#but this is different in plot and also 1920's so fun in a different way

[essenceofarda]

ngl i'm kinda blown away by the response on my Farawyn 1920's au mini comic 😅

Kinda makes me wanna turn it into an actual multi-chapter fic 🤔

Anyone interested in reading it if i do??

[abalidoth]

what is cosmere? (is that what its called?)

The Cosmere is a big, interconnected fantasy universe that is the setting of most of the works by the author Brandon Sanderson. The cool thing about his books is that each series is contained to its own world, and you can read any of them in isolation without realizing you're missing anything, but if you read them all you get a sense of the larger plot happening behind the scenes as those worlds start to collide and things cross over.

Brandon's magic systems tend to be very rule-based and well-defined, with a lot of twists being characters finding interesting ways to use those rules of magic. This lends itself well to the crossovers, because all the magic systems (as different as they are) share the same underpinning principles.

Here's some quick rundowns of different series and standalones in the Cosmere:

The Stormlight Archive

Planned ten-book series, currently four books are out.

A massive sprawling epic about the world Roshar, that's hit by a hurricane about every four days, and all the life has adapted to survive that environment. Knights Radiant -- superpowered individuals with a close bond to a spirit -- are starting to re-emerge in the world after being absent for centuries.

Because there are so many characters, this is where a lot of the character fandom tends to focus their efforts. I wouldn't recommend starting with it, though -- the first book alone is a thousand pages. I'd wait until you have a sense of Brandon's writing. But it's very good.

Mistborn

One trilogy (completed), one tetralogy set a couple hundred years later (completed), two trilogies some time in the future.

One cool thing about this series is that it follows one world (Scadrial) from a vaguely Renaissance tech level in the first trilogy, to 1920s in the second series, and eventually 1980s in the third and space-age magic in the fourth.

The magic itself is very intricate and all woven around metals -- there are people called Metalborn who can ingest metals and burn them in their stomachs to get different effects, including super-senses, strength, and Magneto-ish metallokinesis. That last bit makes the gunfights in the second series particularly fun.

The first book is a heist novel about robbing a thousand-year-old God-Emperor blind. It's a pretty good place to start, although it's a pretty hefty novel to start with.

The Emperor's Soul

I'm putting this one in a different category from the rest of the one-offs for a very good reason -- it's, in my opinion, the single best place to start reading the Cosmere.

It's a novella (just over a hundred pages) about a forger named Shai who uses magic to rewrite the histories of objects. She is captured by the government of an empire to reforge the soul of their Emperor, who has been left braindead after an assassination attempt, in the 100 days before the mourning period is over.

It's a fantastic meditation on art, a cool introduction to the way Brandon writes both characters and magic systems, and Shai herself is one of my favorite Cosmere characters. If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, I recommend you check it out.

One-offs

Brandon has also written a bunch of one-off novels in the Cosmere.

Elantris: His first book, and the one that my tattoo is from. About a prince who is affected by a dark transformation and thrown into a city of fellow undead, and the princess betrothed to him who arrives just in time to be told he died. Good, but suffers from some first book issues, pacing problems, and weird plot cul-de-sacs. Set in the same world as The Emperor's Soul, although there's basically no crossover.

Warbreaker: About a world where souls (Breaths) are bought and sold, and used to animate objects to do work, ruled by The Returned, living gods who require a steady dose of Breaths to live. One of my favorites, and an essential if you'd like to get into the crossover-y parts of the cosmere, as it introduces a bunch of elements that show up later (Especially in Stormlight)

Tress of the Emerald Sea: The first of his wildly successful Kickstarter project books, it's a fairy tale style story about a girl who braves a sea of bubbling, deadly spores to rescue the man she loves. It's lovely, especially if you're into a more Diana Wynne Jones kind of vibe to your fantasy. Probably a pretty good place to start!

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: The third Kickstarter book. About a shrine priestess who stacks rocks to draw spirits, and a man who paints the nightmares that roam the streets of his city to banish them -- they become trapped in each other's places and must learn about each other's worlds to survive. This is currently my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE cosmere novel, oh my GOD it's so good. I'm not sure it's a great place to start, as a lot of the conclusion might feel a bit rushed if you don't have a good feel for the vibe of how Brandon writes magic, but honestly it might stand alone just fine even then.

The Sunlit Man: Fourth Kickstarter book. I haven't read this one yet.

Novellas: There are a bunch of novellas and short stories, some set on worlds we haven't otherwise seen, some set on Roshar or Scadrial.

If any of this sounds good to you, I recommend you give his writing a shot. He's one of my all time favorite writers (the tattoo should prove that, lol) and the Cosmere fandom is by and large wonderful and welcoming. I've made many lifelong friendships there.

[nintendowife]

I completed Piofiore: Fated Memories on Nintendo Switch about a month ago. Piofiore is a popular otome visual novel about mafia in 1920's Italy. The promise of a mature story paired with beautiful art style enticed me to buy the game. I was also curious to find out why the otome fandom calls a certain love interest in the game a "trashbando".

The protagonist Liliana "Lili" Adornato is an upstanding young woman raised by church and she gets tangled in the world of organized crime. Most of the love interests in the game represent three competing mafia families: Falzone, Visconti and Lao Shu. The mafia setting lends a natural frame for mature themes that include violence, human trafficking, torture and sexual assault.

Each love interest has a bad ending, good ending and best ending. In addition to this they all have a short after story. Yang's route was easily my favorite - lots of action and fun events. Orlok's bad ending was memorable with its brutality - poor guy. Some of the routes weren't super interesting. Dante's route had the ingredients to grab my attention but the execution wasn't the best. I ended up slightly disappointed with the overall story not completely revealing a certain key factor of the plot. Maybe the rest of the "mystery" is reserved for the sequel, Piofiore: Episodio 1926? I could have done with less romance and more story even though Piofiore apparently isn't that loaded with romance fluff.

I found it interesting how a character could appear wildly different on a different route. Some may claim this is inconsistent writing but I find it logical to incorporate different points of view to characters' personality and have them act differently according to their motives in different situations. Being a loving and caring person towards someone doesn't mean they couldn't have a sadistic tendency towards people who oppose them.

What comes to favorite characters, at first glance I thought Gilbert would be my top pick - manly man with a badass eye patch. Gilbert had his moments with some funny light-hearted scenes and his gentlemanly ways. Especially the way he spoke to Dante made me chuckle: "Yo Dante! What's with the face? You sick or something?". But I ended up liking Yang the most. Yang was such a peculiar character and his attitude and dialogue made me laugh. I guess I'm part of the trashbando-loving "Yang gang" now. My husband pointed out that it's usually the bald 50+ year-olds or the red-haired ones that strike my fancy and that was true in this case too. The various side characters were a good addition to the cast.

There's a good amount of high quality CG images to unlock in the game. I was especially impressed with the intricate details in clothing and jewelry. A common occurrence was me commenting "oo wow, look at those amazing details in the dress" during a scene where the protagonist and a love interest kiss.

The game's user interface is pure eye candy. The usual quality of life features like skipping previously read content, dialogue history, quick save/load and chapter select are present. The music was pretty good too. Voice acting was top notch but I was unhappy the protagonist wasn't voiced (and her portrait wasn't shown during her dialogue). I recall a few typos and grammar mistakes in the game but overall I'd say the localization was done well.

My top complaint is that there was an absurd amount of dialogue about food but they hardly ever showed it in pictures. All kinds of delicious dishes and desserts kept being mentioned but I think they showed food only twice. Show me the food, dammit! Oh, and Nicola's fashion sense irked me. His outfit was so classy and then he had to accessorize with a tie that looks like it was barfed on.

