#episolary

[rugsrat]

Debating starting a series where I talk about the letter-writing game I just started for some friends. It's called Letters From The Ashes and it's set in a vague post-apocalypse where communities are pretty isolated so they have to communicate via courier system (aka the usps).

Is this something people would be interested in hearing about?

Might do it anyway, regardless of if people read it.

[cephalophore-semaphore]

My epistolary RPG, Ephemeron, is live! You can get a copy here:

[goddess47]

Healing

For @microficmay day 18 and for alternate format (episolary) -- also on AO3

---

Dear Mr, Potter,

The Fawlty School of Healing Arts is very pleased to inform you of your acceptance as a member of the next cohort of Healer Trainees. The program starts on July 1 and your formal acceptance is required within the next fourteen days. Once we receive your acceptance, we will send you further information on books, supplies, and uniforms.

We hope you are able to join us.

Sincerely,

Dean William Longsmith

[whatcha-reading-today]

Sleeping Giants | Sylvian Neuvel

I found the entire series at a Goodwill and bought it for $3 based entirely on the fact that I liked Neuvel's previous book The Test. The fact that this is a Iron Giant-esque, military story, told entirely through interviews (EPISOLARY HELL YEAH!) made it so easy to read and such a quick read. Loved it, high recommend the whole series and the free short stories available from Neuvel's website.

Read in 2023/2024

Format: physical copies of main books, mini chapters e-books from Neuval's website

[loudblonde]

"Dear Diary!"

Warnings: Child death, zombies, canibalism, child POV, study of the human body, fear. Prion disease.

AN: I wrote this instead of studying for my exam. Also Original work but if this has been written before, similarly, then I can only say we all have good taste in horror.

Summery: A young girls diary as she experience the earlly stages of the zombie apocalypse

Genre: Horror, Terror, Episolary fiction

Word Count: 954

Dear diary,

School today sucked! Miss Veridian said that since many families are sick, we are moving to be online again! I hated that! I didn’t see Maya today, which was weird. When I told Miss Veridian she looked sad and said Maya is upstate with all the other sick kids. I don’t know what that means. Is it a farm stay over? We had that once. I thought I was going to see Max up there, since Daddy said he would be up state on a farm. But he wasn’t. I still miss Max, even with buddy here now.

Our neighbour, Misses Smith, has been acting very weird lately, she has been getting stronger then every before. Just like her husband before the scary men in green came and took him. Daddy said not to worry and that someone would be there for her soon, I don’t think she is okay, I will sneak over there tomorrow and give her some cookies while mum and dad aren’t home. I don’t want the scary men in green to take her too.

Tomorrow mom and I are going out to pick up my birthday present for my birthday in 4 days! She says I can pick the puppy I want myself after she is done with work! I am so exci Happy that we get to pick up a puppy!

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

Dear Diary

I went to see my neighbour Misses Smith, she said she had never felt better but she was very hungry and she thanked me for the cookies, she was very very sweet. I hope she feels better soon.

Mummy and I picked up the sweetest labrador puppy! She is very very sweet and kinda dumb but  I loooooooove her so much and I will help train her! She is my responsibility!

The green men came when me and mummy was gone, I saw them drive away, Misses Smith’s house has been closed and there is yellow tape all over her door. Daddy said not to go in there because the air was toxic, I just hope he doesn’t find out I was in there earlier.

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

Dear Diary

Hiiiiiiii, sooooo, yesterday I went to see misses smith but I feel soooo much better today, I felt a little sick this morning but I feel fine now, better then fine actually! Must be the new puppy. I played catch with her and threw the ball so hard it broke through the fence, daddy and mommy hasn’t seen yet, I don’t want them to see. I overheard them listening to the president on the tv, I didn’t understand much of what he said, but he said something about there being too many sick people but also having hope, whatever it meant had mommy crying. I don’t know why she was crying.

I saw more of the green men walking around outside, there were many families there were sick and had to be removed, mommy said it was a good thing and that we had to wait to be evacuated, that we would be safe, but she cried while it happened so I don’t think she is happy to leave. Maybe she will miss her bed, I know I would miss my bed if we had to evacuate.

But I am happy! And I keep playing with my puppy! I named her Angelica because she is an angel! Daddy said she was more like a demon but I just think that’s because he has to clean up her pee and pop.

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

Dear diary!

Guess what! I have been able to taste so much more today and smell it too! There aren’t many of the neighbours left anymore, I miss them and their smell, it lingers in the air, it’s rich and irony, I don’t know why but it is making me very hungry,

I ate a whole bag of bread with peanut butter earlier today, mommy cried when she saw it, I don’t know why but she went to daddy who just held me close and whispered it was going to be okay that I wasn’t going to be scared.

