#god i need to reread the magician's house

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

love an eccentric wizard and their nonmagical apprentice. you love to see it

[bansheeoftheforest]

Still refusing to reread PJO/TKC but it is still infesting my brain so woe crossover au be upon yall

Au where Anubis casually gets assigned to be Bianca's and Nico's older brother, anyone?

(messy points below, mostly from Anubis' pov coz he is my pookie, and keep an eye out in the reblogs section for add-ons/updates!)

Like, once the other Egyptian gods start dropping like flies because the magicians are imprisoning them, assuming they may also go after Anubis, he turns to Hades as a very very very last resort because, well, he would like to not be imprisoned for all eternity, thank you very much. Hades agrees on the condition that Anubis looks after his demigods, since he otherwise really isn't to any use of him, which Anubis accepts. So, Anubis is basically the Hades/Pluto demigods' divine babysitter in exchange for some protection from the magicians who may or may not also want to imprison him.

I shall say that this either works bc A) Hades kids radiate enough death so that he can be around them without a host or B) it is all just bureaucracy so when the rest of the Egyptian gods are gone those rules simply do not really apply.

Anyways, once the Big Three ProphecyTM rolls around and Maria Di Angelo kicks the bucket, Anubis is left in charge of making sure the Di Angelo siblings survive, taking them to and staying with them at the Lotus Casino and the different schools that Hades moves them around to, either as their "older brother"/guardian or as their pet dog that the authorities simply don't bat an eye at.

The siblings, with their memories absolutely fucked up, simply accepts that they either have a brother, a dog, an older brother who is occasionally a dog, or a dog that only conveniently shows up when their brother isn't there and vice versa.

And since I haven't read any RR books since I was 12 and I never read the HOO series, I can't really talk much about the logistics from here on out but. I have some thoughts in general.

Anubis makes sure that he takes the majority of the responsibilities, so that Bianca can be a little more happy and a little less stressed than she would have been if she was alone looking after her little brother.

He also happily distracts Nico when Bianca needs a break, he can genuinely listen to Nico ramble about whatever for hours, remembers it quite well and can return the conversation, which Bianca rarely has energy for.

(He was the exact same when he was young and wants to make sure Nico has someone that listens to him)

Genuinely cannot rest until he makes sure the siblings are fine and safe, which becomes a bit of a problem when Bianca goes on her first and last quest, and even more of a problem when he is more stuck in the Brooklyn House and he has to keep contacting Nico before he allows himself or Walt to rest as a result of that.

He is so so so so SO protective of the siblings. He is absolutely ready to die or kill for them. He is not a fighter, more often than not a pacifist, but when it comes to them he is the first to throw hands.

Also him absolutely being ready to kill the demigods that find the siblings at the military school coz he is so used to the "any demigod or magician is here to kill one of us and I have to protect them at all costs" mode that he has been kinda stuck in for the last 70 or so years, minimum.

He is merely an older sibling running on the equivalent of 3 hours of sleep and 2 strong coffees, which really doesn't help the situation once shit starts going down in Brooklyn/the Egyptian pantheon.

Speaking of the Brooklyn House. After being a Divine BabysitterTM for like 2000 years he genuinely cannot get rid of those base instincts, which ends up with him fussing over the Kanes/Walt/Zia and the rest of the initiates because those are CHILDREN and they need to REST and be SAFE and EAT PROPERLY and TAKE YOUR DAMN VITAMINES, WALT.

Because of those 2000 years of babysitting, Anubis is genuinely amazing with kids. You'd think they'd be scared by him, but no. He is the first one they run to when they scraped their knee and need a band aid and a hug.

He also 100% stares right into Percy's and Will's souls the moment he finds out Nico has/had crushes on them. Despite being raised in an entirely different time he definitely is a "no dating until you are at least 25 otherwise I might have a heart attack" sibling and he is not letting some random demigod break his lil brother's heart. He accepts Will well enough though coz he makes Nico laugh which in the end is the most important thing.

Will might actually be more intimidated by Anubis than Hades but that doesn't stop him. Nico is his babygirl and he knows Anubis is (probably) more bark than bite (most of the time).

No matter if Hades allows him to like. stop being a babysitter once the gods are restored and Ma'at is balanced and all, Anubis still sticks around and checks in on Nico (and eventually Hazel). He gets antsy if he hasn't heard from them at least once a day.

He probably has a good base relationship with Jason and Reyna (bc both are protective older siblings when it comes to Nico) but he keeps Percy at a distance ever since Bianca's death (not that he blames him). But he isn't particularly close to any of them, as his priorities lay with Nico, Hazel, and the Brooklyn House.

Assuming Anubis doesn't like. Introduce himself to the greeks as "Anubis" and instead says he is someone else, I have absolutely no idea when or if he would ever tell any of the greek demigods what he truly is. But I suppose Nico would eventually find out that his older brother actually isn't related to him at all, or even from the greek pantheon, and instead only happened to become his older brother as a favour to Hades. Depending on how he finds out he definitely could get upset but I like to believe he sorta figures eventually, and is just happy Anubis genuinely cares for him.

I also like to think that the greek gods they meet when the demigods take the siblings from the school to camp half-blood, just gives Anubis A LookTM. Either they are fully aware he is protecting the Hades kids or they think an Egyptian god is just casually hanging out with some random demigods. Which must certainly be a sight to behold.

Can yall for a moment imagine being the Kane siblings, trying to get the feather of truth from the god of death to avoid the impending apocalypse, who then says "sorry I am mostly on babysitting duty so I can't really help yall more than this, good luck tho."

Walt who meets Nico and is so conflicted because in one way he is slightly weirded out by this tiny depressed gremlin, but in another way the Anubis PartTM of him is just going "protect protect protect protect", which is a weird first impression.

One of the Kane siblings would be interested in Mythomagic, I just know it. Either Sadie coz it is funky or Carter bc it is nerdy. Either way, Nico has at least one Kane to bond with bc of it.

Nico just has the ultimate diplomatic immunity because he can go between Camp Half-blood, Camp Jupiter, and the Brooklyn House basically as he pleases.

On a completely different topic, the majority of Nico's wardrobe is just shit he has stolen from Anubis, he just lets it happen, in part because it is not like he as a god has a limited wardrobe, and in part bc Nico is absolutely adorable when he drowns in Anubis' jackets bc they are too big for him.

Also, Anubis helping Nico train his death magic, and teaching him the easiest ways to build endurance while using it.

Frankly the thought of the rest of the gods being banished, imprisoned, in exile or attempting to free themselves while Anubis is playing babysitter is very funny to me in general. Imagine being Isis or Osiris and attempting to ask your nephew/son what he did during the 2000 years yall were imprisoned and he goes "I took a side job as a babysitter to pay the bills".

Honestly I might reblog this with more thoughts eventually. They are all just so pookie.

[divkazkdovikde]

the ultimate guide

CAMP HALF-BLOOD CHRONICLES

percy jackson and the olympians

the demigod diaries: the diary of luke castellan (takes place 5 years before the lightning thief)

- the lightning thief

- the sea of monsters

- the titan’s curse

- the battle of the labyrinth

the demigod files: percy jackson and the stolen chariot

the demigod files: percy jackson and the bronze dragon

the demigod files: percy jackson and the sword of hades

- the last olympians

the demigod diaries: percy jackson and the staff of hermes

the heroes of olympus

the prophecy of the seven, the whole gang

- the lost hero

the demigod diaries: leo valdez and the quest for buford

- the son of neptune

- the mark of athena

the demigod diaries: son of magic (non-canonical, contradictory to the events in the house of hades and the blood of olympus)

- the house of hades

- the blood of olympus

percy jackson and the chalice of the gods

6th book of percy jackson and the olympians, taking place after the events of the blood of olympus, and before the trials of apollo

+ more to be announced, 7th book of pjo: the wrath of the tripple goddes, release date 24/9/2024

the trials of apollo

- the hidden oracle

- the dark prophecy

- the burning maze

- the tyrant’s tomb

- the tower of nero

supplementary works:

- camp half-blood confidential (background facts about CHB)

- camp jupiter justified (story of claudia)

the sun and the star

takes place after the events of the tower of nero, nico and will’s book

OTHER SERIES & CROSSOVERS

the kane chronicles

in the same universe as chb chronicles, takes place around the same time as heroes of the olympus

- the red pyramid

- the throne of fire

- the serpent’s shadow

supplementary works:

- survival guide

- brooklyn house magician’s manual

demigods and magicians

percy jackson and the kanes crossover, shortstories

- the son of sobek

- the staff of serapis

- the crown of ptolemy

magnus chase and the gods of asgard

in the same universe as chb chronicles and the kane chronicles, takes place around the same time as the trials of apollo

- the sword of summer

- the hammer of thor

- the ship of the dead

supplementary works:

- hotel valhalla: guide to the norse words

- 9 from the nine worlds

alright, that’s a wrap, i’m currently rereading the whole percy jackson, (halfway through the blood of olympus now, hehehe), and the only reason why i made this is because i’m a big nerd deep in my heart and needed to do this for my sake and my sake only. i also have insomnia, it’s like 2am rn. but you guys can use this guide too, i’m nice like that

[thelunarfairy]

The Wizard of Oz and Hanako-kun

I will confess that I felt like rewatching the film about the great Wizard of Oz after seeing the references in the manga. Haha, the feeling of nostalgia when seeing it again after so long is really good. It ended up that I found myself daydreaming about the film and why Aidairo used it as an explicit reference, that is, she made it very clear that it was about that story, so I started comparing the two.

Come with me and see what I discovered. Remembering that I'm comparing the manga to the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" I'm not going to compare it to the book because I have to reread it (my memory isn't the best).

Let's start.

One day, Dorothy came running home in despair, her poor dog had entered the yard of an evil neighbor. She told her aunt and uncle what had happened, but they were too busy to listen to her. One of the friends from the farm says that the dog insists on going into her yard, so Dorothy should be smart and not go there anymore.

One day, Tsukasa came running home excited, told his brother that he had found something under the house. Amane, the older brother, seemed a little incredulous and Tsukasa continued going to that place where the thing was, even though it was dangerous.

Then, the evil neighbor knocks on Dorothy's door and tells her that she is taking the dog to be euthanized. The girl fights against it, but her uncles allow the neighbor to take him, she goes to her room and cries.

