#have some webcomic recs:

[gailynovelry]

Agony and suffering. One of my favorite webcomics is obscure and generic enough of name that I cannot locate any fanart for it.

[wishjacked]

Oh, Hole! Another really good one!! As a specific setting appreciator and ESPECIALLY as a Florida setting appreciator this comic just has excellent, excellent setting work and design... I love all the colors and shapes, everything feels super lived-in and specific and it really gives strong flavor to the entire story. Truly aspirational setting work.

Also the story is SO good so far, really good handling of suspense. It jumps back and forth in time a lot, which in some stories can feel clunky BUT ABSOLUTELY NOT HERE... this one does it so fluidly, constantly balancing information to make each scene feel really engaging and interesting and important. I'm like dying to know what happened and what's going to happen next.

Obscure Webcomic 2.0 - Round 1-O

Hole - Ongoing

Official description: "Hole centers on 27 year old Jane Nowak, who is forced to confront her tumultuous past when the ghost of her childhood best friend/rival Asenath "Nat" White begins to torment her. As the haunting takes its toll on Jane, forcing her deeper into a spiral that affects her performance at her job and tanking her mental health, she must relive the trauma of what happened between her and Nat in high school and the bodies left in their wake.

A horror webcomic with a sapphic bent, and not the other way around, readers are encouraged to check out the content guide for warnings if there are any topics they're particularly sensitive about, as it is updated at the start of every chapter. That said, this comic does deal with concepts of death and abuse pretty heavily, and features some pretty graphic depictions of gore and violence."

A Girl and Her Fed - Ongoing

[no description given]

[extantformoflife]

trying to get back into webcomics. is. SUCH a roulette wheel of quality :/ :/

[bob-artist]

Just found you via your funny dream comic. Good stuff 😆. Definitely gonna read the rest, and I was surprised you had your own website. Looks good on mobile too. I’ve got a comic that some friends keep trying to build me a site for but I’ve been telling them no because it seems like between webtoon and social media nobody is interested in personal sites anymore.

Have you noticed an uptick in engagement from your site? Would you recommend going that route? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I’m also interested in how you decided to build/host it, if that question isn’t too lame.

Anyway, glad I found your comics!

Ah thank you for checking out Into the Smoke's website!!

Oh, I have SO many thoughts about independent webcomic sites and why people should have them. I have so many thoughts, and I'm so so sorry.

Why did I decide to have my own webcomic site?

First of all, this is not a lame question and I wish we could all have this conversation more often, so I could maybe write just a paragraph instead of this whole dissertation!

1. Because I lived through webcomics history.

I launched my first webcomic in 2011. I watched the webcomics scene shift over the years from self-hosted sites to third party sites, and I saw what it meant for independent creators. We lost vital infrastructure, relationships, habits, and control over our own work. I think self-hosted sites are an important backbone for creators, even if/when their largest *numbers* come from a third party site.

We’re all supposed to be helping each other, not fighting each other to satisfy the algorithm. Our early tools (webrings, link trades, comic databases, sharing each other’s posts) were small but meaningful, and they also helped us maintain a community mindset in a long and sometimes lonely line of work. When we started leaning on hosting sites, we let a lot of those tools and relationships decay. And now a lot of people are locked into imbalanced relationships with hosting sites that leave them with very little agency and control over their work and how it’s shared (or isn’t shared).

Hosting sites are great for removing barriers to entry (cost/time to build a site). And a lot of them have large built-in audiences. But the big ones aren’t run by people who care about creators. They’re designed to extract the maximum value from your work while giving you the least they can get away with. Use them if you want (I do), but don't be dependent on them.

2. Comics are the main thing I do for a living, and a website gives me the tools to promote my work and build relationships with my readers.

Most apps and third party sites actively prevent or suppress these things. On your own site, you can share all the info you want about your upcoming Kickstarter, your tradpub book release, your merch, etc. You can collect email addresses for your newsletter. You can literally just talk about your weekend, and you’re not gonna have a 150-character limit.

Yeah, not everyone wants to read a wall of text (ha ha...), but acting like a person reminds readers to treat you like a person. This is one of my main gripes with the apps and social media - they suppress human connection and present you like a cog in their machine that only exists to churn out free content.

