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blackypanther9 · 7 months ago

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Masterlist to all the Masterlists of mine

RULES!!!!:

I do not write:

Pedophelia

Incest, Stepcest, etc.

fucked up shit like that.

What I might not write:

Some kinks. (I don't know all of them but there might be some I feel not comfy with)

What I write (Sexual orientation wise):

HETERO (Man x Woman)

GAY (Man x Man) OR (Woman x Woman)

INTERSEXUAL (People with BOTH genders)

GENDERFLUID (Might be horribly explained, I ain't Genderfluid, but practically that is when you feel like a man one day and in five weeks you feel like a woman and dress and behave as such how you feel)

TRANSGENDER (Man in a Woman's body or the other way around, Don't hate me I try to keep this short and simple here !!)

ASEXUAL (Repulsed by the bare mention of the S word OR isn't repulsed by it, but isn't really interested in it (I think it is called Gray Ace...?)

GENDERNEUTRAL/NON - BINARY (Which mostly means no Gender so They/Them I CAN'T USE THAT IN SMUT THOUGH IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME A SEX ON THE BODY !!! So tell me which they have !)

What I usually write:

Dom!Reader x Sub!Character (But you CAN also ask the other way around)

Character ships I will write for:

Any Character x Reader (Name a Gender though !)

Also write Character x Character ( Like...Alastor x Rosie where they just gossip or Charlie and Vaggie with romance or smut)

(I also don't mind to Genderswap. So instead of Charlie being a Female, she is a Male or a different gender. You give me your thoughts and I will try to turn it into a Oneshot !)

Characters I will NOT write for:

The Vees (Hazbin Hotel) Adam (Hazbin Hotel) Lute (Hazbin Hotel) Sera (Hazbin Hotel) They can be mentioned or play a role but I don't do ANY ships with them and the Reader. They can be shipped with each other though, I suppose. And Vox can be friends with Reader, but no romantic shtick. (Still needs to be added)

What I allow to write as Relationship stuff:

PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS (Friends, friends turning to Family, like Siblings and stuff...Surrogate Brother/Sister if I am not mistaken we call such, right ?)

ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS (Nothing perverted ! Just you know Father - Son relationship, Brother x Brother Relationship and all that stuff, Family relationships are NOT allowed to be SMUT !!!)

What I will write:

ANGST

FLUFF

WHOLESOMENESS

SMUT

HURT/COMFORT

I am usually open minded about a lot, but still I am setting some ground rules. This is all in case I open requests, so keep the page in your line of sight at all times !!

DISCLAIMER !: I do NOT support rape, abuse and other bad behavior ! This is pure fanfiction and fantasy ONLY ! People who can get easily triggered by it, DON'T FUCKING READ IT ! Warnings are at the very top of the beginning smut shot, so READ THEM BEFORE you read the fic !

Reblogging is ALLOWED, but REPOSTING is NOT allowed !!!

MY SIDE BLOGS

@skulduggery-pleasant-bp9

@update-blog-bp9

REQUESTS ARE CLOSED !!!

LOKI LAUFEYSON/ODINSON x READER

Let me tell you a story…Loki x Reader ? (MASTERLIST)

LOKI X READER SMUT MASTERLIST

Loki x Reader Smut Masterlist 2 !

MASTERLIST OF LOVING SOMEONE IS HARD, TO KEEP THEM SAFE IS EVEN HARDER...(Loki x Male!Reader)

Masterlist of Loki x Reader Oneshots x little stories

Friends (Loki x Fem!Reader) Masterlist (COMPLETED !!)

The mischievous one (Loki x Fem!Reader) Masterlist

Loki x Reader -> Killer Love MASTERLIST ! (Discontinued)

____________________________

Loki Laufeyson/Odinson x Reader with another Fandom Crossover

"The Spook - Loki x Reader (Marvel x Fnaf Crossover)" MASTERLIST

____________________________

Halloween Masterlist (2020,2021,2022...)

Lokius (Mobius x Loki) Masterlist

Christmas Masterlist (Loki x Reader)

____________________________

Other Characters without Reader input

Marvel Ships (No Reader input)

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Other characters x Reader (With another Fandom crossover)

Masterlist Bruno Madrigal x Male!Reader with another Fandom Crossover

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Other

Funny doodles

____________________________

Sites where you can also find me

YouTube

AO3

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doubledeadstudio · 8 months ago

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Hello! Welcome to the official Double Dead Studio Tumblr, the solodev behind Reanimated Heart, Another Rose in His Garden, and Pygmalion's Folly.

Reanimated Heart is a character-driven horror romance visual novel about finding love in a mysterious small town. There are three monstrous love interests with their own unique personalities and storylines.

Another Rose in His Garden is an 18+ erotic Omegaverse BL visual novel. Abel Valencia is an Omega who's hidden his secondary sex his entire life. Life's alright, until he meets the wealthy tycoon, Mars Rosales, and the two get embroiled in a sexual affair that changes his life forever.

Pygmalion's Folly is a survival murdersim where you play as Roxham Police Department's star detective, hellbent on finding your sister's killer... until he finds you.

Content Warning: All my games are 18+! They contains dark subject matter such as violence and sexual content. Player discretion is advised.

This blog is ran by Jack, the creator.

Itch | Link Tree | Patreon | Twitter

Guidelines

My policy for fanwork is that anything goes in fiction, but respect my authority and copyright outside it. This means normal fan activity like taking screencaps, posting playthroughs, and making fanart/fanfiction is completely allowed, but selling this game or its assets isn't allowed (selling fanwork of it is fine, though). You are also not allowed to feed any of my assets to AI bots, period, even if it's free.

Do not use my stuff for illegal or hateful content.

Also, I expect everyone to respect the Content Warnings on the page. I'm old and do not tolerate fandom wank.

F.A.Q.

Who are the main Love Interests in Reanimated Heart?

Read their character profiles here!!

Who's the team?

Jack (creator, writer, artist), mostly. I closely work with Exodus (main programmer) and Claira (music composer). My husband edits the drafts.

For Reanimated Heart, my friend Bonny makes art assets. I've also gotten help from outsiders like Sleepy (prologue music + vfx) and my friend Gumjamin (main menu heart animation).

For Reanimated Heart's VOs, Alex Ross voices Crux, Devin McLaughlin voices Vincenzo, Christian Cruz voices Black, Maganda Marie voices Grete, and Zoe D. Lee voices Missy.

Basically, it's mostly just me & outsourcing stuff to my friends and professionals.

How can I support Double Dead Studio productions?

You can pay for the game, or join our monthly Patreon! If you don't have any money, just giving it a nice rating and recommending it to a friend is already good enough. :)

Where do the funds go to?

Almost 100% gets poured back into the game. More voice acting, more music, more trailers, more art, etc. I also like to give my programmer a monthly tip for helping me.

This game is really my insane passion project, and I want to make it better with community support.

I live in the Philippines and the purchasing power of php is not high, especially since many of the people I outsource to prefer USD. (One time I spent P10k of my own money in one month just to get things.) I'll probably still do that, even if no money comes in, until I'm in danger of getting kicked out the street… but maybe even then? (jk)

What platforms will Reanimated Heart be released in?

Itch and then Steam when it's fully finished. Still looking into other options, as I hear both are getting bad.

Will Reanimated Heart be free?

Chapter 1 will be free. The rest will be updated on Patreon exclusively until full release.

Are you doing a mobile version?

Yeah. Just Android for now, but it's in the works.

Where can I listen to Reanimated Heart's OST?

It is currently up on YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp!

Why didn't you answer my ask?