So, Tsukasa decides to sacrifice himself, even though Amane clearly loves him, he leaves and stays next to the thing under the house that is responsible for taking him. Amane stays in her room and cries while looking at the window.

After a while, the dog runs away and returns home, Dorothy is happy and decides to run away with him, but changes her mind when she meets a fake magician who advises her to return home because her aunt and uncle would suffer in her absence.

After a while, Tsukasa returns home, Amane is happy, but their mother decides to take him to be purified, those responsible for the temple advise the mother to return home, which she does.

When Dorothy returns, a tornado is causing chaos, she desperately searches for her family, but they are already gone, she enters the house trying to protect herself, along with her dog.

When Tsukasa returns, everything becomes chaos, at some point Amane decides to take his own brother's life, leaving his family while making this decision alone and taking his own life.

Dorothy and the dog are taken to another world (place) after being taken away by the tornado.

Amane and Tsukasa are taken to the supernatural world after the murder and suicide (let's interpret this as chaos, tornado)

Dorothy meets the Witch of the North, who tells her that she became known for killing the Witch of the East. The house had fallen on top of her, leaving only the ruby slippers. The Witch of the North says that in order for her to return home she will have to be careful with the Witch of the East (the sister of the wicked witch who wants the shoes) and that she should go after the Wizard of Oz. The Witch of the North gives Dorothy the shoes.

Amane becomes known as Hanako, and he says that in order for him to be forgiven and free himself from the supernatural world he needs to do things at God's command, he has to be careful with exorcists and he seems to have a goal. The item that Hanako gains, or rather the item that remains with him, is his knife.

Dorothy on her journey meets the scarecrow, the one who seeks a brain, the tin man, the one who wants a heart, and the lion, the one who wants courage.

Hanako on his journey meets Mitsuba, Yashiro and Kou. Mitsuba, the one who wants to be remembered, who wants to remember the past, Yashiro, the one who wants to love and be loved by someone, and Kou, the one who doesn't have enough courage or strength to go against his family or do what is necessary to protect that He loves.

Together, they go on a journey so they can fulfill their desires. Dorothy wants to go home, the scarecrow wants to be smart, the Tin Man wants to love and feel what it's like to be loved, and the lion wants to have the courage to be king. They travel together in search of the Wizard of Oz, the one who will make their wishes come true. The evil witch got in their way.

Together, they go on a journey so they can fulfill their own desires, Yashiro wanted a boyfriend and to be valued, Mitsuba was trying to make people remember him after his death, and Kou was trying to become stronger to prove to his brother that he was a good exorcist. Together they were trying to fulfill their desires, while Tsukasa and his companions hindered them along the way.

When they finally meet the Wizard of Oz, he tells them that he will only grant their wish when they do something for him. Dorothy and the other three were supposed to get the evil witch's broom, and so the magician would fulfill his promise.

The God says he will grant a wish to anyone who removes all of Yorishiro's seals. Hanako and the other two do so. They remove the seals along the journey.

When Dorothy finally manages to get the witch's broomstick, she unintentionally kills her. So, she goes back to the magician and discovers that he is the same fake magician she encountered when she ran away with her dog. The magician tells her that he doesn't need to grant their wishes, because from the beginning they already had everything they needed. The lion had the courage to go through that whole adventure alongside Dorothy, the tin man showed more feelings for his friends than any other man, and the scarecrow was smart enough to help them get to Oz.

And Dorothy? She had her shoes, the ones that would take her home. Then she asks why the witch of the North hadn't said it before, and she says that Dorothy should go through all that so she could learn.

In the end, the new rulers of Oz were the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man, while the fake magician leaves in a balloon, Dorothty goes home alone, waking up from her dream.

She realizes that the best place was her home.

The moral of the story is to show that they sought and desired what they already had and that even if they said it, they wouldn't believe it. It was necessary for them to go through that to understand that they didn't need anything from the beginning.

That they didn't need to wish for anything.

We don't know the ending of JSHK to compare it with the Wizard of Oz, but you can understand that if Tsukasa had never wished anything, he would always have been at home, he would never have left and nothing that happened throughout the story, would happen. But he had to go through all of this to learn that from the beginning he had what he needed.

Hahaha, it was really fun to make this comparison, I don't know if it will make sense to you but I liked it. I didn't compare it to the book, I need to read it again.

I don't know if it was on purpose or if it was just coincidences, but I found it very interesting. It's funny how the plot can easily associate itself with the premise of the Wizard of Oz story, even though JSHK has nothing to do with Oz, it seems like they follow the same narrative path. And the story being referenced in such a clear way for us shows that it has a meaning in the end.

In the end, they all just wanted to fulfill one wish, that's it

Everything begins and ends with a wish, whether in JSHK or the Wizard of Oz.

Hahaha, you don't need to take any of this seriously, I did it for fun, but I hope you liked it ♡

[readingrobin]

A little late, but I thought I would throw my hat in the ring for @logarithmicpanda's readathon going on this month. Since I have summer reading going on at my work (which is a stiff competition and can be a bit cut throat), it seems natural to tag along with this little challenge.

I've already done a fair bit of reading, so I'll do a quick update as well as to what I'm working on now/hope to get to by the end of June. Hopefully I'll be able to provide updates as well. We'll see.

Books Finished Thus Far:

Two Roads by Joseph Bruchac (Indigenous author) - A middle grade post-WWI historical fiction about a half-Creek boy who lives life on the rails with his father after losing their farm, and is sent to an Indigenous residential school when is father goes to Washington D.C. to protest for veteran compensation. Focuses more on the sense of community among the Indigenous children that came out of the residential schools than the harsh and brutal treatment they underwent there, but the latter is not swept under the rug. (3.5/5)

Lore by Alexandra Bracken - Sort of a Greek mythology meets The Hunger Games. After rebelling against Zeus, the Greek gods and goddesses face a punishment that, every seven years, they lose their immortality and fall to earth, where hunters attempt to kill them and take their godhood for themselves. Worldbuilding was a bit confusing and could have used a bit more clarity in certain aspects. (2.5/5)

Half-Witch by John Schoffstall - After her magician father is tossed into jail for a spell gone wrong, Lizbet must travel beyond the treacherous Montagne du Mondes to retrieve a mysterious book to save her father. Accompanying her is the acerbic and sarcastic witch, Strix. Together they face goblins, devils, and murderous humans and both are transformed in the process. Sort of like if a Grimm's fairy tale got really self aware. Great writing and has a very Neil Gaiman tone. (4/5)

Ember and the Ice Dragons by Heather Fawcett - a middle grade fantasy adventure about a dragon turned human girl by her adoptive sorcerer father. Ember has an issue of accidentally bursting into flames at certain temperatures and so is sent to her aunt's research base in Antarctica. There, she comes across a yearly hunt for ice dragons and their priceless scales and decides to sabotage it from the inside with the help of her friends. This was a fun story with great characters and I desperately need a sequel now. (4/5)

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - In order to turn around her family's fortune, Minli embarks on a quest to find the Old Man on the Moon with the help of a flightless dragon. This was an absolutely delightful middle grade fantasy inspired by Chinese fables that I absolutely flew through it. (4.5/5)

Currently Reading:

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea (reread) by T.J. Klune

June TBR:

Out of the Blue by Jason June

My Last Summer with Cass by Mark Crilley

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Plus others who knows

[aerialflight]

Fic Recs (cause it's always nice to give a shout out and get people into things I'm into rn)

[The Magnus Archives] (I recently finished the podcast and I fell into a hole for a while so here you go)

Sing a Song of Sixpence by Kaiel

Ship: Jon/Martin

In which Jonathan Sims is a Siren, and he fails to notice any new abilities granted to him by the position of Archivist. Or really anything about the Entities at all.

Takes place in season 1 featuring Jonah Magnus’s slow decent into madness

(The new mythology interwoven with tma's worldbuilding is so freaking good and I love how all the characters change and develop because of these changes. Also, f you Elias)

Along Came a Spider by Dribbledscribbles

Ship: implied Jon/Martin

Sasha James is the Archivist, as expected. Martin Blackwood is menaced by Jane Prentiss, as expected. Elias Bouchard weaves his web, as expected.

All goes as it should.

At least until something calling itself Jonathan Sims steps in.

(Web!Jon in this makes me want to weep, it's so freaking good. A pretty long, very excellent oneshot on what could've happened if Jon got taken by the web when he was a kid. And Sasha as the Archivist is ALWAYS so cool, we love her in this house.)

A Break in the Clouds by Ash_Rabbit

“I’m eight.” the kid sniffs as if eight was any different from four, maybe not an unspeakable horror then, just a regular horror. “And I heard that the Magnus Institute deals with-” his little nose scrunches, cute. “-spooky things.”

“Do you have a-” he cracks a grin, and then rethinks it as small hands tighten against their burden.”-spooky thing to deliver?” gods he hopes not, it’s bad enough when adults walk in and lay out all of their baggage, but for a child-

“There’s a spider in this book.” the kid says solemnly, raising his textbook sized parcel. “It ate Evan Pritchard.” a bloody fucking Leitner. Of course an eight year old would find a murder spider book. “This seemed like the best place to bring it.”

(I never thought about what the Original Elias could've been like AND NOW I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT BECAUSE OF THIS FIC. I LOVE HIM, HE'S COMPLEX AND HE CARES AND JON CARES AND THEY BOTH CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER. THIS IS THE CONTENT I WANT, OMG. Also, Jon being even smaller than usual is adorable, so cute. No wonder Elias wants to hug him, a LOT.)

See the Line where the Sky meets the Sea by The_Floating_World

Ship: Jon/Martin, Jon/Oliver Banks

When Jon is a child he looks into the infinite abyss of space. The Vast looks back into him.

(One of my all time fave fics in this fandom, no questions asked. I have reread this three times and am open to doing it again, god. Vast!Jon, such a concept. It's written so beautifully and the relationships Jon develops, so good. ugh. My heart. Please please read.)

Sweet As Roses by Prim_the_Amazing

Ship: Jon/Martin

“Come in, Martin,” he says, not looking up from his notes.

“Hi, Jon,” he says, and Jon stops writing at the sound of his voice. “We’re out of the green tea, but we’ve got lemon?”

Jon looks at him. Martin smiles at him in his usual tentative way as he sets the mug of tea down on Jon’s desk. Heat spikes so sharply in his gut that he twitches with it.

