#i do not support rainbow Rowell

[mydarlingdearestdead]

I love how in the Simon Snow trilogy the magical room mate picker thingy saw Simon and Baz and thought "ha ha. gay." and made them share a room for seven years.

[palimpsessed]

Looks like it’s take your vampire boyfriend to work day at the construction site.

@carryon-countdown Day 9: Staff

This one is for @carryonmylovelies especially who, like me, read that Simon was getting his forklift licence and needed to see it immediately. It just took me a while to do this.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💙💜🩷 Books for Bisexuality Visibility Month 🩷💜💙

please support this blog

💜 How incredible is it that I made a list of 99 books for bisexual visibility month, KNOWING there are so many NOT featured on this list? I'm so proud to be bi. Having these characters and stories intertwine with mine warms my heart.

💜 What's your favorite book featuring bisexual characters?

💙 The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar 💙 Perfect on Paper - Sophie Gonzales 💙 Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli 💙 Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston 💙 Queens of Geek - Jen Wilde 💙 Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster - Andrea Mosqueda 💙 Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute - Talia Hibbert 💙 Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake - Alexis Hall 💙 A Merry Little Meet Cute - Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone

💜 Leah on the Offbeat - Becky Albertalli 💜 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid 💜 Radio Silence - Alice Oseman 💜 The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee 💜 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 💜 Wolfsong - T.J. Klune 💜 The Pairing - Casey McQuiston 💜 Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 Heartstopper - Alice Oseman

🩷 Going Bicoastal - Dahlia Adler 🩷 Some Girls Do - Jennifer Dugan 🩷 Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating - Adiba Jaigirdar 🩷 Autoboyography - Christina Lauren 🩷 Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur 🩷 They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera 🩷 Cool for the Summer - Dahlia Adler 🩷 Delilah Green Doesn't Care - Ashley Herring Blake 🩷 One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

💙 I'll Be the One - Lyla Lee 💙 Running With Lions - Julian Winters 💙 Take a Hint, Dani Brown - Talia Hibbert 💙 Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender 💙 Not Your Sidekick - C.B. Lee 💙 Ophelia After All - Racquel Marie 💙 Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao 💙 Something to Talk About - Meryl Wilsner 💙 The Girls I've Been - Tess Sharpe

💜 Iris Kelly Doesn't Date - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 Never Ever Getting Back Together - Sophie Gonzales 💜 Her Royal Highness - Rachel Hawkins 💜 Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman 💜 I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver 💜 Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner 💜 Hang the Moon - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Kiss Her Once for Me - Alison Cochrun 💜 The Brightsiders - Jen Wilde

🩷 Wild Beauty - Anna-Marie McLemore 🩷 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Victoria Schwab 🩷 Payback's a Witch - Lana Harper 🩷 A Dowry of Blood - S.T. Gibson 🩷 Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo 🩷 Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat 🩷 If This Gets Out - Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich 🩷 Let's Talk About Love - Claire Kann 🩷 Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

💙 Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Klune 💙 I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston 💙 Pumpkinheads - Rainbow Rowell 💙 Icebreaker - A.L. Graziadei 💙 This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron 💙 A Lot Like Adiós - Alexis Daria 💙 Sorry, Bro - Taleen Voskuni 💙 We Are Okay - Nina LaCour 💙 Count Your Lucky Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

💜 Hot Dog Girl - Jennifer Dugan 💜 Verona Comics - Jennifer Dugan 💜 They Hate Each Other - Amanda Woody 💜 The Disasters - M.K. England 💜 The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater 💜 You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson 💜 These Witches Don't Burn - Isabel Sterling 💜 My Dearest Darkest - Kayla Cottingham 💜 City of Shattered Light - Claire Winn

🩷 The Unbroken - C.L. Clark 🩷 Dread Nation - Justina Ireland 🩷 House of Hollow - Krystal Sutherland 🩷 Love & Other Disasters - Anita Kelly 🩷 Ace of Shades - Amanda Foody 🩷 The Lost Girls - Sonia Hartl 🩷 Of Fire and Stars - Audrey Coulthurst 🩷 This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story - Kacen Callender 🩷 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