Finishing all the routes and unlocking all content in the game took me 55 hours. I started playing in February and finally finished in October. I'm not the fastest reader and I have a chronic case of falling asleep when I try to play in bed in the evenings.

I liked the game but at some points I felt like the story was dragging. I didn't enjoy Piofiore quite as much as I did Café Enchanté and Variable Barricade for example. Maybe it's because Piofiore is a lot more serious in tone and doesn't have much in the way of humor. The art and Yang's route were the highlights for me. I'm still keen on playing the sequel at some point.

If you like some darker themes in your visual novels, Piofiore may be worth giving a shot.

[halfbakedspuds]

Writing trope bingo (Mysteries of the mortal God Edition)

Thanks to @illarian-rambling for the tag! These are always fun.

I confess to not knowing how to play bingo, but this seems straightforward enough.

Children of the Stars is in Blue, Echoes of Shadows in purple, and Tempest Prince in Red. Marking my commentary the same way

Sort of steampunk, I mean the world of Alteth is closer to our 1910's and 1920's, and only the hunter cities are really steampunk

I mean they're written by me, of course every character will have lethal amounts of sarcasm

Magic guns? Magic guns! Alex Haliday and his witchpowder repeater finally get a spotlight!

Yasha, Lyanni, and Helga are just pissed with good reason right out the gate.

Good god, the worldbuilding for this universe, might legit pull an H.P. Lovecraft and make it so that anyone can write fictions in it 'cause I will in no reasonable lifespan manage to use all of it

Okay so I was gonna leave this open but then I remembered that I do have a fantasy France in the background and it's called Lenroux.

Shayne appears for like one scene but he checks the southern accent scientist box so well

See, I would agree that it's just a smidge, but it's a pretty big smidge considering both plots revolve around the effects of eldritch gods.

It's more of a shared multiverse that occasionally decides to bleed together for a scene that doesn't make sense unless you've seen the same POV from the other, unrelated story. But overall, the same major gods watch over all three universes (mostly having given up Adrian and Lyanni's for a lost cause and are watching Jason, Alex, and Helga's with intent) and little elements bleed over from one universe to the next. Also Adrian, Johan, and Jason (essentially two mages and a cyborg) canonically met and tried to kick the crap out of eachother when the borders between worlds got especially thin, and there's a different POV of it in each WIP.

I've only really have all the tropes figured out for one of mine so here, have one for Children of the stars:

No pressure tag for @thatoneterrariaplayers-vault, @oh-no-another-idea, @televisionjester, @friedeaglesandwich and an open tag for anyone that wants it.

[turnupswritessometimes]

13 questions about books

Tagged by the wonderful @holographiccs - thank you! <3

1. The last book I read:

I finished reading Fright Bite by Jennifer Killick this morning - very good, very fun middlegrade horror. Each book has different mutated animals, and this time round it was rats! We love to see it!

2. A book I recommend

So many, but The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning. What if the puppets from Labyrinth/The Dark Crystal came to life in our world? Fun shenanigans! It's a real love letter to the Jim Henson company.

3. A book I couldn't put down

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Yes, it's only a hundred pages or so, but I read it in one sitting. Those boys!! Those boys and their relationships and coming of age! The ending!

4. A book I’ve read twice (or more)

The Black Magician Trilogy (I know I'm cheating) by Trudi Canavan. I love the world and the characters and the magic system. The Novice is the best one because of Dannyl's arc. (We love finding out you've been using magic to suppress the fact you're gay for literal years! I'm sinking my teeth into that plot line.)

5. a book on my to-be-read

I have nearly 100 on my Goodreads to read list, lol. But I'm very interested in These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. Romeo and Juliet but in 1920s Shanghai? Incredible!

6. a book i’ve put down

I don't often not finish a book, but 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Paul Alexander. You cannot make those kind of sweeping, certain claims about James Dean's life without proper referencing or a proper bibliography!

7. a book on my wishlist

'Poison in their Hearts' by Laura Sebastian, the final in the trilogy. Very Game of Thrones fantasy political intrigue, but with strong female characters who are actually well-rounded and well-written! And use their smarts in most situations! Very intrigued to see how it will all finish up.

(But I have the first two in paperback, so I really need to wait for this one to be in paperback too.)

8. a favorite book from childhood

Anything by Jacqueline Wilson, but I do have a soft spot for 'Candyfloss.' Wilson just has a way of capturing what it's like to be a child really authentically. I did also love that each chapter had a page of illustrations that fit together to hint about what was going to happen.

9. a book i would give to a friend

Lost Boy, by Christina Henry. A dark Peter Pan from Lost Boy Jamie(who wears a red pirate coat! Hint hint!)'s perspective that fits perfectly within the original book. It will make you cry!

10. a fiction book i own

Way too many...Descendent of the Crane by Joan He was one I hugely enjoyed. Very twisty Asian Fantasy with a really good romance and a great female lead.

11. a nonfiction book i own

Last Night at the Viper Room by Gavin Edwards. A really good biography of River Phoenix's life that's well researched and really highlights who he was. (And how weird everyone was about him!)

12. what i am currently reading

I'm slowly trudging my way through 'It' by Stephen King and 'Tinker Belles and Evil Queens' by Sean Griffin. Both are very good but Tinker Belles and Evil Queens requires a lot of thinking to get through. (And It has a lot of Kingisms to brace yourself for.)

13. what i plan on reading next

I've just collected 'Rumblefish' and 'That was Then, This is now,' by S.E. Hinton from the library, so I'll be devouring both of those over the next couple of days at work. I love the sense of time and place in them. There's a sparseness to the prose, and yet real depth in the characters.

I'm tagging @lizziebennetss (thank you for the follow btw! <3) and @howtotrainyourmerlin (if you feel like it)

[ofliterarynature]

JULY 2023 WRAP UP

[ loved liked okay no thanks DNF (reread) bookclub* ]

A Thief in the Night | Bloodline | (The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting) | A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor | Spectred Isle | A Beautiful Crime* | You Just Need to Lose Weight | Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies | Necropolis | The Bombay Prince | (An Absolutely Remarkable Thing) | Witch King | A Guide to Midwestern Conversation | The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal | Stormhaven | Threshold | Widdershins | (Any Old Diamonds) | The Secret History of Food | Before We Disappear | The Secret Keepers

Another month!

The unintended KJ Charles marathon continues, though it has finally slowed down. I reread Any Old Diamonds to start and it did hold up two months in a row (yay!). Next I hit the Occult England/Green Men series, and The Secret Casebook was so close to perfect, I wish it was twice as long (I really ought to just read Sherlock Holmes at this point, hadn't I?). Spectred Isle I was less into, but still enjoyed.

Now is probably also the time to mention Jordan Hawk's Wyborne & Griffin series, which crosses over with The Secret Casebook. I read 5 of them and I still don't know why - if you're only in it for the plot and like Lovecraftian stuff, they're pretty good, but the character development is an absolute travesty and I was incredibly irritated with myself for still reading them (I did stop reading the sex scenes by book 3 though). I was so close to marking these as "no thanks," but that felt a little unfair.

I also revisited The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting, which was my very first KJ Charles book several years ago! It's still very good, and while a second time around makes it easier for me to see the parts I don't like, its also very clear why I did like it! I really enjoy the way Charles does plots and drama, but something that specifically irritates me in a lot of romance is contrived miscommunication - and these characters don't do that! They realize when they've fucked up, think it over, apologize, and try again. It's a balm to my heart. The sequel, A Thief in the Night, was also very nice.

