#character: earnest jones

[redhairedgryffindor]

I won't leave you alone

My MC, Earnest Jones won't leave werewolf Chiara alone in the forest

Also Friendly Werewolf Chiara in this

[sysig]

The brainworms are winning, clearly (Patreon)

[weaponizedmoth]

Heya friend can't remember how exactly I ended up followin' you but from one lonely OC artist on tumblr to another I wanted to submit one of them emojis for the OC ask post you reblogged on here 🥰 because I know how much it sucks when you care about your guys that you created but no one asks about 'em. So! My submitted emojis are 💯, 🤍, and 🤔, and you can answer with as many or as few OCs as you feel like in whatever order makes the most sense for you ❤️ the more the merrier obviously, but idk how much effort you wanna put in for a single ask ahahaha basically please tell me things about your kids I would love to hear 💕

Thank you so much, that's very sweet of you. I thought you had followed me from Character Hub, but maybe you followed me there because you found me here??? Anyway, thank you for the follow on both accounts. Considering I have 20.000 OCs, and trust me I'd love to do all three question about all, I'm gonna pick the ones I believe will fit the questions better for each questions. Some OCs don't have facts others don't know and are open books for example, etc.

💯 - share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

Hayden Metzler: He grew up in a cult town in the desert and hates high temperatures, he broke both his legs at the age of eight, he burned down a church with a molotov cocktail. Stacy Earnest: She hates being in her mother's plays and having to wear those outdated costumes, she's afraid Sally will get sick of her job and leave her, she thinks that she'll never beat the curse no matter what. Abigail Jones: All of her boyfriends looked a little like Cornelius cause she secretly thinks he's handsome, she wishes to be seventeen again, she wished her parents had prevented her from going into the public eye with her deficiency, no matter how much they needed the money from the interviews.

🤍 - what are three of your oc's neutral/questionable traits?

(I chose questionable for this because neutral and questionable are not synonyms, which made me a little confused, so I'll go with the morally dubious stuff).

Star Girl: She genuinely didn't care about putting humanity in danger when she made her band, no matter what Matthew's rules of revealing yourselves to humans are. She wanted to play, so she did. Hayden Metzler: Hayden doesn't care about anyone other than himself and his cat for the longest time. He cares about taking down Margaret Lancaster, the cult leader, but when he's possessed all of his worst traits, and then some made up things he thought of himself, come out, so he becomes manipulative, vain, egotistical and violent. The Ghosts of Stacy's story (aka The Cook, The Kid, and The General) (some trigger warning for violent stuff, cannibalism etc because they're the villains): They are all questionable traits. They are supposedly the antagonists, they're all taken by the Earnest curse. So the Cook used to mix her bovine meat she sold to everyone in town with some not so bovine meat, the Kid used to pillage and steal, the General kept going with the family meat business and he was also a sleazy, manipulative bastard. So, they have a mention here.

🤔 - what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?

Space Pirate: Eats a lot, she loves human food, but only human junk food. Cornelius Wildflower-Stardust: He keeps animals and plants pretty close to him, having so many animals in his house, even though he is a Water Faerie, and doesn't have any real affinity with nature, all because his mother was an Earth Faerie. Margaret Lancaster (aka Mags): She knows everything about Faerie celebrity life, she reads the Faerie Society Gazette pretty frequently even though she is Wiccen.

Thanks for asking!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ouahhhh 😭

wait a second. hand on wall. on floor.

So unless you're having this read to you from the bad side of a Ouija board, you made it out the other end of issue seven's historically-speaking-pretty-short seven year delay alive. Which isn't too bad. And, honestly, we can think of another, much more popular project we're involved with that you're STILL waiting on: The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which began construction in 1886 and still isn't done, and which the Spanish government hired us to write a delay-themed blog post about after seeing an early draft of the blog post you're reading right now.

several weeks late b/c i had no idea it existed....i Didn't suppose i'd make it out of the then-indefinite now 7-yr-delay on the next tf2 comic alive which isn't too bad 😭

[sunlighthroughthe-ashes]

i've never been the biggest advocate of either mi-suk or hye-suk; but their friendship is truly something beautiful to behold.

a friend is a bond you choose to bind yourself with — you choose to say: "your sorrow is my sorrow. your children are my children. your life is my life to cherish and nurture."