“Thank you, Martin,” he says, mouth dry, and he stands up.

“Oh,” he says, sounding almost surprised. He smiles again. “No-- no problem-- um, what are you--”

Jon takes Martin by the shoulders, leans up on the tips of his toes, and kisses him.

(You have no idea how much I howled through this fic, my god. *buries face in hands* The number of times I wanted to cry from sheer hilarity and horror reading this good lord.)

Things Could Always Be Worse by theOestofOCs

Ship: Jon/Martin, Georgie/Melanie

Sometimes, the most horrifying thing of all is what might have been.

Somewhere, Jon could swear he heard a crowd laughing.

Or: in which Jonathan Sims is forced to swap places with his alternate self—a tall, chivalrous hero extraordinaire, who knows neither fear nor nuance—and is sent to the aggressively straight alternate universe the Magnus Archives was never meant to be.

“Whatever place this is,” Jon announced, “I just want to be sure it knows I hate it.”

(I will say this once, THIS IS THE MOST CURSED THING IVE EVER READ EVER. Like holy hell. I can't believe this thing exists. please read it oh please please please)

-

[Supernatural]

heard from your mother (she don't recognize you) by Schmuzz

Ship: Dean/Cas, Jessica/Sam

A man named Cas wakes up in 2003 with no memories, but he's able to piece together a few things:

1. Supernatural creatures exist, and most of them will hurt innocent civilians if he doesn't stop them; 2. He has abilities that no human hunter should have, but he knows enough about human hunters to keep that to himself, and finally; 3. He keeps running into another hunter named Dean Winchester, who seems to be about as lonely as he is if he's willing to put up with those former facts long enough to help Cas unravel the mystery of who (or what) he really is.

For his part, Dean's still (not) dealing with Sam's departure to Stanford, and figures distracting himself with a bit of mystery and intrigue is as harmless as it gets, right? Right.

(THE fic I'm most into right now, been following this from the very start and it's AMAZING. Cas has agency and is making friends and S1 Dean is growing out of John's influence and is becoming a Person and the both of them first being friends then more. The slow burn as their relationship develops, SO GOOD. SO SO DAMN GOOD. *screams* Seriously one of the best spn fics I've read in a long, long time.)

anamnesis by cenotaphy

Ships: Castiel/Dean, Sam/Eileen

Chuck is depowered, Jack is the new god, and the world is free. Dean and Sam get into the Impala and chase down the miles on an endless highway, and their story is finally, finally their own to follow. At least, that's what Dean tells himself. But the diners and motels and painted interstate lines are blurring together and the smallest details keep catching at his brain like tiny fishhooks and he can't quite shake the feeling that not everything is exactly as it should be.

* Fix-it/alternate series finale. Canon-compliant through the end of 15.19.

(THIS IS THE FIC THAT GOT ME THROUGH THE FINALE OKAY. WHY COULDN'T THIS HAVE BEEN CANON. It's Disturbing and honestly plot-wise this makes more sense. Why couldn't we have had this. *screams*)

-

[Avatar: The Last Airbender]

where the stars do not take sides by WitchofEndor

Ship: Sokka/Zuko

When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them.

Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.

(The fact one of the tags in this fic is, "Sibling Dynamic: Fucked Up But Wholesome" should give you an idea what this fic is like. Chaotic as HELL and I just love Azula here, she loves Zuko so much in her messed up way and Zuko loves her back in the exact same way lol. It's batshit and I am Here For This.)

-

[Naruto]

Eclipse by AislingRoisin (JayBird345) for HybrisAnaideia

Ship: Nara Shikaku/OFC

"In life, it's easier to remain stagnant and wallow in your troubles. But life isn't merely about continued existence, nor is it meant to be gone through alone."

(This is a fic that's slept on and I NEED people to read this. A self-insert fic that I find really interesting in its approach and the worldbuilding for the post-third war shinobi world is fantastic. I feel like there's a certain pattern with self-insert fics, not that is a detriment in any way to how much I enjoy them, so this fic feels fresh to me in a way I haven't read in a while. I am waiting eagerly for this to get updated! Please read!)

On Freedom and Other Formalities by iaso

Ship: Kakashi/Genma/OFC

When push comes to shove, Hiwa Inuzuka doesn't go down easy. Reborn into a new, dangerous world? She puts her past life as a spy to work. Thrown into a war? Hiwa does her duty, for Konoha. And when she's forced into an arranged marriage? All there is to do is beat them to the punch and get married first. Thankfully, Genma Shiranui is willing to lend a hand. Literally. SI/OC

(Listen, LISTEN, it's about the slow burn, the longing, the communication (it both has and hasn't and isn't THAT great??), the messy way you fit three very different people together, it's so freaking good! Also, Kakashi is so Chaotic here this is my fave characterization of him, you can't change my mind. And Genma is a Good Boi who is Doing His Best, along with the Self-insert character who I LOVE SO MUCH, SHE'S FANTASTIC FNEIWOPAF. Sped past this fic in the speed of light, I could not stop reading!)(Honestly, read all of the author's fics, they're all really REALLY good!)

Building a Castle by WhisperingDarkness

Without needing anyone to tell her, Sakura knew that talking to someone no-one else could see or hear would make her weird. It would draw the bad kind of attention to her, something people could make fun of her for.

She didn’t like being weird, but she did like the voice. Her inner voice was helpful and it was a part of her that had always been there. The idea of it not being there would have been so much weirder than anything else.

It was during her first year at the Academy that Sakura realised the voice was not in her head at all, but that it came from a cloudy shape floating next to her.

(Basically a short-ish retelling of Hikaru no Go. Only with more Shogi and Nara and Ninja's)

(Sakura can see ghosts (I'm noticing this is a popular trope for her) and it's really cute haha! Her relationship with Tobirama is sweet and I just enjoyed reading this so much.)

-

[The Magicians]

So Long (And Thanks For All The Books) by IncompleteSentanc (Erava)

Ships: Quentin/Eliot, James/Julia, Quentin/Margo/Eliot

When Quentin is told Julia wasn't admitted to Brakebills, he realizes he has a drastic decision in front of him. If he tells Julia about magic, he'll have his mind wiped as well as hers. But he can't just leave her behind, either. He can't lose his best friend, and he can't let her life a life with her magical potential stolen away from her.

So he makes a third choice.

(Really, and I mean REALLY well-done canon divergent fic, this is the Quentin & Julia friendship fic I have been looking for forever. It explores so much of what could've happened and I just love Quentin here, I really really do. Characterization done so right. I also recommend the author's other works too. Been a follower of them for a long time, they're great.)

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[Game of Thrones]

The Road to Victory by writing_as_tracey

Too late in preparing for the Night King and the Long Night, the last stand at Winterfell is close to falling. Bran takes desperate measures to ensure victory, and Jon, Sansa, and Arya pay the price for it in a time unfamiliar to them, on the cusp of another war. [GoT, time-travel fix it]

(I swear, this fic made me laugh so many times, all the Stark are BAMF and fantastic, and Rhaegar gets Wrecked lol. It's crack btw, and the plot goes in directions you'll never guess and it's amazing hahaha!)

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[Haikyuu!!] (I am very very late to the fandom but here I am)

Ballare (To Dance) by MidnightSparks

Ship: Iwaizumi Hajime/Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, and platonic Kageyama & Kentarou (really love their friendship)

Kageyama’s first love is volleyball. His second, however, is ballet.

In one world, Kageyama Tobio is left behind by his parents. In this world, the existence of soulbonds keeps Kageyama’s parents in Miyagi and leaves Kageyama in the care of his grandma and grandpa.

(In which soulmates exist and that changes everything and nothing at the same time.)

(*buries face in hands* I have fallen for this ship so hard and I can't get out fudge me. I understand now. Their DYNAMICS FIEWONPAF)

Kings of Tomorrow by bokubroya (liarielle)

Ship: Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru

On the eve of Tobio’s 16th birthday, he counts down the seconds to midnight, and emerges with Oikawa Tooru’s name on his wrist.

It’s been two years since then, and Tobio thought they had an understanding. A silent, never spoken about understanding that this thing between them is nothing, and they’re going to pretend it doesn’t exist.

Of course, it’s just like Oikawa to change the game and leave Tobio wondering what comes next.

(I am WEAK for soulmate fics between these two, I don't even really like soulmate fics half the times what is WRONG WITH ME-)(Please suffer with me, I'm begging you. Its a good fic, thumbs up.)

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[Crossover]

Honey and Magic by JustARatherVerySillyWriter, White_Squirrel for Super Carlin Brothers

Fandoms: Matilda (yeah you read that right), Harry Potter

Everyone knew Matilda was a rather extraordinary child, but even she didn't know she was a witch. Matilda Honey receives her Hogwarts letter in the year of the Triwizard Tournament, and soon, she will leave her unique mark on the magical world.

(Do I even need to explain how amazing it is to have Matilda in the wizarding world? And Matilda is a HUFFLEPUFF AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL THIS FIC IS GREAT PLEASE READ!!!)

An Eye for an Eye by DpsMercy

Fandoms: The Magnus Archives, Welcome to Night Vale

In which Jonathan Sims is not from the UK but instead, if you took his origins and turned them sideways twice then flipped them over, he technically would be from the US, the town of Night Vale specifically. Elias can’t do shit about it and gets a headache and slowly creeping madness instead.

(Look, I know probably everyone has read this because if they haven't, what have you been DOING with your lives??? Jon interning at Night Vale is Incredible, nothing phases this man, it's Delightful. I laughed so many times reading this, I'm not even kidding right now. Read or perish.)

The Favour by R_Cookie

Fandoms: Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Ship: Original Percival Graves/Harry Potter

Percival is ten years old when his grandfather tries to tell him that he's ensured the greatness of the Graves legacy for him, that he ought to be eternally grateful - but the explanation is hijacked by a stranger who manages to intimidate Chester Graves with an ease never seen before.

or: Hadrian (Harry) Potter is the Master of Death, who grants Graves a boon. Nobody could have known that the Deathly Hallows didn't turn you so much into the 'Master of Death' as into the anthropomorphic personification of Death. And so, Death becomes Percival's guardian angel, and Percival does not spit out his cereal.