A Guide to Midwestern Conversation was a fun little book to page through - I felt very called out at times lol (this *can't* be midwest specific, can it? Can it????), but I also have zero social skills and some things didn't quite hit me the way the author probably intended.

Witch King was my first non-Murderbot book from Martha Wells and it was a good solid fantasy read! It probably won't make my year end favorite list, but I'll definitely put more effort into reading the rest of her back list.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing was another reread, and I forgot how incredibly smart it is. Even a second time around my stomach was a knot of anxiety the whole time because this is such a perfect picture of one of my worst personal nightmares, you couldn't pay me to take April's place. Waiting so long to read the sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor was bound to let me down a bit, but it was still very very good. My one complaint is that while it was still grounded in real world issues, it felt much more fantastical (and spread out between the different characters), and it lost a little of the sharpness of the first book. I would still absolutely recommend.

I feel a little bad that it's taken me this long to actually write something about the Perveen Mistry/Mysteries of 1920's India series, because they are very good, but I think it's taken three books to figure out what it is about them I don't like. The Bombay Prince, like the books before it, feels grounded in the many, many real world injustices that the characters face. It can lead to a very unsettling reading experience that doesn't automatically feel like the good guys will win in the end - it can be a tough read, but it feels like I *have* to read them. Definitely look at the content warnings.

This next book definitely had me a bit nervous going in - I distrust titles that have brushed too close to BookTok - but Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries won out in the end, even if I did almost dnf it in the first quarter. I think things worked better once Emily had another character to really play off of, and then it was fun! Think Spinning Silver crossed with Olivia Atewater's Regency Faerie Tales, with a dash of A Natural History of Dragons. I'll definitely look out for the sequel.

You Just need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People is, as it repeats, an intro and starting point to the topic. It was very well written, but as someone who does keep half an eye on the topic, nothing particularly surprised me. I should probably take some of the author's recs for further reading.

It's fitting that A Beautiful Crime is last, because I did genuinely dislike it. Maybe I went in with too high of expectations, but really, boyfriends doing antique fraud in Italy should be fun! The level of drama going on in the backstory honestly would not be out of place in a KJ Charles novel (I say with love), but this was so incredibly depressing and sad. It claims to be a literary thriller, but I was not feeling thrilled or getting any kind of suspense. Would not recommend, I definitely wouldn't have finished it if it hadn't been for book club.

Some books I actually did not finish: The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart was a real blow, I loved the Mysterious Benedict Society, but either this was genuinely worse or I'm just too old, the main character was a little too immature for me to want to deal with. Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson I also had hopes for after reading one of his other books a few years ago, but I just could not click with it despite the interesting premise. I decided to cut myself off before I got truly irritated with it. The Secret History of Food was another non-fic pick, and it was interesting! But it felt like it wandered a lot, and I wasn't vibing with how irreverent the tone was.

[bethaven]

#12 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Plot: A sassy, independent woman in 1920's Melbourne mixes jazzclubs and men with solving murders. Phryne Fisher is, at first, an unwelcomed element for detective inspector Jack Robinson and the others at the Police station. Though, as time goes by she's proven to be an invaluable resorce - for the Police force, professionally - and for Jack, personally.

Years: 2012-2015

Seasons: 3

My story: One weekend back in early 2020 me and my platonic wife did what we do best - sat on the couch and watched series for an entire weekend. Then and there she showed me Miss Fisher for the first time, and it's a love that lasted. I fell hard for the strong, feisty woman that is Phryne, and not the least as the sappy romantic I am, the will-they-won't-they relationship between Phryne and Jack. Shortly after, I discovered a beutiful fandom with people of all ages, from all over the world.

Teachable moments: Phryne is a role model for everyone and shows us that norms and expectations are bullshit. Be yourself and live your life and don't forget to contribute to a better world along the way.

Best character: This might be the obvious choice but it has to be Phryne. As I've already stated, she's a huge inspiration for everyone and I try to have a little Phryne with me everyday.

Best episode: "Game, set & murder" (S3E7). A classic episode which not only hosts amazing old fashioned tennis-costumes and a spider-frightened Phryne but also a whole bunch of drama and emotions.

Best quote: -"She has no respect for the rules" -"That's because they tend to be written by men" (Lofty and Phryne). To be fair this one's from the movie, but it's so good!

Fun fact: A Miss Fisher Con is held every year in the US, where fans get together, have workshops and parties with visits from cast and crew.

If you like this you might also like: In 2020 the movie Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears premiered. It was supposed to be the first of at least three movies following the series, but for different reasons there won't be more. During 2019-2020 a spinoff called Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries aired, where we follow Phryne's niece Peregrine in the 60's. Around the same time a Chinese adaptation, called Miss S, was released and aired for one season. Others you might like are Downton Abbey, Bridgerton, Miss Marple, Vera and Midsummer Murders.

The series is an adaptation of Kerry Greenwood's books, at the moment 22 of them, and counting.

[monstroustea]

a friend was talking about style influences earlier and it reminded me of this old meme and i wanted to do one!!!!! i'll talk more about each one under the read more, but if you want to do one, here's the link: https://www.deviantart.com/foxorian/art/Influence-Map-Template-174550753

Sailor Moon (particularly the 90s anime) - this is a big one! i remember drawing sailor moon in elementary school and playing pretend/LARPing sailor moon on the playground... the good old 90s anime style with the exaggerated expressions! cute girls! friendship! this general kind of soft, roundness to the style of the 90s anime? it has everything

Honey and Clover - this manga/anime means the world to me. i love the style, the way the mangaka draws emotions, but also the protagonist's story of finding himself? resonant. the manga especially is precious to me bc of the art tho, it has a sketchy quality that i love

Hey Arnold! - another childhood favorite... this one doesn't reflect on my actual style so much, but it's a big influence on the stories and characters i like and create. if i could make everyone watch only one cartoon, it would be hey arnold

this is a triple threat... Persona 5, sketchbooks, @meruz - if you look at more than one page of this blog, you can probably guess i like p5(r)!! a lot!! i love all the characters, even if you mostly see me drawing the protag and akechi bc i'm a shipper at heart lol... i'm always inspired by sketchbooks of other artists! especially proper sketchbooks, where they're messy and worked in and aren't curated to be "good looking" for people to look at. that said, this is a page meruz posted from one of their sketchbooks (go buy them) and i adore meruz's work! i got into their work a while back and their lineart really drew me in, the lineweight and use of spot blacks is delicious. i need to work more on those in my own art and meruz's work always makes me want to do just that

Dolls - and here we take a little detour from the obvious? i sadly don't own this doll :( she's a rune naito fashion doll and i want one so badly. i collect dolls, especially fashion dolls!! i love their designs!! i usually just leave them in their stock outfits bc those are part of the charm to me. i wanna draw my dolls more, but for now they're just a big influence on design and outfits for characters

Amanda Lafrenais - i've been following amanda for so many years i can't keep count anymore!! her style blends "western" and "anime" so well to me and also she just draws lots of pretty women?? also we love queens who draw different body types

Roleplaying (pixelated image from wiki-how) - i've been roleplaying, mostly just with my bestie erin, since i was like 14? i draw stuff inspired by our roleplays soooo much, whether it's from a scene or just "what if"s we threw around. erin is a brilliant writer, has great ideas, and she's basically the GM even tho it's collaborative writing-based rping lmao... im just like "erin come up with a plot and we can shoot ideas back and forth" lol

Drawfee - no idea anymore how i came across drawfee but it's a really fun and funny channel and i'll do some of their challenges on my own sometimes!! (my favorite is the 30s character from memory challenge, i'll have erin give me characters and time me) also they have a ttrpg-style series called Drawtectives that has great characters!!! also every time julia draws a scene im like "ah i want that to be me..."