witnessing hye-suk promise to protect and care for seokryu just the way mi-suk looked after seunghyo filled me with so much warmth. this is how legacies are formed when two families join as one: lasting love stretching from one generation to the next. a marriage between two people is also a marriage between all their loved ones: a living union connecting members of one family with another's for the rest of their years. these are the relationships you voluntarily take on: the implicit trust you place in people not of your blood to look after and love your daughters and sons when you yourself can't anymore.

it reminds me of these lines by s. jae jones: "for love is our only immortality, and when memory is faded and gone, it is our legacies that endure."

i also adored seokryu's proposal — it was exactly like her: sweet; simple, and earnest. a character in a book i love once said that "i ask no rainbow joy of life" — but that's exactly what we DO ask and want in our existences. and that's exactly what seokryu promises seunghyo: the quiet rainbow joy of a home-cooked meal and a hand to hold. a promise of ordinary; enduring love. a lifetime of peace and contentment.

it's everything he's ever wanted. and it's finally been given to him. ♡

[calciumdeficientt]

BULLY CHARACTERS AS CATS

i think i’m a little late to the party on this but there’s a wiki documenting stray cats in china and they all have silly names so i’ve chosen a few that fit bully characters. there’s literally hundreds so i am more than willing to do more.

JIMMY HOPKINS

fairly obvious, jimmy’s original ps2 model had a big squint problem. short sighted king.

PETE KOWALSKI

he’s just a little fella i love him like he’s my own son.

JOHNNY VINCENT

his name is john…… pretty self explanatory here. also. the destroyer of universes. we all saw what he went through for lola

GARY SMITH

nightcore listener i just know he is ill die on this hill so help me god. so edgy. so sinister.

PINKY GAUTHIER

prissy preppy lady that wears designer clothes but also very polite looking.

DAMON WEST

he is…. so large and he beats me up every time i go near the gym

EARNEST JONES

little pussy boy that gets a 15 year old to fight his battles for him. i spit on him. pathetic creature.

EDGAR MUNSEN

purely for the ‘murderous intent’ tagline. who else but the guy who beat a 15 year old with a lead pipe

GORD VENDOME

hook line and sinker this boy has a french last name. milky oh milky however did you get so creative.

KIRBY OLSEN

i don’t care if he also beats me to death when i come by the gym he’s a goober that can do no wrong and my favourite jock

[the-offside-rule]

Steven Grant (Moonknight) - All She's Ever Wanted

Requested: yes

Prompt: Y/n and Steven watch Bridget Jones

Warnings: not a lof

It was a quiet Friday night, the kind Y/n liked best. Curled up on the couch with a blanket, a bowl of popcorn, and her favorite film; Bridget Jones’s Diary. She had seen it countless times, but it never failed to make her laugh, cry, and swoon all in one sitting. Steven Grant, her sweet, bookish boyfriend, was busying himself with some ancient Egyptian texts, still as wide-eyed as he was when she first met him at the museum gift shop. “Why don’t you come watch with me?” Y/n called out to him softly, her voice pulling him from his focus. “It’s late, and you’re always up anyway.”

Steven looked over at her, blinking with those kind brown eyes, already apologizing in their soft gaze for being distracted. He was the type of man who could get lost in history, in hieroglyphics, in his own thoughts. Sleep evaded him more often than not, but being awake with Y/n always seemed to soothe him, like the world made more sense when she was near.“Bridget Jones’s Diary?” He asked, stepping over to her. He sounded curious, a little hesitant. “I’ve heard of it, but, you know, not really my kind of thing.” Y/n patted the spot next to her. “Oh, c’mon. You’ll love it. Besides, it’s not like you were going to bed anytime soon, were you?” Steven chuckled softly, conceding. “Right, fair point.” He sat beside her, adjusting his cardigan as he settled in.