I am fine! I don’t know why they kept saying that. Apparently Miss Viridian has been sick now, so she isn’t teaching us school anymore. That is sad. But I am just happy to have time to play.

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

Dear….

When I woke up mommy and daddy were

still asleep in their bed, they smelled very

good and I was very hungry so I had a bite of them. The green men came visiting today but I pretended

 no to be home, they didn’t try

and find us inside, but they did think we were homeeeeeeeeeeeee

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

Green men scaring me

                      Hunting me

                      So sad

hungry

Sleep sleep

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

The doctor looked at the last two blood covered pages of the young girl’s journal. She had been just another victim of the zombie virus as the prion disease had been dubbed, he had no doubts about the sicks ability to remember things but for such a small body to remain this active since infection…. It spoke to just how much they didn’t know. He looked over at the body laying on the cold metal table, its organs removed and placed in separate jars and despite all over this, the muscles still occasionally spasmed long since rigor mortis was supposed to have set in. Highly interesting.

“Bring in the next body.” He said through the microphone before stood up. He grabbed the child’s arm to begin moving her to the stretcher so they could burn her when instead the bone snapped in two. He looked down at his hand and hummed. “Ah, right, I forgot.”

[theriverbeyond]

pls post the link for between the devil and the deep blue sea i cant find it on ao3 and im tearing thru ur fic recs

here it is a link!! it is a Moby Dick (no canon knowledge needed) and TLT crossover AU by @neornithes

the premise is the Emperor has called the scions and cavaliers from each house to participate in a Whale Hunt with Lyctorhood as a possible prize.

featuring: ressurection beasts as "whales", River Submersion, creative AU Lyctorhood pathway, gross-cool necro things, incredible fight scenes, griddlehark, Cytherea as a full saint, campaldulcie triad, team 69, and is told in a Harrow POV episolary format. it is straight up one of my favorite fics in fandom and definitely at the top of my rec lists.

[cephalophore-semaphore]

Here's my epistolary RPG, Ephemeron!

Ephemeron is intended to be played over email or, if you’re feeling ambitious, through the mail. It can be used as a standalone game or a supplement to another TTRPG in periods between sessions. It functions as a collaborative world building exercise between player/s and GM, in which letters and other ephemera are used to create and describe a world and a series of events that might transpire within it.

And right now, it's pay-what-you-want!

Alright, it has been 7 months, time to make a callout for any indie ttrpg creators that wants more attention and spotlight on their creations!

Whoever wants to get their stuff promoted, post it below, I might even make a review video on it!

[finita--la--commedia]

… my enchanting creature, my adored, beloved girl, may God keep you, may you be healthy, gay and mindful of your husband, even if it is only when you go to bed at night. The important thing is not to get depressed.

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), from a letter to his wife, Olga Knipper-Chekhova January 20, 1902, Yalta in: “The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov”, translated by Sidonie Lederer “ … славная моя, хорошая, золотая, будь богом хранима, здорова, весела, вспоминай о своем муже хотя по вечерам, когда ложишься спать. Главное — не хандри.”

[canismajors]

me leaving an absolute ramble of a comment on a fic: oh god i hope this is is legible

[solacefruit]

Payapa for your ask meme?

Hello there! I hadn't actually anticipated anyone sending me anything from that meme, but I'm happy to answer all the same.

Payapa. How do you feel about Regional Variants?

I love them. I'm not the biggest fan (or really a fan at all) of some of the gimmicks for Pokemon games in the last decade or so. I didn't vibe with Mega Evolution, or Ultra Beasts, or Dynamax Forms, and except for when the games force me to interact with these to progress, I ignore them.

But I love the concept of Regional Variants and for me personally Pokemon has really hit a winner with these. I hope they become a staple for future games as well, because there is so much I like about them. It's very fun to see familiar Pokemon reinterpreted in new contexts, for one thing, and I love to see the concept development in that regard, especially insofar as it giving new depth and interest to the Pokemon world from an ecological point-of-view.

Anyone reading my little episolary fanfiction knows that my biggest joy in Pokemon is thinking about the world from a sort of mundane perspective + with a speculative biological focus. Kind of reverse-engineering some kind of sense from a totally wacky world, culturally and historically and ecologically. That's fun for me and regional variants provide a lot of new material and content to consider on that front.

