#from my copy of vol one of his art book!!

[godtrauma]

‘best friends’ - shintaro kago

[jenyifer]

Book List Time!!!

And with that I have 10 give or take books to discuss. Now I’m up to over 30 books since May woooo telling tumblr about each one has been a great motivator so I hope my reviews and list help people out in a non spoiler fun way. Gonna rank these in order I want to reread them.

1. Green Creek the series by TJ Klune 🏳️‍🌈🐺🌶️🌲 Wolfsong Ravensong Heartsong Brothersong I am obsessed. Literally read all four books in 3 days. I have bought physical copies and marked them up. Will make you cry, laugh, and stay in your heart forever. Just……. Go read it. But the quick synopsis is Powerful Humans Wolves Witches have to pay for the sins of their fathers over and over again while maintaining their found family and finding their true soulmates. There is Ace Lesbian non binary rep in here as well.

2. The Warden by Daniel Ford🏳️‍🌈 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩🧙‍♀️❄️🪦truly a fantasy masterpiece the romance isn’t the focus but it’s fucking good. First sapphic book to get a 10/10 for me. About a witch(with a magic system that is interesting surprising) growing up and finding herself a family without sacrificing who she is. I loved her and at first you think ehhh is this going to be boring no definitely not. Was surprising made me laugh and cry. Can’t wait for part 2 cause more of the hot gf in there I hope.

3. A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland🏳️‍🌈👑⚔️🌶️🌶️ I listened to this book two times in a row I enjoyed it so much. It’s a bodyguard and prince story. The prince’s depiction of depression anxiety panic attacks was so real. The bodyguard is very endearing. The themes of family are strong and interesting. The mystery was easy to solve but I found it rewarding because I wanted the prince to win so badly haha.

4. Spindle Splintered by Alix E Harrow🏳️‍🌈👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👸🏼🥀😢

Short story about a dying girl who has a special interest in sleeping beauty. It does have a…. Debatably Sad ending. I did enjoy it for what it was trying to talk about. I lost a friend when she was too young. I’m glad I read it.

5. Scumbag Villains Self-Saving System series by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu 🏳️‍🌈🚩⚔️😈🕊️🤓🌶️? I’m putting it up this high because besides that scene in chapter 21 that slapped me in the brain I really enjoyed the series. Only Danmei I HAD TO GET THE REST OF THE SERIES IMMEDIATELY Hell I’ve even now written fan fic for the side ship. About a Nerd being put into his favorite love to hate stallion novel (story about a hero who fucks his way to success) but he’s in there as the abusive villain who the hero is destined to kill. The nerd has to save himself and unintentionally builds himself a harem featuring the most red flag the hero who so sololy motivated by the nerd. It’s great easy to read very fun. But 🌶️ scene in book 3 is a definite skip and delete from memory.

6. Case File Compendium Vol 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou 🏳️‍🌈? 😈🚩🩸🕵️🥼

I did just finish reading this so maybe I’m bias but I really did find it a book I couldn’t put down. I even brought it with me to work to read a chapter during my lunch breaks. Main characters are heavy in their homophobic lifestyles but they kiss and protect each other? True crime and mentally ill characters. MC is has a fatal mental illness that makes him unstable and MIL was his former private doctor. MC is trying to date MIL’s little sister. While getting up to shenanigans they stumble into a corrupt hospital and evil forces are maybe after them?! Idk its exciting fun to read but only if you like 🚩’s

7. The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish Vol 1 by Xue Shan Fei Hu 🏳️‍🌈🐟👑🎨🖼️ I did genuinely laugh my ass off during reading this book. It was incredibly easy to read I think I finished it in 4 hours. Very cute. I love the inside and outside art. About a nonverbal Prince who has anger issues and his crush on the modern man who is trapped within an ugly little fish. Now yes the Prince is becomes actively in love with the fish. Lucky for us we are stuck in the man who is trapped as the fish’s pov and he is genuinely just trying to get back to his world by obeying the powers that be System’s prompts to go home. Fish is not trying to seduce the Prince or anything. It’s just funny I had a great time with vol 1 probably will read vol 2.

8. So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole 🏳️‍🌈👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨🐉🏝️ while having dragons and diverse cast it ultimately falls short of expectations wishing for more depth and clarity. The asexual spectrum representation feels muddled and Jamaican inspired cultural elements are unexplored which is at odds with its rich backdrop that could have enhanced the story. The story’s mystery element lacked cohesion resulting in a frustrating bittersweet ending that suggests a sequel and left me unsatisfied. I won’t read the next book. Won’t suggest it.

9. Faithless Book2 by C L Clark 🏳️‍🌈🚩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩⚔️👑😩 a big let down from book 1 but I’m locked in for life I guess. Luca is back in France navigating a way to get the crown. While Touraine shows up with a priest and Teen to some how get food for her people. Most of the plot feels useless both MC characters are stupid and do no growing. The new teen character was interesting. I disliked the poly romance I didn’t particularly feel comfortable about Touraine and Luca why not add another person in what could go wrong? Luca’s reign as Queen looks to be very bad and you will feel extremely disappointed at the end. I’m going to read the next book but only because I like the characters who didn’t go to France.

10. Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore.

I read 90% of this book and I regret it. It’s a trans characters as the leads gay retelling of the great gatsby. I was truly excited to read it I’ve read The Great Gatsby many times. However this book just laughs at the source material. I’m tempted to say maybe the Chat GPT’d the plot and didn’t ask for any over arching themes in the book. I couldn’t do it I’m gonna have to find a better trans representation book in my next set of ten.

DNF’s

Last Night at the Telegraph Club, The Once and Future witches, Gearbreakers, the emperor and the endless palace.

[uniformbravo]

since i've spent the past few days essentially staring at nothing but natsuyuu volume covers i thought it'd be so fun and silly to try and redraw them all from memory tee hee. all 30 (thirty) (三十) of them!!! wheee!!!!

i haven't actually looked at them next to the originals yet so guess what time it is!!!! LET'S COMPARE

starting with volume 1. iconic. show stopping. masterpiece. the mona lisa of natsuyuu SURELY i reproduced every single detail perfectly such that it kickstarts my career as a forgery artist RIGHT

well feast ur eyes

(im using the english volumes for comparison btw they have a good clear view of the art)

CAN U TELL WHICH IS WHICH OOO THEYRE SO ALIKE BET U CANT!!! SPOT THE DIFFERENCE LEVEL 1000 WHICH ONE DO U SHOOT

all i remembered for this one was GREEN and it's not even the right shade of green ajgosugdjfkdgj i even made the fuckin. what do u call it. i'll just say yukata??? I MADE IT GREEN AND ITS SUPPOSED TO BE RED i stg if u held a gun to my head & asked if there was any red on vol 1 i'd be DEAD

but i remembered the book of friends is like. weirdly purple? ok well in this pic it looks p gray BUT ON OTHER COPIES...... IF U UP THE SATURATION GKSJKDNFKDG

why is nyanko sensei smack dab in the middle HUH i couldve sworn he was bottom left this is so fucked up and scary. haunted manga volume??????? i bought it from a grarage sale idk you guys-

at least natsume's pose is like kind of right but also that's most definitely a complete accident i can ASSURE u (im rereading this the next day and the pose isnt even CLOSE what are u TALKING ABOUT)

anyway can i just fucking point out the kanji on the book of friends bc that is from MEMORY YEEHAW here's what it's Supposed to look like: 友人帳

LIKE even tho i got the last one wrong ITS LIKE STILL PRETTY CLOSE??? i think i deserve 100 points for this objectively

MOVING ON THO....