(Look, I don't know how I stumbled back into the FBAWTFT fandom either, it just happened and I'm grateful for that. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found this amazing fic. Their relationship is slow and strange and I just love how Percival is characterized here. Also, one of the tag promises that it deviates from canon so I am really, really excited for that! XD)

baby that's what i do by natanije

Fandoms: Naruto, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!

"Are you telling me," Hidan exclaims, incredulous, "that you collect money all this time to give to orphans?!"

Kakuzu pauses. He blinks a few times.

"Huh. I guess I do."

(Tsuna reincarnates as Kakuzu and it's HILARIOUS. HE'S SUCH A MOM HAHAHA)

[doctors-star]

Oooh directors cut on Two Magicians? (Yes I'm aware I asked about this one for the last ask game, I recently reread it and remembered how good it was sue me)

i'll pop it under a read more and then talk through the whole thing.

the central premise, here, is the strong overlap of early modern magic and religion. this is the hill this fic dies upon. this is why they cast on specific days, and the spells sound like prayers, and it's all a bit churchy. ruth casts for the sheep using agnus dei, which means lamb of god; the whole thing is rather easter-y, what with the palm leaves and lambs and ashes. incidentally, "palm to palm, bless us" is one of my favourite details in the fic, because it's a pun: palm (leaf) to palm (hand), palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss, etc.

ruth says "perhaps we ought to use the english prayer now, though; only i can't remember how it goes," which i imagine must have happened a lot during the reformation. like most people, they are neither fervently catholic nor protestant, but abiding by the rules set out by an enthusiastic government, and bending them where it suits. is this whole fic just my reformation thesis statement? yes.

yan-tan-tethera, an ancient british counting system largely used by shepherds, is absolutely clearly magic. i don't know why, but i know it in my heart. the idea behind tree roots and clay in your wall is to give the wall the sturdy stability of the roots - sympathetic magic. welsh is also clearly a magic language. it just is.

ruth's big book o' spells owes a debt to agnes nutter's prophecies, but also any good family recipe book that's full of newspaper cuttings from the eighties and receipts with instructions scribbled on the back, the collaborative work of at least three generations. at time of writing this fic, i was making up one such recipe book from a tattered file: gluing all these cuttings and scraps and notes into a scrapbook and noting down who wrote what, and when, to keep for years to come.

the parallels between this fic and the lammas hireling by ian duhig should be extremely obvious. i studied the poem at a-level and liked it very much for its magic and menace and weird gay vibes; a lot of details in this fic come from it.

alex isn't magic, he just knows about clouds. but also, a lot of early modern magic had to do with Signs and celestial movements and planets and such, so i couldn't resist tying them in.

the smoke of burning juniper is used in various rites to cleanse and bless a house and its inhabitants. ruth uses it to clean tables.

baptism is extremely important in early modern (and mediaeval and others etc) communities: it makes the new baby a part of the community, it is an excuse to hang about and coo over the child, but most importantly it protects the baby from the fires of hell, which is something of a big deal. it's why people got so up in arms about the anabaptists, who only went for adult baptism - when child mortality is so high, not giving the baby the protection of baptism is seen as neglect to the point of active malice. because birth was so dangerous, midwives were given emergency powers of baptism in case the child was clearly not going to make it; this way, at least, it wouldn't spend very long in the special region of purgatory just for unbaptised babies, and could be buried with a name rather than, as some were, as "creature." this is where i would go off on a tangent about chrysomers, if it were relevant enough to excuse it. can you tell i wrote an essay on baptism, and then a dissertation on death.

There was a preacher, once, that Alex had heard speak on a rare trip to Chichester for the big market there, who had said that the dead were not dead, but waiting; and that someday - and soon - they would rise from the ground and ascend, and that we need not, therefore, grieve. - this was a real attitude from some protestant preachers. i cannot imagine this made anyone feel any better, or grieve any less.

if anyone's been to the weald and downland museum, the maxwells live in pendean cottage.

ruth's baby basket is a reference to out of the bag by seamus heaney, another a-level poem whose imagery haunts me, which is all about birth and healing and sympathetic magic.

telling the bees is an ancient tradition, with practical uses: my mother, who was a beekeeper, tells me that a beehive that is used to the sound of your voice is friendly, less agitated, and less likely to swarm off.

britain has a great tradition of faerie hunts: pwyll, herne, white harts, etc. we used to be all woodland, hurtling about between trees to escape wild boar and ghostly frights, chasing and being chased. why not try waiting for your fae deer to come home to you instead? incidentally, if you've not been on a walk by moonlight along chalk paths in the wood, i would recommend it; it's deliciously ghostly and ethereal, and if you're tremendously lucky a friend will vanish abruptly from sight beside you, having fallen in a ditch. the light changes the colours of the downland, too - everything goes purple and blue in the halfdark. this is rather obviously set on my home turf, huh.

i've discussed the steeleye span-ness of this fic before, but this is the big bit. it entertains me that ruth becomes a cunning fox, having been what would, contemporarily, have been called a cunning woman.

and then, lo, it is all alright in the end. aw. if you still have any questions, let me know!

[imbellarosa]

Bella’s 20 books of 2020! Thanks to @thewestishharpooners who largely reignited my love for reading this year. I mean I knew HOW to read, I learned in school, but I re learned how to LOVE it adkjfld but ANYWAYS! 

The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman (yes. I know. this is three, but it’s lovely!!! the first one is slightly annoying re: the characters, but they LEARN and they GROW, and it feels so REAL, like I know them, like I *am* them) 

Beartown by Fredrick Backman. Have I talked about this one enough?? I don’t think I have. It’s LOVELY and gritty and REAL in the best and the worst ways. It reminds me of growing up in a small town. Lovely, lovely. It’s sequel is great too! 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrick Backman. For anyone who ever loved the real fairy tales - hard and sad and full of lessons and found love and family. 

Turn Around, Bright Eyes by Rob Sheffield. I read this one at the beginning of quarantine after I realized that it was a sequel to one I LOVED a few years ago. If you like listening to soft love stories about the way music heals and how the way we love matters more than how good we are, this one is IT! 

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett. A little girl just wants to be a wizard. No, rather, she IS a wizard, and would like for the world to understand that. How hard can that be? Lovely and sharp, and the perfect one to tune into during a run

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. This is another story about finding family, and the stories we tell ourselves. AJ runs a bookshop on an island after the death of his wife. His most precious book gets stolen, and, as a result, he finds a new beginning 

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. I actually read this one on a rec from here and BOY am I glad I did. I just. I don’t have any words for this one except if you LOVE “Aristotle and Dante”, this is the book for youuu

Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. History, huh? It lives up to the hype. Just read it. 

I Wrote This For You and its sequel by Iain S Thomas on @queenlokibeth‘s recommendation. Love notes for love lost, love found, and the love which remains, always. Added bonus: you can imagine these being the type of notes left around for anyone to find! 

Less by Andrew Sean Greer. This makes the list ONLY because my little cousin recced it to me. If you liked Eat Pray Love I think you’ll like this one too. I was not super enthralled by the story but I adore the person who recommended it to me so. 

Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell. If you like “I wrote this for you”, try this one next! The poems are sad, and they’re sweet, and you knew them complete, when you wore a younger man’s clothes....

The House by the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Magic, madness, heaven, sin. And love. That’s it, that’s the book, it’s lovely and Important without ever being tragic. 

Normal People by Sally Rooney. Idk why I liked this one but I read it in one sitting. I think it has something to do with the idea that people can stay with you forever without being together forever. 

Trigger Warning by @neil-gaiman . This might be my favorite anthology of short stories EVER, but the one that really put it over that line is “The Case of Death and Honey”. Bees and love and Sherlock Holmes? Yes Please! 

Nowhere Near You by @cuttoothom. I’d read this before but it has to make this list ANYWAYS because of the way it discusses heart, and love, and how the best love stories are the ones that are rooted in friendship and mutual respect and trust. Also mutant teenage kids and found family. It’s the second book in the series, but it’s my favorite of the two! 

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. American Gods was fine, but this one is AMAZING! It’s a kids book rooted in norse mythology with talking bears and foxes and owls and far off quests and an odd boy named Odd. 

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. It’s a heavy read, of course, but powerful, and it’s a good look into the way that so many of us struggle with our own needs versus what the world demands of us versus what our culture demands of us. I liked it a lot, and I saw myself in it, which is perhaps the most important part

The Enigma of the Return by Danny LaFerriere. Another heavy read about grief, history, and homecomings. One day, I will go home for this reason, as so many of us will, and this story outlines the legacies that we children of immigrants carry. 

Alice’s Adventured in Wonderland by CS Lewis . I love fairy tales. Have you notice this trend?? Anyways this is another re read but I read it at the start of quarantine as I was slowly descending into madness and it felt appropriate

My Policeman by Bethan Roberts but ONLY because 1.) it’s how I made friends with @thewestishharpooners and 2.) THERE WAS SO MUCH TALK ABOUT IT ON MY DASH!! It was a Big Book this year, but it’s a sad story, and an unequivocal condemnation of that society. Still, I’m pretty over tragedies at this pointttttt so i won’t be rereading it. It DOES have an ambiguous/happy ending though, if anyone cares! 