The Golden Age of Illustration - i'm such a junkie for cartoons and anime and comics and such, i don't really know the classics OOPS... but in the past year or two i've gotten really into what's apparently known as the "golden age of illustration"!! roughly the 1880's to 1920s, there's a lot of fairy/folk tale art from this era and i'm obsessed with all of it. standout mentions that i love to look at the work of are kay nielsen and edmund dulac

honorable mentions are just... every manga i've ever loved. every artist i've ever obsessed over the art of. and HONORABLE honorable mention to drawingwiffwaffles who sadly hasn't updated in a few months... she got me back into traditional media tho and is a general delight to watch work

[lunarcovehq]

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret!

GUESS WHO? - PLOT DROP #1

Welcome all artists, coquettes and boulevardiers to the unveiling of Cabaret! You are cordially invited to the most ghoulish fun night of your dead and undead life. Located around back and down the stairs from On Pitch, is this hidden gem of a speakeasy where all are welcome and the liquor flows freely. Only, this speakeasy isn’t just a 1920’s themed bar. It’s also a musical dinning experience. Every month, Cabaret will select a different play or musical to take inspiration from to which community theatre performers will take to the stage. For its first month, the play in is The Mystery of Edwin Drood and what better way to celebrate this speakeasy's unveiling than with a Murder Mystery Dinner on All Hallows Eve.

At the Dinner, every Lunar Covian will enter dressed as the character and potential murderer they've been assigned. They will be greeted by their host and owner of this brand new establishment, Brielle Rivas, playing the role of Ms. Boddy, who will inevitably 'drop dread'. Then the game will officially commence with each player having to hunt for clues to discover who the murderer(s) are among them.

But, before the party can begin, YOU MUST RSVP, so that the owner, Brielle Rivas, can assign the character you will be taking on the persona of for the evening.

CALLING ALL PLAYERS

As part of our Halloween Event, we will be hosting an IC discord event. While the event is mandatory, this IC discord event is optional and is sure to be a bunch of fun, so if you'd like to participate, please vote in our OOC chat for which day would work best for you!

Before the discord event begins, we will assign each character who will be participating a persona, such as Miss Scarlet, Mrs. Peacock, Professor Plum etc. The persona will come with some background info and the clues your character is privy to, which will come into play during the discord event.

IF YOU'D LIKE YOUR CHARACTER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MURDER MYSTERY DINNER DISCORD EVENT, PLEASE SEND AN ASK TO THE MAIN STATING WHICH CHARACTERS YOU'D LIKE TO PARTICIPATE.

After, we've received your ask, we'll send you along your character's personas as well as more OOC details about how the discord event will work.

If you play multiple characters: please don't feel obligated to have all of your characters participate. Given that your characters will be playing the roles of other characters, we recommend our rpers to only participate with one or two characters. But, if you want to submit all of your characters names, you are more than welcome to do so!

More information on the discord event will come. But, for now, we're simply trying to get a head count of the characters participating so that we can plan out the Murder Mystery/build out the personas. Likewise, we ask that you please hold off from writing any Murder Mystery themed starters or threads at this time. The opportunity for this will come down the line.

[project1939]

Day 39- Film: Has Anybody Seen My Gal? 

Release date: June 25th, 1952. 

Studio: Universal 

Genre: Comedy 

Director: Douglas Sirk 

Producer: Ted Richmond 

Actors: Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, Charles Coburn, Gigi Perreau, Lynn Bari 

Plot Summary: In 1920’s New York, a hypochondriac millionaire thinks he is about to die with no heirs. Remembering the lovely woman from his youth who refused his proposal, he becomes convinced she is what spurred him on to financial riches. What if he left his fortune to her family? He locates her descendants and decides to check them out incognito, hoping to discover that he can trust them with the money. 

My Rating (out of five stars): **½  

I’ll admit I was disappointed with this movie. It looked kind of cute and colorful and fun. Well, it was colorful. It was also a bit overly cute and a bit under the bar of fun.  

The Good: 

The color was gorgeous Technicolor in all its glory. 

Rock Hudson. He was really charming and charismatic, and his acting wasn’t stiff at all. I can see why he was just on the edge of becoming a huge star. 

The little daughter Roberta, played by Gigi Perreau. She was so natural for a child actor, I even paused the movie to look her up. By the end of the movie, however, her character was pretty grating. 

Another James Dean blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo! He played a guy at the soda fountain asking for a ridiculously complicated drink. He had literally one line. But this is the third time of the project so far he’s had that. 

The cuteness of the time period, the clothing, etc. Part of it was good fun, but... 

The Bad: 

The way the film was trying so hard to be overly nostalgic, constantly hitting us over the head with the fact that it was the 1920s. Remember prohibition? Scoff-laws? Speakeasies? Old time soda shops? Cloche hats? The Charleston? They even showed you how to do it, in case you forgot. Can you believe steak was 35 cents a pound? And eggs were 33 cents? If you compare it to Singin’ in the Rain, which also took place in the 1920s, you can really see the difference. Singin’ definitely had reminders of the time period, but the plot always took precedence. It never stood still for nostalgia p*rn. 

The way the plot went off the rails for the last hour. Forty-minutes in, daughter Millie gets engaged to Hudson, and the family anonymously receives the fortune. And there’s almost an hour left! Everything kind of fell apart from there. The plot just wasn’t structured well at all. 

I didn’t really like Charles Coburn’s millionaire character. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but I was really sick of him by the end of the movie. 

The other characters were not really fleshed out enough for me to feel really invested in them. Piper Laurie was given top billing as Millie, but I couldn’t really tell you anything about her except that fact that she was of marrying age. 

I hated the mom character. She was part of why everything suddenly went off the rails. Her personality after she acquired the wealth changed so fast it was totally unrealistic. The family mongrel? Get rid of him! We need French Poodles now! Sell the family business! We can't be working plebs anymore! Etc. 

The ending. It was also not very satisfying, not very realistic, and it left some significant strings flapping around. (Like flappers? Sorry, couldn’t resist a really bad groaner.) 

[transformers-fan-continuities]

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf​ created by @artsy-hobbitses​!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards  Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place. 

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society. 

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times  to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to  Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation  and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and  expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower​‘s OC Missit!)  is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider​’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...

[starrlikesbooks]

There are SO MANY good books coming out in June!

There are just some of them! As always, check under the cut for more on each~

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is the Black, queer private school thriller you've been clamoring for. (Oh, was that just me?) I'm not sure if this is going to be more like dark academia or marginalized horror, but either way I am in.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo is a complete dream for people who read The Great Gatsby in high school and thought "this is cool, but when do we get back to Jordan?", such as myself. This is an adaptation focused on a queer, Asian-American Jordan navigating 1920s America as an "exotic woman" instead of an equal.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer might be my favorite book of 2021. After having the phenomenal luck to score and read an advanced copy, I can say that this book is best read with as little prior knowledge about the plot as possible. But what I can say, is it's gays in space! And, my God, so much more. Prepare to feel a lot. And then immediately come message me about it.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston I also was fortunate enough to get a chance to read already! It's the same fantastic character work and writing as in their debut, Red, White & Royal Blue, but this time with sapphics and time travel loops. This is a cute story with a few nice mystery elements, a great cast of roommates/friends, and so much queer history.