3. I have a consistent home base and full control over how my work is displayed.

I don’t have to fight against an app that’s trying to direct my readers toward whichever content is most profitable for them. On an app, the readers “belong” to them, not you. (Who has their email addresses?) So if I'm putting effort into promoting my comic, I'm promoting my own site. (oh look, I just did it.)

Hosting sites/apps aren't designed to showcase your work. They showcase the app’s collection, and they're designed to keep readers on the app, jumping from creator to creator. This can help readers find you, but it also devalues your work and dilutes its impact.

And the app might not show your work to anyone anyway. Tapas is a great example; they recently redesigned their site to prioritize their Originals, and independent creators are hidden away in a “community” tab with barely any discoverability anymore. This is always the struggle on a third party site.

4. I hate censorship.

Into the Smoke is Teen 16/17+ and Demon of the Underground is R/18+. My comics aren’t even explicit, but I still can’t post my true, uncensored vision for either story on third party apps governed by Apple’s App Store and Visa/Mastercard’s tight content restrictions.

If webcomics exist exclusively on apps with heavy censorship, we’ll never have the diversity of storytelling and freedom of expression that’s necessary for groundbreaking or subversive art to happen. And that’s bad for everyone.

Adult brains need to engage with adult concepts. Difficult and triggering topics need to be explored in creative spaces. Artists need freedom to stretch their creative muscles without falling into the damaging patterns of self-censorship that come from having to tiptoe around arbitrary platform rules.

We can’t let the rules of like 3 American companies dictate what every webcomic reader around the world is allowed to read.

5. An independent website can’t easily be taken away from you.

Just make regular backups! You can always move to a new web host and redirect URLs if needed, and you won't lose your readers. On the other hand, you can easily lose the bulk of your audience on a third party site based on circumstances outside your control.

Let’s talk about Smack Jeeves, a formerly popular webcomic hosting site that was bought out and then shut down, leaving lots of cartoonists homeless. Or we can talk about the Tumblr NSFW purge of 2018, where I lost a huge chunk of my first webcomic’s following and most of my webcomic mutuals, even though my own account stayed within the rules. Or Musk buying Twitter, the platform where I once found my literary agent through a publishing event but now get no traction at all.

Have I noticed an uptick in engagement from my site?

I don’t have analytics on my site yet. But, up until a few days ago, that's where people were reading, thanks to my own efforts and the support of my comics friends and all of y’all who shared my ITS posts. (THANK YOU ALL!) I didn't have any discoverability on Webtoon or Tapas yet.

I got 10-15 new patrons between May 25 and June 5. Up until a few days ago, I even had more ITS newsletter subscribers than Webtoon subscribers.

What happened a few days ago is my Webtoon mirror suddenly blew up with 100+ new subs a day. I don’t know where I’m being featured, but I know I’m only getting those readers because Webtoon suddenly chose to grant me visibility. That can end just as instantly with an algorithm tweak or them deciding not to show my comic anymore. (When my first webcomic was in one of their pay programs in 2018, I went from $300 or $400/month to $0 overnight due to a policy change.) So I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, but I won't de-prioritize my website.

The new Webtoon readers are awesome and supportive, and I’m 100% thrilled to have them. But the Webtoon influx isn't resulting in a Patreon influx like my website launch did. I wouldn't expect it to, this early in the story. But it's consistent with my past experience polling my patrons: even when 50% of my readers came from the apps, 90% of patrons read on my website. (Your audience may vary.) And since I depend on crowdfunding for my comic, that's important to me.

Would I recommend going the route of having your own site?

For anyone who’s just testing the waters with webcomics, it might be overkill.

But for anyone who’s committed to their webcomic, I recommend having your own site AND mirroring on every third party site you can, provided you’re cool with their terms of service. It's important to meet readers where they are. Let those hosting sites lend you their readers. Some readers will even want to visit your home site where they can read ahead, read the uncensored version of your comic, get more info, or sign up for your newsletter.

Just remember, no one will discover your independent website all on their own. They’ll only find it through the work you put into promotion. But the reader that cares enough to come to your home site is a special type of reader.