OK NOT AS BAD AS I THOUGHT SURPRISINGLY im actually like. i thought i bombed this one completely but liKE THE COMPOSITION??? KIND OF ON POINT. KIND OF GENIUS TBH

i remembered Blue and Madara and like what else do u need rly. butterflies are optional in all scenarios imo

also i NEVER have any idea what natsume's wearing in any of these so i always just like default throw him into his school uniform LMAO u will see a pattern

why is the book of friends burgundy in this one btw. it was GRAY i mean purple definitely purple aha

ok volume 3 im actually scared for i know i fucked up SOMETHING

HGLKFKGLKFKGFN OK!!!!! OK NOT SUPER AWFUL!!!! just noticed i forgor to color the book of friends fukg

main thing i remembered abt this one was the color of natsume's... attire.... and which characters were present. whats sensei doing all the way up in the top corner tho 0/10

return of the school uniform lmaooooo hm. irrelevant who cares plus didnt ask. all things considered this wasn't as bad as i thought. THE NEXT ONE HOWEVER,

hsngjfgnfjn okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

sensei's way cuter in this one than i realized wait wtf this cover's cute af how did i never notice. underrated cover -10 @ me. look at his lil BLEP >:O!!!!!!!

i knew there was some fuckshit going on w the yukata in this one ourhg i was just like hehe greeennnn also sensei's there. my work here is done

what is natsume's pose even hgnkg i was straight up making shit up at this point LIKE the first 6 or so covers are SO hard for me to distinguish in my head i should get a free pass for the poses in all of them like i can do whatever i want IM the artist now

oh god whats next vol 5

OK!!!! like a straight 5/10 TBH i literally forgot i was planning on rating these LMAO

i remembered the like white v-neck shirt thing and his pose kind of??? i had NO idea what to do for the yukata tho i just made it orange and u know what?? close enough. my rule of thumb is just like pick a color and then throw flowers all over it u cant go wrong

taki looks so much more mysterious on the original and also wearing a skirt. i gave her a big stick bc i thought i remembered her having one in general but i think i made that up tbh wouldn't put it past me. got her hat right tho hee haw

cant believe i didn't get natsume's beautiful artwork tho look at that little shit sensei up there god hes so ROUMD literally moma material

PROBABLY my best one yet uhhhh but i maybe cheated JUST a little for this one ITS LIKE BARELY CHEATING STOP BOOING ME

as i was toying w the idea of doing this redraw thing i was still working on collecting my Images and Pictures so i kinda started taking note of a few small things here & there and one of them was just. the general gist of this cover SO LIKE that's why it's so good LOL

forgor the flowers tho. i literally forget everything that isn't a character like immediately BUT OK CUT ME SOME SLACK like after a point the covers start being whole ass scenes which are SO much easier to remember shit abt than the fuckin Green Void (p sure this is the last green void cover tho)

8/10 composition is gr8 but details like the shirt & the yellow flowers are wrong, also the stick is backwards. i literally looked up what that thing is called and forgot already tee hee

OK WE'RE NOT DONE W THE GREEN VOID I REPEAT-

fuck dude. fuck. i rly thought vol 6 was the last one LOL not to spoil but as i was grabbing these images i saw a Preview of what's to come and the green void lasts until fuckign volume TEN LOL collapses onto the ground and dies

so erhermrm this is vol 7 lolllll i remembered the bg flowers this time can u believe hahaha distracts u from the fact that LITERALLY everything else is wrong auhghg

u know what the green void turned into bushes and i think that's beautiful.... like points for creativity on my part tbh. like to be completely honest. 3/10 i got the characters right

YO????? GATE CONFIRMED LET'S GO?????? it's definitely the school gate but i choose to believe natsume & tanuma r in jail for crimes and u should too

actually this is shockingly accurate for how much i goddamn struggled w this one gkjsldkg the CHARACTERS are right the OUTFITS are right SENSEI'S THERE urgh i knew one of these covers had tanuma holding sensei like that but i couldn't remember Which

i can't believe i actually got tanuma's pose that close i rly thought i was bullshitting w that one wtf. +5 points instantly

do u like how i just scribbled sensei wherever lmaoooo i drew natsume & tanuma & went like. i think sensei's in this one. PLOP

6/10 honestly closer than i thought

OK........ I SEE........ literally dies

this one i was getting MASSIVELY confused w vol 4 bc i could remember nothing distinct abt either of them except Green and natsume w Big Doggie

i remembered the BARE essentials of the composition but not much else... since i thought the green void was gone i put the green i remembered into natsume's yukata (and then put him in the school uniform again LOL) and went WELP. GUESS I'LL DIE NOW

2/10 honestly one of the worst fucking ones lskdjflsdkg

OK THIS ONE.... i almost died irl trying to remember this shit, even before i started and i was still viewing the covers i was like there is no way in HELL im remembering this shit for vol 10. and i was right

like. Purple. White Mask. Antlers. WILD layered clothing. at first i drew the mask as an actual deer skull but later had a straight up epiphany and redrew it like that which... still not correct but I MEAN.... IT'S PRETTY GOOD

i cant believe most of the purple is the bg oughgh his clothes are WHITE..... this is fucked up. i DID remember the stick tho, bells and everything!! actually bells and nothing else!!!

7/10 ok it might seem high but CONSIDERING this design..... i think i did shockingly well TBH

NOT...... the worst...... one....... i could've sworn he was sitting on a pile of books this is so sad that woulda been so cute 😭

for a second when i saw the real cover again i thought he was sitting ON the bookshelf and i was about to RIOT but its okay it's a step stool. still physically possible

my version of natsume here is so much more like Proper gksld he looks like a school boy... studying in the academy's library... hardworking student.... but no the real one is just sitting there like a wet puppy orz he's not even READING i rly thought he was reading. this is such a huge L

cannot fucking believe i was right abt the window tho. like wrong shape but the fact that it's even there.... giving myself a whole ass point for that one

5/10 i rly thought i nailed this one gksgndfkj

also RIP TO THE GREEN VOID U WILL NOT BE MISSED o7

ah shit ok. well one of them was in the school uniform at least fjgugjdkf

why is my natsume lying there like hes abt to start a therapy session, boy would NEVER-

also the plushie hmnmhnmhngnf i dont KNOW i knew there was some kind of prop there but like gun to my head i woulda died again. main colors that stood out to me for this were green and that bluish purple so i got those into mine but i mean. well u can see

once again a random window in the bg i got correct let's gooooo 5/10

LMAO SPITS OUT MY DRINK WHOOPSIE!!!!!!

this is so fucking bad im choking im gurgling LOLLLL i was SO sure natsume's paper had an eye on it i was POSITIVE this is so fucked up. i mean obvs i picked that up from sensei but like i didn't even KNOW sensei was there. or that there were bg characters at all uuuuuououohghh (matoba ignored +5)

i was like. black yukata red flowers CHECK piece of paper w eye CHECK horns CHECK i even went back and edited the horns to be more accurate i was so proud of myself sobs

ok but i knew it was shit trasjh when those were the ONLY details i could remember bc obviously there was gonna be more going on I JUST DIDN'T REALIZE HOW MUCH MORE.....

straight up dookie/10 no jk fr like 3/10 @ me u need to use ur EYES

OK..... I WAS VERY CONFIDENT ABT THIS ONE..... except for his outfit i knew i was bullshitting that BUT I THOUGHT I NAILED THIS ONE....... the one fucking time i didn't just default to his uniform LMFAO

even remembered the pink flower ball smh and for WHAT. i knew he was sitting in a pile of plushies & blankets or smth but no way in HELL was i even gonna attempt to draw them with a speck of detail. but HEY the plushie i drew for vol 12!!! i knew he existed Somewhere. he doesn't even have a horn tho thats so fucked up i thought he did

obviously the most striking thing abt this cover is the bg w that deep burgundy & the circular window so that was the main thing i nailed down right away (my palette was more muted tho). also natsume sitting there w paper in his mouth but i thought he was mid return when rly hes playing like keep-the-balloon-off-the-floor or whatever the fuck he's doing. i love u natsume

