beside DeWitt as if she could draw strength from them. “Trent. I want to break up.”

The lights in the cafe flickered, and the color drained from Trent’s face. “What? Kate, no. Why? Is it this--this Agent? Are you leaving me for them?”

“No. Trent, I love you, but--”

“%#@!,” said DeWitt.

I love you was enough. The espresso machine flew across the room, crashing between Trent and Kate and narrowly missing both of them. DeWitt pulled her back behind them quickly, and Trent turned to face the barista who was already climbing over the counter. Electricity crackled along Trent’s knuckles, and he immediately crouched into a dynamic pose.

“Power Surge,” the barista greeted, rolling up his sleeves as the other customers scattered to the corners of the room. “Frosticle sends her regards.”

DeWitt pushed Kate under the table as the barista picked up a chair and threw it at Trent’s head. The lights flickered overhead, then the bulbs popped one after another, sending shards of glass flying through the cafe. DeWitt drew their gun, standing guard over Kate as the first bolt of electricity from Trent’s hands sent the metal chair flying back at the barista, glowing blue from the charge.

“Please don’t shoot them!” Kate pleaded from under the table, grabbing DeWitt’s pant leg.

“Probably wouldn’t hurt them anyway,” they muttered, then pulled the trigger, firing the gun into the air. A vibrant red and yellow BANG accented the shot.

Both men stopped, staring at DeWitt in surprise.

“I have one question,” they said to the barista, the gun still pointed at the ceiling. “Is your name Joe, or Steve?”

The barista shrugged his massive shoulders. “It depends on the edition.”

DeWitt produced a business card, and offered it to the brute of a man. “Come by my office later on. I think you and I need to have a conversation. Kate,” they added, leaning down to help her back to her feet, “come on, you can come back with me.” They walked her to the door, picking their way through the broken glass and the tangled wreck of an espresso machine. “Gentlemen. As you were.”

The door swung shut. DeWitt heard the fight music swell again, and put their back to the chaotic fight within the cafe. Instead, they took off their coat, and draped it over Kate’s shoulders.

She held it close. “What do we do now?”

“Now, Ms. Jackson, we go back to my apartment and see if we broke your narrative enough.”

****

The rest of the day passed in relative quiet; when they returned, DeWitt’s apartment had at least expanded to a one-bedroom instead of a studio, and the couch and coffee table afforded them the option to play cards and talk. They ordered takeout for dinner, delivered by a tiny Chinese man who spoke only broken English, and DeWitt ate with a fork instead of chopsticks. Kate showered at least three times, and spent most of the afternoon in a towel or lingerie.

As the sun finally began to sink low, Kate stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, pressing her hands against them as she watched the city. The evening light cast long shadows across her face, accenting the arch of her cheekbones and curve of her lips. Somehow, her makeup was still impeccable, even if her hair was still damp from the latest shower. She was about to speak, then gasped, the noise coming with tremor marks in the air around her.

“Agent DeWitt, something is happening!”

Her breath frosted the window. DeWitt swore under their breath as ice crystals crackled up the pane, thin and spidery at first, then cementing to a solid block that completely obscured the view of the waking city. The room dropped in temperature, and their breaths clouded in front of them.

“Frosticle,” DeWitt guessed, pulling down the brim of their hat and pulling the revolver from their belt. Their long black coat flapped in a breeze that wasn’t there. “I guess we’ll have to deal with her first.”

Kate shivered, wrapping a blanket. “Agent DeWitt, I’m frightened.”

“Of course you are, Ms. Jackson. Otherwise you wouldn’t be a damsel in distress.”

She bit her lip. Frost tipped her black curls. “I need to call Trent.”

“Don’t. I’ll take care of it.”

“Are you going to shoot her?”

“Shoot her?” DeWitt looked down at the gun in their hand, then holstered it with an irritated sigh. “Of course not. I’m going to talk with her.”

Before Kate could protest, they crossed the small room (still cursing that their two-bedroom had shrunken. They were sure that their rent wouldn’t reflect the new size.) They unlocked their door, put on what they hoped was a calm and disarming smile, and swung it open. The hall outside was at least ten degrees warmer than their apartment, and also devoid of life.

Behind DeWitt, the iced-over windows shattered inwards.

Kate screamed, throwing the blanket over her head to protect her face. The crunch of heels on glass echoed the smile that curled the corner of Frosticle’s white-painted lips, stark contrast to her dark skin.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

DeWitt closed the door behind them, turning to face Frosticle and sighing through their nose. “Ah, yes, we’ve been expecting you, Miss--?” They paused, and a frown creased between their eyes. Though six-inch heels made her look taller, and her mermaid-cut white rhinestone dress was almost more revealing than anything Kate had worn, her face was unmistakably similar to the one still hiding beneath the blanket.

“Ms. Jackson, why didn’t you tell me that you had an identical sister?” DeWitt sighed.

Kate cowered on the floor, lifting one corner of the blanket carefully. “I don’t. I have an evil twin sister.”

Frosticle smiled, and extended one hand towards DeWitt, curls of ice spiraling up from her palm. “And honey, I’m so good at being bad.”

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[daresplaining]

thoughts on the Inferno arc from Dematteis?

    I have to admit, that arc isn’t one of my favorites, and I’m not a big fan of DeMatteis’s run as a whole. It just doesn’t do much for me. The dead sex worker plot point is one of my least favorite parts of Man Without Fear, and I dislike that DeMatteis felt the need to drag it into 616 continuity. Matt already killed someone during his first outing as Daredevil, as established way back in DD #1, so all that addition/retcon/whatever it is did was muddle up the timeline. It’s also one of the few Daredevil stories that depicts Matt as kind of religious, which is a characterization that, personally, isn’t my thing. (There’s nothing wrong with it, of course! I just don’t find it interesting, and I’m often baffled that so many people seem to see it as an integral part of his character, since it’s practically nonexistent in the comics.) And Sir is an uncomfortable villain for a number of reasons, mostly involving depictions of transgender characters in media, which I don’t feel informed enough about to properly discuss. Thematically, their story aligns with Matt’s plotline of self-discomfort and repression, but character-wise, I will say that I don’t find them to be a particularly interesting or memorable antagonist. Overall, it’s a strange, somewhat convoluted story. 

    On the other hand, there are parts of “Inferno” that I really like– most notably, the reintroduction of the “real�� yellow-suited Daredevil as a symptom of Matt’s identity-centered mental breakdown. 