Portrait of a Mirror by A. Natasha Joukovsky caters right to my "I studied English and Theatre in college" self with that basic comedy of manners premise, and my "I will never pass up a good retelling, especially about my boy Narcissus" brain (yeah, that one is niche but true). This honestly just seems like a really fun look at modern mythology with 2 couples getting way too intertwined.

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon is another one I've already read and loved. The basic premise is that a trans witch (someone doubly shunned in the world they're from) who ran off to the human world years ago gets dragged back by his fae fiancée- the future king of all fae. This book is so fun! Pinballing from meme references to woodsy romance tropes to hesitant espionage, it's impossible not to get roped in and honestly? Why would you not want to!

Future Feeling by Joss Lake is a magical-futuristic story that combines three trans men's lives, after one of them tries to hex the other due to gender/transition envy and accidentally gets another pushed into the shadowlands. This book looks like both a really great conversation about being trans and a genuinely really entertaining story of magic and tech. Plus, three trans protagonists.

Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura I also have already read, and can vouch for being a really nice romance. Zo agrees to fake date the obviously perfect for her Willow to get back at Willow's ex, because she knows how these things work- they'll be together for real before the end of the summer. But real life is messier than romcoms, and maybe Zo isn't so sure what she wants in the first place... If you too love fake dating and love fake dating that gets turned on its head, read this book! Plus, it's full of queer WOC, most of which are Asian-American.

The Marvelous by Claire Kann is like an escape the room meets Willy Wonka, all tied together by tiktok. Intrigued? Confused? Pick up this book! I have already read it, and it's worth it. Golden Weekend is always a mysterious event, never spoken about by former attendees, but this year is different- it's the last one before the creator's retirement. And it seems like she wants to go out with a bang that might take everyone else out with her.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury is another that might wind up one of my absolute favorites of the year, and another magical-futuristic story. Living just on the edge of society's eyes are communities of Black witches, guided by their ancestors and the special powers they give them once they pass the trial tasked to them. Except, Voya doesn't pass her trial. Now she's got one last chance- kill her first love or doom the family. A hard enough choice without the little snag that she doesn't actually have a first love yet. Enter an experimental dating app and her number one match who she can barely stand talking to. Can she actually fall in love with him? And, more importantly, can she kill him?

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson is the Truly Devious continuation no one expected! Stevie is back, and solving mysteries at summer camp. I absolutely loved Truly Devious and I also happen to love summer camp media, so I'm going nuts thinking about this book. If you love fun mysteries and girl detectives and somehow missed the original series, go binge that! But even if you don't you'll probably enjoy this one by itself.

Violet Ghosts by Leah Thomas I read earlier this year, and is incredibly heavy and possibly triggering. But if you can manage it, it's a genuinely fantastic book! This book follows a teenager whose only friend has been the ghost of a dead girl who believes all men are as terrible as the one who killed her, and whose identity as a trans man is getting harder and harder to ignore.

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison is the companion novel for The Goblin Emperor, and is coming out at a perfect time because I just managed to finally read TGE about a month ago! (And loved it). Not too much is known about the plot of this book, but it's definitely going to have the same fantasy politics and expansive writing from The Goblin Emperor, as well as the character Celehar!

The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill is an epic fantasy, sapphic retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice. It's no secret that I am both very queer and very into Orpheus and Eurydice so this is a no brainer for me. It's also apparently surprisingly cozy and whimsical, which ties it all together into something I need, and you probably do too.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta is kind of like an enemies-to-lovers sapphic Pacific Rim. I read this already, and the visuals are amazing. If you like your sci-fi political, your protags POC, and your robots absolutely gigantic, this is your book.

Happy reading!

[nexility-sims]

It’s time to kick off my first collaborative event ! I’ve decided to go about this in a somewhat idiosyncratic way, but I hope it’ll be a fun time for everyone involved. This is an open invitation for mutuals; please jump in if it piques your interest !

SPOILER: Alfonso and Rowena are getting married (eventually) ! Who could’ve possibly seen that coming ... For wedding guests, I’ve created three (3) categories you can slot your sims into if you’d like to participate. With each category, there are two (2) levels of interaction: simply sending a sim along for me to take pretty pictures of, or doing a bit of plotting around why they’re in attendance and what relationships they might have with my characters/the story/other background details.

As I expressed in a previous post, this is me kicking the door open to collaborating with my many fantastic mutuals, so I wanted to make it accessible to anyone and any ideas. Don’t feel obligated to do anything elaborate but, if that’s your style, I’m all ears ! Or, eyes, I suppose…

Without further ado, here are the categories and suggested options:

❧ CATEGORY 1: State Guests. This is a catch-all for royals, whoever and from wherever they may be. I don’t think much explanation is needed, but I’m happy to chat through all the world-building-related details with anyone who’d like that.

❧ CATEGORY 2: Rowena’s Guests. In this category, I imagine an eclectic collection of Rowena’s friends (and family, potentially). This is a rowdy crowd of socialites, celebrities, distant cousins, or literally anyone else that you or I can imagine. The sky’s the limit and barely so, what with her brother being an aviator and all.

❧ CATEGORY 3: Alfonso’s Guests. I’m picturing friends from childhood, university, and the military, plus a more buttoned-up crowd of socialites and celebrities. I’m going to broaden this to general Uspana nobility, so you’re welcome to populate that subcategory, too. It may require more discussion, but I’d love to share this world I’m creating with others.

Because my story is set in the past, specifically the 1920s, I realize those of you with more contemporary stories may or may not have characters ready to go. I’ve brainstormed the following suggestions, but feel free to get even more creative:

❧ Use a previous generation. This might be preexisting for those of you with long-running stories/legacies or especially detailed family trees. If not, consider this an opportunity to explore uncharted territory!

❧ Time travel, AKA an alternate universe. For the purposes of the wedding event, indulge yourself in an AU ! Consider it an opportunity to transport your characters to a different decade and give them a lil makeover.

❧ Create a new sim. Some of the categories invite original characters that belong to you but are connected to my characters, so they lend themselves to this option.

This isn’t really an option so much as a tip: there’s less historically accurate 1920s custom content than you’d think !  Because there’s liable to be two sims wearing the same outfit yes, this is my biggest anxiety with all of this dfsdgfjhjhg, feel free to bend the rules a little bit with your fashion choices. Take inspiration from 1920s fashion plates by all means, but please don’t limit yourself too much !  Generally speaking, the dress code is typical wedding-appropriate formal wear. Lady sims in white will have to fight Rowena in the back alley.

Currently, I anticipate the wedding episode will happen in late August or early September. The schedule may change somewhat, but I hope that’s ample time for folks to decide and prepare. I will, of course, provide everyone participating with a solid date once I have it nailed down myself !

Regarding logistics, here’s what I have in mind (informed, in part, by Daria’s wonderfully helpful guide):

❧ Reach out to me if you’re interested ! Tumblr IM is fine, but you can also connect with me on Discord (@ n.#8669).

❧ Once you’ve decided who your guest(s) will be, with whatever level of input from me you desire, check out this form. It’s a Google Form to help me keep all of this organized. Just click the link and fill it out with what you’re planning. If you’re sending more than one guests, please fill out a separate form for them each !  

❧ Finally, share the tray files for your sim(s) with me once you’re ready. Again, Daria has a delightfully specific guide on how to do this, which you can find here. I would say perhaps aim to do this by mid-August. I’ll follow up with anyone who hasn’t done so the week before the day of the post !

