#found this gem in a book

[sparrowlucero]

this is the iconic dinosaur horror jurassic park wishes it was

[bayetea]

let hazel cause an earthquake as a treat

[birchblood]

I tried to remember the usual fit of my soul in my body, the priority of things, my way of looking at the world. What to do with my limbs in the stillness.

a court of wings and ruin, sarah j. maas

[cavennmalore]

keefe wanted to be an INFLICTOR growing up oh lord

[sooz-again]

Currently reading Becoming Baba Yaga by Kris Spisak, and particularly loved this.

[shleemies]

Toy Fare magazine excerpts

Hobie Brown Prowler from the March '98 edition

The Spot and Spiderman from the October '98 edition

[wiltking]

Hi wilt do you have theories as to why so many MM books are shitty? Are my standards too high? Like so many popular MM books are popular based off the sexiness of the characters and the sex alone and so many are just the most basic "I'm serious/edgy guy" and "I'm flirty/funny guy" relationship.

I have to fight for my life to find a good MM book that isn't instant attraction/love (I fucking hate when an MCs first thoughts about the other MC is "I want to fuck him so bad"; it's only good in a few stories), and has a worthwhile plot, well developed characters with serious/realistic problems, and a meaningful romance. I know there's really good MM out there but it's so annoying going thru Goodreads and finding maybe one actually well-thought, not porn-y book out of 13 hockey romances about the same generic, muscley white ppl.

so, i dont read popular books. full stop. i also generally avoid anything marked as strictly 'romance' or published in the past 8+ years out of personal preference (if i can help it). because from my experience what youre describing is an ongoing problem with modern publishing standards and i have zero patience or interest for it.

my advice would be to try reading stuff published before 2015, roughly, and avoid goodreads like the plague. easier said than done because ive been trawling through older and weirder gay books for about a decade now, and they have certainly not all been Good. but generally the good stuff (complex characters, weird narrative styles, compelling and morally difficult stories) isnt what's "marketable", and youre gonna have to work harder to find it. stuff thats out of print, self published indie authors, old abandonned review blog sites - it takes work. but your standards arent too high.

i think publishers these days are too interested in making a quick buck off queer readers (with sanitized YA and smutty plotless shovelware novels) rather than take risks with more challenging, thoughtful, adult gay fiction. older books (from smaller and even shortlived publishers) seem to have been a lot more willing to take those risks because publishing stories with gay characters was already a risk in and of itself. and if they were going to print a book with gay characters the story have better been damn good and worth the investment.

in conclusion capitalism is the death of art, use storygraph instead of goodreads, and take chances on books that maybe dont have many reviews but are just strange enough to pique your interest. good luck and godspeed out there soldier

[cozy-kit-cafe]

plush book self-care

[crystalclaire]

testament of youth by vera brittain, 7th edition published in 1934

[s-cullayy]

Every goddamn day I look at this on my shelf and cannot believe it’s mine

[expectiations]

yk when I read that one tumblr post saying you can spot the difference between someone who was raised on Wattpad and AO3, I used to think about it in confusion. I now understand though. I now understand :|

[lord-squiggletits]

The funny thing about my love-hate relationship with Barber is that conceptually, I do understand and agree with the concepts he established/strengthened about IDW Optimus, and I do think that if you want to write a good IDW Optimus you should read some of his stuff and ponder the themes that are trying to be conveyed therein.

It's just that holy shit the actual stories that IDW OP is in, like the plotlines and the reasons things happens and the style they're written in. Dark and depressing but not in a fun way, more focused on plot than character development, fast-paced and has a lot of things happen without much breathing or contemplation room, incredibly horrible plot holes and forcing certain things to happen for the sake of the plot. Like good god in THEORY his stories contain everything I wanted out of phase 2, it's just that the way it was EXECUTED fills me with so much disappointment and anger.

[crazykuroneko]

i want to finish my next fic rec as well, but so far it has more bookverse than showverse fics. and sometimes my mood is oscillating between the two, or sometimes i need to go back to hannigram as a palate cleanser so to speak. and there are several big wips i'm waiting to be finished so 😤

[this-is-not-a-slow-burn]

#10 happened to someone I know who bought a used backpack and then a few months later tried to travel with it. TSA stopped them bc the drug sniffer dogs went apeshit. They got very thoroughly searched :| Do you know how hard it is to explain that it really honest to gods "isn't mine man!" to the TSA?

Least fun parts of thrift shopping:

This thrift shop used to have jeans for like $3 and now everything is priced like it's new

Hear about a cool new thrift shop in town and you check it out and it's actually "vintage upcycling and consignment" so the shredded jorts are $250 on sale

This place used to get cool stuff but the tiktok haul resale people found it and now anything decent is snapped up and immediately resold for like $500 online

"Ooh this is cute" and then you check and it's shein

"Ooh this is cute" and then you check and it's Harry P*tter

The jacket of your dreams is in your price range but it's 3 sizes too small

Your absolute FAVOURITE thrifted item finally wears out beyond salvation and when you do research to maybe find a replacement it's been discontinued since 1983

Check the pockets and find used kleenex

STICKY THING

This was exactly what I was looking for but I can't get the weed remnants out

"This is obviously broken but I know how to fix it" (never fixes it)

[meaniezuchinni]

I am socially inadequate in the whole are of doin' anything!

"The Truth" by Terry Pratchett

[bittersweetyrn]

anyone remember this twilight parody book from a million years ago