[bending-sickle]

this or that / last and current

tagged by @pepperf <3

apple juice or orange juice although i haven’t had apple juice in years so if you threw it at me (not like that) i’d be delighted, tbh | breakfast in bed or dinner in a blanket fort but only because the concept of breakfast in bed brings up the idea of someone loving me enough to do that which :> (i mean sure i could make my own then hop back into bed but that defeats the purpose) | peanut butter or butterscotch but like, i barely remember what either of these taste like so... | rain or snow however! i have not seen snow in over a decade now and i would very much like to | water park or amusement park although i haven’t been to either in over two decades and tbh would just like the chance to go with someone anywhere | guitar or violin but secretly pianos | flip flops or sneakers but really barefoot | big cats or bears | ocean or lake | bonfire or picnic fun fact you can do both! | draw or write | oak or mahogany but i mean olive’s right there | volleyball or tennis but only because volleyball gives me highschool gym war flashbacks. that said, give me badminton or give me death. | key chains or postcards i collect them! i send them! i sometimes receive them! | queso or salsa i refuse to answer this question on the grounds that this means “cheese or sauce” to me and no anglophone is taking precedence over what spanish words means to me. that said, ¡dáme crema, por diós! | skateboard or roller blades | porch or patio | love quotes or inspirational quotes | hearts or stars but really interlocking squares | backpack or duffle bag gimme that sweet sweet back support and not having to rummage into the depths for my stuff | orchard or garden but it better be part vegetable and herb garden or so help me | baby bunnies or baby ducks all babehs are good babehs | pastels or earth tones | New York City or Los Angeles but only because i’ve never been to LA and also ah, yes, american-centric questions, fabulous | secret stairs or secret tunnel neither we are not dying in stupid ways | street magician or escape artist because escape artists make me too anxious like dude! you gon’ die! | fairies or gnomes what i’ve heard of fairies makes them out to be vicious | comedy or mystery i am tired of choosing | purple or green but only, like, to wear. if it’s a thing to have around me then green. | daisies or dandelions | crayon or chalk | sunglasses tinted blue or sunglasses tinted yellow | bracelets or rings but i can rarely stand to wear either | question mark or exclamation point

...honestly, both/neither is more my jam for these sorts of things. also, sorry for the rambling.

also also, sorry for the formatting. i did this in notes, because tumblr doesn’t know how to copy/paste multiple paragraphs, and then transferring it back...broke something? idek bro i’m tired of hitting bold/italics so many times. eta: the formatting is a lie?

last song: that “don’t rear the reaper” in the style of ghost i reblogged a while ago

last movie: gremlins (1984) because childhood

currently watching: bob’s burgers, which is my light and joy, grey’s anatomy, which is my weekly “oh hai familiar faces”, and then the falcon and the soldier, which i’m barely watching (like, literally. i get so bored my eyes wander off), and strangers from hell, which i am also barely watching, which is difficult since i need subtitles but dear god, i’m bored. mainly though i’m watching youtube which is either a) historical costuming, b) chinese ladies making food in rural settings, or c) people reading memes, with d) the occasional murder story or media commentary

currently reading: honestly? nothing, officially? ahaaa...so many. my latest efforts were focused on the house of leaves reread but... i’ve got a clash of kings reread, and that the body keeps the score one, and i have burning the sound reread barely cracked into, and then the frailty fanfic i started from the top because i’d forgotten everything by the time the author finished it... i hsed to be such an avid reader, you guys, i swear.

currently playing: if by playing we mean hobbies (and i’m putting that square peg firmly into that round hole) then learning chinese, learning korean, making stuffing for a pillow, and making miniature books (this last is...on hold). also gardening, grow, my pretties! grow! ...wait, why are you dying, why are you dying?!

currently craving: like, so much food. i am so hungry. (that said, if i see one more ramyeon scene in a kdrama i will scream because give. me. it.) also, like, a hug would be nice. a cuddle would be glorious.

tagging @seschat, @nuingiliath, @beenworkingonacocktail, and @its-sorcery. good luck cleaning the list of my ramblings. (sorry.)

[neon-nocte]

Arielle re-reads The Dream Thieves (via audiobook)

I literally don’t care if anyone reads this, it’s fun. Also to set the scene 90% of the time I have been listening to this audiobook I have been playing animal crossing

Declan’s Aglionby dorm door reads “effervescent.” Yes ma’am

Declan pointing a gun at the grey man!! God I am excited for more badass Declan in mister impossible

“Ronan, a sinner himself, wasn’t as struck by the transgression as he was by Gansey’s insistence that they continue to pretend Adam was a saint.” (Ch 3) — and earlier in the chapter, the narration reflected that Ronan’s leather bracelets smelled like gasoline, which Ronan found sexy. I love me some “Ronan Lynch is in love with Adam Parrish” foreshadowing!!!!

Also, just the way Ronan Knows Adam. Adam’s “unknowable” arc, and the above quote, and when Blue says she doesn’t know Adam during their breakup scene, and in TRK when Adam talks to Gansey about his first kiss with Ronan, Gansey says that Adam knows Ronan better but Gansey has known Ronan longer.

“Blue was a fanciful but sensible thing, like a platypus, or one of those sandwiches that had been cut into circles for a fancy tea party.” (Ch 10) — omfg I cannot believe this quote isn’t more famous in this fandom. I’m obsessed[[more]]

The way that Maura & The Grey Man have instant chemistry... could’ve been Blue & Gansey’s dynamic if she wasn’t so stubbornly “choosing” Adam

The way the Adam-mask-dream scene parallels & foreshadows the Adam-choking-Ronan scene from TRK....

The entirety of 1) Ronan writing on the rock in Cabeswater 2) Ronan dreaming of Adam in the mask and 3) the gang visiting the barns for the first time scenes are soooo good

Gansey in a t-shirt and jeans and both Ronan and Blue are a little ☺️😮 at seeing his collarbones

Ah yes the Classic “Ronan wasn’t a fan of lamps”

How Gansey holding the sleeping mouse reminded Ronan of being at the barns with Matthew as a kid.... Ronan Lynch has 3 brothers and that’s canon 😭

Adam finding the mask in the house at the barns and Ronan knocking it put of his hands, then hating everything about the house and his father and himself. 😭Cant really tell Adam “don’t mess with this particular dream object because it fucked you over in my dream and I can’t stand that because I’m in love with you, which is the whole reason why you were in my dream to begin with.”

Do you ever get that strange sense of deja vu when rereading a book and getting to a scene you don’t remember well until you read it again?

Blue going back & forth on whether Gansey was “oblivious” or “enlightened” during the argument about tarot & religion. I forgot how fun it is to watch Blue’s opinion of Gansey evolve in real time. She wants to hate him, to find him annoying, but he just keeps surprising her

Ronan cracking up at the obvious show of “men being attracted to women” when Adam & Gansey are all awed over Orla during the lake scene always sends me

Some things want to be found. !!!!!!!

I had forgotten that Ronan had dreamed about Adam tracing his tattoo on his bare back with his fingers! Foreshadowing to TRK!!!!

Seeing Adam incredibly nervous for the event with Gansey’s family one moment and then cracking the fuck up at the conversation about the pigeon show with Malory the next moment made me happy!

Mmm Blue admitting to herself that she is crushing on Gansey and NOT on Adam, finally we can get this show on the road. And by show I mean both Bluesey and Pynch

It’s the Blue picturing the dreaming tree vision of kissing Gansey to get in the mood for her kissing practice with Noah for me

The Adam/Blue breakup scene is so fucking iconic... for some reason “it’s not gonna be you” has always been hilarious to me

Adam, honey.... we should all be raging feminists. regardless of whether we are dating blue sargent.

I loveeeeeeeeee the Adam & Persephone dynamic and I’m so excited to see more of it in BLLB even tho :/ happens

I cannot stop myself from grinning like a fool during chapter 50 as Fully Psychic Adam refuses the narrative that his 3-card spread tells and pulls a 4th card. The magician!!! Yes boo!

When Adam asks Persephone if he’s different and she tells him that he already was but not the others won’t be able to stop noticing. Makes me think about Ronan, and how this is really when his & Ronan’s friendship changes, so it’s interesting that this occurs literally the very next scene after Adam’s breakup with blue

Scholar Gansey is my favorite Gansey too Blue

Blue & Gansey’s “let’s just pretend” scene 😭😭😭😭

Blue just trying to remain sensible the one time it actually fucking matters, he’s gonna be dead within the year! But she can’t resist! Because Gansey is canonically her soulmate 😭😭😭

Sometimes I get so into pynch that I forget how fucking tragically beautiful the Bluesey story is. They’re so good I love them so much

If I’m ever in a situation where I’m like “I’m not sure if I’m meant to be with This person or That person” I just need to reread all of the Bluesey scenes in this book for clarity

disregard all of the above my favorite ship in the series is blue Sargent/pink switchblade

“Gansey, who had looked aghast at the idea of the Grey Man having to abandon his books...” (ch 54) — god I love Gansey

Thinking about the TDT Ronan who is just learning how to control what he takes from his dreams vs CDTH Ronan who is like Hennessy’s Dreaming Professor

In other words, Ronan is to Hennessey in CDTH what Persephone is to Adam in TDT/BLLB. Or what Kavinsky is to Ronan minus literally everything about him besides his knowledge of how to dream

I remember when I first read this series I was lowkey shook at the “Ronan’s second secret was Adam” part even though it was obvious by then that Ronan was 1) gay and 2) gay for Adam. But as a lesbian who has been burned by queerbaiting so many times I was like yay! The bar is so low I stg

BLLB is the Book of Pining within the series so that will be extremely fun to listen to

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

End of the Decade Favourite Book Tag

omg @bookcub this is such a cool idea! let’s see how well I remember reads pre-2015 😅

1. High fantasy books that are obsession-worthy idk if it’s all the way to obsession-worthy but y’all have gotta have a go at the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. it’s complete now with 5 incredibly long books but the characters are dynamic and the worldbuilding is awesome and I can’t wait to finally finish it in 2020!

2. Urban fantasy books filled with people you want as friends  I mean, I’ve always called them rural fantasy because the story takes place in a small town but the Wolves of Mercy Falls series is so lovely and I’d love Sam and Grace as friends :3 

3. Portal fantasy you fall in love with multiple times  The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis - I didn’t read these as a kid even though I owned them and loved the movies. I read them all my first semester of uni in 2013 and absolutely loved them and I’ve revisited my favourites (The Magician’s Nephew, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) several times. 

4. Novella that just makes you sigh cause it’s so lovely  I just reread This Winter by Alice Oseman and it is so sweet even though it shows the characters at a very difficult time in their lives. It ties in with Heartstopper and Solitaire and just got a beautiful new cover too

5. Historically inaccurate but laugh out loud  [skipped]

6. Satire that makes you reconsider your whole world view  The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness - It’s got great commentary on the “chosen one” tropes we see so often in YA, has wonderful diversity and is just a really lovely story

7. Happy, happy, happy and sad, sad, sad A Note of Madness by Tabitha Suzuma - I reread this duology in February and I was amazed at how well she balances the happy moments with the sad ones in these two novels

8. No, I’m not too old for kids’ books, what are you talking about??? The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer - I bought the first one because I loved Glee but I got totally sucked into the fairy tale universe he created. I can’t wait to dive in again with the sequel series A Tale of Magic...

9. I’m also not too old for picture books either and never will be  I’ve been loving the Books to Drive Kids Crazy series by Beck & Matt Stanton. They’re loads of fun!