[ID: Two panels from DeMatteis’s run. Foggy is sitting in his office at his desk, and Yellow Suit Daredevil is perched on top of the desk.]

Matt: “Better spread the word, counselor: Daredevil’s back. The real Daredevil. And tell that phony running around abusing my name– to watch his back!”

[ID: Foggy watches in shock as Daredevil jumps out the window.]

    The identity issues in this arc and the arcs that come both before and (especially) after it are a little difficult to follow, since they are so abstract, but conceptually, I find them interesting and fun. DeMatteis’s run takes place after Matt has faked his death and reinvented himself yet again. He is isolated from his loved ones– Foggy and Karen at the time– and is living a life that is, by design, almost entirely separate from his existence as Matt Murdock. His civilian identity is a con artist, and his Daredevil identity is notably dark and brutal. He has been through two major psychologically-jarring experiences: Elektra’s resurrection and Glori’s sudden violent death, the latter of which serves as a direct catalyst for his mental breakdown in “Inferno” and the following arc. As much as I’m not a fan of the actual reason for this– the Man Without Fear plot point being clumsily integrated in 616 Matt’s past, as discussed– I do really enjoy the side-effects of Matt’s shattered psyche. We learn that he has repressed a horrible memory– a memory that directly impacts his sense of self by making him feel like a murderer. Even before he fully unearths the memory, it causes him to feel like he doesn’t know himself. And this, coupled with his mental breakdown and lack of tethers to his former life, causes his decades of identity compartmentalization to come to the surface and make him literally feel like multiple separate people.

[ID: A panel of Yellow Suit Daredevil posing dramatically on a rooftop in the rain. The faces of other DD characters are outlined in the cityscape behind him.]

Caption: “He’s haunted… as much by what he can remember as what he can’t. He knows who he is, at least: Daredevil. The real Daredevil! The one who stopped the Owl, the Purple Man, and Mister Fear– the Daredevil people admired and emulated. He knows, too, that something drove him away from this city. From his friends: Karen, Foggy, Matt. Matt? Was Matt his friend? Maybe once. A long time ago.”

    Yellow Suit Daredevil insists that he is not Matt Murdock, that he is a Daredevil who existed before Matt Murdock took on that identity. In other words, he is a product of Matt’s very earliest approach to heroing and the first Daredevil creative team’s way of presenting his identity. He is, in fact, this quote from Daredevil #1 brought to life:  

“I’ll see to it that Matt Murdock never does resort to force… but somebody else will…! Somebody totally different from Matt Murdock…”

    This initial compartmentalization was necessary for Matt to allow himself to directly disobey his father’s wishes. It was only later that Matt Murdock and Daredevil stopped being written with two distinct personalities, and Matt relaxed that sense of identity separation. In DeMatteis’s run, Yellow Suit Daredevil doesn’t think he has hypersenses– because he’s not Matt– but he doesn’t know who he actually is. (Technically, he’s… probably Mike. I’m just sayin’.) Yellow Suit DD identifies himself as the happy, upbeat Daredevil, the one people look up to and admire, and resents Matt Murdock for becoming a darker and more morally complex figure after taking on the identity. In a metafictive way, DeMatteis is commenting on the tonal shifts in Daredevil comics over the years, and I love that. 

[ID: Two panels of Yellow Suit Daredevil punching a heavy bag.]

Caption: “He’ll stop Murdock the way he stopped Batlin. No more frauds. No more liars. It’s time for Daredevil to be a hero again. A real hero. Not some cheap, soulless thug hiding behind a hero’s mask.”

    In-universe, the implication is that Matt, as part of his mental breakdown surrounding his repressed memories of committing murder, is reverting back to that first DD identity– the safe one, the uncomplicated one, the PG-rated Silver Age one who would never kill anyone– at least, not directly. (This in itself is funny, because Matt indirectly killed people all the time in early Daredevil comics, but this story is more about Matt’s warped view of the Good Old Days than it is about accuracy). From that safe vantage point, Matt feels comfortable resenting himself for all of the darkness in his recent life. His discomfort with his own actions causes the identities he has built for himself over the years to literally manifest separately in his mind. This becomes exacerbated in the following arc in wonderfully mind-bending ways. I don’t think that’s how mental breakdowns actually work, but this is comics, and I find it compelling… if a little hard to follow, logistically. 

   I also enjoy the fact that this horrible point in Matt’s life is when Foggy learns his best friend is Daredevil.

[ID: Karen is kneeling on a bathroom floor, holding Matt in her arms. He is wearing the yellow Daredevil suit but his mask is off. Foggy is standing over them, scratching his head.]

Foggy: “I don’t understand any of this! Matt’s– alive?! Wh-what’s he doing in that costume?! How did he–?!”

Karen: “Not now, Foggy. Not now.”

    It’s random, it’s accidental, it’s incredibly upsetting, and it is a while before Foggy is even able to discuss it with Matt, at which point Matt basically brushes it off and they both move on. On the one hand, I would have loved to see more emphasis placed on this moment– arguably one of the biggest events in DD history– and I was delighted that the Netflix adaptation gave that to us in Season 1 episode 10. But I also enjoy the imperfections of the 616 version. It’s not a big fairytale moment, and something about that messiness appeals to me.

[tessatechaitea]

Kid Eternity #3

In this issue, Kid Eternity fucks a Rastafarian hippo.

This comic book, more than any other comic book, taught me that I don't have to keep buying every issue of a comic book just because it's under the Vertigo imprint. This comic book took me by the hand, led me out of the misty forest of Vertigo's obfuscating nonsense, pushed me out into the bright clarity of presumed reality and said, "Stop coming around here to get your butthole molested, you skanky little perv." After blinking the sunlight out of my eyes for a bit, I gasped and thought, "Sometimes art is art with tits and sometimes art is just tits distracting from nonsense. And it's up to me and G.I. Joe to tell the difference." This is where I'd post an image of tits to distract you from my nonsense but this isn't a porn site, you skanky little perv. This issue begins, like all Ann Nocenti issues, with me shaking my head and contemplating self-harm. Also tits and nonsense. So much nonsense. Like more nonsense than a shaking stick could shake another stick at. Usually I appreciate comic books with dense dialogue and a thick, rich story. But the first page has a dialogue between two of the Pope's demon children that's 160 words long. I'm not sure Ann Nocenti completely understands how comic books work. The second page's dialogue contains 199 words (and five tits). I have a new theory about Ann Nocenti's writing: she was paid by the word and the only way to keep the editor from cutting down her word count was to make the dialogue incomprehensible so the editor didn't know which words to cut. I'm not counting the amount of words on the third page but I'm pretty sure it's even more than page two. Page three sort of introduces two new characters (as if this comic book needs any more subplots). I think they're brothers but all we, as readers, are allowed to see are hands and books. One book is The Book of Sin in which the brothers invoke temptation against Kid Eternity. This sends the Pope's devil children to ruin his plans with their vaginas. The other book is The Book of Reflection in which Kid Eternity's own narcissism is used against him. I guess nobody wants the modern Buddha Christ Child to be born? But aren't they all wasting their time? Didn't we discover the magical child was fished out of a garbage can in the dirty alley where the homeless guys constantly discuss the value of women?