So how do you get readers to visit an independent webcomic site?

Find your allies

These are people who work in similar areas as you who want to help you succeed, and whom you want to help succeed. Chat with each other, help each other, promote each other, boost each other, link to each other (psst, my links page just went live!), be there for each other - behind the scenes and in public.

God, I am SO bad at approaching people, but this is important, and not just for comics.

Be part of a community

Really, this is an extension of the above point. It's easier to find your allies if you're part of a community.

I’m a member of the Cartoonist Cooperative, and they’re a GREAT group of talented people all across the comics industry. The mission of @cartoonistcoop is to help create better conditions for comic workers through cooperation and collective action, and I’ve found so much help from them with Into the Smoke and comics as a whole. (JOIN! They're great!!)

The goal of the co-op isn't to drive traffic to your website. But being part of it has helped me at every level of crafting my comic, including promoting it and making it good enough that I can take pride in promoting it. And it's helped me ground myself as part of a community after I lost so much of mine in past years of burnout and platform enshittification.

Another option: @spiderforestcomics is a great webcomic collective full of supportive creators, and I believe they’re open to submissions till the end of June! They also have an awesome collaborative community mindset, and I've known some of their members for years.

Direct readers to your RSS feed and newsletter

Getting readers to your website is great, but they need to keep coming back for future updates, and it’s hard to remind them without an app notification. You may need to teach younger readers what RSS feeds are. Inoreader is a great RSS reader for the 2024 era.

The dreaded SEO

That’s Search Engine Optimization - optimizing your website so that people can easily find your comic via search engines. That’s a topic for another day, but feel free to research it!

Paid promo

This can be tricky, and I really only recommend spending promo money if you’re making a comic on a professional basis, because then it’s an investment you'll make back.

That said, Comicad.net is a great independent site where you can buy banner slots on other creators’ sites. I just ran small campaign myself. (And no, I won’t ever be offended if you outbid me!)

I haven’t bought any Tumblr Blaze slots, but I got BOPPed (blaze other people’s posts; apparently that’s what it’s called, lol) once on this account and once on a side blog, and both were highly impactful. (Thanks, friend!!) So I consider it a solid option, and it looks really cheap compared to other social media sites. (Never trust Meta.)

And where can you learn more about building a webcomic site?

I know you didn't ask, but if I'm gonna share all this, I might as well give folks a starting place to actually do the thing.

Now, I’m *bad* at offering cheap and easy web solutions. My specialty is hard and expensive. But my one piece of advice: PLEASE make your webcomic site mobile friendly for the current generation of readers! When we talk about barriers to entry, remember that more people have phones than computers, and many can't afford computers.

Anyway, here's some webcomic website resources from OTHER people!

The Cartoonist Co-op has LOTS of great resources on building webcomic sites! Several of them! Check them all out!

@screentonescast has a podcast episode on webcomic web design and one on RSS feeds!

@jeypawlik also has a great comic about how RSS feeds work.

So, congrats if you made it this far. Go make a website, y'all! And if you read any indie comics, go visit the creator's website!

[emrowene]

Webserials and Why You Should Read Them

Welcome to a short primer on webserials! The concept behind them is pretty simple: webserials, also called webnovels or webfiction, are serialized online novels. If you read long fanfics OR webcomics, you're probably already familiar with the concept. Authors release new chapters on a fixed basis, usually one chapter a week (but sometimes more, sometimes less).

You can find webserials in several places: on big platforms like tapas and royalroad, on individual authors' websites or patreons, or on newsletter platforms like substack.

So now we know what webserials are, but why should we support them?

Because webserials are fun. Because webserial authors are sharing amazing works online for free! Because the publishing industry is disproportionately hard to get into for queer and marginalized folks, and those are the people writing webserials.