❧ I’ll send real, hopefully cute invitations addressed to your sims later on, so keep an eye out for that after we’ve spoke about it.

❧ Because the event’s over a month away, feel free to cancel if you decide not to participate for whatever reason, run out of time, etc.

I tried to touch on everything in this monster of a post, but please reach out to me if you have any questions, or if I’ve missed something … 💖

[mst3kproject]

The Ape

In the vein of movies that should not be confused with eerily similar previous entries, The Ape is distinct from The Ape Man... but not by much.  Both feature a slumming horror superstar, glandular secretions, and a stupid gorilla suit.  All these things also showed up in early seasons of MST3K, of course, and The Ape Man also has a surprise bonus.  Apparently, the guy in the gorilla costume is none other than Crash Corrigan, of Undersea Kingdom!

Long ago, Dr. Adrien lost his daughter to polio, and ever since he's been obsessed with finding a cure.  That sounds pretty noble, but unfortunately, Adrien is a mad doctor, so the cure he comes up with requires killing healthy people to drain them of their cerebralspinal fluid!  In order not to arouse suspicion, he kills and skins a gorilla that escaped from a circus, and wears its hide when he murders people... you know, as one does. To nobody's surprise but his, he ends up getting shot, but hey, at least he cured beautiful young Frances' paralysis!

This is a weird, dumb movie but one thing I can say in its favour is that everybody seems to have given it a good try.  This material was far beneath Boris Karloff but he takes it seriously and actually gets a couple of decent moments, as does Maris Wrixton (who was also in The Face of Marble) as Frances.  Nobody else is even close to Karloff's level, being just bland 40's actors who talk too fast, but none of the main cast are phoning it in, either.

Conversely, the worst thing in the movie is its truly horrendous gorilla suit.  The puppet face shows the actor's eyes and can curl its lip, which is cool, though the features don't look very gorilla-ish.  The rest of the suit, however, is terrible. It's way too shaggy and in order to give it a gorilla-like silhouette, they stuck a big hunchback on it.  This might have worked if Corrigan had tried to walk on all fours like gorillas actually do, but instead he waddles along upright like a toddler with a full diaper, which ruins it.  The people who made the movie also appear to think gorillas are nocturnal which, for the record, they are not.

Gorillas were kind of a big thing in movies of the 40's and 50's.  The species had been scientifically described a century earlier, but hadn't really been studied until the 1920s and most people had never seen one outside of King Kong. Films of the period were not kind to the gorilla.  One of the first gorilla movies was 1930's Ingagi, which purported to be a documentary about gorillas kidnapping women as sex slaves.  That kind of set the tone, and subsequent movies depicted gorillas as creatures prone to violence and rape.  Examples from this blog alone are numerous: The Ape Man (1940), Panther Girl of the Kongo (1955), and Bride of the Gorilla (1951) for starters... Robot Monster (1953) might also count.

The Ape has a slightly more nuanced approach to gorilla behaviour.  Yes, its gorilla does maul people to death... but the first victim is its trainer, who has been shown mistreating it.  Another circus employee even tries to tell him that he'll catch more flies with honey.  When the ape batters its way into Dr. Adrien's house, it does so in order to get at the trainer's coat, which Adrien left draped over a chair when the dying man was brought to him for treatment.  We see far more fear of the escaped ape than we do of the animal itself, and it does not commit near as many murders as Adrien does while dressed in its skin!

So that's halfway progressive for the 1940s.  We can also look at the treatment of Frances, the wheelchair-user partially paralyzed by polio.  She is clearly meant to be an object of the audience's pity, and Adrien is obsessed with making her able to walk again – as he could not do for his own daughter.  To some extent the movie infantilizes her, as she is clearly dependent on her mother, unable to have much of a social life, and her boyfriend Danny professes his willingness to 'take care of her'.  When she regains movement in her legs at the end of the movie, she and her mother immediately burn her wheelchair.  Apparently she's not allowed to build up her stamina slowly... if she walks ten minutes from home and then can't continue, she's just gotta sit there until she recovers or somebody finds her.

On the other hand, Frances' family aren't trying to force Adrien's possible cure on her, but let her choose it for herself. Her mother doesn't mind looking after her, and Danny is happy to accommodate her by, for example, hiring a cart so she can accompany him to the circus.  Danny in particular is very suspicious of the fact that the injections Adrien gives to Frances are causing her pain, and takes the doctor to task for it, telling him he would rather have her disabled and happy than walking but in pain.  “I'd rather carry her around all my life!” he says.  Her loved ones are willing to try for the cure, but it doesn't seem like anyone will be miserable if it fails.  Frances herself wistfully admires the acrobats at the circus, but shows no anger or bitterness that she cannot be like them.

Frances is even allowed some initiative, as she hurries down the road in her wheelchair calling to Dr. Adrien and trying to warn him that the gorilla is in the area.  This, ironically, is what leads to Adrien getting shot, as it attracts the attention of the posse hunting the animal.  But as Adrien lies dying, he gets to see Frances standing for the first time in ten years, so I guess we're meant to think this was all worth it.

But was it?  Several people died in order to provide the spinal fluid that helped Frances heal.  The movie shows them as terrified of Dr. Adrien and/or the gorilla, but other than that it is oddly uninterested in their fates.  None of the deaths are presented as tragedies, with families left in mourning... the only family we hear about for the gorilla trainer is a father who is already dead, and another one of the victims was an asshole who told his wife if she didn't like him cheating on her she could always drown herself(!??).  So... are we supposed to think they don't matter?  That their deaths are acceptable because they helped Frances – who was not dying or even deteriorating, and was satisfied with her life as it was – to a cure?

It is notable that we do not see what happens when Frances finds out that people had to die for her to be able to walk.  She would have to reassess her opinion of Dr. Adrien, whom until now she has thought of as a loving father figure.  She would have to figure out what this means for her future and perhaps need reassurance that she is not culpable.  Her unconcerned happiness at the end suggests that nobody bothered to tell her, and that she has not yet made the connection herself.  This is really quite unfortunate, because it deprives Frances of her only real chance to be a character rather than a plot point – which is ultimately all she is here.

Nobody else is shown dealing with the aftermath, either.  The town has long mistrusted Dr. Adrien because of rumours that he was experimenting on his patients, and a recent spate of missing dogs is shown to be his fault.  An early scene shows a group of boys bothering the doctor by throwing rocks at his house (which made me wonder if toilet paper hadn't been invented yet. According to Wikipedia, it dates to 1857, so there's your Fun Fact for the day). Seeing their worst fears realized really ought to have some effect on the people.  Even if nobody bothers to tell Frances how her miraculous cure was effected, others will surely figure it out and have to weigh up what he achieved versus the crimes he committed to get there.

Yeah, I know: this is a movie about a guy killing people while wearing a dead gorilla.  I'm thinking too hard.

Finally, I want to note some interesting possible connections between The Ape and a number of other movies I've seen.  Both The Ape and The Ape Man appear to have been inspired by the 1932 movie Murders in the Rue Morgue, which also features a gorilla and injections of bodily fluids in the name of mad science, and did not feature very much resemblance to Edgar Allen Poe's story of the same name.  I don't know if these films directly inspired each other, and it's been ages since I saw Rue Morgue... but the combination of plot elements here seems weirdly specific to be something different people came up with independently.  I should watch all three again and see if I notice any more similarities between them.