A number of things! Two big ones that keep coming up are Spoilers (as in, you asked something that will be put in an update) or it's already been asked. If you're really dying to know, check the character tags or the meta commentary. You might find what you're looking for there. :)

Will there be a sequel to Pygmalion's Folly?

It's not my first concern right now, but I am planning on it.

Tag List for Navigation

Just click the tags to get to where you wanna go!

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maybege · 1 year ago

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How It All Started

Summary: Things between you and your roommate, Paz, escalate.

Pairing: roommate!Paz Vizsla x fem!Reader

Wordcount: 2.1k | Rating: E (18+ only!)

Warnings: Modern AU, Free Use Arrangement AU, Roommate AU, explicit sexual content, unprotected sex, (un)requited pining, dom!Paz, sub!Reader, Paz is an idiot in love (they both are), little bit of jealous Paz

Hello hello, my loves, and welcome to the start of a brand new series! This will be a drabble series with no strung-together plot but just the opportunity to dabble in this universe whenever I feel like it. We get to explore some different kinks and all the goodness and fluff of a Paz romance. If you are liking the idea of roommate!Paz paired with a Free Use AU, I can guarantee that you will absolutely fall in love with The Roommate Agreement by @bitchin-beskar. As always also a shoutout to @mostly-megan who lets me brainstorm literally months before I put anything on the page.

Without further ado, I present to you the introductory part of The Adventures of Apartment 23C. Please let me know what you think in a reblog or a comment!

masterlist | crossposted on AO3

gif by @casian

Paz never saw himself as a dom.

Yeah, sure, he liked to be in charge in the bedroom and in previous relationships he’d never been shy to venture into a kinkier direction but overall, he wouldn’t call himself a dom. Hell, he didn’t even know what half of the stuff meant that some of his more adventurous friends threw around. No, for all intents and purposes, Paz would put himself in the category “normal” – whatever that was supposed to mean.

But one Thursday night, he found himself googling “free use meaning” and realized that if he were to tell Boba about what he might’ve gotten himself into, even his most experienced friend would be impressed. So, how had it come this?

It was all your fault, really. Well, kind of.

Maybe not at all.

You had been his roommate for a little over two years now.

Stars, he liked the way your body moved, liked the dips and the curves and your smile and how your eyes shone when you smiled and how you were such a tease because you trusted him. When he first met you, his first impression had been that you were a little … stuck-up, maybe, reserved certainly. And to be honest, you still weren’t super open and outgoing even around your friends.

But you were with him.

You flashed him your panties, called out his big dick energy (not without a nervous stutter, though, which made him grin every time), asked him for advice on dates and complained. Really, it was like any normal friendship. Only that he wanted to fuck you. And when you flashed him your panties one time too many, he was sure you wanted him to fuck you too.

Which he did.

It was more of an accident, really.

It was 3 pm on a Sunday evening, everything was nice and quiet and he was watching a football game when you came out of your room. You were wearing a little silk robe. One, that Paz feverishly tried not to gawk at and instead pretended to have his eyes on the game.

“I need your opinion on something,” you announced shyly, leaning against the doorframe, “As a man.”

Man opinion, he scoffed internally, already feeling his cock twitch because he knew you were about to show him something that would haunt him in his dreams. But he nodded anyway because he was a lovesick idiot who would do anything to just get a glimpse of your bare skin.

And so, you revealed the most delicate baby pink lingerie set made out of lace. His throat got uncomfortably dry and he couldn’t even focus on the point his team made because you were turning around, popping out your ass, posing for him and stars he wanted to feel the weight of your tits in his palms.

“What about it?” He asked gruffly, trying so hard not to sound as jealous as he was.

“Do you think Dreks will like it?” you asked and he hated how genuinely insecure you sounded.

Dreks was the ultimate asshole, of that he was sure. He’d only met the guy once when he had come to pick you up for a date (35 minutes late, which meant that Paz had seen you pacing and worrying for 35 minutes and it broke his heart) and if he’d never had to see him again it’d still be too many encounters.

Dreks was someone you had worked with briefly, a kind of department hopper in your company, someone who thought himself to be more important than he was and who, in turn, was quick to treat people who did not deserve it like absolute trash. Paz had no idea what you found so interesting about your colleague that it deserved a third date.

But before he could rein himself in, the words were already out of his mouth. “You’re not wearing that,” he said, matter-of-factly. He wanted to chide himself immediately because who was he to decide what you wore? Who was he to decide who you dated?

But there was something in your eyes and the way your shoulders relaxed that kind of gave him the impression that maybe … maybe you liked that.

“Oh?” you went quiet, your fingers toying with the thin strap of your bra and Paz allowed himself to really look at you. The lace of the bra was so delicate you might as well have worn nothing and his cock twitched when he realised he could see your nipples through the fabric. He could see so much and yet so little and his mind immediately imagined what it would feel like to run his thick fingers under the cups of the brad, teasing your nipples until you would beg him to take it off and –

“Don’t you want me to wear pretty things?”

He groaned, your sweet voice like heaven in his ears and stars did you even know what you were saying? Did you know what that did to him?

And then you took a few steps closer and his legs opened and you stepped in between and stars, you were so fucking close and he was so hard. When your knee brushed against the inside of his thigh, he could feel his cock twitch.

“Yeah,” he said, reaching out his hand and putting it on your hip, “But only for me.”

He couldn’t really remember what happened then. Only that, minutes later, you were folded underneath him, writhing as he pushed his cock inside you.

“Paz,” you sighed dreamily and he swore he fell in love with the sight of your pussy stretching around his girth, “Paz, you’re so big.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he soothed you, “just relax for me, yeah?”

You nodded eagerly, head tilted back as the sun fell over your face and he, for all intents and purposes, fucked you into the couch. He was still half dressed, his shirt thrown over the couch and his jeans barely pulled down to his hips. Your panties were still hanging on your ankles and he had not managed to get you out of that bra. Though he did not mind because you still looked like a dream come true.

You felt like a dream too, your walls hot and wet and clenching so tight around him. And then there was the way, you melted into him, you listened to him. Everything he said, you did. You were pliant and eager and so lovely and when he teased you about coming inside “that pretty little pussy”, you actually came right on his cock, overwhelmed tears streaming down your face as you begged him to “please do it, Paz, please please please”.

He came harder than ever before, his cock pumping you full and it satisfied something deep inside him to see the way his come leaked down your thighs and how you opened your mouth for him when he scooped your combined release up, dropping it onto your tongue.

The “good girl” that slipped from his tongue just felt like natural progress, then.

After a few (excruciating) days of not talking to you, Paz realized that as much as he had avoided you, you had avoided him. But hearing your muffled cries, there was no more time to be a coward.

“Are you okay?” he asked, feeling a little awkward standing in your doorway. But he also could not not talk to you. You were one of the most important people in his life, literally, a person he shared his life with.

“It’s over between me and Dreks,” you sobbed while hugging a pillow to your chest, “Th-That asshole better never show his face again.”

His heart felt a little lighter, knowing that Dreks was officially out of the picture. Though a much bigger part of him was furious at the man for leaving you in such a state.

“Oh,” he shifted on his feet, “Do, uh, do you want to talk about it?”

You shook your head, “I just feel so humiliated and – and stupid and he – I – “

Paz sat down on your bed, knowing you well enough to know that you wanted to talk about it. He sat down, his hands fishing the pillow from your grasp and pulling you into his arms. He could immediately feel you relax, your face nuzzling into his chest.

“I found something was missing in … in our relationship,” you revealed and he hummed, “And when he mentioned becoming exclusive, I asked him if he’d be willing to, uh, indulge me, he laughed at me.”