This newscast, awash in speculation and false premises, is still more informative than the talking head opinion pieces and non-expert debates that form the bulk of most 24 hour news stations. And look at all those words! This was just two-thirds of one page!

Meanwhile, the FBI agents are still lying around in bed. How they ended up in bed after being shot by Ares' hate arrows isn't information that was deemed necessary for the readers to understand the story. Which is fine because I think Nocenti just wrote them out of the comic book in a scene where the Fates are stitching a quilt and one is all, "What are we doing with these two?" and another one is all, "Forget them! They're lost to entropy! We have so many more stories to knit!" And she's write because I don't think I could even remember all of the character and story arcs from just the first two issues! Let's make a list! 1. The homeless guys philosophizing in the alley. 2. Kid Eternity and his search for the Christ Buddha. 3. Madame Blavatsky's search for snacks and causing time to rewind. 4. The FBI agents looking to help Kid Eternity but somehow winding up in bed not fucking. 5. Hemlock the feminist who could be the Christ Buddha's mother but has become the mother of a computer virus. 6. Dog the gross dude who wants to fuck Hemlock. 7. Keep, Kid Eternity's keeper, who probably isn't exactly into helping Kid Eternity. 8. Beelzebub deciding to go to Earth to be more like Lucifer. 9. Judas, just hanging out with Beelzebub. 10. Jesus getting drunk in a bar. 11. The Malocchio, or Pope's demon children, trying to stop the birth of the Christ Buddha. 12. The Christ Buddha who was found in a trash can but then taken away by some woman who might have been its mother. 13. Cupid, summoned by Kid Eternity to make the FBI agents do it but who arrived late because he was in a coma and shot them with hate arrows anyway so he just decided to get drunk with the homeless guys. 14. Zeus and the other Greek Gods who woke back up when Cupid was summoned. 15. The Catholic church who seem to be Kid Eternity's main atagonist. 16. Freud and Jung, brought in to show how much Ann Nocenti knows about the founders of psychology. That's all I can remember! I'm sure I've forgotten some story bits and characters. This issue wasted no time introducing even more! Now we have the brothers reading metaphysical books, the Fates, and a transgender sex worker.

Is the point that they won't date women because they're afraid to talk to them? I just thought women didn't want to date them because they're filthy itinerants with no ambition.

Oh! It turns out the "brothers" reading the books about all the other characters are Jesus and Beelzebub! Thank goodness I don't have to remember any new characters! Hopefully the transgender sex worker turns out to be Madame Blavatsky. Double oh! I just realized the transgender sex worker is one of the Malocchio! Whew! I think I'm shaking off the Ann Nocenti Dome of Confusion! I'm beginning to follow and understand her plot! I mean, really, it's not so hard. Kid Eternity wants to inspire mankind and thinks a new Buddha Christ child is the way to do it. Everybody else wants to stop him because mankind sucks ass. Now add a bunch more words and about thirty random Wikipedia entries to my summation and you'll get Nocenti's version of the plot.

This is a great example of Nocenti's profound nonsense. Sorry but the tits were in the previous panel on the previous page.

I'm worried that I'm going to completely burn out on reading old comics because after this excruciating three issue run of Kid Eternity, I've got about six issues of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. Not that I'm comparing the quality of the two comic books! It's just that I don't understand this comic book but that in no way makes me feel stupid. But when I don't understand The Invisibles, I'm going to feel like a huge idiot. This issue, which is the final issue in my head canon, ends with Fetish, the Malocchio transgender sex worker, fucking Kid Eternity until he falls in love with her and then leaving him. His heart is broken and now he's ready to be fucked by the other Malocchio. Plus Jesus and Beelzebub are playing some kind of game with Kid Eternity and a mad girl named Christabel who can draw reality. So that's another character and piece of the plot that I never would have kept straight if I'd kept reading this comic book. Kid Eternity #3 Rating: C-. It's really fucking falling apart at this point. Yes, the basic premise is pretty easy to understand. But it's tiresome trying to keep it all straight when every single one of Nocenti's characters speaks in never ending analogies. So if love is like sailing, you don't just get, "Bright skies and still seas until the storm clouds gather and toss the ship." No, you get "Love is sailing in bright skies on a calm sea with freshly waxed decks and clean billowing sails, a pleasant breeze that stopped over in Manhattan to waft the fresh smell of baking garlic and Margherita pizza into your upraised nostrils as you watch two seagulls playfully dance in the sky until the next instant stormy seas, black skies, flailing ropes, ripped sails, riggings down, the decks awash, and death is licking the back of your neck." That whole last part where the stormy seas start is actually a direct quote. I embellished the first half!

[reclaiming-god]

hey can you tell me what is your faith about?

Hello, anon!

What is my faith about? Well… I was raised strictly traditional Roman Catholic (I’m from Poland), but I currently label myself as an anarcho-communist Christian.

My core beliefs come down not to the nit-picky details of the Bible, but rather to Jesus’s main message of radical love, combined with the thinking of leftist philosophers such as Marx and Bakunin and especially Peter Kropotkin with The Conquest of Bread.

I believe that:

The abolishment of all hierarchy that cannot justify itself is necessary, including the state and the church as an institution rather than a community. These hierarchies poison the well-being of humanity as a whole. For example: the hierarchy of the rich at the very top and the poor at the very bottom is a hierarchy that cannot justify itself and therefore does not need to exist. However, the “hierarchy” that exists between, let’s say, an expert in a certain skill and those who are just beginning to practice said certain skill is a relationship that is wholly natural and necessary for development.