💙 If You Still Recognise Me - Cynthia So 💙 Melt With You - Jennifer Dugan 💙 The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochrun 💙 That Summer Feeling - Bridget Morrissey 💙 The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School - Sonora Reyes 💙 The Luis Ortega Survival Club - Sonora Reyes 💙 The Fiancée Farce - Alexandria Bellefleur 💙 Flip the Script - Lyla Lee 💙 Role Playing - Cathy Yardley

💜 I Think I Love You - Auriane Desombre 💜 Truly, Madly, Deeply - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Gearbreakers - Zoe Hana Mikuta 💜 Finally Fitz - Marisa Kanter 💜 The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - Andrew Joseph White 💜 Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl - Brianna R. Shrum & Sara Waxelbaum 💜 Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings 💜 A Darker Shade of Magic - Victoria Schwab 💜 Love at First Set - Jennifer Dugan

[one-squash-one-end]

once again rambling about Adam Parrish

Hi! This still belongs to my big Raven Cycle analysis, click here for the masterpost.

For most of the characters I obviously read a lot into subtext and speculate about how they're absolutely not straight, but lucky for us, we do get canon queer characters!

So let this be me talking about Adam as bi representation and also throwing in (other people's) gender headcanons. As always, please tell me your thoughts in the notes <3

c) Adam Parrish

Sadly, I cannot speculate too much about Adam’s sexuality, as he is canonically the mean, witchy (and bitchy) bisexual.

There isn’t much I can say, really. Throughout the book series he displays interest in both Blue and Ronan. And also Greenmantle, but I would like all of us to ignore that because I want to believe Adam has good taste. Blue and Ronan as his love interests are essentially seen as equal. While I would say he had already had some repressed attraction for Ronan (see: him calling the swearing melodic, black-painted poetry- you normally wouldn’t feel like that for someone who just called you a motherfucker) in book one while dating Blue. Yet it becomes very much clear that he did have romantic feelings for Blue. Yes, the two of them were doomed from the start (but still pretty cute I’d say! Until things went to shit, that is), however, Blue is not treated by the narrative as some mistake before Adam figures out he’s actually gay (looking at you judgingly here, Rainbow Rowell). Neither was Ronan a quick, silly thing to see how it would feel to kiss the same gender. That is, like, very much very obvious, through the last five books. They are boyfriends, your honor.

At this point I would also like to give a shout-out to Adam Parrish and the Crying Club (which would make for a fire band name, just saying). This little group of queer people Adam collects at uni (in Call Down The Hawk) has my whole heart and I so wish we would have seen more of them, I am forever mourning their potential of silly, reoccurring side characters. What I’m trying to say though is this: The fact that Adam builds a group of queer people around himself (another one apart from the Gangsey) proves his sexuality even more, because we all know queer people flock towards each other.

Either way, canon bisexual, we love that. Moving on.

Honorary mention to the transmasc Adam headcanon that Tumblr user @barbaricpoetic compiles especially well in a post. I personally do not follow that headcanon, like of course I do not think Blue is supposed to be written as genderfluid in the books, but somehow I believe even less in trans Adam, but either way I do agree there is a lot of strong source material to support that headcanon. Check out the original post for a lot more detail, I don’t want to plagiarize all of that here either way, but here’s two especially solid hints: First of all, he does everything to appear more masculine, like working in typically male-dominated fields and dressing accordingly to that, while orientating his behavior on Ronan and Gansey, who, ironically, do not try as hard as him. Secondly, there’s physical descriptions, Adam being a lot more “elegant” and delicate than the other (Raven) boys Blue knows, with unusual features, and “blue eyes pretty enough for a girl”. Yeah, might be a coincidence, might be solid, queer truth.

This would all make so much sense, even within the books and all, there is just one, considerably big thing, that would not add up with this in canon. Adam’s rural-conservative shitbag of a father would never use the correct name and pronouns for his ftm child.

Either way, there might still be something fun going on with his gender that defies the binaries. Why do I think so? Well, Gansey says a very interesting thing. “Henry was a boy. Adam was a─ Gansey didn’t know.” I wish he would have told us what makes them different. What is it that Adam was? A man? A demiboy? A nonbinary person? A dinosaur in disguise? Please do enlighten us, Gansey. I’m assuming it’s got something to do with Adam being more mature than Henry (he definitely is), but like with Blue and the 300 Fox Way Women, it might be a gender thing, at least you can very easily lay it out to be that way.