Paz could not shake the feeling that that missing piece was something rather intimate which already had him panicked thinking of how to steer the conversation in a more appropriate direction. Stars knew if he thought too long about you in any intimate setting he’d get hard as a rock.

Especially now that he knew what you felt like, that he knew what you sounded like, that he knew how pliant you were for him. But then he heard the pain in your voice, how beaten down you felt and he knew there was only one solution.

“I’m gonna beat that son of a bitch to a pulp,” he muttered and stood up. Dreks had always been on thin ice anyway but upsetting you was the last straw. That meagre man would live his last moments in fear, regretting every time he had treated you with disrespect.

“No, please,” your hands wrapped around his bicep and pulled him back down. And he let himself be pulled because it was you. And there was nothing he would not do for you. You were much closer now, still sniffling a little and he became highly aware of how you were only wearing a large t-shirt, your bare legs tangled around his.

“How dare he treat you like that?” he demanded gruffly, “Not liking something is one thing but, uh, shaming you for something you’d like? That’s just an asshole move.”

You nodded eagerly. “It is,” you agreed quietly, splaying your fingers until your fingertips brushed over his jaw, “It just went to show what I was too scared to admit to myself.”

Paz hummed, relishing in your touch. He angled himself towards you, heart skipping a beat in what suspiciously felt like …. hope. “And that is?”

“That we weren’t all that compatible all along,” you whispered, “I have, uh, I have needs and I deserve someone who, uh, who fulfils them.”

“Needs, hm?” he teased you, running his nose along your exposed throat and hearing your breath shudder did things go him, “that wouldn’t have anything to do with what happened in the living room the other night?”

“Maybe a little,” you breathed, your hand wandering up to the back of his neck and you tilted your head, offering yourself to him and stars how did he get so lucky?

“Have you, um, have you ever heard of free use?” you asked him shyly, gasping when he planted a slow kiss on your neck.

He shook his head, still nipping at your skin.

When you did not say anything more, he pulled away.

“Well, it’s, uh,” you took a deep breath, avoiding his gaze and instead looking at the far-right corner of the ceiling, “it’s something that really interests me. And … if you’re amenable, I’d like to try that. With you.”

He still didn’t say anything.

“You know, like a friends-with-benefits kind of thing?”

“Hm.”

He knew he should probably say more and he did want to assure you that he wanted to do that. With you. Hell, yes.

But for some reason, all he could do was stare and awe at your courage, at your confidence, at how you were sitting there in your lounge outfit and still looked like the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. Stars, he really wanted to make you come again.

“Let me,” he cleared his throat, sitting up and spreading his legs which was not something he was aware of until he saw your eyes drift to his crotch and there it was again – that cocky continence that popped up whenever he saw you a little flustered. “Let me do some research, sweetheart, and we will talk about it some more, okay?”

“Okay,” you smiled shyly, untangling yourself from him though he still followed you like a puppy when you pulled him to the kitchen, “Dinner?”

And that was how he found himself in front of his laptop, reading some explanatory article on free use and getting hard as a rock at the idea that you wanted that with him. But if there was one thing he knew it was that he would make you come several times a day if he only got the chance.

#maybege writes #paz vizsla x reader #paz vizsla x fem!reader #smut #roommate!paz vibes

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nerves-nebula · 8 months ago

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Do you have any loveless/heartless characters? I think they're real neat <3

this post got superrr long lol. im avoiding my homework <3

so this is a complicated ask for me because my definition of "love" is intentionally different from a lot of more mainstream conceptions of it. love isn't a feeling to me, it's something you DO for people you care about, right? you make someone feel loved by doing things that show you care. you putting in that effort and correcting your behavior for their sake is love.

so in that way i don't consider any of my characters loveless. because to me Love is something you chose to do so nobody can really be loveless inherently, they're just choosing not to act loving towards someone.

HOWEVER, from what i've gleamed from a quick google search about loveless aros, it doesn't necessarily seem that being loveless is exclusive to my definition of love?

like, i'm seeing loveless aros talk about not having those kinds of feelings or doubting/opting out of western ideas of love that don't fit them. some talk about not forming that kind of "deep emotional bond" though I'm confused if they mean like.. in general, or just romantically. cuz i've never had a deep romantic bond but i've never really considered that an indictment of Love Itself so much as a type of love that I'm just not a part of.

some people are describing it as specifically romantic love that they know they can't feel. but then again some people are just using it to mean they reject "love" as a label for their emotions/experiences, so like. idk.

it feels like im on the exact same page as a lot of these people it's just that their conclusion was to throw out the word love and mine was to not accept the premise that romantic love is the highest or most important kind of love and focus on, like, other forms of love that are important to me. like my siblings and friends.

soooo i can't say any of them are loveless for sure, cuz i don't identify that way and i'm not sure i grok it yet.

HOWEVER,

I do have aromantic characters, if that's what you mean. though a lot of them are in weird psychosexual situations with each other (just cuz i dont wanna have sex doesnt mean its not fun for my characters to), though there's one or two healthy QPRs thrown in there.

tbh my understanding (or lack thereof) of romance seeps into all of my characters so even the ones who are supposedly in love are doing it with hints of aromanticism cuz like. i dont care what a crush is, yknow? there's only so far romantic tropes can take me before i tap out and just do my own thing.

but as for like canonically aro characters i've got Hondo & quinn, dotty, toasty, Thomas (you guys don't know Thomas yet lol she's a peach), Ezra and Pet (pet is a weird monster tho and Ezra is sort of dead so idk if that counts), Misha Mistaka, Pasiflora, and probably my new one, Benbeck.

I also consider Groe aroace but that's like, a whole thing. cuz Groe is mostly known for having been married to Maureno (one of my characters i explicitly consider allosexual, if not alloromantic) and their relationship takes front and center at every point sfsdf.

because even when i dont see it as romantic i LOVE to make characters lives intertwined and dependent on each other. due to my own personal issues. to be honest i dont think groe and maureno are "in love" i just think they're inextricable dependent on each other. i think their "romance" is an inherently aromantic one because it's not about romantic feelings its about their friendship and trust, which includes kissing and sex sometimes but isn't diminished when they don't do those things.

I don't think Groe feels romantic feelings but i get that two characters who ostensibly have their weird fucked up "romance" be the core thing going on in their life isn't exactly the aromantic rep that ppl are looking for. i mean, it is for ME, but not for everyone.

i guess im just not Good Aro rep tho, cuz im not interested in romance but i AM interested in finding a person who i know I can depend on for everything and share my life with, yknow? i want someone who i know will always be on my side.

and that looks the same to a lot of poeple as romance but the experience of it was way different. cuz i can be with them forever and never want to do more than kiss their forehead as a sign of affection and that'd be great for me, while i KNOW that's unthinkable for a lot of people.

but when writing my characters it's hard to really portray that internal difference. so i think ppl just assume it's romance, and like, that's fine i guess?

so like, groe and maureno fuck cuz it's fun and cuz they have unresolved issues but it's not crucial or even really important to their relationship- to the point that they care WAY more about who each other is hanging out with than who each other is having sex with.

but now i'm rambling about asexuality and stuff.. uhhh the point is YES i have aromantic characters NO I dont know if they're "loveless"

but if a character isn't aromantic or at least aspec that's probably cuz i made a concerted effort to think of them as such.

#nnstuff #ask #nnoc #arospec #aromantic #aro #groe caluna

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bookish-monster · 1 year ago

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BOOK REC

Healing the Orc's Heart

by Lyonne Riley - find her on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as well

The storygraph link for this book will provide information such as page count, publication date, and community-created content warnings.