I also think it's pretty neat that regional variants so far have been pretty evenly split between classic crowd-pleasers (i.e., Zoroark, Ninetales, Rapidash) and less conventionally "popular" Pokemon (i.e., Exeggutor, Stunfisk, Electrode, etc.). It would have been easy to just play the Best Hits and only make new forms for preexisting favourites, but I actually love that some attention has been given to those less likely to get the spotlight otherwise too.

[cephalophore-semaphore]

One of the possible PC backgrounds in Ephemeron is just "pining idiot" and you can definitely play as a fuckin Creature, so I'm calling that two out of three:

A recipe for success in indie RPGs:

colourful art

LGBTQIA+ allegory

play as some sort of fucking Creature

[bicycle-brakes]

did i just spend my entire day plotting out an enemies-to-penfriends-to-friend-friends-to-maybe-lovers episolary slow burn long(song)fic?

yes, yes i did

:)

inspired by this beautiful song

[stuckony-summer-stocking]

Corsets_and_Cardigans

Highest Rating: E Fandoms:   Marvel Cinematic Universe   Tags: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark,  Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Happy Hogan/Pepper Potts, James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel),  Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Fluff, Smut,  Humor, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics,  Getting Together, Established Relationship, BDSM,  Alternate Universe, Soulmates, Royalty, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Happy Ending, Negotiations, Armor Kink, Lingerie, Sugar Daddy, Silver Fox, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Magic, Shibari Short Prompts: 1)   Chef Steve + Microbrewer Bucky + Restaurant investor Tony 2)   Spoiled house-husband Bucky Barnes 3)   Taking a joyride Long Prompts: 1)   Steve is a huge fan (and has a huge crush on) Youtuber Couple Bucky and Tony. Nat and Sam hatch a plan for him to win a contest to fly out to meet them and star in a video. 2)   Retired fighters and Alpha Couple Steve and Bucky run a gym in Brooklyn where they train boxers and MMA fighters, and teach self defense. One morning, they find an abused Omega seeking shelter on their stoop. 3)   Tony tries a new coffee shop, and the Baristas sure are cute...and familiar. After a few weeks of flirting and pining, Tony realizes they starred in his favorite porno.

Do Not Wants: High school AU (unless they are teachers), underage, MCD, Unhappy endings, super open or unhopeful ambiguous endings,character hate/bashing, scat/watersports, gore, vore, blood play (except for vampires), non-con, body shaming, the boys being evil or Dark, ageplay, on screen abuse (this includes ignoring safewords), animal abuse Likes: Pretty much all meet cutes and AU’s and tropes, A/B/O, BDSM, humor, boys getting horny over fancy clothes, lingerie, Superhero/regular, Big and small Steve, Long and short hair Bucky, episolaries or unique formats, everyone having fun and a good time during sex. Happy Endings/Happily ever afters. Endings that are hopeful, even if they’re not officially together, it’s obvious they are going that direction, making plans and excited for the future. Treats: Moodboards, Baking recipes, anything fall or Halloween themed, pictures of cute animals. I knit, sew, cross stitch, and bake, anything themed there. 

Socials: Main blog. I keep my writing and A03 handle off this account due to RL people Side blog. very new, baby blog for writing Discord name is: MrsMoodybear (Heather)#2262 Ao3    CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL STOCKINGS OR TO CLAIM THIS STOCKING. CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON FILLING STOCKINGS. Treats open on September 25th.

[wondersmithofastronautalis]

Never Sent

Hello?

Greetings???

Hey, it’s me! Your daughter, Inko! Remember?

No, that’s terrible. Why is this so hard

I don’t know how to address this letter but that might not even end up mattering because you won’t be reading this anyway.

I think this exercise is more to sort out my own thoughts because, well, I’ve been thinking of you lately, a lot actually, since Izuku was born…

Izuku’s your grandson, by the way.

It’s only been a couple of months and he’s so small, he still has the little green fuzz he was born with, but that will probably fall out soon.

My point is, after Izuku, I’ve been thinking about what it must have been like for you, to give birth to me.

I won’t lie. Giving birth was the most excruciatingly painful experience of my life. Nothing else has come close. I was hardly aware of anything else besides a burning pain ripping through me and a desperate need to push, push, push.

But even so, as I held Izuku in my arms for the first time and looked into that pink scrunched up face, it had all felt worth it. Every moment of it.

Had the pain been worth it to you?

I can’t imagine anyone willingly subjecting themselves to that ordeal if they didn’t truly want their child. But maybe you didn’t feel like you had any other options?