(if i thought he was in the middle of returning a name WHY didn't i include the actual book of friends flksglkd automatic fake fan/10)

8/10 this was like my ace in the hole i was like if i got nothing else i got U volume 14!!! and then

NOT THE FAMILY PHOTO......... FUCKING DIES

man idk shit just end me. whats even going on in this cover im gonna deck u natori. dont ask why this makes me want to commit violence hes just so. URHGHGHnH

i dont know whats happening to me rn looking at this im losing my fucking grip dude who let this happen im gonna hurl this volume into the sun??? i think???

why did i add the other two youkai i just thought they should be included but i played myself i had to draw them from memory and for WHAT. pls tell me i got them at least a little bit right i stg

it's the crossed legts dude if he was just sitting there like a board the way i drew him id be like ah shit it was just natori sitting not natsume too but he just HAS to cross his legs and the fucing elbow propped up holding the glasses im S MAD IM SO MADdestroy him

it's 1am i gotta go. i have to go. right now my mom is calling me i have to fukcng. 4/10 i got the couch colorr right. bye

---

tumglr...... only allows 30 pictures per post..... bc im not on desktop? or is that a site-wide thing now. in any case this is getting long so i think im gonna split it right down the middle into 2 posts so there u go, first 15 volumes. so far my score is ermmm

well i didn't rate the first few volumes.

vol 1: 6/10 decent

vol 2: 6/10 also decent

vol 3: 5/10 composition is Scramboled

vol 4: 2/10 it's SO BAD

so now my overall score is 74/150 fjggudjofjdkgjk doing gr8!!!!!!!!!

ok bye for real ✌️

[thatswhatsushesaid]

I have a MDZS question and consider you an expert on all things JGY (he did crimes, good for him) so I hope you have some insight into this: I read that NHS found the Sacrifice Ritual in JGY’s Closet of Wonders, but how did JGY get it? Was it in WWX’s Burial Mounds “library,” and if so do you know where WWX found it?

Thanks, I very much enjoy your content!

hey there anon, it's very kind of you to consider me an expert, but i really am not 😬 i've certainly read, reread, and re-reread both the EXR and 7seas translations of the empathy flashback sequence many, many, many times, in addition to the guanyin temple sequence, because those are the parts of the text where jgy's actions are most frequently criticized and taken out of context. for details like the ones you're asking after, i've got to revisit other parts of the book again because my memory is a tea sieve, and i'm also not immune to medium bleed (no one is). so please bear with me, and keep tabs on the notes of this post for any discussion that follows since my pals often chime in with details i've missed.

first point of contention tho: it is never confirmed how novel canon nhs comes by his knowledge/familiarity of the summoning ritual, though wwx does speculate extensively in the guanyin temple denouement that he hears about the ritual from mo xuanyu himself. i don't think he gets his hands on the ritual himself, and i don't think he has access to the jin sect treasure room either. from vol 5 of the 7seas translation:

So yet another person came to [Nie Huaisang's] mind. Mo Xuanyu, who had been banished from Golden Carp Tower.

In the past, Nie Huaisang might have chatted with Mo Xuanyu to glean information from him. From the mouth of the dejected Mo Xuanyu, Nie Huaisang had clearned that he'd read one of Jin Guangyao's fragmented manuscripts of forbidden magic, in which an ancient, evil ritual was recorded. He had then incited Mo Xuanyu to exact revenge for the humiliation he'd suffered at the hands of his own clan members--to use the forbidden art of the sacrificial ritual to seek retribution.

in vol 1 of the 7seas translation, this is what the text tells us about the sacrificial ritual mo xuanyu uses to summon wei wuxian:

The nature of this "sacrificial ritual" was a type of curse. The caster was to harm themselves with a weapon, making cuts on their body and using their own blood to draw the array and write the spells within. They would then sit in the center of the circle and give up their mortal body to evil spirits, using the annihilation of their soul as the price to summon a nefarious, malicious ghost. This was all done in order to request the fulfillment of a wish. Thus, it was the opposite of "possession."

While both were forbidden magics of ill repute, the difference was that the former was much less popular than the latter. After all, few wishes were so strongly desired as to make someone willingly sacrifice everything they had. This was why the technique had been nearly lost after centuries of disuse. The examples recorded in ancient books had only a handful of cases that were backed by reliable evidence, and every single one of them had been for revenge. Every malicious ghost summoned by the ritual had fulfilled the caster's wishes perfectly, in cruel and bloody ways.

i've been thumbing through the rest of the 7seas volumes as well as the EXR translation, but i don't think there's anything more concrete about where the ritual comes from. i think it is entirely possible that the jin sect found copies of something like this ritual in the burial mounds, sure, but i also wouldn't rule out a ritual like this being contained in the treasure room entirely independent of wwx. there's canon precedent for it; case in point, recall the collection of turmoil in the gusu lan's forbidden section of their library.

anyway that's what i've been able to find today, but i'll keep poking around in the books to see if i trip over a passage that neatly answers all of our questions lol.

[ninja-muse]

So, as you can probably guess by this post, I've decided to continue posting wrap-ups after all, but not necessarily a review every month. (This month, for instance, I read a bunch of good stuff but nothing I wanted to rave about.) I'm still tracking this stuff for my own edification and I like coming up with snappy one-sentence summaries, so if I'm doing 90% of the work already…. You'll also notice that this year, for spice and transparency, I'm adding in where I got the books from, in case people somehow though I was buying everything.

Anyway, I've had a good start to my reading year, all told. Sadly I've already had a DNF—it's a great fantasy if you're moving from YA to adult, but I wanted something more—and one book that probably should have been a DNF but I pushed through to find out what was causing the horror stuff and … didn't get a good answer. But everything else was good!

I have not, however, done well on my goal of "buy fewer books". Mislaid in Parts Half-Known and the new Rivers of London comic were auto-buys, and The History of Magic is one I've wanted to read for a while but is now effectively out of print in Canada and unavailable at the library so when it showed up to work on sale…. My last book purchase was even more accidental; a semi-coworker reached out with their recent unhaul and asked if I'd like to take anything off their hands. I'd heard of Fantomina and it seemed up my alley—17th-century romance/erotic/feminist fiction—and the price was right.

Oh yes, and my work got Bookshops and Bonedust stickers. I had no choice there either.

And that's about it for updates! Click through to see everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

The Phoenix Crown - Janie Chang and Kate Quinn

An opera singer, an embroiderer, a painter, and a botanist are drawn together by a businessman with a love for Chinese art. Out in February.

7/10

main character with migraines, 🏳️‍🌈 main character (sapphic), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (sapphic), Chinese-American main character, Chinese-American secondary characters, Argentinian secondary character, secondary character with permanent hand injury and PTSD, Taiwanese-Canadian author, 🇨🇦

warning: misogyny, anti-Chinese racism including slurs

Reading copy

Bunyan and Henry - Mark Cecil

When Paul Bunyan leaves the security of Lump Town on a quest to save his wife, he learns that the tallest tale of all might just be the American Dream. Out in March

7/10

protagonist with disfigured foot and chronic pain, Black and Chinese-American secondary characters

Reading copy

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett

When Wendell’s past catches him up at Cambridge, Emily and he set out for Austria to search for his door. They know it won't be easy but they weren't expecting this.

7/10

🇨🇦

Borrowed from work

The Book of Doors - Gareth Brown

Cassie inherits a magical book that lets her travel anywhere. Other people will do anything to acquire it. Out in February

7/10

Black and Japanese supporting characters; fat, Chinese, and Egyptian incidental characters

Warnings for gore and violence

Reading copy

How to End a Love Story - Yulin Kuang

Helen’s YA series is getting adapted and she’s in the writer’s room. Unfortunately so is the guy involved in her sister’s suicide and she’s never forgiven him. Enemies to lovers. Out in April

7/10

Chinese-American protagonist, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, mlm), Middle Eastern-American secondary character, Chinese-American author

Warning: pre-book suicide, grief

Reading copy

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known - Seanan McGuire

When a student tries to force Antsy to work for her, Antsy and her new friends escape through a Door and begin a long trip home.