Healing the Orc’s Heart is the second installment of the Trollkin Lovers series. This book was my introduction to Lyonne Riley’s monster romance universe, and I found it very fun! Even though it’s the second book in the series, it was very easy to slip into and I didn’t find anything confusing—the protagonists of the previous book, Stealing the Troll’s Heart, are secondary characters here, but you don’t need to know their story well in order to follow Blizzek’s and Nera’s journey together and apart.

This is a short and sweet little book, coming in at just under 150 pages on Kindle. I really loved the initial language barrier between Nera and Blizzek—caught on opposite sides of a war, the two have never really had a chance to mingle with those outside of their own respective cultures, let alone learn each other’s languages. Nevertheless, with a bit of tutelage Nera picks up Trollkin (Blizzek’s language) very quickly, and this turns into an advantage for her further along in the plot.

Nera was a great protagonist; I loved how she insisted on caring for every wounded person she comes across, even if she meets resistance or her rendering aid ends up getting her own self in trouble further down the line. Although very good-hearted, Nera never strikes me as silly or naïve—instead, she just comes across as a person who is determined to do what’s right. The medical assistance she renders is very abstract (Nera mostly fetches a plant or two, makes a potion, and then the patient gets better after it’s administered) and isn’t gruesome or graphic at all. Dark themes like war and slavery, though present in the setting, are touched with a very light hand and never cloud the horizon too ominously.

Blizzek was equally wonderful. His internal conflict of fearing that his presence in Nera’s life would hurt her since there is a stigma against interspecies relationships in this universe, in spite of their blooming life-mate bond, was conveyed with a lot of feeling. It was very funny seeing Raz’jin (the troll protagonist from the first book of the series) knock some sense into Blizzek and make him realize that he could have a life with Nera. The sex scenes were deliciously steamy, and I loved how tender and gentle yet still incredibly masculine Blizzek was with Nera in the bedroom.

The HEA was cavity-inducing in the intensity of its sweetness, but it felt very much earned. Nera and Blizzek went through a great deal of strife and heartache to find each other after their initial separation. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am excited to start reading the others in the Trollkin Lovers series!

Find this book on Amazon Kindle (US)

#bookblr #monster lover #monster romance #book recommendation #terato #book lover #human x monster #orc x human #orc boyfriend #orc romance

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remyfire · 8 months ago

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I don't know if I'll keep this post up because this is not what any of y'all are here for, but I have to get it out somewhere. This is just a lot of gritted-teeth venting, so if that's not your style, scroll on, I love you, I hope you see a cat photo soon.

Truly every day of my life I find myself gritting my teeth when I see another joke or article or post or anything at all about booktok romance novels, that specific style of book cover, the disdain about promotional graphics like trope maps, that whole kerfluffle because I just! Wanna be like. Hey guess what! None of us wanted things to go that way either!

Like it really is remarkable sometimes to remember how readers don't necessarily get to see us smaller romance authors gritting our teeth and bitching in our spaces because we hate the trends that are being pushed forward, but also we have to compete somehow, right? We have to be sell books. We have to find a way to be picked up and read in this oversaturated sea. We have to try and gain traction against those people who hire 50 ghostwriters at a time for pathetic rates to churn out romance novels so they can release one literally every month. We have to fight against the 99-cent expectations even though we're lucky to make 35 cents per book sold if we offer it at that rate.

I think one of the most insulting things that publishers did was decide that it was the author's responsibility to go viral on booktok. That way, the publishers got to save a hell of a lot of money on marketing budgets, right? No, we won't be arranging tours unless you're lucky, we won't be pushing your book as hard as we usually should. It is your job to have a social media following that is broad enough that you make your books go viral, not us giving it a boost as your publisher. If you don't go viral on booktok, we will probably not be signing you for another book, sorry, bud.

Cannot express to you either how many of us erotic romance authors especially were gritting our teeth when the cover trend started leaning toward basic primary colors and splotchy abstract shapes. I completely understand that not everybody wants a shirtless man with a 12-pack just slapped on the front cover of the book they're reading—I actually thought it was brilliant when I saw several self-pub authors offering both the traditional steamier cover but also an option of paperbacks with a more tame, understated cover that just makes it look more like a literary novel. But god, it felt so lazy, these aforementioned abstractly illustrated covers. They told me nothing about the book. There was barely a sense of themes or important objects and these shapes had no defining characteristics that set any of the characters apart and they just looked like YA novels, which is fine for YA novels, but how do you market your extremely high-heat romance novel in that cover trend? If you throw together those blotchy illustrated shapes, people are going to think it's sweet or closed-door, and then they get in there and there's 12 graphic sex scenes on the page, and they're furious about it. I loved seeing illustrated covers that were more detailed start to make a move forward, especially because it meant starting to separate the American cultural assumption that illustrated = childish. Letting them be sexy, letting the author be able to represent any kind of protagonist they wanted without being restricted to the tiny selection of mostly skinny white able-bodied cis models on stock photo sites? Incredible. Love that. Want more of it. Wish it was easier to get publishers to really buy in on that.

The fact that readers will complain about promotional things like trope maps when the publishers require the use of them. The publisher makes them, they hand them over, and now you are the one who will be using it because that is contractual and because even if it wasn't, you want your goddamn book in front of people's eyes. And if you are self-pub or indie, if you don't have a substantial marketing budget to spent thousands of dollars on ads, promotions, and whatever the hell else, you are all but required to follow the trend because that's the only way you're gonna get people to share your shit.

And god, the way that it's all reduced to just 'booktok romance novel.' I get what that's referring to, that exact grouping of authors and why they're frustrating, but holy shit, I wanna know how many of those readers have picked up a self-pub or indie romance by a marginalized author. I'll see people complain about the quality of romance novels as compared to the quality of romantic fanfiction and I wanna shake them by the shoulders and say, "It's there! It's out there! It's self-pub and indie romance authors out here doing the goddamn work and you! Aren't! Looking! For it! Because it's easier to mock the genre instead!" Especially self-pub/indie queer romance authors who are marginalized, they are out here revolutionizing the genre and not getting anywhere near the accolades they deserve.

It's just irritating and exhausting. It's frustrating enough to have your genre used as the constant butt of jokes, treated like it's a substandard genre, like all it is is trash, using 'bodice ripper' as a disparaging term for modern romance novels when that is a relic of a very distant past and a historical pinpoint about which we can have an in-depth discussion about the decades-long process of making it socially acceptable for a woman to talk about her sexual desires rather than the 'bodice ripper' days when a woman had to have them forced on her instead before she could ever dream of admitting that she might know her own body and its cravings.

It's frankly embarrassing to see my genre so poorly understood. That's all. The one genre that is devoted to making sure that every marginalized person can have a happy ending of their choosing—marriage, pregnancy, queerplatonic, no sex necessary, no marriage or kids necessary, whatever feels right—rather than just the skinny white able-bodied cis people, that's the one that is always getting the potshots taken at it, and it's really a goddamn shame.

#yeah i will delete this later for sure #it's just painful to see that we have still not advanced forward from this genre mockery in all the years i've been published #it's giving 'i'm not like the other readers' and i really hoped we'd left 'not like other girls' in high school #my ramblings

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loveless-arobee · 4 months ago

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The answer to the question whether I will start writing now or spend more time drawing more characters is that I’ll draw another fanart for the Rook and Rose series. This time my boy Vargo, and his friend Iascat.

Vargo getting his long needed rest. He deserves it. And so does Iascat tbh.

I’m a very focused and hard working individual /j

And I am very normal about Vargo and Iascat and their relationship. You can see just how normal I am about them below the cut.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

So, for those who wanna hear about what I have to say without knowing the context: Vargo, one of the main characters, is AroAllo and in a sexual relationship with Iascat. While their relationship starts of mutually using each other for getting what they want (sex and touch in Iascat’s case, and information for Vargo), they do become more like friends over the course of the books (especially the last one) while still keeping up the sexual side of their relationship.