Our first and foremost duty is to take care of those vulnerable in our communities: the poor, disabled, LGBTQ+, people of color, and sex workers all fall under this category. Building a strong community of support and care is important - how does one love a God whom he cannot see, when he does not love his brother, who he can see?

We all must find God by ourselves, not be told by others who or what or how God is. Priests are good facilitators for group prayer and great support for those who are struggling with their faith and desire guidance, but they are not necessary to forming a meaningful, genuine relationship with God. You feel God in your heart and soul, not hear or read Them. We’re all in this journey together, however, and I believe the best place to feel God is within the support of the community.

People of other faiths are not necessarily damned for all eternity, as some Catholics like to say.

I’m not quite sure if Hell is the way that I’ve been taught it is. Or if it even works that way, the “eternal damnation” thing…

A better world is possible. Though Earth will never be a “Heaven on Earth” since there will always be suffering of some sort, we can do better for all humans. The system we currently have is not sustainable - not only is it actively destroying the planet, it’s inherently corrupt with greed that has no brakes.

Science is compatible with religion. Would it not make all creation even more beautiful to know that God has orchestrated all these complex processes - from the Big Bang to the formation to the Earth to evolution - instead of it all just appearing out of thin air? Over millions and millions of years?

Many stories contained within the Bible are not literal, especially the creation and beginnings of humanity and Noah’s arc. I’m not a big fan of Sola Scriptura.

Formal prayer is not for everyone. The Catholic circles that I’m in (or rather have to be around) place a big emphasis on masses, the rosary, and novenas. They’re good for people who want to have that uniform, structured prayer but not for others. Prayer should be a conversation, a time of reflection, to reflect on our day or what we’re about to do. It’s a good way to mentally balance yourself.

So yeah, those are just some of my beliefs when it comes to my faith. Hope that answered your question, anon!

- Toza

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: The Mistress Experience by Scarlett Peckham

4.5/5. Releases 6/25/2024.

vibes: courtesan-ing, sexually inexperienced hero, TRUE opposites attract, people with secret hearts that they don't want to unveil but oh no now they're in love

Heat Index: 7.5/10.

Thais Magdalene is a famous, coveted courtesan, known for spending no more than one night with each client. She enjoys her job, and she's great at it, yet she holds a secret desire to settle down with a man who loves her and have a family. To support a charity for women's rights, she auctions off 30 days in her bed. Shockingly, the buyer is Alistair Eden, a polite lord known for following all the rules. But Alistair has a secret: he's inexperienced in bed, and doesn't know how to please a woman--an issue he wants to correct before he marries to have an heir. As Thais and Alistair spend their month together, they both know it's meant to end forever as soon as time is up. Yet in one another, they find their true selves...

uGH I LOVED THIS. It's so good. So emotional, so funny, so hot, so different from your average historical romance. One thing I love about Scarlett Peckham is that she clearly loves and fully embraces historicals and their tropes, while also seeking to explore them in fun, original ways.

Here, she hits on several things you don't often see in the genre: a sex worker who really isn't traumatized by her profession; a hero who isn't a virgin but also really... doesn't know what to do in bed; and feminism that feels quite honest, and doesn't preclude the heroine longing for a somewhat traditional family life. There's a lot of hugging in this one, and I felt hugged by the book.

Also like. Hot.

Quick Takes:

--I knew I'd love Thais--I so enjoy a bawdy, sex-positive heroine who's secretly hiding a wounded heart--but Alistair was more of a question mark for me. I think I very much expected a Soft Boi uwu type hero, and while those can be done well... They often aren't.

To me, Scarlett did a great job of making Alistair vulnerable, caring, and sweet... while keeping his backbone and his flaws. Alistair is stuffy! He is a snob! He needs to get that stick out of his ass! And yes, he does make a grovel-worthy misstep at one point (and I did love the outcome).

The story would've been a lot less interesting if Scarlett had used "sexually inexperienced and genteel" to equal "has no flaws and is a little baby man". Because also? Alistair is pushing forty. This is a grown man, and I appreciated that the story treated him like a grown (hot) man.

--Another thing I appreciated was how the book handled sex positivity. It's extremely sex positive. However, there is never a sense that Alistair should fuck more people to make up for lost time (he's not a virgin, but he hasn't slept with many people and it's been a long time for him). As clear as it is that there's nothing wrong with Thais having a high body count, there's also nothing wrong with Alistair being the type of guy for whom intimacy is important during sex, and who really doesn't need to have sex with a lot of people, so much as he needs to have sex with the right person.

Going back to his age, I also liked the sense that it's like... never too late to learn how to be good in bed. And he does have to learn. But more on that later.

--I've found that a lot of feminist historical romances really focus on like... the heroine wanting "more" than a family. And I get that. There's a lot of books that have a more traditional route, you need to buck the system, you have to follow your heroine's path. I'm childfree. I don't think it's necessary for heroines to want a more conventional life. In both of the other books in this series, the heroines didn't really settle down into conventional family lives, and I enjoyed them.

However, I so liked that for Thais, both things could be true. She could have a life as a sex worker that, while certainly not without its bad points, wasn't really like... her primary issue, exactly? Like, it was and it wasn't, but you don't see these grand depictions of violence and trauma I think you often see in historicals centering sex worker heroines. Anyway, she does ENJOY her job.

At the same time, she could want to marry and have three or four kids. She's allowed to love babies and want, most of all, to be loved by her husband and raise her children. She can be a feminist and want those things. It made her feminism much more real to me, to be honest. Thais never felt like a heroine who was written to be Strong for the sake of being Strong. Her warm, gooey center is very clear to the reader from the front, and when Alistair begins to see through her front and recognize the real her... OH DUDE. READER. I COULD NOT.

--Because the book does have a lot of those moments, right? Moments where Alistair is falling in love with this woman, so hard, and sees what she's really scared of. Moments too, when Thais sees into Alistair's true vulnerabilities, his need to be perfect at all things holding him back from happiness (which... oof, real).

I'm not always down for super cuddly books, but these two are literally so cuddly. A through-line is them just like. Luxuriating in hugging one another. It's so lovely and intimate without sex.

That said, there is a lot of sex, and dude. It is GOOD.

The Sex:

So, the thing with Alistair is a thing I hardly ever see in romances AS AN EXPLICITLY CALLED OUT CONTINUOUS ISSUE. However, it's a thing that absolutely works for me as a reader. He just gets too excited, guys! And then went it Happens too soon, he's so bummed and angry with himself! It's a vicious cycle!