7/10

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (multisexual, trans boy); Japanese-American, Black, Latino, fat, and albino secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 author

Purchased

Rivers of London, Vol 11: Here Be Dragons - Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel

Peter Grant investigates a series of UFO sightings that have … wings and claws?

7/10

Black-British main character, Black-British secondary character, Muslim secondary character

Purchased

In The Pines - Grace Elizabeth Hale

A woman realizes the story of her grandfather stopping a lynching may have been very untrue, and digs into Mississippi history to reckon with what actually happened.

7/10

focus on Black lives

warning: racism, lynching

Library book

Bryony and Roses - T. Kingfisher

When Bryony tries to take a rose from a mysterious manor house, the Beast who lives there makes her stay. And there might be a curse he wants broken?

6.8/10

physical TBR/Christmas gift

Heartstopper, Vol. 5 - Alice Oseman

Uni is on the horizon and Nick’s unsure what he wants for his future. Charlie wants to take their relationship to the next level, but is he really ready?

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (gay, bisexual), Black-British, Egyptian-British, Middle Eastern-British and Chinese-British secondary characters, Muslim supporting character, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (trans girl, lesbian, asexual), 🏳️‍🌈 incidental characters (nonbinary), 🏳️‍🌈 author

Warning: author supports Israel

Borrowed from work

Bad Glass - Richard E. Gropp

Something horrifying is happening to the people of Spokane. A young photographer sneaks in to document it.

5/10

Indian-American secondary character, Black secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (gay)

warning: body horror, dubious consent

Library ebook

DNF

Sun of Blood and Ruin - Mariely Lares

Pantera fights to protect her city from Spanish colonists while hiding her true identity as a noblewoman. Unfortunately, the world might soon be ending. Out in February.

Indigenous Mexican protagonist and secondary characters, Mexican-American author

reading copy

Currently reading

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

The Black and Jewish residents of a Pennsylvania neighbourhood get along (mostly) but tensions build when the government decides to take a local Deaf kid to an asylum.

Jewish and Black cast, major character with chronic illness and a limp, secondary Deaf character, Black author

warning: ableist characters and institutions, racist and anti-Semitic characters

Library book

Eve - Cat Bohannon

A history of human evolution, through the lens of the female body.

reading copy

Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts.

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle Victorian detective stories

major disabled character

warning: racism, colonialism

Stats

Monthly total: 11 Yearly total: 11 Queer books: 2 Authors of colour: 1.5 Books by women: 7 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 1.5 Classics: 0 Off the TBR shelves: 1 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 5 ARCs unhauled: 5 DNFs: 1

[cavalierious-whim]

Good news everyone! I've added Romanistique, Vol 1 to the shop for preorders!

I just lost my job, so any reblogs and shares are appreciated.

Shop link can be found here! Book specs as follows:

If you'd rather a digital copy of the PDF ONLY, you still can snag those here on my gumroad!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter if you haven't!

As a reminder, these listings are for PRE-ORDERS of printed copies of some of my most popular works. Included with the purchase is a PDF. Turnaround time is estimated at 2-3 months after Pre-orders close. Subject to change depending on production.

"What is a romance but learning to compromise? Kaveh and Alhaitham have a lot to unpack in regard to their feelings for each other, but there is one simple fact: Love has no rules, and so, getting there is entirely on their own terms."

Alhaitham/Kaveh, Explicit. 35 Fics.

INCLUDES 5 BRAND-NEW FICS: 'Boiling Point' "They fuck for the first time after a heated argument." 'What An Asset' "Kaveh likes to traipse around the house wearing one of Haitham's shirts, totally ass out. " 'On-The-Clock Shenanigans' "Alhaitham is super stressed as the Acting Grand Sage, so Kaveh warms his dick under the desk." 'Touchy-Feely' "Drunk Alhaitham doting on Kaveh after a night out, cuddling close and being oddly sweet." 'Ready, Set, Recharge' "Clingy Alhaitham who just needs to recharge with a hug."

A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 300 + pages

Find the listing here.

"A trip through the ages as Zhongli and Childe learn what it means to love each other."

Zhongli/Childe, Explicit. 34 Fics. Featuring the art of: Jieverysus, Enesefwee, and Hatogaia.

INCLUDES 4 BRAND-NEW FICS:

'Nibble' "After a flirting snafu, Zhongli is dying to kiss the pout off of Childe's face." 'Cringeworthy Kiss' "Childe comes home and gives Zhongli a big smooch, forgetting that he just ate seafood." 'Special: Xiangling' "Xiangling would like personal recognition for being the reason Zhongli and Childe are together (says she)." 'These Marks Spell Love' "Zhongli has very few scars, collecting and keeping the ones that have meaning-- like the scratches Childe leaves on his back from their lovemaking."

A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 300 + pages

Find the listing here!

"Childe once saw a glimpse of his nerdy Uni roommate Zhongli, and it was over for him. Cue the pining, the moping, the fucking around to forget the sight of those rock-hard abs hidden underneath those sweater vests. Just one problem: Zhongli thinks exactly the same." Zhongli/Childe, Explicit. 7 Chapters + Epilogue, and extras. INCLUDES 3 BRAND-NEW FICS: 'Zhongli, the Bed is Just Too Fucking Big' "Childe and Zhongli are used to snuggling in cramped quarters, so their new bed is awkward at first." 'No, Childe, It's Not Appropriate to Fuck Near the Priceless Antiques' "After getting his PhD, Zhongli accepts a teaching position. Childe, having since graduated, pays visit at Zhongli's office for some fun." 'Let It Be Known: Zhongli is Childe's #1 Fan' "Childe has gone pro. Zhongli surprises him by appearing at an away game in Sumeru and they fuck like rabbits in their hotel room because he's been traveling too long." A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 150+ pages

Find the listing here!

"Childe has held a candle for the fancy CEO he's delivered to for several years. The man couldn't possibly like him back... right?" Zhongli/Childe, Explicit. 6 Chapters + Epilogue. Features Art. INCLUDES 6 NEW FICS! 'Blessed Be Our Space' "Childe moves in." 'Punchline' "Zhongli proposes eloping, which Childe thinks is a joke." 'Only You' "Zhongli and Childe do as one does on the honeymoon." '20% Tip' "It's the anniversary of Childe's first delivery to Zhongli." 'Dastardly' "Zhongli is asked to consult during a business dinner as a favor, which leaves Childe to tease him relentlessly when brought as his plus-one." 'Gilded' "Zhongli and Childe cuddle on a cold morning." A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 150+ pages

Find the listing here!

'Liyue has fallen cold with the turn of Winter, snow flurries filling the air. Join Zhongli and Childe as they celebrate the Yuletide season, their love, and everything in between. A Yuletide Treasury is a series of interconnected oneshots based on a holiday themed prompt list.' Warning: The NSFW content is SWITCH. These fics feature both T/B dynamics as Childe and Zhongli are versatile in this collection. YOUR CHOICE OF:

NSFW, 150+ pages, 31 Fics, 4 NSFW Fics SFW, 130+ Pages, 30 Fics

A5, Matte Cover, Full-Color

SFW listing can be found here.

NSFW listing can be found here!

Likes, shares, reblogs here and sharing on twitter is appreciated!