To climb a little higher onto my soapbox, I believe webserials are the future of accessible and diverse publishing. There's been more and more discussion about the problems with traditional publishing: how publishers are turning it into a "fast fashion" industry, spitting out books while overall book quality decreases. Regardless of whether you believe that, it's true that the industry prioritizes "marketability" over anything else. Experimental books, passion projects, books that have a lot of heart but no pithy "tropes" -- they stand little chance in the world of traditional publishing, and self-publishing is incredibly inaccessible for most of us. It's expensive, but more than that, it takes an incredible amount of time and effort. It's a business, and at the end of the day, some of just want to share the stories we love with people we hope will love them too. And that's the beauty of webserials!

One complaint I've seen about webserials is that "you never know what the quality will be like" - and I've seen this from people who regularly read fanfiction! Like fanfiction writers, we have our beta readers, we have our editors, we pour our hearts into developing our stories. So give us a try!!

Some recs and places to get started under the cut:

My webserials:

Fractured Magic - A queer epic fantasy series about a broken hero’s hunt for redemption and an elven prince’s quest to rescue his kidnapped king. The two estranged friends are racing against time - and dead gods - to achieve their goals. Will they make up and work together before it’s too late? (This story is currently ongoing)

The Case Files of Sheridan Bell - An old-school detective mystery set in Tamarley, a fantastical city with magical murders and doors to other worlds. Basically (queer, autistic) Sherlock Holmes but with more faeries. The first mystery is complete; the second will be published soon!

Some other webserials I follow/followed from start to finish:

What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling - a queer gothic romance novel about a priest and a vampire.

The Warthog Report by @warthogreporter- this substack contains a selection of nonfiction writing, misc. fiction writings, and Battles Beneath The Stars, a serialized story about a tournament in a fantasy world, styled like a fighting game script/walkthrough.

Kiss it Better by DogshitJay - A (definitely 18+) queer adult romance about the messy endings and messier beginnings of love.

Warrior of Hearts by Beau Van Dalen - a queer slice of life romance following an online friendship that blossoms into something more. (Beau has lots of other great webserials as well!)

More places to look:

Tapas (Community novels page)

Royalroad (mostly known for its litrpg scene, but you can find other novels and genres here as well!)

The ao3 "Original Works" tag!

[sabertoothwalrus]

Since you also read Tiger, Tiger are there any other webcomics you're reading at the moment? (Also would it be ok to give webcomic recs?)

No hfhsjdj it took like 3 years of nagging from my friends to finally start tigers. I don’t get chances to start new series that often.

I’m borrowing Gideon the Ninth from the library and have read one (1) chapter, and Witch Hat Atalier is next on my list. But the semester just started so I have a lot less time. I do have today mostly free, so I was planning on getting some reading in :p

[ms-demeanor]

oh my god this is random but i rarely come across people who like mike patton, i know he's very influential but for some reason almost no one talks about him, it was nice see you mentioning him!! i would love to hear more about your music taste

I am painfully and overwhelmingly obsessed with Faith No More to the point that I am the lone remaining admin of @faithnomoreshitposting. The first dance song at my wedding was Mr. Bungle's "Retrovertigo" (Mr. Bungle was the last band I saw pre-pandemic and it was fantastic) I also used to make a webcomic on tumblr called @punkpuns that's about goth, metal, and punk subcultures and at lease a few of those comics touch on my taste.

I'm also in a band called P.I.T. and a lot of the music we've made is music I like. It's a punk band but it's a punk band that's heavily informed by the two permanent members being goths who are really into industrial and metal. Here's one of our songs:

My singing style with my band is *very specifically* colored by the way I'm fixated on Patton's voice. That doesn't come across in all of our songs but I was definitely thinking "what would Patton do?" when I was figuring out key changes and breathing and switching between clean and distorted sound or trying to get to the very bottom of my range.

I also really like Orville Peck, Soul Coughing, Hole, Tom Petty, and ELO. I really like The Clash. I really like Body Count. I really like (the) Melvins. I had an obsessive Beatles phase from the ages of 13 to 17 and I grew up in a household where my dad was similarly obsessive about KISS so I kind of like KISS by default even though they objectively suck.