As the film began, Steven tried to hide his interest at first, pretending not to get too caught up in the story. But it didn’t take long before he was chuckling along, glancing at Y/n every time Bridget fumbled her way through yet another awkward moment. By the time Hugh Grant’s character, the charming yet smarmy Daniel Cleaver, made his entrance, Steven’s brow furrowed. “Hugh Grant.” Y/n sighed, a playful grin tugging at her lips. “He was so handsome when he was younger, wasn’t he?” Steven stiffened slightly, shifting in his seat. “Was he, now?” Y/n didn’t notice the way his shoulders tensed or the way his expression faltered. “Yeah, you know, that whole charming, bad-boy thing? I mean, I wouldn’t date him now, but back then? Well, you know what I mean.”

Steven swallowed hard, his mind racing. He wasn’t like Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver at all. He wasn’t the slick, suave type who could make women swoon with a wink. He was awkward, often fumbling his words or getting overly excited about ancient civilizations. He worked in a museum gift shop, for crying out loud, hardly the stuff of romantic heroics. But Y/n noticed the shift, her hand reaching for his. “Oh, don’t be like that.” She said with a laugh, squeezing his fingers gently. “It’s just Hugh Grant. You’re nothing like him, but that’s a good thing.” Steven managed a small, nervous smile. “Right, nothing like him.”

As the film progressed, Steven became quieter, though Y/n didn’t press. It wasn’t until the final scenes, Mark Darcy’s dramatic, unexpected kiss with Bridget that she noticed Steven’s gaze had softened, a mix of awe and uncertainty playing across his features.

Wait a minute...nice boys don't kiss like that

Oh yes they fucking do

She nudged him, grinning. “See? Nice boys can kiss the way Bridget likes.” Steven looked at her, shoulders slightly drooped, and his voice was low, almost a whisper. “You really think that, love? That, you know- a nice bloke like me- like Mark Darcy- could ever catch someone like you or Bridget in a world of Daniel Cleavers?” Y/n’s smile faded for a moment, replaced by something more tender. She turned to face him fully, her hand reaching to cup his cheek. “Steven-” She said softly, her thumb brushing his skin. “Mark Darcy was all I ever wanted in a boyfriend.” His brow furrowed. “Really? Him?”

She nodded, her voice earnest. “Yeah. Someone sweet, loyal, who doesn’t play games. Someone who’s good, through and through.” She let her words hang in the air, her eyes meeting his. “That’s you, Steven. And I’m happy to have my own little Mark Darcy, even if he works in a museum gift shop.” A laugh escaped him then, a sound of pure relief mixed with disbelief. “I- are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely.” Y/n leaned in, her lips brushing his softly, like the way Mark kissed Bridget, slow and full of emotion. When they pulled back, she gave him that same playful grin, the one that always seemed to put him at ease. “Now, stop worrying. You’re all I need.” Steven’s shoulders, still tense from earlier, finally relaxed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, letting his worry fall away, grateful for the woman in his arms who saw him for exactly who he was; her very own Mark Darcy.

[sepublic]

Now that I’m older, it’s occurred to me that Jack Sparrow really does play the role of the mentor figure in Curse of the Black Pearl. He’s definitely a very cleverly subversive take on the trope, but he is a take on it nonetheless; The older figure who teaches our young, hotshot hero how to act and passes on wisdom. “I knew your father.” An experienced member of a forbidden group that our protagonist learns to accept he is a part of. Acts as a call to action, and isn’t introduced until past the first few scenes of the film.

By contrast, Elizabeth and Will are established in the movie’s first scene, which further strengthens the actually hot take that they’re the main protagonists of the film and the trilogy as a whole, not Jack. Jack is just less recognizable as a mentor because he breaks a lot of the rules (more guidelines really) of the trope, and is treated as more than just a tool for our main character’s growth; He’s someone with his own life and wants and stake in this, too.

Jack Sparrow is ultimately the Gandalf, the Obi-Wan of Pirates of the Caribbean. And that leads me to my argument that PotC is the Star Wars of its generation, with its own Empire Strikes Back and everything. It’s got a lot of the same tropes and structure, but it’s mixed around and dressed up in such a unique way that most people fail to realize this at first glance. 

Take for example, the dynamic of Davy Jones and Cutler Beckett... This is just Vader and Tarkin in A New Hope; A more iconic, supernatural threat, physically imposing, who is nevertheless subservient to Just Some Guy who is British and represents the Machine that strips the world of its magic and wonder. Vader and Jones are more romantic, they’ve got sad backstories and are humanized to the audience; But Tarkin and Beckett are banal and simple, just ruthless men who don’t care, like in real life.