There are also interesting likenesses between The Ape and another Boris Karloff movie, 1945's The Grave Robber.  The latter is the story of a doctor who needs fresh corpses as part of his research, which culminates in surgery to allow a paralyzed girl to walk again.  The doctor in this film is more a victim than a villain, himself, as he finds that the man he's been paying to rob graves for him is actually murdering the homeless, and he can't expose this criminal without jeopardizing his work and incriminating himself.  It's been a long time since I saw this movie, either (as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've had some shit going on and I haven't had a lot of time for movies, bad or otherwise), so I can't actually say if it's better than The Ape, but it's definitely less silly.

Anyway, the moral of this story is vaccinate your fucking kids or a gorilla will kill you.

[trashmancer]

Again, been reading a lot recently, and here's some recent reads and my thoughts. (All very spoiler-free)

Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

I'd heard about this series for a while, but had always kept putting off reading it, and finally I was in the mood for some comedic (yet dark) shenanigans--and a villain protagonist as charming as Johannes Cabal really hit me just right. I really enjoyed the first of this series and the introduction to this 1920's-ish universe similar-yet-different to our own that Howard's created. His writing is crisp and clever--and Johannes is a villain protagonist worth cheering for. He's duplicitous, arrogant, and cold, yet sharp-witted and competent enough to be engaging, and even though he's amoral (driven predominately with an "ends do justify the means" mentality) there are glimmers of a conscious buried in there.

The basic gist of the first book is that Johannes Cabal is a necromancer dead-set (ba-dum-sh) on thwarting the biggest plague affecting mankind: Death. As such, he's willing to go to extreme lengths to hone and perfect his necromantic abilities. In the pursuit of this knowledge, Cabal sold his soul to Satan, but he comes to realize he actually needs his soul for his necromancy to work more properly (apparently without a soul it gets very unpredictable). In order to win his soul back, he strikes a wager with Satan: he will accumulate 100 souls for Satan in return for his own. Satan, ever the fair player (not), gifts Cabal with an infernal carnival to help Cabal reach his goal within the year. Shenanigans ensue.

While I read some books in-between this one and the next in the series, I'll write about the other here--

Johannes Cabal: The Detective by Jonathan L. Howard

So clearly I enjoyed the first installment enough to keep going, and I am glad, because I enjoyed the second one even more than the first. It feels like Howard got more comfortable with the characters and world than before, and in this one he expands his universe with some made-up countries that are similar-to-yet-different than countries on our Earth. In this one, Cabal does less fantastic tricks, as he dons the role of investigator (there's been a murder--on an airship!), but the plot was very fun. I will say this is one of the first books in a long while to genuinely make my world-weary ass laugh out loud in public. Howard truly does know how to turn a phrase and comes off with some great witticisms.

Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky has been on my radar for a while because I have had Children of Time on my reading list for what feels like an age (and I still haven't gotten around to reading it, but I will soon). To prime myself, I looked up other works by Tchaikovsky. This was around the time I was look for good "stand-alone" Adult Fantasy novels as well, so the two linked up and I had this on my TBR for a while and got around to finally cracking it open.

I really loved this book. If I could describe it in any way, it would be sort of like Pride & Prejudice if Elizabeth Bennet got drafted into a war. Seriously. That's how it reads--and Tchaikovsky made the allusions to Austen's work very clear. The setting is very English-inspired, and the time period mimics Napoleonic times. Definitely the first "Flintlock Fantasy" I've had the pleasure of reading.

The themes of the book are about the caustic nature of nationalism, the blurring of truth during war, and what is true patriotism in the face of falsehood and horror. Definitely my kind of questions--and I love watching characters thrown into completely unfamiliar environments. A genteel woman (Emily Marshwic) being tossed headfirst into grisly, mosquito-infested swamps armed with a musket? It's a fascinating journey she undergoes.

Plus the novel featured a romantic subplot that hits my enemies-to-lovers buttons hard. (It's not at all like one of those tired YA enemies-to-lovers stories, but something more grown-up and messy, which I approve of, because I love drama.) But this is more of a personal note. It's definitely not going to be for everyone.

Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay #1) by Chris Wooding

After Johannes Cabal, I got into the mood for some steampunk, and I hadn't actually read much in the way of steampunk, so I looked up some recs and the Tales of the Ketty Jay series seemed to appear on a lot of lists for this kinda thing. The basic gist of this one is... imagine steampunk Firefly. That kinda gives you the whole vibe and feel. It's about a crew of disparate and colorful characters all running from something who meet on the ship the Ketty Jay and have to learn to work together to survive.

Overall, it was a fast-paced read (I read this 400 page sucker in a single day--while doing other stuff) and Wooding knows how to write action and interesting character interactions. The world had some glimmers of brilliance (the wizard analogs in their world--daemonist--were the most intriguing part), but otherwise it was very typical steampunk. I had no real quibbles with any of that (aside from the fact some of it read as very cliche and Wooding's inspirations seemed a little obvious--Fullmetal Alchemist and Firefly being the two big ones that kept hammering me over the head), but my main complaint was with the writing and treatment of female characters. First, there is only one main female character in the Ketty Jay's crew--Jez. I had no real issues with Jez's character or writing (in fact she's refreshing in some ways), but she's completely isolated from any other female characters (and is also the only crew member who isn't really allowed to be a complete screw up--she's somewhat sanitized, which, I guess the heroic women characters aren't allowed to be fuck ups like the men?). Second, the other predominate female characters, of whom there are only three, are mute/dehumanized (Bess), characterized as stupid and unhinged (Amalicia), and have rape-as-a-backstory-written-TERRIBLY (Trinica). All that said, as much as it was cringe, this was written in 2009, and I am sure Wooding has had some growth as a writer since then.

I liked this one enough to decide to check out the next in the series (even knowing the writing for the female characters leaves much to be desired).

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

A Fantasy taking place in an Americas-inspired world? Absolutely refreshing (and more please). The main gist of this one is that a cult sets out to resurrect a dead god (seriously that's the main plot crux) while political machinations are going on in the central city of this country where the resurrection is going to take place. As the novel progresses, it's like a countdown clock to game time. There's four POV characters we follow: Xiala (a Teek sea captain who is kind of an outcast from her native people and has a love for beautiful people), Serapio (the man who has been groomed since birth to be the vessel for the resurrected god, part of this process has included blinding him), Naranpa (the Sun Priest of the capital city who is trying to garner back control the priesthood has lost), and Okoa (who really doesn't even appear until way later into the book; he's been separated from his family to train to be a warrior). For the most part, I was primarily engaged (re: 90% engaged) with Xiala and Serapio's story. They were the most interesting characters, and the journey of them on the sea trying to get to the city before the ceremony was exciting and emotional. The political dealings in Naranpa's segments kind of bogged down the action--and I didn't feel anything for that. Overall though, definitely a thrilling read with a beautifully constructed world. If I had one big criticism, it's that it ended incredibly abruptly without any resolution. I knew going in this was a part of a greater whole, but I still felt the ends could've been knotted a little tighter. I'm left dangling! But I'll be sure to pick up the next one (if anything just to find out what happens to Xiala and Serapio).

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

As an unapologetic villainfucker, I had to read this one, right? It's about not just one, but two villains! How could I lose? And they're in an intense rivalry? Revenge? Betrayal? Superpowers? Gah! Be still my heart!