I’m not trying to judge you, really, I’m not! Because I don’t know anything. Maybe you had a good reason for giving me up. Maybe you couldn’t provide for me, or you weren’t ready to be a mother. Again, I don’t know. When I was really little though, I used to imagine it had all been one big mistake. That you wanted me, but the hospital had accidentally sent me off to foster care instead. That you were out there, trying to track me down and bring me back home to a beautiful house, with a lawn, and a dad, and maybe a dog or a cat to pet. Silly, I know.

But still I wish I knew your reasons. How you felt about your decision. How you feel about it now. Whether you’ve come to regret it, pondering over the what-if’s, or whether it’s just some far-off event from a rocky past that you’d rather not revisit. 

Because, despite everything, a part of me does want to get to know you, to introduce you to Izuku and Hisashi (Hisashi’s my husband, I should probably have mentioned that earlier) so we could all be a normal family and Izuku would have at least one grandparent to spoil him rotten.

Other times though, finding you, reaching out, trying to reconnect, feels just as childish a fantasy as imagining you never gave me up in the first place. That dredging up the past would be a huge misstep when the present is already so wonderful. And that, maybe, our family is better off without you in it.

Oh god, I’m so sorry. That sounds horrible, doesn’t it? I think I should try this again later.

I wanted to try writing something in first person, my least favorite tense. And, at the same time, indulge my fondness for the episolary format. Hope you enjoy it, nonetheless. (Oh, I’ll be out for a few weeks, hence why I’m sending 3 snippets all at once).

[cephalophore-semaphore]

If you want to doom yourself in an epistolary game, here's my RPG Ephemeron!

You could definitely use the system of dating letters to make a timeloop, you could definitely write a gothic vampire story, or you could definitely play around with some side characters in this universe!

Some off-the-top-of-my-head ideas:

Letters between two academics who uncover the material of Dracula a little at a time (this could be done in conjunction with Dracula Daily)

Radio transmissions between two relay stations in a post apocalyptic landscape where annual communications from a long-defunct "Dracula Daily" is the only remaining way to read Dracula

You got invited to Dracula's castle but you're really shy and wanna be penpals first

Letters from the help in all these locations looking at Lucy, Mina, and their gaggle of men going "wtf is happening here"

Dracula, but it's a timeloop and this is the time when they're finally going to realize that

There are probably a million more possibilities, but if you've wished in years past that you could be INSIDE Dracula, I have the RPG for that! It's on sale this week in honor of DD!

Some people have been making the joke about the characters of Dracula being stuck in a time loop but honestly it got me thinking about how epistolary novels feel like a potent manifestation of the concept of being doomed by the narrative

Because when I read a non-epistolary book, I’m not left with this sense that it’s all going to reset because the events of the book aren’t happening according to a very specific timeline. Like, sure, maybe specific dates get mentioned in the book, but it’s not as rigid as having a diary or letters with exact dates laid out over the course of six months.

Because Dracula has a definitive start date and end date, the characters are fixed in time and being (sometimes literally) railroaded. Your sense of the passage time is very concrete and there’s not a ton of wiggle room. Like, a book such as…idk, The Great Gatsby that doesn’t have any dates in it (IIRC) feels timeless. Sure, maybe it takes place in spring and summer, but you can kind of lose track of that because there isn’t a calendar keeping you aware of the date. Gatsby has to die within a certain window of time in the year but you’re free to imagine that as being whenever you want.

Not so in Dracula. Jonathan HAS to be on his way to Castle Dracula on May 3 and 4, he HAS to be there until at least late June. He cannot be already at the castle on May 2, and he can’t leave until after a particular date has come and gone. Every event in the book has to happen on or about the date it’s written about, there’s no room for deviation. We are free to imagine what might happen between specific dates (especially in the long stretches with no updates) but ultimately it all has to conclude in a specific event happening on a specific date.

That really lends the book the sense of being a time loop because we can pin down a pretty much exact timeline of the book. We know that these characters are locked in, and on the dates of the novel they cannot meaningfully deviate from the text. And because of that, they’re doomed to live those events out on the same exact date every single year for all time.

It adds the same layer of dread/grief/futility that you might feel when playing a game and reading in-universe diaries/news stories/etc from the early days of the game’s apocalypse. You can’t change the events of the past no matter how much hindsight you have, and none of us can change the canon events of Dracula no matter how much foresight we have. Jonathan is always going to be on his way to Dracula on May 3, and he’s always going to be completely unaware of what’s waiting for him.

[finita--la--commedia]

I cannot say much about that which fills my heart and soul. I feel like a seeded field in midwinter, and I know that spring is coming. My brooks will run and the little life that sleeps in me will rise to the surface when called.

Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931), in a letter to Mary Elizabeth Haskell (1873-1964), March 1, 1916 in “Beloved prophet; the love letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell and her private journal“