But while Tarkin dies in the first film to make way for Vader taking the spotlight, as well as his similarly theatrical Emperor, the creators of PotC clearly wanted to explore the dynamic of a supernatural force straining against his imperial collar, and the tension of knowing he is contributing to the decline of his own kind. They took Vader and Tarkin’s relationship and made it front and center, happening at the end of the trilogy and not at its beginning. And it is Beckett and the imperial machine that is emphasized as the true evil, whereas in Star Wars, the Empire takes orders from Palpatine and his Dark Side shenanigans, who are framed as the foundation for the conflict.

The crew reinvented Star Wars for a new audience, rather than just... pulling off of the brand and imagery of Star Wars, or copying it word-for-word. They understood the core foundation of the story and the earnest creativity that comes into making something both familiar yet inarguably new, which subverts the stories that came before it in a meaningful manner.

[gojossotoru]

Introducing the old money nerd

Full name: Atticus Cecil Sinclair

Nicknames: Ass-ticus (dumb and goofy nickname called by Ted Thompson and his gang of jocks except for Mandy. Cecil literally can't stand it and he would roll his eyes, banging himself with his book or insult them with profanities), Brace Face (used by multiple people in Bullworth Academy. In Cecil's humble opinion, it's not that bad than 'Metal Mouth', but he's not really fond of the nickname)

Preferred name: Cecil (why you may ask? Because he hates his own first name, he gets bullied because of it and gets made fun of everyday. Although he tries to tell people that he would rather be called 'Cecil', they still call him Atticus. However, there are quite several people who respect him and call him Cecil)

Age: 16

Birthdate: October 11th

Sexuality: straight

Height: 5'9"

Race: white

Ethnicity: French, English, Polish

Appearance: pale skin (I'm bad at describing skin colors 😭 I'm sorry :/), dark brown eyes, dark brown short hair, a mole on his right cheek, light blue braces all over his teeth, wears black glasses

Clique: Nerds

Likes: studying, English literature, passing every test, getting validation, being perfect on every subject, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, strawberry lollipops, getting enough sleep, old Hollywood movies, old music, theatre, soy milk, sunsets, academic validation, chess, quietness, cleanliness, poetry, his family, his fellow nerds, cleaning his glasses, taking care of his teeth, insulting someone who he deemed as 'bullies'

Dislikes: bullies, being forced to do something, failing every test, failure, fire, thunderstorm, Edna and her cooking, the jocks, Lola Lombardi, Earnest Jones, people not taking seriously about tests and their grades, distractions, not studying, modern music (especially modern rock music in general but he doesn't like any type of rock music), not completing his homeworks, bribery, summer, GNG, dirtiness and any unhygienic things, the prefects, being late to class, spiders, snakes, sweat

Hobbies: studying, reading, listening to old music, playing chess

Nerds reputation + status: 83%

Preps reputation + status: 46%

Greasers reputation + status: 30%

Jocks reputation + status: 0%

Bullies reputation + status: 0%

Non-cliques reputation + status: 70%

Townies reputation + status: 0%

Best friend(s): Melvin O'Connor

Friends/Acquaintances: the whole nerds, Jimmy Hopkins, Pete Kowalski

Enemies: the jocks, the townies

Love interest: ?

Tropes: ?

______________________________

Background:

He was born in Marseille, France to a famous historian father, Francis Sinclair and a famous supermodel mother Angelica Sinclair (neé Zieliński), and is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson to and a descendent of the 14th mayor of Bullworth, Hugo Sinclair. Atticus's father's side of the family has been in politics ever since the 1820s while his mother is from a middle class family with no connections at all until her model career starts to take off very well. The Sinclairs have been old money since the mid 1870s and is a very well respected family, especially in the world of politics. Cecil's father and mother first met at the apartment in the Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York when they bumped into each other and the rest is history (*wink* *wink*). When they got married, they went to Marseille, France for their honeymoon and that's when Cecil was born. Francis named him Atticus (Cecil's first name) after his favorite character from How To Kill A Mockingbird, his favorite book and also the movie adaptation. Cecil growing up was quite serious about his studying, after Francis light-heartedly said to him, something about your future depends on studying and having good grades and Cecil has thought about that over and over again and took it very seriously. He didn't want a bad future, a future where he doesn't know what to do in life and ended up having no jobs due to his grades, not going to universities and not having a diploma!!! It's a nightmare for him, so he studies everyday and that makes him kind of isolated himself from his family and peers. He didn't even bother to ask his parents 'how are you?' or something that is going on involving them, he always has a book in his face or even his messy notebooks which contain his notes that he's always reading or writing during dinner. So the parents were growing tired of it and when Cecil was 11, they sent him off to Bullworth Academy. The school he could say was.. 'Obnoxiously weird' (if that makes sense to anyone else) but of course, what school would be there in Bullworth other than this school. None. Later, he joined the Nerds clique and the rest is history