And damn was it refreshing to see a sexual relationship that isn’t treated as a bad thing, or something that has to change to include romance later, or stop all together. No, it was treated as something completely neutral–just something that is there. At times even positive, dare I say!

And it is so awesome to see a relationship that’s based in sex, that only happened because of sex, represented as something good.

While Iascat’s sexuality is never confirmed, I like to think of him as AroAllo, too, for multiple reasons.

I think his wish to have a romantic relationship, while at the same time doing nothing to get one, is a very aromantic experience. And I assume a lot of this is coming from his aunt who has a very deep desire to have a romantic relationship, while her cursed medallion makes her basically unable to keep one up, while also making her desire for a relationship even stronger.

With how the medallions work, Iascat is probably also influenced it that same way, and his "desire for romance" is actually not really his own, but an extension of his aunt’s (because, well, Iascat is mostly treated as an extension of her by his aunt.)

The second reason is his actions. When his aunt is put under house arrest and he becomes head of his house, so is basically able to do what he want and seek out the romance he apparently wants, the first thing he does when he has time is fuck Vargo, of whom he knows that there’s no chance of romance.

That doesn’t shout alloromantic to me tbh.

And the only times he ever says or thinks anything about wanting a romantic relationship with Vargo, or anyone, is when he’s under the influence of his Tuat medallion.

Story-wise, he lets go of that desire and wish by destroying his medallion, yet keeps the sexual relationship with Vargo.

I like to think that after all the shit in the books goes down and there’s something like peace, Iascat takes the time to think about what he actually wants without being controlled by magic; because his actions show something much different from his words, and he could see that he’s actually a lot like Vargo and likes what they have, and doesn’t actually want a romantic relationship like his aunt always demonstrated.

So, to conclude, he’s AroAllo to me and I won’t take any second opinions on that. It’s fact now. I’m definitely not projecting onto the man. Leave me alone /j

But yeah, I really enjoy that a sexual relationship is portrayed in a positive manner, and that an aromantic character is allowed to exist without constantly having to explain or defend himself. Vargo isn’t ever questioned, the people who know him a bit closer just learn rather quickly that he isn’t up for romance. And I love that.

It’s probably also what makes alloros so unable to understand that he’s aromantic, because he doesn’t have to outright say it constantly, or even ever.

What might have helped with that would be the conversation that Vargo and Iascat have about their relationship being on page. Though that would fuck over the pacing, and seem quite out of place, since it’s in the third book and they kinda have other problems to solve. The conversation is once referred to, and it becomes quite clear (to me, at least, as an aro), that during that conversation Vargo has made it clear to Iascat that romance wasn’t on the table, and Iascat accepted that.

So. While It’d have been cool to read how Vargo directly describes his emotions, and how Iascat reacts to that, it wouldn’t have fit the plot and pacing of the third book. I get that.

I cannot imagine that I only read these books because I wrote a rant in some TikTok comments about the lack of AroAllo rep and someone told me about it. I am forever grateful for that person, but also hate them because this book is occupying my mind so much more than any other book I’ve ever read. Normally books aren’t in my mind like this months after I read them. I cannot read a different book even if I want to.

So. Yay, AroAllo rep.

Thanks for reading my stupid rant, ig?

#aromantic #aromantic rep #AlloAro #AroAllo #AroAllo rep #fanart #rook and rose #Derossi Vargo #Iascat Novrus

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emilyofthegreenwood · 10 days ago

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"Queen of the May" by Denée Cody

Zebra Books, 1997 || Read and reviewed in November 2024

Introducing my first foray into the classic genre of paperback romance! As this is my first paperback romance, I can't compare it with any others. There might be better ones out there. There might be worse. I've been interested in trying one of these out for a while, particularly because these are books made and marketed for women, specifically for the sake of having fun reading. The marketing is shamelessly up front about what they are and what they offer, and there's something badass to me about grandmas having a casual romance novel in their yarn basket, with a fabulously erotic clinch cover on full display.

So, the other week, I wandered into the most embarrassing aisle at Half Price Books with the goal of finding a paperback romance to try out. To my surprise and delight, I stumbled upon "Queen of the May", which features Robin (spelled Robyn here) and Marian as secondary characters. I knew it would be a hoot, and I was right. "Queen of the May" follows our two protagonists, Giselle and Alexander. Giselle, although not really an outlaw herself, lives in Sherwood Forest with Robyn Hood and company. Her best buddy is Marian. Alexander is the lonely baron of Wolfhurst, a fictional village near Sherwood, and he's back in England after twelve years on crusade. For inexplicable reasons, Giselle accidentally shoots him with a poisoned arrow and then takes him back to her cave to heal him. And so, they immediately fall in lust with each other, and we're off on the grand nonsense ride of this book! I didn't crack this open expecting anything particularly good, and fully expected to find some distasteful tropes along the way. (And, oh boy, did I ever.) To be honest, that was half the fun. This book was hilarious and deserved every eyeroll. Let's look at some highlights.

Hot tub sex in Sherwood! Oh, I'm sorry, it's a hot spring. Okay, sure.

Alexander and his family have some kind of emergency whistle protocol and it's absolutely hilarious.

Every character's favorite curse is "God's feet!" for the first two thirds of the the novel. And then in the last third, everyone graduates and uses "God's blood". I was so relieved. I was sick of hearing about his feet.

The absolute low point is when Giselle doesn't want to marry Alexander because she thinks she'd be an embarrassment of a wife, and he decides to "wear her down with persistence" until she agrees. "I'll accept nothing less than total surrender." Yikes, buddy. Maybe not? Villain behavior. Seems it was all talk though, because nothing actually happens in that vein.

The standout character is honestly Marian, and I swear I'm not being biased. She didn't get to do much, plot-wise, but she was great fun every time she was on the page. Which is more than can be said of anyone else.

Just as a fun throw-in, Marian is pregnant for the entire novel, although we are only told a few times, and there doesn't seem to be any purpose to it. Over the seven months of this novel, she continues to exist without so much of a mention of a baby bump or any other changes. During a horrible winter storm, Giselle (in the castle) worries not a whit for her pregnant best friend living in the woods. Robyn, bless him, is the only one who seems worried about Marian having a baby in the forest. Meanwhile, Marian does not mention the baby even once. So.... why?

What little character Robyn was allowed to have was good enough, and he seemed mostly like himself. I liked this bit of internal reflection from Alexander: "Robyn had proved an able and reliable man, intelligent and with a mischievous sense of humor." Sounds like Robin Hood to me. :)

As a Robin Hood book, it's very periphery. Then again, the pages are filled with Robyn, Marian, Tuck, and Guy of Guisborne. Heck, Guy is the primary villain! Other characters who get a mention or more are Little John, Alan, and Alan's lover (here named Alice). The focus, as expected, is the romance between Alex and Giselle, and it's more physical than emotional so there's not much to really bite into. The muscles are firm, everyone's hot to go, the bedroom is the goal, and Robin Hood stuff happens on the edges of it all. I would recommend this only if you, like me, have an interest of some kind in paperback romances and are willing to put up with the negatives that come with that. Go have fun! Read some silly, pulpy books. I approached this book with completely unserious expectations and had fun. I think that's enough. Robin Hood shelf: for more Robin Hood book reviews (eventually)

#robin hood #maid marian #robin hood shelf #book review #Please be completely unserious with me about this book for a moment

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isthequeerbookgood · 9 months ago

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About the blog

I read books with queer representation and write short reviews with my honest opinions. I'm much more interested in whether a book is fun and enjoyable to read than whether it has deep artistic merit, but I got tired of coming across an exciting list of new queer books - only to find out that most of them are just. Not well written.