I generally like a lot of music. I like a lot of rap but I'm not deeply familiar with the genre and am mostly aware of stuff that was popular in the 90s. I like a lot of big band music but and a lot of jazz but I couldn't name a lot of albums or songs. I like a lot of country generally but I do not like a lot of country since the nineties. I have listened to and enjoyed a lot of emo but that mostly manifests as playing one Bright Eyes song on repeat. I am not terribly fond of pop music but I get why people like most of it (I don't understand swifties, sorry, she's the aural equivalent of dry toast except listening to her doesn't reduce nausea).

I will pretty much listen to anything, the things that I like the best are rarely played on the radio, and there's very little that will annoy me if someone puts it on (please don't make me listen to showtunes or pop country).

IDK music is good. I like music. On my website rec page I've got a running list of whatever piece of music I've been fixated on recently. I think I spent two months of 2020 listening to Janitor by Suburban Lawns on repeat.

[shinesurge]

hey did you guys know i have a list of comics i like on the kc website? it's behind the "Read More Comics!" button and you should look at it sometimes, I change things over there occasionally

it isn't Comprehensive, and some of the links are busted because i've been reading webcomics so goddamn long my rec page outlived the recommended comic itself BUT i refuse to take them off for various reasons so they remain Immortalized.

[kingdomoftyto]

I just finished a complete re-read for the third (fourth?) time and the recent updates are barreling toward some climactic events, so I therefore feel compelled to make a proper rec post for something LONG overdue:

The Glass Scientists, a webcomic about Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, rogue science, Victorian repression, and a WHOLE lot more.

Our protagonist is the esteemed Dr. Henry Jekyll, co-founder of the Society for Arcane Sciences, an organization that aims to bring mad science into the mainstream by proving that not all who practice it are dangerous lunatics. This is easier said than done, especially with the violent death of a certain Dr. Frankenstein still weighing on the minds of the public years after the fact. Not to mention...

... Henry's own inner demons.

Edward Hyde serves as a sort of release valve for Henry's stresses whenever the pressure of running the Society proves to be too much. Hyde is everything he can't be: spontaneous, emotional, uninhibited. Free to take what he wants without guilt or public consequences.

And oh, Henry wants.

His transformation into Hyde is a physical manifestation of the repression of his queer inclinations. This is not subtext. It's not even an accident on Henry's part. It's a central facet to who he is as a person (and, by extension, who Hyde is, as well).

...But listen. We don't have time to unpack all THAT! Not when there are so many other delightful characters to meet! Such as Henry's best friend / business partner / old flame Robert:

Or Jasper, the newest member of the Society, a plucky young cryptozoologist who happens to also be a werewolf, and who gets swept up in a VERY cute relationship with the slightly unhinged cook (and Henry's other best friend), Rachel:

Or Hyde himself, who despite all his debauchery may not actually be the pinnacle of evil that he believes himself to be:

Because if you couldn't tell from the sampling of panels in this post, this comic is not only a gripping emotional drama but also an OUTRAGEOUS comedy, when the mood calls for it. It truly strikes a perfect balance of the two, in my humble opinion.

On top of all that, the art is gorgeous, the atmosphere is impeccable (swinging from fantastical whimsy to genuine horror and back with deft skill), and the characters are deep and dynamic and full of gray areas.

I can't recommend it enough. It's hands-down my favorite actively-updating webcomic (new page every Monday!), and I'm for-real having to restrain myself from going back and starting ANOTHER re-read right now, it's that good. I've spoiled a tiny bit in this post, but believe me when I say the cast and events get so much weirder and more wonderful than even this. Please check it out.

[jasontoddiefor]

webcomic rec of the day:

I Want to Be A Big Baddie / I Have To Be A Great Villain

Plot: A true villain is ruthless! Evil! A troublemaker! And after beating the male lead black and blue, he walks away as explosions go off on the back. Wang Yi was determined to act as this kind of storybook villain to gain enough points to fix a mistake in his own world.

Unfortunately, the male protagonist can read minds, and starts to wonder what is up with this "villain", who bullies him, yet is filled with regret and cheers him on internally. Soon enough, the protagonist doesn't follow the predetermined plot anymore. So, really, what is a "villain" to do?