[semper-legens]

67. Five Nights at Freddy's: Fazbear Frights vol 1

Owned?: No, library Page count: 192 My summary: A boy falls into a ball pit and comes out the other side in 1985. A girl wants to be beautiful and gets help from an unlikely friend. Some kids want the newest toy on the scene, but wind up stealing a defective copy. Three dark tales from the world of Five Nights at Freddy's. My rating: 2/5 My commentary:

Yeah, yeah, I know, laugh away. I found myself with a strange fascination about Five Nights At Freddy's lore not too long ago, culminating in me reading Cawthon's trilogy of FNaF books. But there's another branch of the FNaF lore that I haven't plumbed - Fazbear Frights, a series of short stories loosely connected around Freddy Fazbear's. This is the graphic novel adaptation of the first set of Fazbear Frights, and when it crossed my desk at work, I knew I was going to end up reading it. Hey, it's not like it took all that long. And I wanted to close off the chapter of my life where I inexplicably care about Five Nights at Freddy's by sampling the last of the FNaF lore that I hadn't yet touched. And so, here we are. This comic is split into three stories, and I'm gonna talk about all of them.

The first is the story of Oswald, a kid from a poor family stuck in his hometown over summer. He finds a ballpit in a local diner that transports him back to Freddy's in 1985, but when he does he finds himself face to face with Springtrap, who follows him back to the present. Which is…a very silly premise, but I'm willing to forgive the time-travelling ballpit. Yeah, it's ridiculous, but the 'innocuous object that takes you back in time' trope is a horror staple. I'm less willing to forgive the utter failure of this story to be horror, however. Oswald ends up going back to what I assume is the child murders, but the sequence of events as seen here is that he goes back to a Freddy's that is in chaos, Springtrap leads him into a back room, and we see six kids…just kinda sitting on chairs, a little slumped over, from the back. The implication is that they're the murder victims, but we don't see anything, they're just kind of there. No blood, nothing. And when Springtrap follows Oswald back to reality and takes his dad's place, he just…doesn't do anything. Literally. He's just there. It isn't creepy, it isn't scary, it's just baffling. There's hardly any tension because there's no threat, at least not as presented by this book. Baffling choices.

Then there's Sarah's tale. She's a teen or preteen girl who thinks she's ugly and wants to be beautiful. When she finds Circus Baby, she asks that Baby make her beautiful and, for a time, gets her wish. I…dislike how the one story about a girl is a moral lesson about Vanity Bad, but even aside from that, this just isn't a particularly well-realised story. Like, Sarah is given a necklace by Baby that she is told to never take off ever, so of course late in the story she trips and the necklace breaks. At least, I assume that is what happens. The art never actually shows that happening at any point? Sarah trips over, then starts transforming because surprise surprise she's a robot now. The necklace being off should have been shown explicitly, but it's just mentioned in dialogue, not drawn attention to in the art. Aside from that, Sarah was just so unlikeable that I struggled to care at all about this story. She makes fun of her friend for not being beauty-obsessed, and wants to get with the mean popular girls…just because they're popular, I guess? It was like a high school girl cliché as written by someone who has only ever experienced high school via bad movies. Bleh.

Finally, Oscar and his friends want to get their hands on a new toy - Plushtrap, a mechanical doll that plays a game with its owner. But when they steal one from a mysterious store, they find that Plushtrap is more alive than they thought. This one was possibly the most competent of the three, in that it actually was a horror story, but it was largely clichéd and not very interesting in and of itself. A killer toy, a little shop that wasn't there yesterday, a kid struggling with some emotional problems that are never really explored to any satisfactory level…the art was creepy enough in itself, but I had the same problem with it that I had with all of the art in this book, that it was kind of smudgy and not particularly representational of any one thing. Characters looked too similar to one another and I struggled to discern them. Plushtrap, too, fell into the trap (heh) of looking too overly creepy from the start and not being believable as a toy that a child would genuinely want to own, as opposed to a horror vehicle. Also, what teen boys really want a doll? It was just…bland, overall.

Next, back to April May, and her friends attempting to solve just what happened to her.

[laurelnose]

i reread Animal Farm this month. it’s been almost ... fourteen years? since I first read it. coincidentally I also relatively recently read the first volume of Animal Castle by Xavier Dorison, back in November, which is a direct response to Animal Farm. returning to Farm as an adult and with that in the back of my mind made for a really, really interesting contrast.

first of all I simply love Animal Castle. it’s exquisite, one of the most beautiful animal fantasies I’ve seen illustrated in a long time. Felix Delep’s forms and gestures are so weighty, so fluid, & his designs evoke realism and character in equal measure, which is a hard line to walk in animal fantasy. every character is distinct and recognizable with resorting to caricature — an equally artful character design sensibility, but incorrect for the tone of this book. (can’t help but compare w/ Joe Sutphin’s recent graphic novel adaptation of Watership Down, which similarly wanted a realist sensibility and was genuinely a joy to read but suffered from all the bunnies looking the same, much like real bunnies.) and every panel is a treat to look at! Delep’s backgrounds are sooo detailed, the sense of place is really fantastic, not to mention his handling of light. pick this one up in hard copy if you can, it’s so worth seeing in person.

textually, storywise, it is equally excellent. Dorison is doing something different from Orwell: Farm is allegorical, a fable, which by necessity makes simplifications and operates with broad strokes, relying on archetype. Orwell is not particularly interested in the inner lives or personal relationships of any of the animals, which is fine for a fable. but I think it has a major failing, which is that basically all of Orwell’s working class characters areeeee... dead stupid. The working animals are, with the exception of Benjamin the donkey (who is cynical and apathetic), ignorant, illiterate, incapable of becoming literate, and without agency. This is even true of their descendants! (I do not think I am personally quite as pro-revolution as Jones Manoel, but I find his critique of Farm on this basis very compelling. This isn’t the only theme or moral you can pull from Animal Farm, but it is easy to read one of the main themes as “dictators are inevitable because regular people are stupid and gullible and cannot be educated,” which is ... I do not endorse this.)

Castle, on the other hand, is an entirely character-driven story. Miss B, our beloved Miss B, may not the smartest or strongest or best-positioned individual, but she has a will, she has a personality, she has opinions, she has family and friends and material interests and incentives, and Castle cares very much about all of these things. it also is far more interested in the small, mundane details of resistance against authoritarianism; no glorious revolution (yet? the story is still in progress & I need to read the first 3 issues of vol. 2, but I doubt it), but the small acts of rebellion and community building that are no less important. it is also, of course, very relevant that Dorison’s protagonist is a single mother. Dorison is interested in the ways women manage in authoritarian regimes — the hens whose reproductive labor is exploited are a much bigger part of the book, and the ewes (some of the sheep are ewes!) are not brainless sycophants but people who are realistically cowardly and reluctant to make waves, plus there are also rabbits in Castle and iirc they’re doing some sex work — and this also includes those who cozy up to the government. Orwell, known misogynist, very briefly mentions a female dog and a couple of sows, but only as vehicles to produce Napoleon’s guard dogs and more pigs; Dorison sketches out the ox dictator’s consort and the wife of the chief guard dog as minor but fully considered characters with concerns and incentives of their own.

Castle also has a much less hypercompetent authoritarian government. Metatextually, neither Napoleon nor Snowball are actually superhumanly competent compared to an average person, but the rest of the animals are so stupid that the bar for competence is on the floor. Castle knows & shows that dictators are not actually head and shoulders above working class people in terms of competence, only in terms of the amount of force they can bring to bear.

i don’t think Castle is necessarily strictly better than Farm, they have different concerns (Farm, by Orwell’s own admission, is much more immediately about revolutions failing, and Castle is more about existing under authoritarianism afterwards) and are also fully different forms (the allegorical novella vs. the serialized graphic novel), but... my edition of Farm (Signet Classics 1996) has a quote from the NYT on the back, reading, “A wise, compassionate, and illuminating fable for our times.” illuminating? yes. compassionate? no, I don’t think so. Orwell does sympathize with his characters (except Mollie, justice for Mollie) and wants you to sympathize as well (weren’t we all traumatized by Boxer’s death in high school?) but still, he is distinctly in contempt of the common man and women generally. I prefer Castle.