So I'm here to start my own list, according to the kinds of books I like to read. I focus on books that are:

Indie and self-published

Sci-fi and fantasy romance

Adult

Broadly speaking, I'm looking for books that are a bit off the beaten path: you don't need me to tell you that Gideon the Ninth is worth reading! You'll mostly see sci-fi and fantasy adult novels, because that's what I enjoy reading, but the occasional historical or YA might sneak on.

An explanation and library of my tags can be found underneath the cut.

Rating System:

Bad - a book that was bad. I probably didn’t finish it, and wouldn’t recommend anyone else even start.

Readable - I didn’t think this was amazing, but I did finish it. It’s readable, and probably worth it if you enjoy the tropes.

Good - I enjoyed this, and would recommend it!

Fantastic - I am kissing the author with tongue

Rep:

wlw - the main relationship is between two women

mlm - the main relationship is between two men

wlnb - the main relationship is between a woman and a nonbinary person

mlnb - the main relationship is between a man and a nonbinary person

nblnb - the main relationship is between two nonbinary people

mlw - the main relationship is between a man and a woman

polyamory - the main realtionship is polyamorous

trans rep - a major character is transgender, usually one who broadly identifies as a trans man or a trans woman

nonbinary rep - a major character is nonbinary

Length:

<50k

50-75k

75-100k

100k+

200k+

Smut?

smutty - contains explicit on-page sex

closed door - characters have sex, but it's fade to black or expressed in vague or metaphorical terms

nonsexual - contains no sex

they technically don't have sex but - something happens that feels like a sex scene even though it isn't. you know that scene in harrow the ninth with ianthe's arm? that.

Miscellaneous Tags

I tend to tag for a few major features of the setting, such as time period or if there's vampires involved. Some miscellaneous tags that have shown up so far:

Mediaeval

Regency

Fae

Vampires

Fantasy

Science Fiction

#i am moving with the times and making a post to pin #bittern speaks

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khaosinfo · 2 months ago

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RULES.

CONTENT.

this is an 18+ roleplay blog with heavy emphasis on mature, dark, and sexual content. interactions with mun, muses, and faceclaims below 18 is prohibited. please have your age stated somewhere on your blog.

this blog will feature pre-dominantly m / m threads and interactions. but m / f threads are open to some muses.

even though sexual content will be heavy on this blog ( like, really really heavy ), romance and other types of interaction are still welcome. i do most threads by winging them, but if you want a more detailed and plotted interaction, i am all ears!

this is not my only blog, and definitely not my main blog. i made this only for fun, and also to try out this character again with a new spin, so expect a really spotty and inconsistent activity.

INTERACTION.

i am not the best when interacting ooc, but please don't be discouraged if you have a plot or a ship you want to discuss. i simply ask for your patience here.

you can message me to remind me of a thread i missed, or a starter i have not done. but please don't hound me about it.

although being mutuals is preferred, you don't have to be mutuals with me to start a thread. like a starter call, reply to an open, or send me a meme! it's all good.

SELECTIVITY.

although this blog is more open, i will still be selective with the threads that i will reply to. this is mostly to manage stuff and make sure i will not be swamped and burned out.

there are also other reasons why i might not interact with your blog, namely: if you use really big gifs, you don't cut post, there is no about page for your muses, etc. this is for personal preference and i am adding it here for transparency.

that being said, we don't need to be mutuals for you to interact with me. if you want to reply to starters or send me a meme, just do it!

if you like something or send something in, i would appreciate it if you specify which muse you want. it just make things easier for us. agustin and arni are my default muses, so if you want the others then please specify.

please also specify the position if you want a versatile muse. i will always default to writing as the bottom.

KINK LIST.

my kink list for smut threads. will likely change over time. this kink list is also not a blanket list. some muses will enjoy some and not the others etc. longer list can be found here.

FAVORITE:

oral sex ( giving )

face fucking ( receiving )

deep throating ( giving )

cum swallowing

hard cum facials

bukkake

rough sex

anal sex ( receiving )

creampie

breeding

daddy kink

incest

ahegao

cock worship

sex til exhaustion

YES:

anal sex ( giving )

oral sex ( receiving )

public sex

exhibitionism

impregnation

cum denial

dub con

non con

dirty talk

gang bang

gaping

NO:

vore

scat

watersports

diaper

any gorey or violent kinks

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4ragon · 3 months ago

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any book recommendations?

Dooooooont fucking do this to me ahhhh okay. Okay. I have read 72 books so far this year and I have been having a blast so you may be unleashing a monster, let me just look through my Goodreads and see what I’ve read. I’ll put it under the cut so no one murders me.

Also. Mostly fantasy, fair warning. I like fantasy.

First!!! Since I finished it yesterday:

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

Debut novel, it’s a magical murder mystery romance with fun characters and magic and a bisexual main character, I had a blast with it. Plenty of twists and turns, some I predicted and some that managed to blindside me.

Also it literally just came out this year so no one else is posting about it. My library only just got it this month. Someone needs to talk to me about how fucked up some of this is.

(Also, I’d rate it M if it were on ao3. Lots of sex jokes. Suicidal characters. Be aware of that.)

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Okay fair warning, every book in here is 1000 pages long. That is not hyperbole. Also some heavy themes, ie suicide, abuse, slavery, murder.

But this book is a MASTERCLASS in worldbuilding. Like. Holy shit this man puts so much detail in this series. I’ve only read through book 2 (well 2.5) and while it did take a bit to get through the initial hurdle of “I’m going to introduce a million fantasy concepts to you and you have to fucking roll with it” it’s well worth it. A lush world with some amazing characters. I’m enjoying the series.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

It’s a bunch of heists in a magical gritty setting with a bunch of awful people and I loved it a ton. Though it did make me really anxious. So anxious. Heist movies make me anxious. I love these guys.

I do think it’s weird to have them be 17 but I choose to ignore that. It’s got a great cast, and it’s sooooo fun to watch a plot unfold. It’s really good at giving you just enough information to constantly be at the edge of your seat.

Here’s one a bit out of left field: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

A musical version came out and I wanted to read the book before even touching that. And guys. One of the best books I’ve ever read. But. Trigger warning times 1000 by page 1, REALLY heavy. It’s the kind of book that beats you down for a while before things get better.

But they do get better. They do.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Queer as hell, angry as hell, basically mechs fighting aliens in a setting based loosely on ancient China. I was not expecting the romance to go the way it did but it made me very happy, and I’m so excited for the next book.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

I’ve talked about this before. I love you Murderbot.

They’re all very short, action packed novellas. More serialized than I expected but that’s part of the charm! Plus Murderbot is such a great character. My favorite is the one actually novel length one but the whole thing is great.

Discworld by Terry Pratchett

This is a whole series you can read in any order. They’re genuinely laugh out loud funny and also heartfelt and beautiful . My favorites so far have been Guards! Guards!, Going Postal and Reaper Man

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir

I know we’ve all run the “Lesbian necromancers in space” thing into the ground, but also Gideon may be one of my favorite characters in anything ever. She’s so fucking fun. She’s funny and crass in a way I feel like female protagonists rarely get to be. I love her.

Also. I have no idea what the fuck is happening. I think that’s part of the charm. Lots of worldbuilding going on in the background that makes no sense until the end and then you’re like holy shit. I love it.