To conclude as I will conclude every character part, I think Adam might possibly wear a crop top (might take him a while to accept masculinity is everything you want it to be and not just a certain aesthetic standard though), but absolutely not regularly and not around strangers or his parents.

[lingthusiasm]

Lingthusiasm Episode 80: Word Magic

The magical kind of spell and the written kind of spell are historically linked. This reflects how saying a word can change the state of the world, both in terms of fictional magic spells that set things on fire or make them invisible, and in terms of the real-world linguistic concept of performative utterances, which let us agree to contracts, place bets, establish names, and otherwise alter the fabric of our relationships. 

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about word magic! We talk about how the word magic systems are set up differently in three recent fantasy books we like: Babel by R.F. Kuang, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik. We also talk about linguistic performatives: why saying “I do” in a movie doesn’t make you married, aka Felicity Conditions, aka an excellent drag name; performativity as applied to gender (yup, Judith Butler got it from linguistics); the “hereby” test; and how technology changes what counts as a performative.  

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here.

Announcements:  People often ask us to recommend interesting books about linguistics that don't assume prior knowledge of linguistics, so we've come up with a list of 12 books that we personally recommend, including both nonfiction and fiction books with linguistically interesting elements! Get this list of our top 12 linguistics books by signing up for our free email list. Email subscribers get an email once a month when there's a new episode of Lingthusiasm, and this month existing subscribers will see a link to our linguistics books list! If you find this any time in the future, you'll get the books list in the confirmation email after you sign up.  In this month’s bonus episode, we get excited about the results of the 2022 Lingthusiasm Survey. We talk about synesthesia fomo, whether people respond differently to kiki/bouba depending on whether they're aware of them as a meme, complicating the "where is a frown?" map, the plural of emoji, and more! Plus, we mentioned swearing in this episode? Yeah, we’ve got bonus episodes about that too.  Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 70+ other bonus episodes, as well as access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds! Our patrons let us keep making the main episodes free for everyone and we really appreciate every level of support.

Here are the links mentioned in the episode:

Sign up to our newsletter and get our list of 12 linguistically interesting books!

Etymonline entry for ‘spell’

Etymonline entry for ‘glamour’

‘Babel’ by R. F. Kuang on Goodreads

‘Carry On - The Simon Snow series’ by Rainbow Rowell on Goodreads

‘A Deadly Education - The Scholomance Series’ by Naomi Novik on Goodreads

Lingthusiasm episode ‘Cool things about scales and implicature’

Wikipedia entry for ‘performative utterances’

Superlinguo post on ‘I do’ and performatives in weddings

Government of Canada post on ‘hereby’

All Things Linguistics post on performatives

Judith Butler Wikipedia entry

‘Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity’ by Judith Butler on Goodreads

‘Universality and specificity in infant-directed speech: Pitch modifications as a function of infant age and sex in a tonal and non-tonal language’ by C. Kitamura et al

Tambiah 1968 on word magic

Lingthusiasm bonus episodes on swearing:

‘Real swear words vs pseudo swears’

‘The grammar of swearing’

‘What makes a swear word feel sweary? A &⩐#⦫& Liveshow’

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening.

To receive an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm ad-free, get access to bonus content, and more perks by supporting us on Patreon.

Lingthusiasm is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon, and Tumblr. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, and our production assistant is Martha Tsutsui Billins. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

This episode of Lingthusiasm is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license (CC 4.0 BY-NC-SA).

[gojoest]

im just so confused by the rhetoric of not being able to indulge in childhood friends to lovers in your 30s bc like…. how old do they think are the authors of so many famous books that are about childhood friends to lovers? or just young love in general? john green, rainbow rowell, so many big authors that write these tropes are in their late 30s/40s like that just doesn’t even make sense 😭

i support u so much ai i love satoai i love friends to lovers and i love u!!!!!! keep doing what you love and being what you love because all that matters is that you’re having fun🤍

(if you’re tired of this topic you don’t have to respond but i still wanted to say something! sending love🤍)

exactly 😭 + why do ppl think it’s crazy impossible for two childhood friends to get romantically involved with each other in their 30s or be it even later????? this isn’t even about imagination atp to call it limited, it’s so natural for ppl to come together at any given age i cannot believe still that this person came @ me with such nonsense 💀

flora thank you sm 🥹 i love and appreciate you so so much!! 🤍 hugging you tightly!