Comment: I was not emotionally prepared for this story. This was pitched to me with the initial shojo high school-esque setting Wang Yi enters as his first world. I was sure the story would remain in this first escalated universe, instead I get to follow along as these two idiots keep confronting each other in new worlds, which truly jump from one genre to another. If you're searching for a story about soulmates in every universe being doomed by the narrative, this is it.

I was particularly intrigued by Wang Yi's struggle with kindness, of wanting to be kind, of believing himself incapable of being someone who's actually kind at heart.

Warnings: bullying, abuse, attempted murder and some gore. the story isn't explicit, but our main guys sure have some kinks.

[abalidoth]

Hello!

I was wondering if you have any fiction recommendations featuring a robotic POV character? I recently read Martha Well's All Systems Red and realized I'm like REALLY hungry for a story that gets into a like... computerized headspace.

I'm obviously going to check out the rest of The Murderbot Diaries, but I'd really like even more stories through which to enjoy some vicarious robot feelings! I figured you, my Robot Mutual(tm), might be a good source! (No Pressure of course) (Music, Poems, Animation, etc. are also great) (Here's one of my favorite robot-feeling songs as thanks) https://youtu.be/V7Ht35zP37A

My most immediate answer:

It's the second book in a series, so you might want to check out "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" first. But it follows an AI named Sidra who has been moved, mostly against her will, from a spaceship into a humanoid android body. It does an amazing job of making her feel genuinely robotic, Sidra is one of my favorite characters in anything ever. The other half of the plot is the backstory of her friend Pepper, who was raised by a ship AI, so there's good robot feels there too.

By the same author:

This one is set in a utopian world where the robots have all disappeared into the forest. Despite being by the same author, Mosscap is a totally different vibe of robot character from Sidra.

A tonally different take:

This one won, like, all the awards when it came out. It features Breq, a former warship AI left with a single human body, on a singleminded quest to kill an immortal god-emperor, while flashing back to her time as a warship to set up why she wants to kill Anaander Mianaai so much. The sequels are also excellent, and weirdly tend to be a little more light hearted as Breq acquires a found family and crew around her.

A webcomic rec:

O Human Star is about a robotics pioneer who mysteriously wakes up in a robotic simulacrum of his old body after several years dead, only to find that his old business partner (and secret lover) has revolutionized the world with robots in his absence. Stranger still, his business partner is raising a young robotic duplicate of him... and she has chosen to transition to female. It can be read here:

Also recommend the short story "Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer. (The novels which follow it, the CatNet books, are also very good but have less robotic perspective.)

Hopefully you find something you like here!

[guest-1-2-3]

idk how old that post was but u mentioned u had more zukka recs? modern au and such. would love to read those if you'd like to share, thnak you for that rec post btw it's great

omg anon i’m so sorry it’s definitely been months i just found this posts in my drafts and i think i was planning on adding more to the list but idk anymore !! hope ur still around i have some more for fics for you here you by go lol 😭

Absolutely! Here are some modern aus that I enjoyed :)

streetlights, sidewalks, and other complicated things by lesbianspikespiegel, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Rated T, 6k: "Sokka has been standing under the same streetlight at ten-thirty p.m. every other night for the past month. It’s nice, it’s quiet, it gets him out of the house, and it’s all to himself. That is until Zuko starts showing up, too." (I couldn't figure out a good way to describe this one so I put in the summary. It's cute, and while it does reference child abuse, I'd say it's pretty light overall. Quick and nice read!)

There Are Dragons in the Sky by ava_14_rose_9, Panic Attacks, Childhood Trauma, Child Abuse, Rated T, 39k: Eliza and Her Monsters au where Zuko is the anonymous author of a webcomic and has to navigate relationships with his new friend group who happen to be fans of said webcomic. He's also dealing with moving to another country, mental health, and family stuff. This fic had a very compelling plot and I really liked how the author wrote the different characters, their relationships, and conflict. Zuko-centric fic for the most part, but the main ship is Zukka :)