[theia-eos]

Thinking about Brave Soren

Soren won this years CYL event and I'm down for it, but I am worried about the art, after what they've done in past years. I've also been thinking about what I'd like to see since he won.

What I want most is Senri Kita as the artist, and her to be given free reins to do whatever she wants. I trust her with my life, and more importantly, my son's life. I'll ultimately be happy with whatever we get because it will be another Soren alt, but I've decided to share my thoughts publicly, even though no one asked.

The theme is usually someone important to the character or their family. I don't want an outfit solely inspired by Ike. I don't want an outfit based on his father, both for spoilers and for the fact that his father is awful. Really, I don't want him to just be dressing up at someone else. Brave Micaiah and Brave Camilla are in clothes closer to what they would wear, and I'd like that for Soren.

I would, however, believe that my son would look quite good in an outfit like this with GM inspired colors. Maybe with a little knife sage action for the weapon.

Cut for spoilers, I guess.

Literally I was flipping through the Tellius Recollections Vol. 1 book and I saw this sketch for an outfit for Rajaion, and I was like, that would be an excellent Brave Soren outfit. It meets a lot of what I'd like to see for Brave Soren, in that it can look like it's paying homage to a few different characters without looking terribly strange for Soren to be wearing.

A sloppy render of what I mean by colors, made possible by copying a sketch of Soren's face from the artbook onto the Rajaion concept outfit. I'm not totally satisfied with the color palette, but I kinda like it, and that's good enough for demonstration.

The watermark is only there to try and prevent people from mistaking this for anything official if it gets shared outside of Tumblr reblogs. I didn't actually draw anything, everything comes from the artbook and I treated it like a coloring book (digitally. I treated the artbook sketches like a coloring book digitally. I feel the need to emphasize that I did not color the physical book).

[vo-kopen]

For those of you who know me, I am a fan of a kickstarted indie comic called American Dreams. The comics takes place in 1900 CE and follows a Jewish immigrant as he becomes his Earth’s first superhero. There’s a good amount of focus on antisemitism before the Holocaust, which is novel for comics. Superheroes rarely are written about before WWI let alone WWII, and discussions of Judaism often end in comics with the holocaust, not the longer history. But it’s far from a dark depressing story, there is hope, community, and triumph. First thing he does after getting his powers is enjoy the wonder of flying, second thing is free trapped workers from a burning sweatshop. And for the historians, there are a lot of historical figures who either cameo or have major roles, Edison steals an invention of Teslas that he doesn’t understand, Houdini hires the lead as a strongman, Alister Crowley says “papa spank,” lots of neat stuff.

Currently, the writer of American Dreams has a new kickstarter for a new book set in the modern day. It stars a father and son crime fighting duo whose relationship and partnership is disintegrating. My impression is they might be pastiches of Bruce Wayne and at least one of the Robins, so for those of you interested in seeing the tropes of the batfam in other contexts, this might appeal to you. It is said to be more action focused than the other books, so for those of you who like fight scenes might enjoy it too.

But if this new book’s concept does not interest you but you still want to support indie superheroes, several of the add ones for the kickstarter are for issues of American Dreams or Knightwrath (character with so,e of the tropes of Venom and Spawn set in the same universe) So if you don’t care for “Rook and Knight,” you can still get something you do like and help indie comic creators make more stories. I for one am buying a physical trade of American Dreams vol 1. It’s a solid story, I like having physical copies in case the power grid collapses, and it means I can lend friends and family the book.

And if I can stand on this soapbox here, I know tumblr obsesses over the big two, gosh I have a fondness for parts of marvel myself. But outside of image, very few indie comic creators can afford to dip into genuine superheroes. They have to dive into other genres, since most readers would rather buy the big names than try something unknown. Occasionally you will get deconstructions of pastiches, but the big two basically have a monopoly. Which is not healthy for the industry or the art. If marvel and dc are the only options, then there is not much incentive to try hard. Topically, white Spider-Man sells no matter what. So if you have some money free, consider supporting this kickstarter. And while Knightwrath was not for me, and Rook and Knight might not be my style either, I do highly recommend American Dreams. Also there are trading cards this kickstarter so that’s fun.

@geekgirl101 @nonbinary-bosmer @bear-of-mirrors @thefingerfuckingfemalefury @majingojira @littlemissonewhoisall @akirakan @paulsebert @strixobscuro @renaroo tagging some of the comics crowd I know in case any of you might want to contribute to the kickstarter or boost it. There are about twenty days left for the kickstarter and they are already over halfway to the goal, but I figured I should make a post on it since I did for the previous kickstarters. Plus you know, I plan to check out Rook and Knight myself too, even if it ends up not for me, I want to give it a fair shot.

[janetkwallace]

Comparing old and new comic prints of Bill Sienkiewicz's The New Mutants

Bill Sienkiewicz is one of my favorite comic book artists, close to Romita Jr./Al Williamson's work on Daredevil. I'm very fond of abstraction and stylization, I think it ages well compared to realism, and Sienkiewicz's stuff, if I had a single word to describe it... I'd say it's very wild. He began to go crazy in his artwork on the pages of Moon Knight and The New Mutants, the latter which we'll be looking at today.

On the left are pages from my copies of "O Incrível Hulk" (Abril, 1989). On the middle are the scans of original prints of "The New Mutants" (Marvel, 1983), and on the right are the digitally restored pages from "The New Mutants Epic Collection Vol. 2: The Demon Bear Saga" (Marvel, 2019).

You know what is the saddest thing about comic book restorations? That someone at the Marvel Masterworks program went through the effort of preserving the tiniest bit of details in Sienkiewicz's artwork, like those ink splatters, but the coloring still feels wrong. Everything looks so bright it's distracting. Like, does it really matter if you can sharpen the black areas and make the artist's style more noticeable in the pages if the background is pure white and the colors are oversaturated by result?

It's like Marvel is saying "I'm sorry we couldn't deliver the definitive edition of our works with all the past limitations" when it comes to restoring their old comics. I wouldn't say it looks terrible (in fact, I've seen worse, like those Silver Age comics with gradients all over the place), but when it comes to reprints, I believe Marvel should consider what paper the art was originally printed on and that the colorists at the time purposefully painted those pages with saturated colors knowing it would darken on cheap newsprint.

Coloring was very limited in the 80's, even more so when these comics were distributed and sold in Brazil, but the pages on the left are the closest I'll ever get to reading Claremont/Sienkiewicz's The New Mutants in my language and in newsprint nonetheless.

[nabipenda-blog]

BOOKS I READ IN JANUARY.

1. Perks of being a wallflower - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.

We follow Charlie in highschool as he writes letters to a friend about his life and experiences.

This book is very short thus a quick read and is written in epistolary format and is very slice of life. We just see Charlie through his days in Highschool.

What I loved about this book is our main protagonist who is socially awkward but still very relatable. I also loved the other characters like his friends and family. I loved the music references and currently working on adding them to my playlist.

Highly recommend

2. Apothecary diaries light novel vol 1 and manga vol 1,2 and 3- 🌟🌟🌟🌟.25 ( average rating).

Set in ancient Asia, we follow Maomao as she is kidnapped and sold to the royal palace as a servant girl. She quickly gains attention of the higher-ups as an apothecary after solving a mystery involving the king's infant children.

I am actually a sucker for period pieces and this scratched an itch I had and was very satisfied. Loved Maomao and Jinshi's relationship as they helped each other solving this mysteries in the rear palace.

The light novel vol 1 is a combination of the manga volumes 1,2,3 and 4.

The anime is currently airing and I have just started watching it and so excited to experience this story more.

3. Komi can't communicate vol 1 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.

Komi is a beautiful girl who is admired by everyone for her looks but is socially awkward and has social anxiety to the point where she cannot talk to anyone. We follow her as she joins highschool and meets Tadano who is a very regular student and helps her make 100 friends.