[captain-aralias]

9 books that are my favourites

tagged by @arenee1999 a few days ago, thank you <3 as i was writing this list in my head last night, i thought - this could be read as a list of my favourite fandoms and television/film adaptations, but hey ho. i did a degree in english lit or something.

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban by JKR - no book has been so important to my life and i also just think it's a really fun mystery and i still like it, so - it's here, it's staying.

carry on by rainbow rowell - but of course. this one was quite important too.

pride and prejudice by jane austen - i don't think this has ever made a fav book list before, i think because i thought it was too basic, but damnit - this book is great, it influences the way i write enemies to lovers, i love the 1995 adaptation and all of austen's novels are bangers except mansfield park, which i keep trying to like but it sucks.

the once and future king by TH white - all my life i loved the movie 'camelot' and it's depiction of arthur. i only learned as an adult that it was TH white's gentle, earnest, thwarted arthur that they'd used <3 he's perfect. 'ill-made knight' is the best of the series, IMO

lieutenant hornblower by cs forester - i haven't read the books in ages, so maybe it's time for a re-read. the ioan grufford adaptation is great, i wish they'd do the later/earlier books too! BUT this early (in hornblower's life) book is my fav - the only one told from bush's POV as he struggles with how he loves hornblower but worries the guy wants to do a mutiny (which he totally does)

the folk of the air by holly black - a new entrant even though i've loved it for years, but i've decided i don't just think it's really good, it's so good that it's one of my favs. maybe the best of the trilogy is the middle book, 'wicked king' where jude is in power with limited support and they fall in love (or do they???). how the king of elfham learned to hate stories is also brilliant.

'the emperor mage' by tamora pierce. i've been waiting my whole life for the numair book and it was terrible, but her first three trilogies are my absolute crack, and this is the best book of those series IMO. the bit where numair tries to hit the emperor for implying he loves his student daine (which he does) while she's listening but disguised as a bird - and then he fakes his own death, and daine goes crazy... that bit has stayed with me for decades, i love it so much.

'night watch' by terry pratchett. i still feel late to properly loving pterry, but i've always liked this one and now i love it - vimes is my guy, i love the time travel, that he trains himself, that he resists both passively and when required actively. v good. my next fav is probably ... 'monstrous regiment', which i think is a bit more of a weird choice (unlike this one which is mega popular and also about all the things i like), but it just does everything right! oh, 'and 'going postal'.

'the princess bride' by s morgenstern william goldman. i haven't read this for ages either so maybe it shouldn't make the list, but i expect it's still pretty great. a mindfuck for a young child who has only seen the film and thinks all of the frame narrative must therefore be real... also, the film is like one of the best films ever and i have seen that super recently. if you haven't seen the home movie, do yourself a favour and watch it because it's a great way to enjoy the movie a-new.

no idea where this meme has been already. so just saying hello to some folks and if you'd like to do this meme and haven't done it already, please do! @giishu @orange-peony @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @carryonvisinata @alleycat0306 @fight-surrender @cows4247 @messofthejess @mysterioussheep

[cyberpilate]

I am so scared to to read the "new" Sensational She-Hulk out right now.

Shulkie's one of those personal characters, yanno? The character that you identify with real hardcore? Your emotional support superheroine? The one you're not afraid to admit you care a leeeetle too much about?

And Rainbow Rowell didn't wow me with her trial run (I guess?) on Adjectively She-Hulk earlier in the year. The focus on Jack of Hearts, the weird situation at her job, none of it felt fun or free. And then breaking the fourth wall to YELL AT HER READERS was the final straw. The OG Sensational She-Hulk broke the fourth wall to laugh WITH you, not at you. She picked on writers, artists and editors. She gave you deep lore on weird Marvel lost gems. She used it smartly to evade her enemies by doing things like ripping open a page to run across the ads and get to the next panel. She loved being She-Hulk, she loved being in comics, and all of that translated to one 13 year old girl who had never seen anything like it.