A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

So mix Pride and Prejudice with a murder mystery novel and the ridiculousness of a Discworld novel and you have this book. It’s so fun. One of the background characters is clearly a werewolf and it has nothing to do with the rest of the plot.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

I’ve already gushed about this book but it’s so found family. The absolute coziest feel-good novel I’ve read. Plus it’s queer as hell! One of my absolute favorites.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

This book was just beautiful. Another one with some heavy themes, but I loved it. Aliens and demons, queer, trans mc, about music and hope and found family. Plus it got be back into reading so! It holds a special place in my heart.

Sorry. That was a lot. That’s not even all of them but these were some of my favorites.

#book recs #I still have a ton more but I need to sleep

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slowdripsunrise · 4 months ago

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ok more book talk. about to go to work and i need something to do for like 20 mins so. book talk. spoilers for various books under the cut

pretty sure the last book i ended on was the ghost bride, so next up i read Silver Under Nightfal by Rin Chupeco ! tbh. it was fun it was entertaining dont remember much from it other than vampire sex and . actually yeah political intrigue and plagues but mostly vampire sex. read through the audio book pretty quickly i had a good time i just really im sorry but i couldnt get over the fact that the mcs name is remy like. the rat. and thats on my thats my bad but yeah. i do have the second one and i am planning on reading that i dont have my hopes up for more than like. a little bit of plot and a Lot of vampire sex which is fine like the bits of plot i did get were interesting enough to keep me with it so. thumbs up from me :)

next i read The Binding by Bridget Collins, which. who boy that was a ride and a half. definitely 100% enjoyed it would recommend! I did read this a long time ago so a lot of it is lost to me but i remember absolutely devouring that book like easily. if you do want to read it tho, i would recommend going in knowing as little as possible; about halfway ish i think it takes a total 180 turn and just. puts you on a lil rollercoaster ride it was good. look at trigger warnings though! there are a lot of explicit discussions of heavy topics so do read those first.

after that i read Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, a collection of sci fi short stories that I enjoyed..... quite a bit? dont remember many of them, and to me i feel like this collection was wayyyy overhyped and i didnt enjoy it as much as i could have tbh. overall if you like sci fi i would recommend and there were some interesting conversations brought up throughout, so i do think it's worthwhile, i just didn't like it as much as i thought i would.

after that i read The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow, a very short novella that like kinda destroyed me a little bit. like the love story was so lovely and felt genuine even in such a short amount of pages, and it's something i would go back and read again and again. 10/10 would recommend i read this in one sitting at like midnight and i think it changed my brain chemistry just a little bit

then i read Flux by Jinwoo Chong, and i really dont have much to say about it. it could have been a me thing where i wasnt in the mood for this story but i did not connect to any of the characters at all and i was confused pretty much the entire time. its one of those time travel things were like. a crime has happened and they start from the beginning before the crime but also after looking back on it and like the mc is supposedly in a simulation but neither he or the reader can tell if/when he is or not but like. yeah i just didnt vibe with it.

then i read Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon, my first book of theirs ! i thought the concept was really cool and i cared about a lot of the characters, not much has stayed with me since i read it but i am excited to read more of Solomon's work! also the romance was sweet and cute or whatever.....

after that i read Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah!!! oooohhh this book was good. this book was so fucking good it messed me up by the end of it. and I did appreciate the footnotes adding details about both the world/time the book is set in and about their technology, but also about the prison system as it is today. and ohhh the two fmcs and their relationship was so lovely to read about, how they knew each other and cared for each other so well just. AUHDJNS. yeah. 10/10 loved and i'm excited to see more from this author

last one for this post unless i really wanna push it for work, i read the first two books in the Between Earth and Sky series by Rebecca Roanhorse! also very good 10/10 im very interested to see where it goes especially with Serapio and his whole godliness shtick, the magic and worldbuilding was super interesting and i am frothing at the mouth for the third i know its out but like i also want the audiobook and i havent seen if there is one yet but like i need to listen to it ok its just not the same without it.

ok thats it theres still more but i need to stop myself, almost gotten through it. i havent read as much recently ive been a knitting warrior but looking to get back into it more soon !

#silver under nightfall #the binding #stories of your life and others #the six deaths of the saint #flux #sorrowland #chain gang all stars #black sun #fevered star #between earth and sky

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boxingcleverrr · 8 months ago

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So Kate and her (righteous, correct) annoyance at puritanical people unable to engage with Poor Things normally reminded me today of one of my faaaavorite Christian Romance Novels (tm) from back in the day. And I realized it's a perfect example of "why you sometimes NEED sex scenes, no hyperbole or moralizing required."

Jeanette Oke is a famous Christian author, I'm sure plenty of people have heard of the Love Comes Softly series, or When Calls The Heart series, cause they've both been made into tv shows - terrible ones, with terrible production values, lol.

If that's all you know her by, you might be surprised to learn that the source material doesn't suck! She tells a very good story, builds all kinds of relationships well, and definitely does way more historical research than the producers of any films/shows based on her work. They're very PG to PG13 as far as violence goes, no smut obv, usually with a religious message buried or shoehorned in there.

It's kinda like how Louis L'amour is an objectively solid writer of westerns, while adaptations are usually middling, cause his fanbase tends to be within uh, certain other (white) demographics who wish to push certain other (white) agendas via their traditional-looking settings.

But I digress.

Basically the writing = good and engaging. She coulda just been a wildly successful historical fiction writer, but yanno, gotta get something Jesus-y into EVERY tome.

Which brings us to my favorite, A Bride For Donegan.

This was a mail order bride story set in the 1880s I believe, based on the very real practice of skeezy agencies realizing they could make big money off frontiersmen looking for wives, via poor UK & European women and girls looking to escape poverty and blights. It follows one girl from Ireland stuck in a terrible home situation in England, who LEAPS at the chance to gtfo.

And the dynamic set up is very good, and a heart-wrenching portrait of her trauma! She'd endured sexist and racist abuse from her English stepmother, who drilled into her that no man would ever want her plain, overly-chatty, Irish self for a wife (gee I wonder why this appealed to 13 year old annoying, undiagnosed me). Donegan is a quiet, successful young rancher who has less character development, of course, he's just So Nice, Kinda Funny, and Tall. But the book does make it clear that he was looking for a friend first and foremost, to share this life he made with, and to draw him out of his shell.

So, quiet guy orders a wife, gets girl whose been told no man wants a chatty partner, much silent hilarity and misunderstanding ensues. These characters go on through a very good slow burn to break down that wall, they're cute and funny together, eventually have like, 5 kids? And of course in the last chapter Jesus gets found, yaaaaay (why is The Lord ALWAYS getting lost, does he not have maps). I always skipped the last chapter.

But even as a 13 year old virgin who was mostly still Jesus-pilled, I remember getting to points early on in the novel and being like, "wait. They've had sex?!"

There's ONE scene in the second act, where they're still barely talking to each other yet, when he worries that she might get pregnant while they're still relative strangers.

That's IT.

So this establishes that, in the say, 3-4 months they're first married, they're having sex like good married people should, but barely talking.

And though I had no experience at that point whatsoever, I just squinted at the page all, "So...what IS that sex life like? I am engaged in this slow burn that's happening, and yet I have no idea what's going through either of your heads when you KISS, let alone be more intimate. Are either of you worrying about how much the other person is engaged? Consenting?! This is the late 19th century, how much sex-ed do either of you have? Do you get any inkling of each others' softer sides when you undress before bed? Hell, do you snuggle in your sleep and wake up just...not addressing it?!"

Their bedroom is, otherwise, just a place we know all those kids get made, eventually, somehow.

Am I to infer that this guy, with a wry sense of humor to his internal monologue, is cool with this situation of just...begetting with a girl who I guess I should also infer is just lying back and thinking of Ireland?!