I'll say I enjoyed this book (fun characters, solid writing), but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would (I wish I could love yooouuuu!). Definitely worth a recommendation to anyone who loves villains and fast-paced narratives, but... there were a few things that tarnished what could've been sparkling. The biggest for me was the jumping around in the first half. For a length of time, the novel leaps between three different points of time, sometimes 2-3 pages at a time, and it was jarring (not confusing, mind you, but it was a jolt each time). I get it was done to create an air of mystique and intrigue, but it felt like I was getting dragged around by the ear. Along with this, the plot just seemed... very convenient? As various moments kept happening, it all felt too tidy and paint-by-numbers. The characters were certainly messy and fun (and I love messy and fun), but the action itself seemed to glide on well-oiled rails with no hiccups. This did lead to the magnetic pacing of the book (which I also read in a day), but it didn't do the drama any favors. Never once did it feel like the characters were caught with their pants down--and I think that's part of the point, but it kind of dampened the tension.

I liked it enough I am definitely going to check out the sequel Vengeful though. If anything I am reading for Sydney, Mitch, and Victor. I gotta know what happens to them!

--

Right now I am reading some fluffy fluff to cleanse my palette because I've been reading so much moodiness. I'm mid-way through the light and breezy Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater (and it's super cute so far) and then I am finally going to crack open Andy Weir's The Martian (because I have put off reading it for far too long).

[vgriffindor]

aMusketeer Fanfic Master Post

Calling all Musketeers! We’re all in need of a serious dose of our favourites, amirite? I’ve seen a few queries floating around lately asking for some great Muskie fanfic recommendations. I thought I’d do 20 weekly posts, each with a different theme, and ask for your help! There are a ton of great Muskie fics out there, let’s help each other discover them.

How this works: For each theme, please give me your TOP recommendation. It can be a one-shot or multiple chapters, complete or still a WIP, your own or some one else’s, just shout about that one fic that fits the theme and you want people to READ! Reblog to spread the word, with your recommendation and tag me @vgriffindor, or DM your recommendation so that I can post it! I’ll keep each theme as a pinned post up/keep adding to it for the entire week.

Week #2: AUs

It sure is fun to place these four in a different world, and see how they react! Whether it’s the quiet heaven of a bookstore, the flirty, caffeinated vibes of a coffee shop, the perfume of a flower shop, the hard-bitten reality of a detective bureau, or just about anything else you can think of, the boys seem to handle whatever universe we throw at them with their trademark personalities and humour intact.

Midsomer Musketeers by Suzie_Shooter: Exactly what you think and want this to be, when you combine the Musketeers and Midsomer Murders. 

Fraternité et Égalité by BazinMousqueton: Clever, funny, sexy and gorgeously written modern AU in an architectural firm’s office. Slash, but not explicit, almost everyone is bi, and the whole thing is perfection.

(Below is all due to the hard work and enthusiastic response from @animanightmate! Thank you, you are awesome!)

E: yeah, you got me by cherryfeather - modern au graduation party oone-shot with a game of spin the bottle that gets angsty with forthcoming farewells and then very fulfilling indeed.

T: Chapter 10 of the collection of unrelated shorts (very short) His Smile Me Draws, His Frown Drives Me Away by akathecentimetre is entitled  In Goodly Colors Gloriously Arrayed and is a modern au where the lads are working for the Sûreté in Paris (though it’s never confirmed precisely as what) and it’s basically a series of three (the original Inseparables) character studies as they get used to being Responsible Adults. No filth... well, apart from Aramis’s feet...

G: Fancy is a very short modern au short by AnathemaDevice about the cats owned by (or owning) the various season three characters. Includes one of the most beautiful word-sketches of Sylvie I’ve yet read.

E: Mis Adventures by Doom Canary is an utterly filthy, modern British police au short featuring a trans male character that blew my mind in the best ways. If there’s a plot, I blinked and missed it.

T: born like a vapor by mellyflori is - and I can’t believe I’m typing this - a modern au where two of the Four are genies (yep, you read that correctly). It is utterly, unforgettably gorgeous, and just works. Angsty and charming, and has one of the most elegant solutions I’ve seen for “what happens with Constance?” The world-building is done so well it’s almost seamless, and I’m weak for that kind of thing.

T: Brand New Start is a short modern office au by potentiality_26 from Constance’s perspective and is melancholy, sweet, and vivid. OT3 but nothing graphic.

E: One in Ten Thousand by breathtaken is a novel-length modern soul bonds au that, as usual with her, subverts the trope and delves deep into the psyche of an intensely depressed Athos who was in no way prepared to meet his soulmate. It’s hard going at times, but utterly beautiful and very hot.

M: my heart upon my sleeve by cherryfeather is a novel-length modern Shakespearean actors au and I avoided it for ages because the synopsis was written in a deliberately tabloid style and I assumed the whole thing was like that. It is not - it is the most elegant, eloquent, literally tear-tugging bit of angst and mutual pining I’ve ever encountered, and takes in: hurt/comfort, Only One Bed, and friends-to-lovers tropes along the way. Basically, if they were a character in the first two seasons of the original, she finds a place for them in this gorgeous work.

E: The Humbling River (author unknown) is the only A/B/O fic that I will ever recommend, ever. This short is canon era, but I guess it still counts as au? I fell into it accidentally, but it was written so well that I didn’t care about the premise.

E: Une histoire de bleu by ceeturnalia is long. A 100k word modern day au where the lads are security specialists for a private firm in Paris. It is vividly stark and lushly compassionate in one go, and also explores a developing D/s relationship in great detail, so if that’s not your bag, that’s the main core of the story. And it’s handled so well that I have zero hesitation in recommending it, even though that in itself is not really my thing. It’s just so very, very good and, even at that length, still manages to be very tightly written.

M: Death in Waiting by Suzie_shooter is your actual 1920s country house murder mystery with all our favs (seasons 1 and 2 anyway) in a short-novel-length interbellum piece of Upstairs-Downstairs only of course there’s lots of forbidden sex all over the place, and a genuinely gasp-inducing (at least in me) set of reveals.

M: Still Waters by evilmaniclaugh is a modern office au with a twist. It’s porn with a plot (and a great deal of angst), and is startlingly hilarious in places (for good reasons, I promise).

M: Gentlemen of the Road by Suzie_shooter is a highwayman au set, from my vague enough understanding of the descriptions, about 100 years or so after the canon era. As usual for S_s, it’s Athos/Porthos pairing, from the perspective of Porthos, and I keep coming back to it, for the humour, the story, and the sex. Bonus points for Ninon and Rochefort showing up, and our brief glimpses of d’Artagnan being an utter little shit.

M: Mise en place by breathtaken is a short series featuring season 3 characters as chefs. And it’s stunningly beautiful, intimately told from a conflicted Constance’s perspective (something I’m utterly weak for) and I want there to be more because dammit - food and polyamory and found family and so many of my favourite things and I wish she was going to write more and aaaaah. Anyway, everyone is bi and kinky and I am so there for that...

I have so many of these, but I’m going to leave it here while I retain any shred of sanity or dignity, and finish by telling you about my own only (so far) modern au, entitled Summoned (rated M), set in modern-day Cambridge, UK, complete with references to Brexit and climate change, and a detailed depiction of the Fitzwilliam Museum. The MacGuffin is a museum anti-heist. Or is it reincarnation? Or music? Or synaesthesia? WHO KNOWS?! Anyway, it’s 75k+ words of conversations, misunderstandings, music, musings, museum architecture, poetry, stolen kisses, awkward flirting, and confusing flashbacks. There is one extended explicit sex scene and the rest is more along the lines of innuendo and a great deal of heated kissing. And I wrote it in about fives weeks and am rather proud of it, actually.