I actually really loved how this book dealt with the pressure some men (in fact, some of the legitimately decent men who care about their partners' pleasure, too) feel to be these amazing lovers. Especially in a romance hero, who is inherently supposed to be this amazing lover. Like, Alistair just wants to impress people and be good at everything, and he is naturally good at everything except for this one thing.

However, being kinda shitty in bed doesn't mean you have to STAY that way, and yay for a novel that shows that sex is something you learn! Listen, I'm down for the well-done virgin hero books wherein the guy is immediately amazing at it. Some of my favorite books feature that. But this is a refreshing change of pace.

The novel also gets into like... How sex is sometimes enjoyable without an orgasm, and how much orgasms can be connected to your mental presence? There's just some really interesting stuff done here regarding how Thais in particular experiences pleasure, and the difference between a Thais that lets go and a Thais that doesn't.

Getting into the brass tax: you get a good amount of p in v, handies, oral on both sides, different positions, the works. I kinda wish there had been some butt stuff, as I feel Alistair could've used a bit of that.... but Scarlett makes up for that by including One Thing You Don't Usually See in Romance. I think I've read one other book that DEFINITELY featured it, and it was a dark romance.

Anyway, I really loved this book and totally recommend it. A very sweet, very sexy, very romantic story about lovers coming to truly know each other, with a great "BABY I MISS YOU" moment on top of it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[triviareads]

ARC Review of The Home Wrecker by Sara Cate

Rating: 4/5 Heat Level: 4.25/5 Publication Date: March 25th

Premise:

A poly romance with a married couple; Caleb and Briar Goode agree to let Dean live in their guest house after his house burns down. Both of them grapple with their attraction to Dean even as their own marriage is falling apart.

My review:

I'm a huge sucker for marriages in trouble in romance novels, and Sara Cate delivered! There's angst and there's drama, and there's also this surprisingly tender love story between three people who all feel like outsiders in one way or another.

Caleb and Briar's marriage is falling apart; they're struggling to conceive a second child and sex is more of a chore than for pleasure. Enter Dean, who is a sex worker at the local kink club, and was also Caleb's younger brother Isaac's first boyfriend when they were teenagers. He also believes Caleb broke them up all those years ago, which is why he decides he's going to seduce Briar. Writing it here sounds a bit campy/soap opera villain-y, but the hurt surrounding Isaac being kicked out after coming out runs deep in both Dean and Caleb, and it's a recurring theme in this book.

I saw a lot of promo about there being cheating in this book— I imagine it did its job in warning some people and making others curious, like me. So yes, there's cheating; Briar and Caleb individually cheat with Dean without telling one another beforehand. It's... unethical nonmonogamy, if you will. What's also interesting is there are flashbacks of how Briar and Caleb got together that parallel the main story, and their relationship also began with, you guessed it, cheating.

So what we get is this slow seduction of a lonely, attention-starved wife via wine nights and long conversations, all while the husband is getting increasingly suspicious— it's a classic, and it works. The not-so-classic part is that Caleb confronts Dean on multiple occasions, and these confrontations are riddled with sexual tension underneath all the male posturing. I like how Sara Cate wrote Caleb's bi awakening— it's these little things adding up like when he realizes he's checking out Dean, but you do get the sense he came to terms with it (to a degree) some years ago even if he never thought he'd act on his attraction to a man after marrying Briar. But when he does, it's actually kind of great. I also liked how Sara handled their transition from cheating to polyamory with a lot of deftness and care (Dean being a sex worker, Briar and Caleb's inability to conceive and their next steps, Caleb coming out as bi); their conflicting back-and-forth regarding what others will think is just the right amount so the reader never loses sight of that inevitable HEA.

I do have a couple notes— I don't think it was necessary to have a verbalized "bet" between Caleb and Dean about whether Briar would cheat on Caleb with Dean— regardless of Dean's intent to seduce her, the bet itself came across as immature (especially for Caleb, a man in his thirties) and icky. There's also the matter of Caleb's father's impending trial for assaulting a woman; I'm not sure exactly how valid it is for the book's hero to consider helping his father to the extent he did, especially considering the victim is his brother's girlfriend. I understand Caleb is an attorney, and a lesser charge could increase the likelihood of the defendant being put away, but I was surprised Caleb was conflicted for as long as he was.

The sex:

Solid, as per Sara Cate's usual, and lightly kinky. Dean first functions as a sex coach to Caleb and Briar, but the lines become blurred very quickly and his approach becomes more, ah, hands-on. It's also funny when both Caleb and Briar keep getting jealous of each other for the time they spend with Dean, but that jealousy has them constantly jumping the other two and they can't even call it retaliation because they're like, genuinely getting off on it.

Standout moment sex-wise was probably some very interesting things done with foreskin while Dean is jacking himself and Caleb off. I had to reread that one a couple times to get it.

I will also say this for the Goode brothers: they really have no qualms about defiling daddy's office(s).

Overall:

I'd recommend this book to any romance reader; The romance between Briar, Caleb, and Dean was tension-filled and brought the heat, and it also packed an unexpectedly emotional punch by the end.

Thank you to The Author Agency for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[misterbitches]

wow so bare/bear (?) with me. i won’t tag this post with the name of it, but if anyone is interested in my thoughts feel free 

i never cared about 3 will be free because of the exact format it presented. i have critiqued BL to the moon and back, and i always will, and tbh i resent even the name of it. by nature, it helps and hurts people who engage. whether in the typical asian bl or the incredibly popular fandom culture which prioritizes slash (which is understandable if you look into our positions in society etc)

so, bearing that in mind, i wondered what 3 will be free would be like. immediately, after seeing the trailer, i knew i wouldn’t like it. and, after seeing gifs, reading the description, and knowing a little more than i would like to about gmmtv, i can see why. seeing how the two men most likely will get together while not being in a poly relationship and their background as sex workers (kinda?!?!?) is interesting because....

number one, thailand is a very interesting place. the history of sex work, gender, class, color, etc is so much more complex than i know. even having bl be as popular as it is in southeast asia all these gender and sexual minorities are discriminated against. it is known, there has been intense study and research on trans people (particularly women) in sex work in these places. the roots stem from colonialism and i am an avid anti-colonialist. i believe that people do what they need to survive, but there is no inherent power in sex work thus it should be decriminalized, sex workers should be safe, and we should move to abolish sex as a commodity and therefore sex work in our colonialist capital system.

the woman is a stripper and i have seen gifsets of her underlying the fact that we don’t need men. and we can take power back by using them. this is something i understand for survival but wholeheartedly reject. our bind is being forced to make these decisions which reinforce our reliance. sex work is WORK. the issue with sex work is not the sex, but work. sex work will never be an anti-capital practice and many women, black women, trans black women, do not view the necessity of it in their lives as empowering (it doesn’t have to be or have to not be. work doesn’t have to be “good” to be work, which is exactly the problem with existing labor.) 