10. Whoa, never expected that ending and to have that much fun!!! I’m gonna go with Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, the last of the Eragon books, even though I remember only one scene from it 😅 I definitely need to reread the series but I remember being really surprised by the ending and so sad that the series that made me want to be a writer was over. 

11. Like I’m scared, but I’m happy about it All of Christina Henry’s fairy tale retellings. Lost Boy freaked me the heck out because I wasn’t expecting the horror elements lol but The Girl In Red is my favourite because disabled leading lady of colour 👍

12. Classically favourite  The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - the movies really cemented this as my favourite of Tolkien’s books but I just love Bilbo so much and this book always cheers me up. 

13. Party in your ears  If I Stay by Gayle Forman - for the movie more than the book. the songs they wrote for Adam’s band in the movie are awesome and I listen to them all the time

14. Boom!!! Pow!!! Wham!!!  The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater - ^^^ the sounds of this book destroying my heart

15. Oh wow, that’s me!! A Scandal By Any Other Name by Kimberly Bell - the first time I ever read a book about someone with spina bifida, like me. It absolutely blew my mind and was the final sign I needed to start writing about characters like me because the feeling of being represented and understood absolutely blew me away <3 

16. I can’t stop thinking about this book The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - it’s just a wonderful exploration of how victims cope with emotional abuse and I will forever be mad that the Netflix series made it Scary™ instead of exploring its actual themes and characters. I just want a faithful adaptation okay! 

17. A book you got from Tumblr that made it to your fave both of CG Drews’ books - A Thousand Perfects Notes and The Boy Who Steals Houses. two beautiful novels about teenagers dealing with abuse and poverty and finding ways to save themselves. I absolutely love them and I hope to the great publishing gods that she gets to keep writing forever <3 

18. A book you had high expectations for and then the author OVER delivered Amelia Westlake (Was Never Here) by Erin Gough - I tend to be pretty tough on Australian YA because I’m always looking for it to capture my experience as an Australian teenager and this novel is one of the closest I’ve found. the struggles Will and Harriet face with their teachers and parents and friends felt so true and I just loved that. I’ll sing this book’s praises to the moon and back 💫

tagging: @nothinglessthanseven @thelivebookproject @lost-in-a-story @coffeebooksorme @storytime-reviews and anyone else who’d like to join in :D

[fencer-x]

Hello! I’ve been looking for some good books to read and was wondering if you had any recommendations? I seem to just wander around the bookstore not knowing where to start.

I confess I’ve been reading nothing but fics on fics on fics (Drarry exclusively lol) for a good year now, so I haven’t touched original works in ages, though I have several of the latest installments of my favorite series waiting until I run out of good Drarry fic... (please...god...free me from this hell........)

I’ve made several recommendations for excellent M/M original works (you can always check out my reccs tag for any recommendations as well, though it includes original novels as well as manga and fic). I pretty much only read M/M fantasy (with the very VERY occasional M/M scifi or supernatural book thrown in), so I hope that’s what you’re looking for XD

Here’s a “””””””brief””””””” recap of series I particularly enjoy and go back to reread often, along with details on who might like these books and why. They’re all available via Amazon (most as Kindle reads, but some as paperbacks; some are also available from other sources as well in other formats if you prefer, for example, epub) and at reasonable prices (all but one series are under $10 per book, some under $5).

It is entirely possible you’ve read all of these, since I’ve gushed about them many a time before, and if that’s the case, I apologize I can’t rec you anything new! But maybe it’s been a while if you’ve read these before and it’s time for a reread!

The Lord of the White Hell series, by Ginn Hale - [GOODREADS BLURB: "Kiram Kir-Zaki may be considered a mechanist prodigy among his own people, but when he becomes the first Haldiim ever admitted to the prestigious Sagrada Academy, he is thrown into a world where power, superstition and swordplay outweigh even the most scholarly of achievements. But when the intimidation from his Cadeleonian classmates turns bloody, Kiram unexpectedly finds himself befriended by Javier Tornesal, the leader of a group of cardsharps, duelists and lotharios who call themselves Hellions. However Javier is a dangerous friend to have. Wielder of the White Hell and sole heir of a dukedom, he is surrounded by rumors of forbidden seductions, murder and damnation. His enemies are many and any one of his secrets could not only end his life but Kiram’s as well."] 

Read this if you like... magic and science working together, religion-borne racism and the difficulties of interracial as well as interreligious relationships, snarky aristocrats and a good mystery. And read the second book in the series definitely if you liked Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai or Sore Nari ni Shinken nan desu (I've found I really like stories where the rejected third-party from the main series gets his own happy ending, and Book 2 of this series is one such, building an entire new couple with the midway-through-the-story return of Book 1 couple so you get the best of both worlds.)

The Magpie Lord series by K.J.Charles - [GOODREADS BLURB: "Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn’t expect it to turn up angry. Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude… and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’s definitely unusual. Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn’t the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die."] 

Read this if you like...magic and 19th century UK settings and snarky aristocrats who guard their hearts fiercely. The dynamic is fantastic, and the writing itself is gorgeous.

Whyborn & Griffin series, by Jordan Hawk - [GOODREADS BLURB: (Summary of Book 1) “Love is dangerous. Ever since the tragic death of the friend he adored, Percival Endicott Whyborne has ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man. Instead, he spends his days studying dead languages at the museum where he works. So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible. Griffin left the Pinkertons after the death of his partner. Now in business for himself, he must investigate the murder of a wealthy young man. His only clue: an encrypted book that once belonged to the victim. As the investigation draws them closer, Griffin’s rakish charm threatens to shatter Whyborne’s iron control. But when they uncover evidence of a powerful cult determined to rule the world, Whyborne must choose: to remain safely alone, or to risk everything for the man he loves.”] 

Read if you like... magic and the supernatural and 19th century US settings and Eldritch monsters and mystery and intrigue and adventure and era-appropriate treatment of homosexual relationships but with happy endings (and also couples of all types).

The Nightrunner series, by Lynn Flewelling - [GOODREADS BLURB: "When young Alec of Kerry is taken prisoner for a crime he didn’t commit, he is certain that his life is at an end. But one thing he never expected was his cellmate. Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things--none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine, and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec’s new mentor, and this time there just might be…Luck in the Shadows."] 

Read this if you like... magic, spies, fantastic female characters, adventure, and intrigue. Read also if you love looooong series, as it's complete at 7 books!

Scarlet and the White Wolf series, by Kirby Crow - [GOODREADS BLURB: "Scarlet of Lysia is an honest pedlar, a young merchant traveling the wild, undefended roads to support his aging parents. Liall, called the Wolf of Omara, is the handsome, world-weary chieftain of a tribe of bandits blocking a mountain road that Scarlet needs to cross. When Liall jokingly demands a carnal toll for the privilege, Scarlet refuses and an inventive battle of wills ensues, with disastrous results. Scarlet is convinced that Liall is a worthless, immoral rogue, but when the hostile countryside explodes into violence and Liall unexpectedly fights to save the lives of Scarlet's family, Scarlet is forced to admit that the Wolf is not the worst ally he could have, but what price will proud Scarlet ultimately have to pay for Liall's friendship?"] 

Read this if you like... weird twists on old fairy tales with amazing world-building, provided you're willing to put up with a little bit of a slog until the couple really gets on the same page.

Captive Prince, by C.S.Pacat - [GOODREADS BLURB: "Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave. Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country. For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else..."] 

Read this if you like... phenomenal skill with the written word (I mean REALLY TOP NOTCH), fantastic characters with real evolution in relationships, amazingly intricate political intrigue (guaranteed to keep you guessing the whole way), enemies-to-friends-to-"I think if I gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly"-to-...well, I won't spoil things 8D Please note the 'slavery' aspect that is heavily featured in Book 1. There is NO RAPE between the main characters, but there are forced sexual scenes between Damen and another minor character (n.b. minor as in not major, not minor as in a kid), and well, Laurent just isn't a very kind 'master', nor does he pretend to be. This is not your typical 'omg the slave falls in love with the master and vice versa!!' dreck, but do be aware that the first book deals intimately with those themes as Damen must play his part.

Wytch Kings series, by Jaye McKenna - [GOODREADS BLURB: (Summary of Book 1) "Prince Garrik is the Heir Presumptive of Altan, next in line to be crowned Wytch King. There’s only one problem: in order for Garrik to be crowned, he must possess Wytch power of his own, and thus far, whatever power Garrik might possess has shown no sign of awakening. As things stand, it is Garrik’s younger brother, Jaire — a dreamer completely unsuited to wear the crown — who will take the throne after their father. Concerned about the future of his kingdom, the Wytch King demands that Garrik’s power be forcibly awakened. Hoping to protect his brother from the burden of rule, Garrik allows the attempt — with disastrous results. Now, Garrik must learn to control the fiery dragon that rages within him before he destroys everything he loves. Wytch Master Ilya has been alone for years. Learning to control the icy beast slumbering within him has already cost him his family and his lover, and Ilya will never open himself up to that kind of pain again. Summoned to Altan to avert disaster if he can, Ilya has no intention of allowing anyone to thaw the ice in his heart. When he meets Prince Garrik, sparks fly, and Ilya finds himself fighting feelings he thought he'd buried, long ago. Can Garrik’s fire melt Ilya’s icy heart? Or will Ilya be forced to use his ice to quench the flames that burn within Garrik once and for all?"] 

Read if you like... DRAGON SHIFTERS. There's really not much more I can say to encourage you to read this series (there are five so far!) other than to say HERE THERE BE DRAGONS, AND LOTS OF THEM, AND HOT GUYS WHO TRANSFORM INTO THEM. The plots are interwoven, with side characters from previous books showing up as MCs in subsequent ones, so you get to see major characters fleshed out, even if not right away.

Mermen of Ea series, by Shira Anthony - [GOODREADS BLURB: (Summary of Book 1) "Taren Laxley has never known anything but life as a slave. When a lusty pirate kidnaps him and holds him prisoner on his ship, Taren embraces the chance to realize his dream of a seagoing life. Not only does the pirate captain offer him freedom in exchange for three years of labor and sexual servitude, but the pleasures Taren finds when he joins the captain and first mate in bed far surpass his greatest fantasies. Then, during a storm, Taren dives overboard to save another sailor and is lost at sea. He’s rescued by Ian Dunaidh, the enigmatic and seemingly ageless captain of a rival ship, the Phantom, and Taren feels an overwhelming attraction to Ian that Ian appears to share. Soon Taren learns a secret that will change his life forever: Ian and his people are Ea, shape-shifting merfolk… and Taren is one of them too. Bound to each other by a fierce passion neither can explain or deny, Taren and Ian are soon embroiled in a war and forced to fight for a future—not only for themselves but for all their kind."] 