______________________________

Personality:

Most people considered him as a 'studying obsessed freak' due to him always studying anywhere in school or even outside of the school, he always worries about his grades and not the people he cares about, which makes them have mixed opinions of him. He has the tiniest temper ever, if someone interrupts him or distracts him from him study, he would yell at them with no hesitation or even throw some small objects at them. He's quite controlling over his friends if they do not take their grades seriously, he's like a parent figure to them who's strict and always tells them to study. He would ask them to join him for a study group or else... Or else he would do 'something' that he might not regret (but in reality, he doesn't know what to do if they reject him) but nevertheless, his friends join him in the study group. He's a perfectionist when it comes to his grades and studying, it's not something that is considered healthy but he just can't seem to stop, it always bothers him if he doesn't study in a day or if he forgets to study. He studies until the side of his fingers has bruises on them or studies until the ink of his pen is completely empty. Although Cecil hates bullies, he actually doesn't care if someone is getting bullied, right in front of him or not. In his opinion, it's their problem not his and instead of helping the victim, he continues to study or ignoring them. He's easily annoyed at the smallest, tiniest thing ever, if he finds a tiny dirt on his shoe or a dirt on one of his books or even a mistake in his exam paper, he really gets bothered by it but the only thing bothering him the most is the smallest mistake on his exam paper that makes him study even more. If it gets out of control, he would play chess with one of his friends or by himself while listening to his favorite songs, it calms him immediately and releases his stress

Overall, Cecil only cares about his grades (and his future also) and nothing else

______________________________

Facts about Cecil:

--- the reason why I put '?' on the love interest and the trope part it's because IDK WHO TO PUT AS HIS LOVE INTEREST 😭 basically he's available :3

--- he's a member of the newspaper club and he pretty much writes about 'school politics' as Cecil likes to call it (meaning he writes about school presidents and class presidents and writes about them as if they're real presidents. And also, he writes about current school events). He puts his full name, Atticus Cecil Sinclair on every school newspaper

--- his handwriting is very cursive and neat but almost everyone cannot read what he writes

--- his favorite character from any media is Atticus Finch from How To Kill A Mockingbird

--- he doesn't really hate the fact that his father named him after his favorite character

--- only the adults (+ his family) can call him Atticus because... They're adults and he respects adults except for really horrible adults

--- he's also a director of the school's theatre (he wants extra credit)

--- he has bandages wrapped around his right fingers due to having bruises on them from writing on his notebook nonstop while studying

--- he fights bullies to protect himself and is surprisingly pretty strong

--- his dream career is to be a journalist but if it doesn't work for him then he would be a professional chess player

--- his mother, Angelica is Polish on her dad's side

--- he drinks black coffee because he thinks it would boost his energy

--- he wears vintage inspired fashion

--- he has over 40+ novels (and books) on the shelves in his dorm

--- he has four cats. Grace (after Grace Kelly), Humphrey (after Humphrey Bogart), Audrey (after Audrey Hepburn) and Venus (after his favorite song by Frankie Avalon)

--- although he likes to reference politics, he doesn't want to be a politician because it's 'boring' to him

--- out of the Nerds, he thinks Melvin is pretty decent (other than Beatrice). Cecil plays GNG with him even though he hates playing it

--- he drinks soy milk while studying

--- he's a very organised person

--- he has a study table in his dorm

--- his favorite subject is English

--- his favorite movie is Dead Poets Society

--- his two favorite poets are Christina Rossetti and Oscar Wilde

--- his favorite phrase is "c'est la vie", which he says sometimes

--- if someone sees him, he's either writing something in his notebook (meaning he's studying) or reading a book thoroughly (meaning he's studying or maybe not, who knows?)