Maybe I'm too personally invested. I'm not with what the kids are into. You know? Ms. Marvel comes close. Kamala does love to be a superhero and uses an optimistic enthusiasm to face down absurdity. But that was before she became a mutant so I don't know.

Right now, in my life, I don't want this comic to be bad. I know it's going to disappoint me. Maybe I've lost my optimism along with Jen.

[stupidphototricks]

I'm jealous of kids today being able to grow up with the amazing YA books being written now ("now" for me being within the past 15 years or so), but I still read them even though I'm not Young. Here are a few of my favorite YA authors and books, in no particular order:

Patrick Ness, The Rest of Us Just Live Here TW: mental illness, suicidal thoughts I adore that there's a whole epic fantasy battle thing that we see pieces of in the foreground, but the book focuses on the characters in the background who are dealing with their own stuff.

Alice Oseman, Radio Silence and Solitaire TW: suicidal thoughts, emotionally abusive parent (RS), self-harm (S), eating disorder (S) You might recognize Alice Oseman as the author of the Heartstopper comic and TV series. They wrote novels too! Really good ones, although that's not surprising. Solitaire's protagonist is Charlie's sister Tori, and its events take place a year or so after the start of Heartstopper (possible spoilers for season 3, who knows?). Radio Silence is set in the same town I think another year later, and Aled (who was in the comics, but was renamed and somewhat reimagined as Isaac in TV Heartstopper) is a main character though not the protagonist. Nick, Charlie, and Tori make very brief cameos.

David Levithan and John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson TW: I can't think of any major triggers in this book, I apologize if I missed something. Obviously both of these authors have independently written other excellent books, but this one is my favorite, mostly because I love Tiny Cooper and his musical so much. This is the lightest (i.e. not dark, and not heavy) by far of the books here. It's mostly really fun but occasionally serious.

Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun TW: bullying, homophobia, suicidal thoughts, death I read a review of this book that basically said enough with the artsy language and metaphors, so maybe it isn't for everybody, but I found it brilliant. It encapsulates a thought or an idea or a feeling in a way you'd never expect, but that you relate to immediately. Also I think that having the POV switch between twins, but two years apart (one twin at 14, the other twin at 16) with a major life-altering event in between, is an amazing way to tell this story.

Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor and Park and Carry On TW: bullying (E&P), abusive family situation (E&P), vampires (CO) Eleanor and Park is set in the 80s with all of the requisite 80s accessories, and characters that will make your heart break in different ways. Carry On is a sort of Drarry fanfic spoof (and supposedly written by a character in a different Rainbow Rowell novel!). But the characters are so well-developed and engaging that you stop seeing them as caricatures and start caring about them in their own right.

Jesse Andrews, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Haters TW: vulgar talk (really just teenage boys trying to be gross), dysfunctional family situation (M&E&DG), death (M&E&DG) I can't overstate how much I love the writing style of these books. Always entertaining and often hilarious, it jumps from normal prose to an outline, to a film script, to a bulleted list, and always turns out to be the perfect way to show whatever is going on.

What's most important to me: In all of these books, the young adult characters are real people who are complicated, and surprising, and funny, and passionate. They may have serious problems but they can have fun and be silly. They screw up but they try to fix things. They love and support their friends, and their friends love and support them. Often there are parents who are also real people doing their best; I appreciate that in a YA book! For the most part these books don't have magically happy endings, but they do end in a good place, with hope.

[localplaguenurse]

15, 24, 40, 42, 44, 53, 55, 56

(You can answer any that you wish and ignore some as they might be personal, or you don't wish to answer)

E

15. personality description

Former people pleaser who chooses kindness but violence is not off the table. Still too anxious to do anything super confrontational but will drop polite Canadian act. I wanna make a safe space for myself and fellow weirdos and I'll be damned if anyone's gotta push me.

24. height

5'4", maybe a centimetre more.