Read if you like... MERMEN SEX. Again, not much more I can say to encourage you to read this XD There's mermen having sex in mer form, there's mermen having sex in human form, there's just lots of mermen and rather a lot of sex too. But there's also interesting plot! Though lbr if you're going to read this, it's for the mermen XD

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: May 2019

Here’s how I spent the month of May!

……….FILM……….

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) I don’t think I was mentally prepared to get right into the violence and the film doesn’t ease you into any of it. If anything, I found this chapter to rely on the combat more than the previous two and by the end, I was a little numb. Still a great film and perhaps I’ll feel differently on a second viewing. For now, I’d say it’s very good and has like...10 minutes too much fighting.

Bridesmaids (2011) Always great but in watching this I realized what makes the improv stand out from other films: the underlying storytelling. While there’s lots of back and forth between characters that are funny, it’s usually doing something else at the same time (showing characters competing and in conflict with each other, showing the casual report between friends, etc.) The humour never feels like it’s there because the movie is a comedy, but that we’re watching funny people live their lives. It really works.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) So I admit that I know only a surface level of info about Ted Bundy and what he did. With that in mind I found it frustrating that the movie took the perspective of “did he or didn’t he?” I get that the film’s perspective was that of Liz Kendall but then I wanted more concrete proof that he did it (not seeing the crimes, but through evidence in the courtroom). The one bit they did show (the teeth marks) felt flimsy and was undercut by Bundy’s rebuttal. I just didn’t vibe with the coy approach.

……….TELEVISION……….

The Magicians (Episode 1.01 to 1.09) Having read the books, I had no interest watching a series that also centres around Quentin. Only after friends told me it doesn’t revolve around him did I try it out and it’s great! The casting is still a little too CW for me (you can tell if a character will eventually play a major role based on how conventionally attractive they are) but the overall dynamic works. The magic is still dangerous, the fighting is still petty, and the world is still as complex as the novels.

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Episode 2.08 to 2.09) So ep 8 (with the mandrake) is peak Sabrina for me: a little horror, a little melodrama, and a fairly contained episode. Perhaps I’m longing for a different type of television but I really want this series to become something in the vein of Buffy where there’s a monster of the week and perhaps it all ties to a bigger plot. The season finale was fun and I mistook the Phantom of the Opera song for a current top 40 hit so...I’m out of touch in a whole bunch o ways.

Queer Eye (Episode 3.01 to 3.08) Ugh what a great season.

Life in PIeces (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) It’s starting to grow on me. The format works well though I’d say their consistency (even within a single episode) varies. Maybe I just need more time with the characters but so far I’m just luke warm to it.

……….READING……….

Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson (Complete) Without giving up too much of the story, this is a heart wrenching read and one that is foreshadowed by the tone and content of the first chapter (a skill I really appreciate in both literature and film). It’s dark and light and human and really left an impression after I finished it.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction & David Aja Omnibus by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, Chris Eliopoulos, and so many more (Complete) Seeing Avengers:Endgame made me long for a Hawkeye that I liked and in rereading this, I found what I needed. I cannot say enough kind things about this run. It’s singular and small in its focus and the art/direction is phenomenal. It at times feels gritty and grounded, and yet has a real spy thriller vibe to the overall tone. If you can get your hands on the omnibus then do it. It’s human and heroic and good-spirited and funny in a dry, world-weary way and Kate Bishop is a wonderful foil to Clint Barton (and vice versa).

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso (Complete) Oof what a read. I knew the book dealt with the aftermath of a woman’s murder, but I didn’t realize it would be such a reflection on the modern media landscape. It deals with conspiracies, allegations of fake news, death threats, and the general paranoia that victims endure after a tragedy. This video essay says it all better than I could.

Be Prepared by Vera Brogsol (Complete) Charming and personal and while I don’t have many experiences with camp, I do feel a deep connection with a protagonist that never quite succeeds at fitting in with the “in” crowd. It’s a great all-ages read and is beautifully illustrated and I can’t say enough kind things about it.

Adventures of a Japanese Businessman by Jose Domingo (Complete) Just fantastic. I picked this up after a glowing review from my friend and it didn’t disappoint. Silent and surreal, the series of unfortunate events told across each 4-panel page is a masterclass in setup and resolution. There are tiny 2-3 panel arcs happening all over and it truly rewards rereads. I loved every minute of it and can’t recommend it enough.

Ragnarök Volume 1: Last God Standing by Walt Simonson (Complete) It’s fun to read a comic about Thor and it not be the Marvel version: the mythology is a little different (closer to the myths), the tone is a little different (Thor and the gods have lost and Ragnarök has happened), and I’m sure there isn’t as much editorial influence since it’s wholly the creator’s vision. It’s fairly self-serious and the overall vibe is fairy 70s Heavy Metal, and it all works. Not necessarily my go-to tone, but it’s good at what it does and is refreshingly different.

Domu by Katsuhiro Otomo (Complete) Just fantastic. Akira was always a little overwhelmingly big (though no less impressive) so this smaller, more intimate story was right up my alley. It’s creepy and kinetic and beautiful and a really good read. It’s hard to come by in print, but if you can find it then I defo recommend.

……….AUDIO……….

Dedicated by Carly Rae Jepsen (2019) You know what? This album is a lot of fun and very good and you should check it out. I really wish it kept the energy of the first couple tracks all the way through, but I really just can’t hold every artist to the level of Andrew W. K.

……….GAMING……….

Curse of Strahd (Wizards of the Coast) What I love about this group is they often spend so much time discussing who is in charge of the money, avoid conflict with a ghost that is trying to kill them, and yet really want to pursue the mystery creature that was rummaging around the pantry two sessions earlier. Also they’re still in a haunted house with ominous chanting and undead everywhere.

Maze of the Blue Medusa (Satyr Press) The party has started to explore other parts of the maze (now moving away from the Lich-haunted gardens) and continue to find countless unsettling beasts and creatures. A couple near death experiences but overall, they’re doing well.

And that’s it! As always, I’m keen to hear your suggestions for what the read, watch, hear, and play next!

Happy Friday.

[earlyspringtranscendence]

ok so my girl needed some book recs and my ass was like oh i’ll know what i’ll do i’ll type up all 150+ books i’ve read in the last 3 1/2 years and obvi now im gonna like. post them here so that y’all can enjoy this too (plus i dont have a goodreads so) 

this is a little bit edited to avoid repetitions and/or books i don’t wanna talk about but this is fairly accurate of what ive read since 2016 till now!! faves have asterisks, also the links stopped working halfway thru 2016 so uh my bad

2016:

the foxhole court, the raven king and the kings men by nora sakavic* the secret history by donna tartt aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe by benjamin alire saenz su1c1de notes by michael thomas ford (the title is the regular word but i’ve spent so much time on this that i’m not gonna get my post eaten for a Bad Word)  chaos walking trilogy by patrick ness  six of crows & crooked kingdom by leigh bardugo  ill give you the sun by jandy nelson city of bones, city of ashes, city of glass & city of fallen angels by cassandra clare the darkest minds, never fade and in the afterlight by alexandra bracken the raven king by maggie stiefvater sharp objects by gillian flynn gone girl by gillian flynn everything leads to you by nina lacour the night circus by erin morgenstern miss peregrines home for peculiar children by Ransom riggs Battle royale by Koushun Takami the unbecoming of mara dyer by michelle hodkin american gods by neil gaiman* shadow and bone, siege and storm and ruin and rising by leigh bardugo the rest of us just live here by patrick ness on the other side by carrie hope fletcher a monster calls by patrick ness we are the ants by shaun david hutchinson  simon vs the homo sapiens agenda by becky albertalli proxy and guardian by alex london kill your boss by shane kuhn the curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon more than this by patrick ness (reread) two boys kissing by david levithan a darker shade of magic and a gathering of shadows by ve schwab forgive me leonard peacock by matthew quick good omens by neil gaiman and terry pratchet my heart and other black holes by jasmine warga the miseducation of cameron post by emily danforth the sky is everywhere by jandy nelson   the darkest part of the forest by holly black a collection of sappho poems you by caroline kepnes

2017

all the bright places by jennifer niven the regulars by georgia clark the ocean at the end of the lane by neil gaiman coraline by neil gaiman crush by richard siken the magician’s nephew by cs lewis blankets by craig thompson room by emma donoghue red dragon*, silence of the lambs, hannibal and hannibal rising by thomas harris hidden bodies by caroline kepnes* the girl on the train by paula hawkins vicious by ve schwab 13 reasons why by jay asher dare me by megan abott* turn of mind by alice laplante the lightning thief by rick riordan if i was your girl by meredith russo* the dead house by dawn kurtagich release by patrick ness*  norse mythology by neil gaiman caraval by stephanie garber the upside of unrequited by becky albertalli dark places by gillian flynn unearthly & hallowed by cynthia hand fangirl by rainbow rowell the hunger games trilogy by suzanne colins the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams avi cantor has 6 months to live by sacha lamb the gentlemans guide to vice and virtue by mackenzi lee beautiful music for ugly children by kirstin cronn mills the hate u give by angie thomas warcross by marie lu every exquisite thing by matthew quick peter darling by austin chant***** the goldfinch by donna tartt wild beauty by anne-marie mclemore seconds by bryan lee o'malley call me by your name by andré aciman

2018

spring’s awakening by frank wedekind translated by Framin ziegler, and then again translated and adapted by anya reiss  de profundis by oscar wilde spellbook of the lost and found by maria fowley the rook by daniel o'malley interview with the vampire by anne rice fight club by chuck palanhuik maurice by em forster*  picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde pacific rim by alex irvine ill be gone in the dark by michelle mcnamara*  all the light we cannot see by anthony doer the summer that melted everything by tiffany mcdaniel edinburgh by alexander chee***********!!!!** very good book hp 1 waiting for godot by samuel becket the art of being normal by lisa williamsen flowers for algernon by daniel keyes autoboyography by christina lauren the woman in the window by aj finn the lava in my bones by barry webster and the ocean was our sky by patrick ness mio my son by astrid lindgren a lite too bright by samuel miller autobiography of red by anne carson the crash of hennington by patrick ness****** sadie by courtney summers war of the foxes by richard siken sea prayer by khaled hosseini three dark crowns, one dark throne, two dark reigns and the oracle queen by kendare blake*