--- the preps don't bully him that much since Cecil is from an old money family but they still bully him for being a nerd and not joining their clique

--- Cecil voted for Ted Thompson instead of Earnest when Ted and Earnest were candidates for school president. It's because Earnest didn't listen to him after he told Earnest about changing the posters and the flags. So voting for Ted was a payback towards Earnest

______________________________

HAIII!!! >.<

So this is going to be the last oc that I'll make (maybe). Anyways, Cecil is my first male oc!!! I hope you like him and the faceclaim is Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer from Rushmore. Lastly, credits to lovelogs on Polarr for the filter on my moodboard <333

Bye!!! 💖

[nalyra-dreaming]

The person thinking they should have had a Nickistat wrap:

a) Yeah, even if Nick is a significant supporting character next season, they're not going to put him front and center like that: Loustat is the central romance, and it will remain the center of marketing. Nothing else makes sense or corresponds to what the show is doing. I could see Gabrielle being a big part of marketing next season, especially if the actress is well-known, but Nicki is a less significant character in the series overall than Armand.

b) They're still promoting season 2 at this SDCC, they're just teasing season 3--NEXT summer will be promoting season 3 in earnest.

Okay, if this is a hint of what's to come with s3... 😅 (I see this is another high emotions topic...)

Yes we are still in s2 marketing. As them having the unholy family on the wrap clearly shows. It's also something else than the poster wraps last time (as pointed out in a previous ask). Nicki might be on posters for s3, but IF he is, then more like the posters wraps we got for s2, imho:

Because the actual image for s2 was this one:

and this

And with these two the focus is actually very clear, right?

Louis front, Lestat looming and facing the camera, Claudia and Armand at the same level (smaller). It... speaks, volumes.

And I would actually argue that we see a similar setup here.

As this is still s2 promotion - but after s2 - it makes sense to "reduce" to the characters that are - and will remain - main.

And those are Louis, Lestat and... Claudia. Almost the same size.

If you know the Chronicles, then you know that Claudia literally haunts the narrative. Rolin Jones said they had not put a "bow" onto her chapter yet, and with Delainey's comment re the "book club" she is in with Jacob and Sam I do believe we will get to see "ghost Claudia".

As such, this is a rather ingenious way of promoting not only what was... but what is to come, too.

THIS is what the chronicles - and this show - are built on. Loustat... and the ghost of Claudia.

And it makes sense that there would be no "other", or "supporting" characters on it as well, imho. Not now. Not on that "photo poster".

We will get other posters for s3. These will feature other characters, too. But this is not that - not yet.

[redhairedgryffindor]

Is finding Merula really that important? It sounds like you have Ministry work to do.

Finding her is important

My work is more important

[sysig]

Cards 👏 cards 👏 cards �� (Patreon)

[m3rricat]

✨m3rricat's recommended reading for 2025! ✨

Here is the book rec post I promised! These aren't all books I read in 2024, but they are some of my favorites since I started keeping a list of books I've read (so, since late 2022). If I do this again next year it would be limited to books read that year, but right now I'm just looking for an excuse to ramble about some books! (divider from here!)

H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

Starting off with some nonfiction! But where to start with this book? Most broadly, it's about Macdonald's loss of her father and her reaction, which is to bury herself in the task of training up a young goshawk named Mabel for the next year, beginning in her kitchen before they slowly venture out into the world to hunt in earnest (and she, equally slowly, starts to rejoin the world herself). MacDonald's prose is... it's not flowery, really. Her word choice and rhythm is top-notch. Her writing is incredibly incisive even as she marries memoir with nature writing with a shadow-biography of T.H. White (yes really). It's hard to fully summarize this book, but I promise it's wonderful.

The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater

Picture this: a quaint Celtic-cultured island in the Irish Sea where, each fall, legendary creatures gather in the surrounding waters. These creatures, the water horses, sure are pretty. And they're also very, very carnivorous, up to and including eating humans. So, naturally, each year a race is held where competitors harness these mystical horses to compete. The world of this book feels so truly lived-in. The prose is great, the characters (including the two young protags who both join the race for their own vital reasons) are all fully realized. Stiefvater does so much with the intrinsic beauty and horror of her premise while telling a story full of heart.