Here It Goes Again by firb (f_ing_ruthless_baz), Implied Sexual Content, Drinking, Mentions of Death, Rated M, 24k: Plant shop and tea shop au but also soulmates! A very nice au with getting together, some angst, some fluff, some miscommunication. I found it a nice read :)

and i'll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by nebulastucky, Non-Graphic Smut, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Rated M, 88k: Basically fuckbuddies to lovers Zukka with some miscommunication and angst but also a lot of humor and fluff imo. Sokka-centric. I really liked the character writing in this one! Also Sokka and Suki being roommates and exes to best friends is forever one of my favorite tropes lol

The Fine Art of Swordbending by mindbending, canon-typical abuse, Rated T, 20k: mindbending at it again writing all my favorite atla fics smh. Olympics au! This one had some secret identity moments which really satisfied the old ml fan in me lol. There's definitely angst but it really is hurt/comfort getting together. It's not too heavy, but you know. It's Zuko. Sokka-centric!

[sweetfirebird]

If I started up a queer romance recs tumblr that took submissions (in a particular suggested format like old LJ fic rec blogs did), with some rules and guidelines in place, so that Tumblr has a place for people to rec stuff they like, do you think people would participate?

The rules would be like, no fanfiction but trad, indie, and self pubbed--including free- are fine. Webcomics and graphic novels are fine. erotica recs are fine. the genre just has to be romance or their has to be a romance emphasis *with the main characters.* So no author self-recs. no duplicates, so I will need an enforced tagging system etc.

I don't think tumblr needs to be like, booktube or booktok or whatever. but just a fun recs blog, with recs from readers and fans might be nice? and frankly, most authors and artists would love any extra promotion anyway.

And queer here means ace, it means trans, it means bi, and so on. and that includes m/f type recs is one or both of them are bi or trans or ace or pan or what have you. and yeah, aro too. and you might be thinking well, aro makes no sense with romance, but I have seen it done, so whatever. It's in.

[petricorah]

do you have any yuri ships? *fingers pointing together*

YES

i love korrasami and mailee and tyzula and ive been planning to draw some kya/lin. And fig and ayda and BUBBLINE

Also ive been trying to work up the courage (and time) to share my oc stories...pirate/noblewoman....

Also i love guy she was interested in and have been trying to get into some more gl manga/webcomics. Anyone have any recs?

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: merpeople

Everything from pretty, magical sirens and selkies to eldritch monstrosities and murderous, scientifically plausible fish-people, merpeople as a whole have a special allure and surprising versatility to them. Allow me to share with you some books!

(Also, did you know that a lot of mermaid books are very queer? If not, you're about to find out!)

Continue under the readmore for details and my thoughts on the books!

Other book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding

Really cool sci-fi worldbuilding

Dark sapphic romances

Vampire books

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Krauss

Surely this one needs no introduction on tumblr dot com, the monsterfucker site? In 1960s America, Elisa works as a cleaner in a government laboratory when a strange fish creature is brought in to be studied, and an immediate connection sparks between the two.

Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky trilogy) by Rebecca Roanhorse

This isn't so much a mermaid book as a fantasy book in which one of the main characters is of merpeople heritage. In a pre-columbian inspired world, sea captain Xiala travels with a mysterious scarred passenger toward a dangerous goal. Also features bisexual and nonbinary leads!

Ice Massacre (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy) by Tiana Warner

Young Adult. A small island is forced to defend itself against intruding forces of vicious mermaids. As all men trying to fight them get lured in by their siren song, a ship filled with warrior girls is sent instead. However one of them, Meela, had a complicated past with one of the mermaids, which is brought back to life when the two reunite on the battlefield. Sapphic romance. This one is also available as an ongoing webcomic.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

A research vessel heads towards the Mariana Trench in search of answers of what happened to a ship which mysteriously lost all its crew some time earlier. In the deep dark, something intelligent and hungry awaits them. Very much mermaids of the horror variety. Sequel to a novella. Also contains a sapphic romance, however that is a pretty small part of the plot as a whole.

Our Bloody Pearl (These Treacherous Tides series) by D.N. Bryn

A siren who's been held captive by a pirate is freed, but too injured to survive on their own as their tail has become paralyzed. Another pirate captain decides to help them out and has to work to win their trust. Fairly fluffy and light on worldbuilding and plot (though there is a bit of a revenge story in there), with a focus on character and recovery. m/nb romance with an asexual love interest.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Novella. Yetu holds the memories of her people, descendants of pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard, a past forgotten by everyone but her. But holding the memories alone is slowly destroying her, and she flees to the surface. A look at inter-generational trauma and the scars it leaves.