We begin with this because, as sex workers ourselves who advocate for the decriminalization of sex work, we have noted a significant problem with the terms of the public debate: in the struggle over whether sex work should be legal, both sides usually start with the assumption that work is fundamentally good; they differ only on whether sex work is good work. Both sides position work in general as something that the worker should find fulfilling, non-exploitative, and enjoyable. Deviation from this supposed norm is treated as evidence that something cannot be work. “It’s not work, it’s exploitation” is a refrain you hear again and again. One feminist policymaker in Sweden told a reporter, “Don’t say sex work, it’s far too awful to be work.” Awfulness and work are positioned as antithetical: if prostitution is awful, it cannot be work. 

we stretch to another side, because while people deride sex as work and the act of sex people want to be acknowledged as autonomous beings. under our system, work in general is exploitative, doesn’t have to be good, and therefore the rights of workers is IMPERATIVE towards a system of holistic work in a holistic world. where sex is not a commodity tied to oppression and men. anyways, that’s problem number one. most work is not empowering or ‘good’ and the only way it can become so is giving people rights full stop. but there is no empowering exchange of sex under what we are operating in and we do not need to think of sex as transactions nor sex work as easy and fulfilling work for people to HAVE RIGHTS TO LIVE. for these women workers to be feminists who deserve love, time, respect, and to live. tangerine is a good example of just showing without judgement how whole people are even with ‘undesireable’ jobs and lives that are hard (that 

there’s a trans character which i think is awesome since she has a love story, i am pretty sure the actress is, and she has an arc. she is a person. i am sure that storyline itself isn’t exactly the best but it’s more than most anything has done.

my third point of disinterest is a story of two men and a woman and a potential relationship. in theory i understand polyamory but in practice it is not as ‘holistic’ ‘progressive’ and ‘freeing’ as we have tended to progress towards. same with this idea of sex work. wanting to live happily and beautifully even if things are not as ‘desireable.’ i will never degrade a personal choice but we cannot believe that things are made in a vacuum.

being critical of polyamory and love and monogamy is necessary. i do not believe that it is directly beneficial to women, particularly black women. this is a really interesting reddit about the critique of it. if you notice, black women who are activists tend to view the world very differently from our other counterparts because of the power structure. we realize that we are in this structure and to fight against it means that we do not give into it to take advantage of it to keep it alive but finds way out of it. 

MUCH of it is violence (like marriages are and can be) and STEEPED in patriarchy and its offsets both in het and lbtq rships. what is a world in which our decisions are not stemmed from men have been able to control and hurt the world? from an anti colonial and capitalist aspect, how can we accept critique? and if media is to explore it will they be truthful in it. our idea of romantic love should be progressive, transgressive, and how to be personally whole to not need others.

i do not want to wade in patriarchy, colonial practice, the failings of capitalism and how it propagates the worst of what hurts my people, black women but away from it. from that, i want to dismantle every aspect. the idea that these problems aren’t going anywhere and therefore we must take advantage of it is not enough. so, no, i do not want to see this relationship that would largely fail and be painful and hurtful while people don’t understand that things do not have to be empowering (stripping) to be viable and for one to be respected. 

i don’t believe in any -amy but the self. and currently what we have set up makes polygyny, amory, etc is not a  tenable manifestation of empowerment and to move away from thinking exploitation of power IS POWER and therefore holistic. so no i do not believe in this in a practical setting bc in theory its perfect in practice men have hurt us and abused us so to the core, so wholly, that survival is now seen as transgression. i wholeheartedly reject that and embrace discussing seeing women’s labor, how gender and sexual minorities are at such a high-risk, different ways of love and decolonizing reliance and romantic love. we must understand how we have existed so far and how that hurts us, what can we do to change, and remove pressure or solutions that seem to be solutions but are not for an existing problem.

anyways, that’s that. 

[reading-while-queer]

Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

Rating: Great Read Genre: Fantasy Representation: -Gay/bi protagonists (ensemble) -Two protagonists of color (ensemble) -Disabled protagonist (ensemble) -Mentally ill protagonist (unspecified, trauma related) Note: Not sexually explicit Trigger warnings: Violence, Death, Graphic injury, Fantasy drug abuse, Rape/sex trafficking/CSA (not in scene; character backstory), Guns, Slavery, Racism (exotification), Genocide (explicit; Holocaust metaphor)

Six of Crows was a great read, hands down.  It was not without its problems, but I want to focus first on how it was successful. I read Six of Crows—a hefty tome, to say the least--in a little over a month.  I couldn’t put it down.  Bardugo does an excellent job maintaining tension and keeping the plot rolling, which is especially impressive considering the frequency with which her characters recall the past.  What I liked the best was the unpredictable nature of the plot.  Bardugo holds back just enough information to keep the reader guessing without becoming frustrated.  This is done expertly by telling the story through multiple character perspectives.  The reader worries alongside them that they will never to be able to get out of the latest mess they’ve gotten themselves into—until another character reveals they have planned for this all along.  It’s a narrative trick that Bardugo uses again and again—and damned if it doesn’t work every time.

The premise of Six of Crows is that a ragtag team of criminals are hired to break into an impenetrable palace and rescue a political prisoner before said prisoner is either killed or coerced into releasing the secret formula to a super-drug that transforms magic-using Grisha into human weapons.  Six of Crows is a heist novel, which isn’t my usual cup of tea, but it helps that the characters aren’t suave spies who know exactly what they’re doing. Bardugo does a great job humanizing her cast.  They have weaknesses from gambling to trauma to romantic crushes.  They don’t know that they are going to get out of this heist alive, but the money is too good to turn down, and each of them have a desperate need for it.  The fact that the main cast themselves aren’t confident they will pull of their heist adds to the tension and makes for some delightful storytelling.

Beyond pacing and plot, I felt that the characters were well developed and had interesting dynamics with one another.  They had fears, weaknesses, allegiances, histories, and relationships that grew and changed as the story progressed.  I won’t spoil any romances beyond saying that there are a few, and that I was, for the most part, satisfied with their progression.