Persuasion - Jane Austen

This was sold to me as Austen for the 30+ crowd, and I get why. Anne, the protagonist, has lived enough of life to have achieved a huge regret, unlike most other Austen main characters. But Anne is practical. She is competent. And she manages to quietly forget the love she snubbed for very practical reasons. Until, of course, he stumbles back into her life. And then, well--it's Austen. It's her characters. It's the book with the line "I am half-agony, half-hope" (which is also going to describe you as you get to the end of this book!).

The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones

I didn't read nearly enough horror over the past couple years, but of what I did read, this was the clear standout. Jones, himself a member of the Blackfeet nation, writes a story about four Blackfeet men who, by the beginning of the book, have gone their separate ways, but are all shadowed by the same awful act they committed years ago on the reservation. One by one, they encounter horrific, deadly accidents. I won't spoil whether these are coincidence or something more purposeful visiting them, but I loved this book from beginning to end.

The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin

I was going to put Left Hand of Darkness here, because yes, it is a spectacular book. But this list is about what made me feel all the things, and Tombs got to me even more. Our main character, a young girl, becomes nameless soon after the book begins. She lives in a backwater nation in Leguin's Earthsea world, and she has received the high honor of participating in a ritual eerily like her own sacrifice, and is 'reborn' as the priestess who serves the gods buried in the dark. As she is subsumed into her role, memorizing the lightless labyrinth that is her domain for the rest of her life, a stranger arrives and shakes up her world where she is both revered and enslaved. This makes it sound like the main character is passive, but she really isn't--she truly feels like a precocious young girl grappling with a horrific fate and trying to make sense of her narrow world as it blows wide open.

In a Dark Wood Wandering - Helle Haasse

Wet cat male protag? You wanna wet cat male protag you'll be crying over by the end? Then you want this book. It is historical fiction, but fiction only in the sense that the author breathes life into historical figures. This book follows the story of Charles, Duke of Orleans, from his childhood surrounded by death to his capture during the Hundred Years' War as a young man, and then his decades as a prisoner in England, where he grew into a poet in both his native and his captor's languages. The original book is in Dutch. The prose in the translation is understated, and at first I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. It snuck up on me with how much I ended up loving it.

The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman

This book..... *clenches fist* *clenches teeth* *screams* ok it doesn't have my favorite writing. But when I tell you I haven't been sucked into a massive story like this in a long, long time? It's a War of the Roses (so 15th century England) multi-POV book. The author has a clear bent toward the Yorkist side, but that does not detract at all from how well the characters and their relationships across time and space are written (there's a central yearning/forbidden romance!) and how your heart's gonna be breaking by the time the battle at Bosworth rolls around. If you're looking for a 900-page behemoth to obsess over, this is for you.

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

Yeah yeah Virginia Woolf is scary and inaccessible. But let's pretend for a moment we don't believe that. She writes interiority of character with such quiet sharpness it'll leave you bleeding out on the floor and you'll thank her for it. The story itself is quite simple--it takes place over the course of two days, one before and one after the Great War, following the hours a family spends at their summer house during those days. Just... just start reading, stop caring about fully understanding every line, and let it wash over you. This book expanded what I thought was possible to achieve with writing.

[drivingsideways]

I'm just here to post a terribly earnest rec for AMC's Interview with A Vampire, which, er, you may have noticed, I've become a little insane about in the recent past (has it even been ten days?!)

Side note: You don't have to know the Anne Rice books or the previous movies to enjoy this show. In fact, the show makes some great and fundamental changes to canon which really elevated it , imho.

Ok here goes:

1) It's a really fun gothic melodrama, which really enjoys being all three things, but especially the last. And it's good at being all three, very good, actually. And it's really fun. Did i mention that. FUN.

2) If you like twisty, non linear narratives told by unreliable narrators, this show is near perfect at it. The entire story is structured around multiple layers of performances - stories within stories within stories- but never in a incoherent way that will leave you hanging. It's very clever and has fun being clever without being obnoxious about it, if that makes sense. The theatrical feel isn't a coincidence- the show runner and much of the writer's room are or have been playwrights, and many in the lead and supporting cast have theatre backgrounds, and that makes it incredibly compelling and just- fun.