The Mermaid's Daughter by Ann Claycomb

A continuation on the classical fairy tale. Kathleen, up and coming opera singer, has suffered from a lifelong and unexplainable stabbing pain in her feet. As both her mother and grandmother died from suicide, possibly due to a similar condition, Kathleen's girlfriend convinces her to try and find out more of her family history. More of a magical realism than a full on fantasy (with a lot of focus on the intricacies of opera) but very beautiful.

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

Lovecraftian fishpeople! Aphra and her brother are the only survivors after the government raided their home, Innsmouth. Their only living family are the amphibian people of the deep, whom they will one day join, but until then they are bound to land where they struggle to build new lives for themselves after the great loss of their home and loved ones. Then rumors start to spread of a russian agent seeking dangerous and ancient magic, forcing Aphra to involve herself as they try to stop it. Does contain horror elements but is generally a much more optimistic look on cosmic horror than most lovecraftian stories, told from the perspective of one of his monsters. Lots of focus on found family and rebuilding of community. Asexual main character (however I don't think that becomes in-text confirmed until the sequel).

Eelgrass by Tori Curtis

When Bettan, a selkie, has her skin stolen by a man and gets forced into marriage, her best friend Efa is determined to save her. The other selkies however refuse to help, and so Efa seek out the help of dangerous mermaids in the hopes of rescuing her friend. Atmospheric and beautiful, with a very nice balance of platonic love between friends and a (sapphic) romance, both portrayed as equally important.

The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre

You can't go wrong with a Vonda McIntyre novel just, like, in general. This one is set in 17th century France, where a young woman and her brother travel to live at the royal court, where they are to care for and study a strange captured sea monster fabled to have the ability to grant eternal life. A lot of focus on court politics as well as the cultural and biological differences between the humans and the mermaid. Also available as a movie (but it's not very good, please just read the book).

Sommaren 1985 by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Including this on the list feels a little mean because it's not yet available in english, but all of the author's other works have been translated (fun fact, he's the writer of internationally acclaimed vampire novel Let the Right One In!) so odds are this one will be as well. It follows a group of young teens in 1985 finding a mermaid tied up on a beach and hiding her in a bathtub in a shed. While the mermaid is important, it's more of a coming-of-age story with few supernatural elements. The author generally writes horror, and while I wouldn't classify this as such it certainly has an ominous atmosphere throughout. Gay main character but no romance (other than sideplots involving other characters).

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

Young adult graphic novel. Morgan, a young girl living on an island, meets a selkie with whom she quickly sparks a connection. But Morgan has yet to tell anyone about her feelings about girls, and the selkie has secret motives of her own as to why she chose to come on land. Sapphic romance with enviromental themes. Very pretty art.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

The Mermaid the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Young adult sapphic fantasy featuring not only mermaids but also pirates!

Out of the Blue by Jason June

A young merperson must leave the sea to undergo a coming-of-age journey - and risk getting stuck on land forever.

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

A boy living on an isolated island befriends a merperson with dangerous secrets.

Honorary mentions AKA these didn't quite work for me but maybe you guys will like them:

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember (sapphic little mermaid retelling from Ursula's perspective), Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz (enviromental novella), The Fate of Stars by S.D. Simper (fantasy, sapphic enemies to lovers)

[valtsv]

Do you have any book recs? I've been chasing the high of the locked tomb since I finished it and nothing is scratching that itch. It was a really good blend of body horror, rich lore, fun characters, and just like the sort of all-consuming-devotion flavor of slow-burn relationships that appeal to me personally. I've been trying to read more this summer and my friends' tastes can be hit or miss. Asking cuz you seem to have similar taste in media- thanks!

ngl i haven't read a lot of fiction this year, but you might like kill six billion demons (webcomic with cool art including the body horror and fun characters you crave and some excellent and incredibly evocative prose) or this is how you lose the time war (for more delicious prose and intense devotion)