40. favourite memory

That one's hard to pick. I'm gonna say going to fan expo with beta and my dm. My feet hurt like hell the next few days but it was really fun! A couple people took pics of me in my cosplay, got prints signed, blew through all my cash in artist's alley got to bring home all sorts of neat trinkets, just really fun all around!

42. favourite book(s)

My favourite book series as a child was A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, I've read Carry On and Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell but still haven't read Any Way the Wind Blows, I have a bunch of Junji Ito collections, and I've started reading The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix.

44. age you get mistaken for

I think my coworker earlier today said she thought I was 19 as I was leaving the store. I've got a round baby face and have been the same height since I was 12.

53. 5 things that make me happy

Writing, drawing, music, chocolate, cats

55. tumblr friends

I consider them my friends, but to name a few it's you, Ivy, Morde, Feral, Machiko and Crys. Not to say they're my only friends, but they're all the people I interact with the most that I don't meet up with IRL, like beta or my dm.

56. favourite food(s)

Butter chicken, that feta bake pasta, and those birria tacos. My mother made them once during the first year of the pandemic and has not made them since because they're a lot of work, but oh my god they were amazing. I'm a simple guy, I like chocolate, I like spicy, and I like a nice warm meal.

ask game

[pridepages]

Make the Yuletide Gay: “Snow for Christmas”

Happy Christmas from Pride Pages! We have a special edition featuring Rainbow Rowell’s short story “Snow for Christmas”...

Here there be spoilers!

It’s a jolly holiday for snowbaz fans! Our favorite rivals-to-allies-to-lovers have grown by leaps and bounds since we left them in Any Way the Wind Blows. They’re cohabitating, domesticated, and surrounded by friends and loved ones. The holiday’s looking to be merry and bright. Except for one thing...The Grimms have invited Baz AND Simon to the family hearth for Christmas!

Although, some things haven’t changed. Baz’s stepmum extends the invitation, saying “we hope you’ll bring a guest...whomever you might want to spend Christmas with, I was thinking Simon Snow.”

You know: Baz’s buddy. His pal. Eight snakes!

When Baz cries out to Simon “I don’t want to be closeted in my own home on Christmas!” I felt that. Deeply. 

Here’s the thing: as Simon points out, this looks like acceptance. “They already know you’re gay--everyone knows you’re gay! Are you upset that you didn’t get to give a speech? They invited you to bring your boyfriend home to meet them properly...How will you be less closeted going alone--than with me right there, sitting next to you?”

But people knowing while still refusing to talk about it--living under a taboo that you feel in your heart even if it was never explicitly said--still feels like being shoved in a closet. When you know people around you are uncomfortable in the knowledge of who you are...then YOU feel uncomfortable existing around them as who you are. And you feel pain in that awareness.

Fans of the series will remember that Baz’s queerness is not the only unspoken reality about Baz’s identity. The fact of his vampirism is also censored. For years, the family takes it for granted that Baz does not eat with them. If he were to do so, his fangs would be exposed and their carefully constructed fiction would collapse. But, as readers know, Baz has learned to control his fangs between holidays. And with his boyfriend’s support, Baz gets to flex his new skill. When Baz demonstrates that he can eat Christmas dinner with the family for the first time in years, the party really gets started. Most significantly, Baz’s father goes from “steeling himself at the sight” of his guests to “openly staring...his eyes are shining.” 

In the wake of the family celebration, Simon and Baz feel open to be more comfortably themselves. Baz pivots from calling Simon “Snow” to calling him “Darling” at the table, not blinking when Simon calls him “Babe.” 

It’s not perfect. After all, “No one asks what’s changed. Or what it means. Where my fangs have gone. For them, the only variable factor is Simon...my family might think I’m cured. If they do, I’ll let them go on thinking it. Cured by homosexuality. Cured by Simon’s ministrations.” I don’t love the implication that Baz has to be thought of as “cured” or otherwise “fixed” of the vampirism he had no choice in contracting in order to bring joy to his family with his presence. I furthermore resent the idea that Baz’s queerness only becomes acceptable to his family--in their tacit way--because it’s seen as somehow related to said cure/fix. 