3) There's so much to nerd about! It's non apologetically literary and artistic, but in such a joyful way. It's costume design- ranging from late eighteenth century to contemporary- is just delightful; and I can't sing enough praises about the set/production design in the way it enriches the storytelling and the characters. Every little detail seems to have been thought about, from a crew that's really just having a blast, I think. In fact, I'm doing an entire rewatch of two seasons just to savor all the stuff I rushed through the first time as I got more and more caught up in the whirlwind pace of the story.

4) The performances are great! Both the leads are charismatic and great performers- and yeah, there's a lot of extraordinarily pretty people in this- but it's the total commitment to their characters that really shines through. There's a casting change for a major character in season 2, but oddly enough, it's a change that fits MARVELLOUSLY into the story itself. Season 2 especially brings in some amazing guest performances, to add to a crew that's already firing on all cylinders.

5) It's queer as hell you guys! Not a single straight couple in it, but its queerness is not just about specific ships or couples, it's just fundamental to the story itself; a point of view rather than sexual orientation.

6) What I very much love about the main romances in the show is that the queerness is essential to their story but it's not everything. There's more to these people and their difficult and often toxic loves than being queer in a homophobic world; they are allowed to be failures at love, to be angry, happy and sad, and most of all: they are all horrible people! They just are. It's GREAT.

7) On a more shippy note: there are so many great canon ships. My personal fave is the problematique "Loustat" ( Lestat/ Louis), which is also the abusive, toxic , dramatically epic love story around which the show revolves, because ngl, " they make each other worse" is where it's at in 2024, but there are other, possibly even more toxic ships to enjoy! 🍾🎊🍹💕

8) Watch it so you can come scream with me about it. To quote show runner Rolin Jones, " It's made to make you insane. Feels first."

[usaigi]

On the subject of "People don't really like pwTrauma/Mental Illness," people's "activism" is so fucking transparent. Characters like Steven Grant are praised and coddled because his mental illness is cute and uwu look at his little bear paws aw he's so nervous vs character like Marc Spector are perceived as "bad" because he's a liar or rude or violent. Or on the other side, the "Marc has never done anything wrong, he's just a wet cat" people who attribute all of Marc's violence to Khonshu.

You can like Steven and think he's endearing and also acknowledge he called Marc a parasite and punched Marc after seeing their trauma.

You can like Marc and recognize he is a liar and is extremely guarded because of trauma. You can recognize he likely only became a mercenary because he was kicked out of the army and it was likely his only option while also acknowledging that he killed people.

Matt Murdock is a depressed man who lies and manipulates his friends and is also an earnest person who wants to protect his community.

Jessica Jones is an alcoholic to pushes everyone away but she gives a shit.

Wanda Maximoff was so hurt and lost her grief exploded and created a fantasy where she could be with her husband and have kids.

None of these characters are good or bad. They're people. And sometimes, people with trauma are assholes. People with trauma are bad friends sometimes. They can be manipulative, liars, clingy, insecure, aggressive, and violent. But guess what. Acknowledging the times they're "problematic" is not an attack on the character nor is it stigmatizing.

But, if you hate a character for exhibiting behaviors typically associated with pwmental illness, maybe you're not as good of a person as you claim to be.

[hell0mega]

I'd been thinking i wanted to rewatch jessica jones for like maybe years at this point so i finally did on a whim and got through season 1. and like let alone the fact that it's extremely good tv, at a level of earnestness of which i miss, and amazingly of its own identity away from the greater mcu, i had totally forgotten how great david tennant's performance as kilgrave was. like he's one of the most evil and terrifying villains I've ever seen, they do not trivialize the crimes he's committed, don't excuse any of his behaviors, and are very blatant about making sure you know he is very evil... he is still an enjoyable character to watch. yes, plenty of that is the writing, but genuinely, knowing how David Tennant acts and being able to tell what is acting choices vs the writing/directing (both of which are amazing), i do not think there are many actors that could've put the level of charisma he was able to inject into the character. not only was kilgrave written perfectly, and directed very very well, his performance was just top notch. perfect for the part, no notes