This manga was such a breath of fresh air for me. I loved Komi and her budding friendship with Tadano and the journey she is undertaking to make 100 friends. We meet a few of the friends she makes along the way and all are interesting characters.

This is a slice of life comedy with lessons about friendship and life in general.

4. Billy bat vol 1 - 🌟🌟🌟.75.

Kevin Yamagata is a mangaka who writes a manga called Billy bat but soon he realizes that he might be copying an image from Japan that he saw while working in the military. This forces him to go back to Japan to look for the original creator and while there he realizes that this is a conspiracy bigger than what he could imagine.

I started reading this manga because I wanted to get into Urasawa's work and this one intrigued me because it was about art and I enjoy media that explore art. This manga does expand into conspiracies of it's own as we see Billy bat as an entity on its own. It also takes real life major world events in history and incoporates them into the story.

5. The murder of Roger Ackroyd- 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟.

This is a Hercule Poirot murder mystery. We follow Hercule Poirot as he is tasked with investigating the murder of a good friend.

It is so hard to give a proper synopsis of this book because of spoilers but I loved this book. It is a very typical murder mystery but the twist and how it was revealed was so shocking that I saw this book in a whole new light.

This is not my first Agatha Christie book and it will not be my last.

6. Heartstopper vol 2 - 🌟🌟🌟🌟.

We follow schoolmates Nick and Charlie who become friends after they meet in a class. This is a love story between two boys from different backgrounds.

Vol 2 begins immediately after vol 1 and in this one we see Nick coming to terms with his sexual identity and the blossoming love between him and Charlie.

[witchcraftingboop]

Would you please recommend mangas?

I'm not gonna lie to you, baby, my tastes are trash. You can call me the garbage man because bish I'm swimming in that shit, scooping it all up and dragging it back to my lil apt-- or maybe the Grinch... oh well!

Anywhoville, here are the mangas I've read physical copies of since this all started back on April 13th:

Fangs by Billy B-something - BL - I like their take on modern vampires. Could do without the crazy dude randomly (coincidentally) escaping from jail

Kaiju Girl Caramelize by someone - Straight, Romcom (wtvr that is in manga genres), takes place in a high school - hilarious and I love it

SpyxFamily also by someone - Idk what genre this is honestly but it's funny and good and I love it

Sleepy Princess In The Demon Castle - I have all 20 volumes because it is just a cute lil fun lil read

So I'm A Spider, So What - Okay, does the mc grind like crazy to level up? Yes but it's also hilarious and a lovely lil isekai about how a high schooler is reborn as a weak bb spider and becomes super op and challenges gods and demon lords ... 10/10, have every volume out rn and love it

Heaven Official's Blessing (light novels) - BL, Danmei - Listen. I love these lil fucks and I love how these are written -> Currently on book 2/5 in my lil shelf, six comes out in Sept I think

Given - BL - It's an okay series. I read it all (that's out), and it is amusing while reading, but ultimately probably won't read again

Fruits Basket - grew up on it, love it

Chobits - unfortunately grew up on it (why do I not remember how sexual this shit was like jfc did that throw me for a Loop lmao)

Savior's Book Cafe Story In Another World - Isekai (of a 30yo, not a teen for once), romance -- I adore this lil series. It's a cozy lil hug in a book

Uzumaki by Junji Ito - Horror - classic, love his art style and story telling, I don't find horror manga or anime scary though so I read it more like comedy tbh

I Want To Eat Your Pancreas - Tragedy(?), Romance(?), set in high school - I went into this expecting and knowing nothing and I enjoyed it a lot

A list of BL I read and enjoyed: I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love, There Are Things I Can't Tell You(💜), Sotus vol 1, Killing Stalking (??? is it BL idk,, it's B), Midnight Rain, The Flower That Seems To Truly Dance, Loved Circus, The Snake Who Loved A Sparrow (look out for anatomy oddities), Sasaki & Miyano, Secret XXX, Therapy Game

The Witch & The Beast

A Silent Voice

Fire Force, omnibus 1 (dunno about later ones cause this is the only series I didn't just buy complete)

My next reads are gonna be the series I just bought, so Demon Slayer, Ouran Host Club (again, childhood fave), Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo Ghoul Re, & Choujin X.

After that, the next batch'll likely be: Bofuri, Arifureta, & Overlord (all isekai - or in Bofuri's case video game life). Which I can recommend watching in the anime forms as well.

But yeah those are pretty much all the series I like that I can name off the top of my hear rn. There are definitely quite a bunch I'm forgetting, but I cannot be bothered because this lil answer has already gone on for a long time and been interrupted 4+ times by my Boss' after hours inquiries into his own goddamn schedule I'm going to beat this man with a sandal

But yeah that's it, anon, pillage through my wares as you please!

[scottwbeattie]

Review: Superman in the Seventies

Superman is not just my favorite superhero, he’s my favorite fictional character. Yet, comparatively speaking, I haven’t read that many of his comics, and, prior to this collection, I hadn’t read a single Superman comic from the 1970’s. I blame this entirely on DC, who, apparently, have no interest in publishing anything prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths. Even Superman in the Seventies is out of print, however, I managed to find a used copy on Amazon for a decent price and picked it up. Since I’m completely ignorant of Superman in this decade, I can’t say if the comics that they chose for this anthology are a good representation of the character at this time, but since it’s all that I have, it’ll have to do.

There are quite a few charming stories in this volume. I found that the ones I usually liked most were written by Elliot S! Maggin, but there were strong and weak stories from just about every contributor. The writers include a grab-pack of names that most DC readers of this era will be familiar with: Maggin, Cary Bates, Len Wein, and Robert Kanigher, but the biggest name undoubtedly will belong to Jack Kirby, as an issue of his Jimmy Olsen run is included.

The inclusion of that particular issue is a bit of a head-scratcher in that it ends on a cliffhanger, but the following issue is not collected. This actually happens a few times in the anthology, and so it can make for a frustrating reading experience. Again, I’m not familiar enough with this era to name a better stand-alone Jimmy Olsen issue, and it’s entirely possible that there isn’t one. I understand that you can’t not include a Kirby comic in a 70’s Superman collection, which is all the more reason to just create something like the equivalent of the Marvel Epic line (but that’s an argument for another day).

My favorite story might just be the Krypto story by Maggin, although I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a sucker for Krypto. As dated as it was, I also kind of liked the “I am Curious (Black)” where Lois Lane becomes black for a day. If you read it as a 2023 reader, then, yes, it’s very cringe, but if you’re willing to look at in its context, then it’s an interesting and well-intentioned piece of social commentary (although I suspect that, even in 1970, it came across as forced). “Must There be a Superman?” is a classic story that I’m really glad to have finally read and it lives up to its billing. There’s a few weak stories as well; the issue with Terra Man was just dull as he wasn’t a very compelling villain. The preface mentioned that he was an important foe during this decade, but he never came across as menacing. Instead, it felt like someone in the Superman office was a big fan of Clint Eastwood westerns and wanted him in a Superman comic.

The majority of the comics in this collection are drawn by Curt Swan, the definitive Superman artist, so the book looks great. My biggest complaint is that the quality of the paper and the scans don’t do justice to Swan’s art. Not to belabor the comparison, but the Marvel Epics treat the art from this same era with so much more reverence. To be fair, DC had a line of paperbacks and omnibuses (Wonder Woman: the Golden Age vol. 2, Green Lantern: the Silver Age vol. 4, The Brave and the Bold: the Bronze Age vol. 1, etc.) that was comparable in quality to the Epic line, but they never got around to printing any Bronze Age Superman stories, and, for the most part, it seems that the line has been discontinued.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Superman in the Seventies. The stories themselves were almost always charming and fun even when they ended on an unresolved cliffhanger, but the format is just not the way that I would go about collecting stories from this era. For Superman fans like myself, however, it’s worth owning until a better collection comes along.