I don’t want to be a total grinch about this little Christmas card to the fans. There are so many snippets of Simon and Baz just oozing love all over each other, whether it’s Baz calling Simon “the handsomest man I’ve ever laid eyes on” with Simon replying “I thought you said vampires could see themselves in mirrors.” Or apparently a shared competence kink: Baz “trying not to look impressed...it’s a constant effort” by Simon’s swordplay or Simon calling Baz’s shooting his wand from a cuff “dead sexy.” Plus, we get Simon Snow deciding the is-Die Hard-a-Christmas-movie issue (conclusion: yes). Still, it makes me wish we could have seen our boys at the Salisbury Christmas where they could have been “as gay as we want...we can be extra gay, as a treat.” Like all queer people, Simon and Baz deserve untempered comfort and joy among friends and loved ones every day of the year...but especially around the holidays.

To all my rainbow siblings struggling to find a safe hearth to keep warm during the holidays, know that hearts are with you. We all deserve celebrations where we are safe and loved, merry and bright.

To those of us lucky enough to have found our forever homes and families, I wish you every good thing today and every day. 

Keep making the yuletide gay!

[olivers-cocoapuffs]

carrots cannot be my grand question of the day, I'm afraid.

so here I am.

hello.

I'm trying not to work myself into a spiral right now. it's fun. (it's not fun) having a very James Potter moment tbh.

anyway my question-

do you have more than one copy of a book? if so id like to know what book(s)

an eye for an eye (you know I don't believe in this by now)- Percy Jackson and the lightening thief, Hunger games Mockingjay, the Great Gatsby, The lion the witch and the wardrobe and Anyway the Wind Blows (Simon Snow trilogy)

(I do not support Rainbow Rowell)

I only have two copies of one book which is- drum roll please

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

The mark of Athena!

I try really hard not to get more than one copy of a book but that one was an accident

[xkeyon]

Hope or Despair for the Inhumans

So on Twitter someone messaged to Rainbow Rowell that she would do good writing Medusa.  Well she responded that she actually had wanted to use her in her She-Hulk, but wasn’t allowed and that the editors didn’t go into detail why she couldn’t. So what does this mean for the Inhumans, is it that they are going to be used in a big enough way soon, or is it editors really are not letting them be used even as big enough guest stars in other books.  Keep in mind I actually don’t know what Medusa’s role was to be, but I figure a major enough to have an important enough arc, she and Jennifer have enough history together.  Now Moongirl has an on going mini and Ms. Marvel is a supporting character in Spider-man (plus got a Dark-Web tie-in) so is it just Inhumans are really just associated with the Inhumans brand (forgetting some of them were main characters in other books) can’t be used, I do wonder.  Does this mean Luna Maximoff won’t be in the current Scarlet Witch book? Thoughts on this? 

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

💙💜🩷 99 Books for Bisexuality Visibility Month 🩷💜💙

please support this blog

💜 How incredible is it that I made a list of 99 books for bisexual visibility month, KNOWING there are so many NOT featured on this list? I'm so proud to be bi. Having these characters and stories intertwine with mine warms my heart.

💜 What's your favorite book featuring bisexual characters?

💙 The Henna Wars - Adiba Jaigirdar 💙 Perfect on Paper - Sophie Gonzales 💙 Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli 💙 Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston 💙 Queens of Geek - Jen Wilde 💙 Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster - Andrea Mosqueda 💙 Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute - Talia Hibbert 💙 Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake - Alexis Hall 💙 A Merry Little Meet Cute - Julie Murphy & Sierra Simone

💜 Leah on the Offbeat - Becky Albertalli 💜 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid 💜 Radio Silence - Alice Oseman 💜 The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee 💜 You Exist Too Much - Zaina Arafat 💜 Wolfsong - T.J. Klune 💜 The Pairing - Casey McQuiston 💜 Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 Heartstopper - Alice Oseman

🩷 Going Bicoastal - Dahlia Adler 🩷 Some Girls Do - Jennifer Dugan 🩷 Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating - Adiba Jaigirdar 🩷 Autoboyography - Christina Lauren 🩷 Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur 🩷 They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera 🩷 Cool for the Summer - Dahlia Adler 🩷 Delilah Green Doesn't Care - Ashley Herring Blake 🩷 One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