As for representation, I had heard that I would have to get through this book to get to the sequel before any queer relationships began to develop.  While it’s true that there is no queer romance in book one, two characters in Six of Crows are clearly queer—they don’t necessarily have to get together for them to be valid representation.  They flirt, they dance around the possibility of reciprocated feelings, and it’s all very cute.  Most importantly of all, they have character traits beyond their queerness—it isn’t central to their motivation, which is refreshing.

The straight romance is hit or miss.  One couple has an extremely satisfying progression to their relationship.  But the other romance is so aggravating that it makes me reconsider rating Six of Crows so highly.  Which brings me to the Holocaust metaphor.  In Bardugo’s fantasy world, Grisha, or magic users of various disciplines, are persecuted by the reactionary Fjerdan government.  Fjerda is at war with Ravka, which boasts the Second Army, all of them Grisha magic users collected from various nations where being Grisha puts them at risk of slavery or execution.  Fjerda’s citizenry is white, blonde haired, and blue eyed. The country is vaguely Nordic in religion and language, and its people value discipline. Of all the countries, Fjerda is the most violent towards Grisha—Grisha are perceived as less than human, and are burned to death on pyres by the elite military of Druskelle—who wear black uniforms. Fjerda is very clearly a parallel to Nazi Germany.  

This is made worse by two things:

First, Six of Crows pairs a Druskelle and Grisha romantically, which was never going to be satisfying.  I won’t give too many spoilers as far as whether they get together, but regardless of the outcome, it wasn’t a good call.  You can’t have your Holocaust metaphor and your romance, it’s like having your cake and eating it too.  The narrative wants you to pity Mattias for the torment of loving Nina while seeing her as an inhuman abomination.  The fact that Nina loves him too is incredibly frustrating considering how solid her character is otherwise.  Bardugo put forth a valiant effort to earn a romantic relationship between them, but no effort would have been enough.  I’m sure the relationship—and Mattias’ redemption arc alone—is enough to make Six of Crows a deal-breaker for some.

Second, you can’t have a heavy-handed Holocaust metaphor and also try to make the point that both sides have their problems.  The Grisha fight back, often fighting dirty, and this is used in the book to open Nina’s eyes to the Fjerdan perspective.  Which wouldn’t be so bad if Bardugo didn’t lean so hard on the Nazi metaphor, from the black uniforms to the racial coding.  Again: I can very easily see this being a deal-breaker.

And continuing on the thread of deal-breakers…I personally liked how the novel handled race and gender marginalization, but it might be triggering to some readers.  The two female protagonists are victims of slavery or sex trafficking.  Inej was trafficked into sex work before being bought out of her contract.  Nina was threatened with rape when she was captured by Druskelle.  The threat of sexual violence is a heavy weight on both of them.  Personally, I thought that it was handled well as an element of worldbuilding.  It wasn’t played for shock value.  I felt that while exploring the histories of characters from the “Barrel”—a slum in Ketterdam (fantasy Amsterdam), it would be remiss to skip over the ugliness.  Happily, while Bardugo usually doesn’t shy away from graphic brutality, she spares the reader graphic detail when it comes to sexual violence.

As for race, I felt that Bardugo constructed race in her fantasy world with careful attention to how race would be understood on a global stage that never had racial slavery. There is exoticism—“Suli (Middle Eastern) lynx,” for example, is the racial caricature foisted on Suli sex workers. Shu Han (East Asian) and Zemeni (African) people have their own caricatures as well.  But exoticism seems to be more based on nationality than race: “Fjerdan (Nordic) wolf” and “Kaelish (Irish) mare” are apparently equally dehumanizing caricatures.  The only time race plays a role in the book is in identifying people or attempting to avoid identification.  The main cast is searching for a Shu Han man, and scan prisoners for racialized features. Inej, who is Suli, likewise worries that her and Jesper’s skin tone will make them stand out in a pale-skinned Fjerdan crowd.  But discrimination doesn’t come into play.  Difference is noted, but there is no systemic oppression.  Suli and Zemeni and Shu Han characters make their way in the world unmolested.  The “White” nationalities, Kerch, Fjerdan, and Kaelish, regard each other with the same eye of difference, not common race. In their world, colonization exists, but it is just beginning.  One can sense global change on the horizon—just not quite yet.

This brings me to a spoiler-y point.  I recommend skipping this paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled on a plot point near the end of the book.  One Kerch character (fantasy Dutch/German) elects to disguise himself as another character who doesn’t share his race/nationality.  The disguise may or may not be permanent, but the Kerch character takes the chance that he might look like another character forever.  It is necessary in order to pull off a trick Kaz is planning, but of course divorced from Bardugo’s invented world, it’s blackface/yellowface/brownface.  A lot of readers might be very uncomfortable with this. If the world of Kerch and Fjerda and Ravka were real, it wouldn’t be racist.  There is no history there that would lead to a taboo on black/brown/yellowface: it would a neutral disguise like any other.  But reading from our world, it recalls a lot of pain.  I’m not prepared to say it’s a bad thing that one character uses magic to change his appearance to match another’s out of disguise/necessity in the context of a de-racialized world.  I think that it sets up an interesting problem for the sequel--a problem that can’t be explored outside of fantasy literature--and I’m interested (if concerned) about how Bardugo will handle it.  Hopefully with more delicacy than the Druskelle/Grisha Holocaust metaphor.  Then again, much like the disaster of a Holocaust metaphor, whether or not the fantasy world justifies it doesn’t matter if it causes real world distress to readers of color.  All I can say is: read with caution.

All this, and I have said nothing about Kaz.  

The real delight of this book is Kaz Brekker, the leader of the heist and feared gang member back in Ketterdam.  His character illustrates the relationship between poverty and trauma.  The trauma is not an addendum to his character with little impact; rather, it is a part of him that shapes his relationships and impacts his ability to make decisions.  I thought the handling illustrated well how trauma integrates itself with a person.  The topic was taken seriously and handled with care.

Kaz’s physical disability is important to discuss, too—Kaz uses a cane full-time as a result of a badly healed break.  His relationship to his disability is well executed, and given that it comes from a disabled author, that is little surprise.  His cane is not a symbol of disaster, but rather, of strength.  It is his weapon as well as his mobility, and he views it as a symbol of his rise from the ashes.  With his cane, he goes from barely surviving to practically running a major gang.  