[miradanii]

Been taking a break from Beast Wars to read MTMTE. As someone who reads more manga than American comics on my phone, this was sorta difficult to get into or keep up with but I can't say that I'm not having a blast (thank u reddit for your kind guidance until i accidentally ignored one portion but I'll get to that).

I have new favs thanks to this!! Loving Nautica so far. She's so cute! The pacing of the sassy dialogue is peak comedy. It's a fun series!

Many Thoughts and spoilers below.

It is so tremendously helpful that I already had a good amount of knowledge of the multiple transformers shows and interest in Megop that would diverge me into learning about other characters I'd love aside from the more popular characters that touch the mainstream media (actually I found out Rachet had a partner and I think that's one of the couples that pushed me towards attempting to touch the comics again).

Cyberverse especially. Not required to watch but it was helpful pointing out more characters that i wouldnt have known beforehand. Beast Wars was great cause I already knew who Ratrap was. Not that you needed to, but it was kinda nice to have that knowledge under my belt when introduced to him midway. Like I didn't need to learn to like the character, I already liked him and seeing him not in his original element was cool.

My god. Rant time (not harsh but i had some...difficulties....).

These comics are hard to get into (personally). It's just insane how far back the history goes, and what they reference and what you potentially needed to read for context (luckily they do state the issues where you can read what they're talking about but I'd rather not stop midway).

Also the amount of gorgeous detail and characters to keep track of. Comics like this are NOT meant to be read on a phone. That's a no shit but given I can't easily buy copies/can't ask for the library to get them I don't have a choice.

I realized this when I found out I bought Dark Cybertron back when this series was still in print. And...my god...okay so Dark Cybertron Vol 1 was what i mistakingly chose to try and get into comics back in high school. Finally had money. Windblade looked cool and it seemed that Dark Cybertron was her intro. So I picked it up. Horribly confused. Didn't know why the art styles changed and couldn't for the life of me recognize a chunk of the characters. Only to realize years later finally reading MTMTE did I understand I was I the middle of a god. Damn. Story. Not only in the middle of a story. But two stories. And needed to read the one shot of the Death of Optimus Prime. This was so much lost info I shelved that book for years until I finally got to it.

I was incredibly happy I had that book because it was a wonderful reading experience. To read the comic on printed pages and comprehend every panel whether it had a large amount of dialogue or not. Really I'm understanding why they actually had different art styles for different groups and got to say, I really appreciate it. Not only was it helpful to pinpoint where to go back on if I needed to, but a better grasp of different sections of the story. I remember seeing complaints about it but after reading the dang thing I understand what they were going for.

The bliss of reading Dark Cybertron ends when I didn't pick up that the issues alternated....after finishing volume 1...I didn't have the second book (I wish I did if I knew there were only two books...)

I went back to MTMTE. Confused who the fuck Nautica and Chromia were...kept reading....what happened to the giant Titan battle??? MEGATRON LEGS WHERE?? WHAT DID HE DO TO SAVE THE PLANET? until the end NOT REALIZING I COULD HAVE JUST FOUND VOLUME 2 OF DARK CYBERTRON ONLINE OR Realized to even alternate between RID and MTMTE.

Of course I did go back and skim through the chapters realizing what I had missed and the sweet bonding between Megs and Bumblebee. But...boy howdy did that slightly ruin the story for me all because I didn't realize the comics alternated due to the fact I was reading a volume that put the story together in one book....

Anyways. I'm enjoying the comics now. It can be a little dense at times, however the character interactions and dynamics really make it for me. Chromedome and Rewind wow yeah that one I was trying to the through so hard after Rewind died I found out he somehow lived and wanted to get to it, not expecting the reason why...which...wow.

Minimus and Megatron, that's been a lot of fun!

It is wild what these comics have these characters do and the absurd amount of depth every single one of them already have. It's not something I'm used to. Again, I don't usually read American comics. It's kind of like that one mcdonalds drivethrough meme but as an entire comic series. That's probably a lot of comics series but that's...that's the feeling right now...

[cavalierious-whim]

YEAH YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT! I haven't posted on Twitter yet, but I've opened up my shop for Physical Copy Pre-Orders! Pre-orders are slated to end on August 30, next month! Shop link can be found here! Book specs as follows:

If you'd rather a digital copy of the PDF ONLY, you still can snag those here on my gumroad!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter if you haven't!

Etched in Stone, Vol 1

"A trip through the ages as Zhongli and Childe learn what it means to love each other." Zhongli/Childe, Explicit. 34 Fics. Featuring the art of: Jieverysus, Enesefwee, and Hatogaia. INCLUDES 4 BRAND-NEW FICS: 'Nibble' "After a flirting snafu, Zhongli is dying to kiss the pout off of Childe's face." 'Cringeworthy Kiss' "Childe comes home and gives Zhongli a big smooch, forgetting that he just ate seafood." 'Special: Xiangling' "Xiangling would like personal recognition for being the reason Zhongli and Childe are together (says she)." 'These Marks Spell Love' "Zhongli has very few scars, collecting and keeping the ones that have meaning-- like the scratches Childe leaves on his back from their lovemaking." A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 300 + pages

Hook, Line, and Sinker

"Childe once saw a glimpse of his nerdy Uni roommate Zhongli, and it was over for him. Cue the pining, the moping, the fucking around to forget the sight of those rock-hard abs hidden underneath those sweater vests. Just one problem: Zhongli thinks exactly the same." Zhongli/Childe, Explicit. 7 Chapters + Epilogue, and extras. INCLUDES 3 BRAND-NEW FICS: 'Zhongli, the Bed is Just Too Fucking Big' "Childe and Zhongli are used to snuggling in cramped quarters, so their new bed is awkward at first." 'No, Childe, It's Not Appropriate to Fuck Near the Priceless Antiques' "After getting his PhD, Zhongli accepts a teaching position. Childe, having since graduated, pays visit at Zhongli's office for some fun." 'Let It Be Known: Zhongli is Childe's #1 Fan' "Childe has gone pro. Zhongli surprises him by appearing at an away game in Sumeru and they fuck like rabbits in their hotel room because he's been traveling too long." A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 150+ pages

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

"Childe has held a candle for the fancy CEO he's delivered to for several years. The man couldn't possibly like him back... right?" Zhongli/Childe, Explicit. 6 Chapters + Epilogue. Features Art. INCLUDES 6 NEW FICS! 'Blessed Be Our Space' "Childe moves in." 'Punchline' "Zhongli proposes eloping, which Childe thinks is a joke." 'Only You' "Zhongli and Childe do as one does on the honeymoon." '20% Tip' "It's the anniversary of Childe's first delivery to Zhongli." 'Dastardly' "Zhongli is asked to consult during a business dinner as a favor, which leaves Childe to tease him relentlessly when brought as his plus-one." 'Gilded' "Zhongli and Childe cuddle on a cold morning." A5 Paperback, Uncoated Pages, Matte Cover NSFW 150+ pages

A Yuletide Treasury

'Liyue has fallen cold with the turn of Winter, snow flurries filling the air. Join Zhongli and Childe as they celebrate the Yuletide season, their love, and everything in between. A Yuletide Treasury is a series of interconnected oneshots based on a holiday themed prompt list.' Warning: The NSFW content is SWITCH. These fics feature both T/B dynamics as Childe and Zhongli are versatile in this collection. YOUR CHOICE OF:

A5, Matte Cover, Full-Color

NSFW PDF, 150+ pages, 31 Fics, 4 NSFW Fics SFW PDF, 130+ Pages, 30 Fics

Turnaround time is estimated at 2-3 months after Pre-orders close. Subject to change depending on production.

Likes, shares, reblogs here and sharing on twitter is appreciated!