The story ends with them both delighted by each other, she chatty, he listening, riding horses and enthusiastically having babies. So obviously consent was there. But it was just so glaring and educational to me, what was missing, and that it was a huge, important aspect of their interaction and growth.

Not all stories are about or need sex, obviously. But any time I see people saying they're NEVER needed, like. Even as a good little church girl, I knew important lessons about how people in love interacted within intimacy were being left out of what I was consuming, and it was leaving a big gap in my understanding of how love and intimacy could look, good bad or somewhere unfinished in-between.

And no, as far as I know there's no fanfiction of this anywhere, haha of course there isn't (though I have years later found this LOTR fic about Eomer/Lothiriel that scratched that itch very well).

Humans have sex. Not all humans, but most, that's just a fact. Every part of messy human interaction has a place in storytelling, and when it doesn't, uh, well. A lot of people I know personally grew up assuming those blanks in their knowledge would just magically be filled in by....someone. Someday.

It didn't go great for a lot of them.

#blathering #Stop Emulating Puritans 2024 #Love Comes Softly was genuinely good #The When Calls books however were her most rife with white saviorism sooooo of course they got adapted

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joannaromanoff · 1 year ago

Text

My point of view on Red White and Royal Blue (movie, 2023) ❤️🤍💙

Red White and Royal Blue (movie) was out on Friday (11th August) and finally my our long and torturing wait was over. I read the book earlier this year and I couldn’t wait for the visual take of it.

The main reason why I love the book so much is because it never went down the road of stereotypes about same-sex relationships or LGBTQ community itself and badly-written clichés of the romantic art world (I’m somewhere in the aromantic spectrum, keep that in mind). I didn’t fear that the book would fail to keep those very important elements of the book intact even though I was sure that some parts wouldn’t make it because a 400+ page book can’t be squeezed in 2 hours.

I’m very glad that I was (mostly) right.

To be fair, I missed June, Leo and Rafael in the movie because I find their characters either pretty important to how the story was shaped or pretty fun (or both). But I get that they had to be cut so the movie wouldn’t last for 5 hours (which I wouldn’t personally mind either). What I really missed was Alex realizing he’s bisexual (and not already knowing so) and all that mental journey he has on that specific part of the book where he understands in such an in-depth way who he truly is. As a bisexual person myself, I find that part of the book so relatable and so inspiring. I had never realized it before. up until I wrote that chapter; I did miss representation so badly.

However I found the movie to be breathtakingly beautiful. Everything was as I imagined it to be.

Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine were the perfect choices for Alex and Henry respectively. It was uncanny how invested they got me. The way they played their roles with so much respect to the true core of their characters and with so much respect to what Alex and Henry and their love story represent for us, the fans. So spectacular. The wittiness, the passion, the fun and the love Alex and Henry share were all there, we could touch it. It was heart-warming really. Uma Thurman was the PERFECT casting for Ellen, too. I love her (who doesn’t?).

I love how the movie was completely respectful to what the book stands for. A same-sex romance (true romance with problems and love and passion and all those things that make a true-life romance, as well) with two characters who have actual depth and they’re not tacky LGBTQ caricatures; they get to grow right before our eyes and right beside each other. It’s immensely appreciated that sexuality was discussed under a light of honesty with sprinkles of humor on top but not any intention of mockery. And what a refreshing moment was it when Ellen wanted to discuss with Alex about his sexuality and about safe sex. A mainstream movie, a platform movie and an Uma Thurman role talking protection and same-sex intercourse in a normal and casual manner because it is a normal and valid thing, you know… ❤️🤍💙

The 16+ scenes were all just what I wished for; two people who want to touch each other, who want to kiss, caress, hold, explore each other's body because their feelings dictate them to. As an aromantic person, I don’t usually connect sexual intercourse with love and feelings. But in a rom-com, you kinda look for a connection (or you just open p*rnhub) and it was definitely there.

The movie was fun. The movie was deep. The movie was romantic. The movie was hot. The movie was a romance with sharp points and even sharper intention to be the first one to have a same-sex couple in the center and not put any shame or doubt about how they felt for one another or for their sexuality. I truly loved that specific aspect.

This movie set the bar way too high for other LGBTQ rom-coms.

I’ve gone through a lot with accepting myself and it’s not always easy. It was amazingly stimulating to see Alex and Henry with flesh and bones right in front of me to be unapologetically themselves and embrace who they are and who they love.

Now I’m going to watch it for the fifth time 🫣

"You know the b in lgbt isn't a silent letter" - Ellen Clermont

Love is love,

Joanna 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️❤️🤍💙

#red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #red white and royal blue movie #alex and henry #alex claremont diaz #prince henry of wales #ellen claremont #rwrb spoilers #rwrb book

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inkforhumanhands · 1 year ago

Note

I am :chinhands: at any DVD commentary you'd like to share, so for the "questions for fic writers" game: 2, 17, 37, and (only if you are comfortable sharing!!) 49:D

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Ficlet (30) Humor (20) Angst (13) POV Matt Murdock (10) Getting Together (9) Seems like I tagged all the ficlets in my ficlet series with that lol. However, I wouldn't say I am "a ficlet writer." These are mostly from the writer's month challenge I did way back. As for humor and angst, yes lol. I feel like crangst (crack + angst) is kind of the niche I've carved out for myself: silly scenarios with a bit of ouch. The POV thing is interesting, but it looks like AO3 doesn't necessarily include all of your tags in order because I have 9 fics tagged POV Foggy and it didn't show up in my list. I guess I'm pretty evenly split on whose POV I write. And getting together? Yes! My favorite thing to write lol. Established relationship is generally a lot less interesting to me, so I don't write it as much.

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

I have two, but I actually think other people would enjoy them just fine. One is a LOTR-esque mattfoggy story, for which I have zero details other than traveling together on the run, hurt/comfort vibes, and the requisite fantasy elements. The other is an FMA (Full Metal Alchemist) earth-65 mattfoggy fusion I came up with together with @amazing-spiderling where young Murderdock tries to resurrect his mother and as part of the toll for trying to do so his personality gets split in half. "Mike," aka the "good" part of Murderdock's personality, is thus relegated to Truth's realm for the most part- except for when he manages to briefly possess Murderdock. You fill in the rest.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

My obligatory answer for this kind of question is always going to be Conditionals. I think the psychological horror tag turns people off lol since that's not usually what they're reading mattfoggy for XD But I think I did a pretty good job with the linguistics/"what if" motif throughout, and there's some really fun writing in it! If I was going to pick another low-kudos fic, I suppose I'd go with To the Dregs. This is one of the aforementioned ficlets, and I don't think it's particularly good. But it is one I have tentative plans to come back to and rewrite as part of a larger fic where Karen and Foggy try resurrecting Matt after Midland Circle and it, of course, goes horribly wrong.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

As usual I have many WIPs, but the one I'm committed to right now is a MikeFoggy fake dating one with MattFoggy endgame. It's shaping up to be quite fun, I think! Have a little snippet: “I had something else in mind,” Mike said, coy as one of the maidens in the period romance novels he’d been reading of late. Foggy froze, every inch of his body going rigid with the exception of his face, which flipped through the five stages of grief before he managed to school it into an expression of stoicism. “You signed an agreement not to proposition me for sex anymore, don’t forget.” “It’s not that,” Mike reassured him begrudgingly, though the tiny voice inside of him he liked to think of as his anti-conscience added, but would that really be so bad? “I want….” He took a deep breath. “I want you to pretend that we’re dating in front of Matt.”

Thanks for the ask! Here's the full list if anyone else wants to join in on the fun.

#asks #mutuallyprime #mattfoggy #mikefoggy #murderdock

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