Altogether, and despite it’s marked flaws, I have decided to rate Six of Crows highly.  The idea is original and well-executed.  The characters are well developed, and you will be extremely worried for them as you read.  You’ll root for the queer characters as they slowly reveal more of themselves.  Disability, queerness, and trauma of all kinds are handled very well.  What isn’t handled well is really in bad taste--that cannot be overlooked.  I just regret that it might prohibit some readers from enjoying an otherwise great novel.

For more from Leigh Bardugo, visit her website here.

[thetheateroffensiveblog-blog]

Positive Trans Representation in TV and Movies

Now in 2018, we have more trans characters being created than ever.  But as I’m always pointing out to people, more is not necessarily better.  Sure, popular media like Silence of the Lambs and The Rocky Horror Picture Show did bring trans characters into the mainstream, but I would argue that representation that paints trans people as serial killers and rapists is representation we’d probably be better off without.  So to combat this sort of demonization, I’m compiling a list of shows and movies that give us positive trans representation. The way that I define positive will definitely be different from the way that others define it, but here are my criteria:

The character must not be “evil”.  To elaborate on this, the character in question cannot be a murderer, a sociopath, or one of those trans characters who “tricks” innocent cis people into having relationships with them.  

The character must not be murdered.  This is a trope I see far too much, and frankly while perhaps realistic in some ways considering the rate of violence against trans people, it still doesn’t feel positive to me to further a culture of violence against us by killing our characters in disturbing and gruesome ways.

The character must have a personality/plotline outside of being trans.  In other words, trans characters should be presented as people with thoughts and feelings and lives that are influenced by their trans identity, rather than their trans identity being the thing mentioned about them.

They must be respected by other characters and, if not the main character in a movie or show, be respected by the main character.  Having a protagonist who mocks or misgenders trans characters is not positive representation.

Must not be created as a joke or a character to be mocked (the “man in a dress” trope is tired, offensive, and needs to be retired.)

Trans characters should be portrayed by people of their gender: cis women can play trans women; cis men should not play trans women.  This one does get a little tricky because there are portrayals I have found to be very compelling in which people of a different gender are playing trans characters.  In cases where representation is otherwise positive I will make a note.

Character is fictional.  Documentaries and dramatic retellings can definitely be good representation, but I’m currently interested in the ways in which storytellers incorporate us into their writing.

  And now, onto the titles!

  Sense8: This incredibly diverse series is notable for its portrayal of Nomi (Jamie Clayton), a trans woman, who is one of the main characters.  Nomi is strong, intelligent, caring, and highly respected by the other members of the sensate. Furthermore, her relationship with Amanita is one of endless, dedicated love, something not often given to trans characters in media.  The show is also written by the Wachowski sisters, who are both trans.

Grey’s Anatomy: In season 14, Casey Parker is introduced as a trans intern, and is played by Alex Blue Davis, who is trans.  There is also buzz about Candis Cayne, a trans woman, playing a trans character in the upcoming season. (She’s confirmed, edit)

Little Evil: This Netflix original movie presents Al, one of the main characters, who is presented as trans or perhaps gender nonbinary.  Al is played by a cis woman, Bridget Everett, but his portrayal is important in that his identity is accepted by all other characters and dealt with casually and respectfully.  Al uses he/him pronouns and calls himself a “stepdad” but that’s all that is stated specifically about his gender.

Tangerine: Tangerine premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.  Shot entirely on iphones, this movie follows two trans sex workers, both played by trans women (Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez).  The film is marketed as a comedy/drama.

Transparent: While there have been many criticisms of this show revolving around a cis man playing a trans woman, this show is still notable for its trans characters portrayed by trans women and its production, which heavily involved members of the community.  While I personally am unwilling to support this show following accusations of harassment and transphobia against Jeffrey Tambor, I think trans actresses Alexandra Billings and Trace Lysette deserve credit for their portrayals. The show is also created by Jill Soloway, who is nonbinary.

All My Children: This deserves a mention for its character Zoe, one of the first trans characters on daytime television.  While Zoe is portrayed by a cis male actor which is obviously not ideal, she is given a full story arc which involves discovering her identity, surviving an attack from a killer (it is a soap opera after all), coming out to and reconnecting with her parents, making thought out and informed medical decisions that are right for her, and having a positive romantic relationship with a female character on the show.

The Fosters: This show featured a recurring trans character (Aaron Baker), played by trans actor Elliot Fletcher, who has a positive romantic relationship with one of the show’s main characters, Callie.  Aaron’s character is an important one for a number of reasons. He is more than just a romantic interest; he also helps to prove the innnocence of another recurring character who is falsely accused of murder.  He was introduced in season 4 and is expected to continue into the upcoming season six.

Elementary: Candis Cayne, trans actress, portrays Miss. Hudson in a twist on the original character in the Sherlock Holmes stories.  While her character is seen relatively infrequently, her transness is only really mentioned once and then accepted by all of the characters on the show.  She is an expert in Ancient Greek and Latin and is revealed to have helped Holmes in solving a cases before. While only in a few episodes so far, I have hope that we will see more of Miss Hudson as the show progresses.

One Day at a Time: Last but definitely not least, this list would not be complete without mentioning the groundbreaking sitcom that introduced a nonbinary character named Syd who uses they/them pronouns and has a positive romantic relationship with Elena, a main character on the show.  Syd is not played by a nonbinary person as far as I know; but for me that didn’t take away from this portrayal too much. I can count on my fingers how many nonbinary characters I’ve EVER encountered in any type of media, and seeing my own gender represented in a positive and respectful way by such a popular show is enough for me right now.

A Fantastic Woman: Since this film just won the Oscar for best foreign language film, I think it’s absolutely necessary to include it here.  A Fantastic Woman tells the story of a transgender woman as she deals with life, love, family, self acceptance, and grief.  Trans actress Daniela Vega gives an unforgettable and three dimensional performance that on its own makes this Chilean film deserving of its award.

  For me, the takeaway from this project has been, perhaps unsurprisingly, that we still have a long way to go.  I look forward to a day where I can write a list and not settle for mentioning cis people who play trans people because trans people are being cast in roles by and for them.  I look forward to the day when I can update this article to 10, 15, maybe 100 entries of well written, positive, and nonbinary inclusive representation. But for now, this is a good start and I was happy to watch shows and movies that made me feel positive about a future that includes accurate portrayals and acceptance.