2019 (so far)

rooftoppers by katherine rundell at the edge of the universe by shaun david hutchinson warbreaker by brandon sanderson slaughterhouse 5 by kurt vonnegut skyward by brandon sanderson* the crane wife by patrick ness the magicians trilogy by lev grossman* marie by marc de bel (dutch book) neverworld wake by marisha pessl the original mistborn trilogy by brandon sanderson red, white and royal blue by casey mcquiston havemercy & shadow magic by jaida jones and danielle bennet my lovely wife by samantha downing a midsummer night’s dream by shakespeare the silence of murder by dandi daley mackall cloud atlas by david mitchell le petit prince by antoine de saint-exupery (french book) the binding by bridget collins* the sun is also a star by nicola yoon (i read it in french but it’s in english originally) you wouldn’t have known about me by calvin gimplevich hp 1 but in french

[wickerjulias]

rules: tag ten followers you want to know better!

tagged by: @feedingmyinsomnia literal months ago asfdhsdjdskj yikes thank you so so much for tagging me tho <3

tagging: @wastelandy, @vvondervvomaan, @zacksnyder, @takingoffmyshoes, @stvrklight, @nebula-dyke, @deducitetemporacarmen, @jasonvtodd, @gaygardner and @mchozier

STAR SIGN: gemini

HEIGHT: 174 cm (which should be smth along 5′7 but i’ve also seen it w 5′8 so i’m confused)

PUT YOUR ITUNES/SPOTIFY ON SHUFFLE. WHAT ARE THE FIRST 4 SONGS THAT POPPED UP? Loser - Beartooth, Amber - Stick to your Guns, Motion Sickness - Hands Like Houses, Scheissindiedisko - Kraftklub

GRAB THE BOOK NEAREST YOU AND TURN TO PAGE 23. WHAT’S LINE 17? In den nächsten drei Stunden gab es weder Frieden noch Zauber. (yeah i’m rereading pet sematary in german bc why the heckie not. also i counted the lines bc there aren’t even 17 sentences on this page askjdh)

EVER HAD A POEM OR SONG WRITTEN ABOUT YOU? well tobi jokingly wrote a rap for me last week (which went as well as you could’ve expected asjhdjsf but anway i sarcastically labeled it as “modern day poetry” so i guess it kinda counts?)

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PLAYED AIR GUITAR? idk tbh i think it was pretty recently bc i gesticulate a lot when i sing along to songs so yeah

WHO IS YOUR CELEBRITY CRUSH? Jesse Barnett, Saoirse Ronan, Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Riz Ahmed, Lupita Nyong’o, Arden Cho, Brie Larson, all the ladies from The Magicians cast

WHAT’S A SOUND YOU HATE + SOUND YOU LOVE?

hate: the fucking telephone at work (it’s so annoying!! also it only rings if there’s a lot to do lmao), wind (bc we get a lot and bc you can’t hecking talk - love it when i’m inside tho, so calming), anything that beeps too loud, a lot of computer sounds, people whistling (the shrill kind, also if it’s the only background noise and you want to concentrate)

love: cat sounds in general, the sounds of rain and thunderstorms, how quiet it gets when it snows, the sound of the shore

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? yep

HOW ABOUT ALIENS? yes

DO YOU DRIVE? yes, quiet a lot. around here, you’re fucked if you don’t have a license

IF SO, HAVE YOU EVER CRASHED? well while parking but i wouldn’t call these incidents crashes. one fucker bumped into me in a roundabout once tho. which wasn’t funny at all. ugh. but hey, his insurance had to pay for everything so yeah

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood by Karen Ward Mahar (super interesting!!)

DO YOU LIKE THE SMELL OF GASOLINE? yeah kinda. don’t like it if i have migraine tho

WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU SAW? Pet Sematary (the new one), which was disappointing :/

WHAT’S THE WORST INJURY YOU’VE EVER HAD? well i splintered the bone of my right wrist once during volleyball (which was super annoying bc it was back in high school during exam season)

DO YOU HAVE ANY OBSESSIONS RIGHT NOW? aside from taking as many kitty pics as possible, making tobi laugh and the magicians, not really, no (gods i love the magicians sm tho rn. can’t rlly shut up abt it. and if i’m not talking abt the magicians i’m talking abt tobi. or my cats. help me)

DO YOU TEND TO HOLD GRUDGES AGAINST PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE YOU WRONG? i try not to, but some stuff rlly hurt me bad. i’m trying to let go of it for my sake bc it only harms me. and I’m trying to get better. soooo yeah. (sometimes i have to rant abt these things tho. can’t help it. need to vent)

IN A RELATIONSHIP? we’re calling it dating rn and i think that’s good. we both wanna take it slow, so there’s no rush. i’m super excited for the time to come!!

[justindherd]

What's Been Going On | Tripping Forward Into the Future

Man, it’s been awhile since I posted on here. I spend most of my time on Twitter, doing the best I can to keep that particular ship from burning down. I screwed myself early on by originally going by the username TheDCProject, an old website my buddy and I ran that had one of the biggest animated Cel collections, but also featured our writing, poetry, as well as photos from our lives. I had established myself as a writer and had a constantly building following.

Then I tried to “consolidate my brand” by changing to my real name and building from there.

Suddenly, no one knew who the fuck I was.

But, still, I was part of the #amwriting community and was a huge fan of The Authoress’ Secret Agent contests. Then, once I was divorced about six years ago, I decided to strip the writing community from those that I was following. I had thousands I was following, but most were just pimping their latest project (100% needed, but no fun to use the service at that point), and so I unfollowed . . . and, ever since, I’ve been slowly losing followers because . . . well, most writers only care if you are following them and they can use you. Once again, I totally understand, but I reworked my experience to follow only those that I had an interest in what they had to say.

Anyway, follow me there.

So, what I have been doing since . . . [checks notes] August 17th, when I released my Fallen video?

Well, I’ve been fighting my former employer due to my Medical Leave, though I can’t necessarily talk about that just yet. I also wrote a 20,000+ word video for the Hellraiser series, after I read Paul Kane’s The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy. This is an expansion of my Cenobitic Ramblings video, but the original was less than 5,000 words so it’s a completely different beast.

I went so deep on this that I kinda forgot to work on anything else.

Well, that’s not true. I was trying to put together a video on Oz Perkins’ Gretel & Hansel (2020), but was having a helluva a time trying to get my thoughts out. You see, I had bought new microphones and TasCam recorders, and had attempted to record my thoughts on movies right after I saw them. I talked about Glass, Gretel & Hansel, and even attempted to do a non-scripted rant on Star Ocean: The Second Story from PSX days.

Unfortunately, all these recordings were so low quality that I couldn’t salvage them. But, and this is the reason that I am bringing this up, I seem to purge my brain as soon as I record/write about any product I plan on covering for the channel. So, I kinda wiped my thoughts and hot takes on these subjects without meaning to.

It took me writing my “Favorite Films of 2020” list to finally break that barrier. I spent way too much time on that script as well, breaking 10,000 words, and recorded it twice, planning on breaking it up into two videos that would equal roughly an hour long between the two of them.

Unfortunately, the DSLR camera I was using refused to focus properly, and, thus, the footage was unusable. I then recorded it again, only for the same issue to present itself. I was thoroughly discouraged, but I planned to record a third time - got the focus right, and was ready to record . . . only for my son to have nightmares, and subsequently pass out on the couch, right next to my recording area.

So, since I couldn’t record in front of the camera, I took my Gretel & Hansel script, and did an audio-only version of it. Then, once I realized there were some significant gaps in the coverage, I grabbed most of my entry from the 2020 Film list and worked it into the actual episode.

And that’s what I’ve been workin on for the past two months, going as crazy as I possibly could since my House of Leaves video.

I’m thoroughly enjoying what I’m doing, even if I kinda lost focus and am doing everything by myself, without real consideration for what order I’m putting it together. Yes, that means I’m doing editing, sound effects, adding music (for the first time since I got lambasted for just throwing music into the HoL vid), as well as special effects, and recreating the title sequence, since I couldn’t find a “clean” version without any of the titles.

Obviously, I’m moving some stuff around on the website, but I really need to reconsider what needs to be on here. My writing career has definitely taken a back seat to the video projects, even if I’ve been toying with going back to The Magician, planning and rewriting it from the ground up. I had a similar notion with Between the Shadows, but at that point I was still waaaay too familiar with the source material. However, with The Magician, I wrote that in such a blur of “Gotta go fast” that I don’t remember the multiple magic systems I made. To even edit it, I’d have to reread the entire novel, one I haven’t touched since 2014.

There’s the added rub that I placed it in the same universe as my novel, The Faithful, but the twist of The Magician was that it jumped two hundred years into the future, and these Elder Gods had taken over the world. A world where I had established that there are immortal gods, and, obviously, Raine would end up in the same situation as my robot magician. It’s kinda like the problem the MCU had for a few years, where they refused to include other heroes, despite it being clear between Avengers films that they should be able to join the conflict. Regardless, it would affect those books which are their own thing.

So, for me to move forward with this project, I’d not only have to remap the multiple magic systems my Magician uses, but I’d have to extract it from the universe I’d already built and reimagine it all. So . . . it’s now been over six years since I finished it, and it’s so fuzzy that I should be able to rebuild it without figuratively killing myself in the process.

So, where does this leave us?

Well, I’m pressing forward with my Gretel & Hansel video, and I plan on hitting some of my favorite films, rather than holding off for some arbritary end point. The only video I’m waiting on is my Hellraiser video, so that I can kinda sustain myself while I spend months working on it. I’m holding for 50 Patrons, so at least there’s some audience for it.

If you want to support me. and my future endeavors, please consider pledging money through Patreon. It’s built to give me money directly when I produce a new video, so it won’t be breaking your bank while I’m working on things.

Thank you guys for sticking with me.

Justin D. Herd