💙 I'll Be the One - Lyla Lee 💙 Running With Lions - Julian Winters 💙 Take a Hint, Dani Brown - Talia Hibbert 💙 Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender 💙 Not Your Sidekick - C.B. Lee 💙 Ophelia After All - Racquel Marie 💙 Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao 💙 Something to Talk About - Meryl Wilsner 💙 The Girls I've Been - Tess Sharpe

💜 Iris Kelly Doesn't Date - Ashley Herring Blake 💜 Never Ever Getting Back Together - Sophie Gonzales 💜 Her Royal Highness - Rachel Hawkins 💜 Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman 💜 I Wish You All the Best - Mason Deaver 💜 Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner 💜 Hang the Moon - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Kiss Her Once for Me - Alison Cochrun 💜 The Brightsiders - Jen Wilde

🩷 Wild Beauty - Anna-Marie McLemore 🩷 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - Victoria Schwab 🩷 Payback's a Witch - Lana Harper 🩷 A Dowry of Blood - S.T. Gibson 🩷 Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo 🩷 Dark Rise - C.S. Pacat 🩷 If This Gets Out - Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich 🩷 Let's Talk About Love - Claire Kann 🩷 Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

💙 Under the Whispering Door - T.J. Klune 💙 I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston 💙 Pumpkinheads - Rainbow Rowell 💙 Icebreaker - A.L. Graziadei 💙 This Poison Heart - Kalynn Bayron 💙 A Lot Like Adiós - Alexis Daria 💙 Sorry, Bro - Taleen Voskuni 💙 We Are Okay - Nina LaCour 💙 Count Your Lucky Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

💜 Hot Dog Girl - Jennifer Dugan 💜 Verona Comics - Jennifer Dugan 💜 They Hate Each Other - Amanda Woody 💜 The Disasters - M.K. England 💜 The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater 💜 You Should See Me in a Crown - Leah Johnson 💜 These Witches Don't Burn - Isabel Sterling 💜 My Dearest Darkest - Kayla Cottingham 💜 City of Shattered Light - Claire Winn

🩷 The Unbroken - C.L. Clark 🩷 Dread Nation - Justina Ireland 🩷 House of Hollow - Krystal Sutherland 🩷 Love & Other Disasters - Anita Kelly 🩷 Ace of Shades - Amanda Foody 🩷 The Lost Girls - Sonia Hartl 🩷 Of Fire and Stars - Audrey Coulthurst 🩷 This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story - Kacen Callender 🩷 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

💙 If You Still Recognise Me - Cynthia So 💙 Melt With You - Jennifer Dugan 💙 The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochrun 💙 That Summer Feeling - Bridget Morrissey 💙 The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School - Sonora Reyes 💙 The Luis Ortega Survival Club - Sonora Reyes 💙 The Fiancée Farce - Alexandria Bellefleur 💙 Flip the Script - Lyla Lee 💙 Role Playing - Cathy Yardley

💜 I Think I Love You - Auriane Desombre 💜 Truly, Madly, Deeply - Alexandria Bellefleur 💜 Gearbreakers - Zoe Hana Mikuta 💜 Finally Fitz - Marisa Kanter 💜 The Spirit Bares Its Teeth - Andrew Joseph White 💜 Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl - Brianna R. Shrum & Sara Waxelbaum 💜 Late Bloomer - Mazey Eddings 💜 A Darker Shade of Magic - Victoria Schwab 💜 Love at First Set - Jennifer Dugan

[koolkat9]

For the ship game: GerEng. 👀

Ship It

1. What made you ship it?

Ah this story again. I will never get tired of telling it.

*Sits back in my rocking chair like an old man and takes a drag of my pipe*

It was March 12th 2018 (yes I went and checked the day the video was posted) I remember like it was yesterday. At the time I didn't realize how life altering that episode of Kyo's Dreamtalia lp would be. The day the Hand Holding Buddies began. Now...At this point I was a try and true Ger//Ita shipper, but the Hand Holding Buddies...Oh the Hand Holding Buddies gave me such a laugh. I actually started looking forward to the Dreamtalia lps because I needed to see what would happen next for the Hand Holding Buddies. Kyo and Lubo's adlibs are always a joy, but this had to be their greatest adlib of all time.

It was enemies to lovers, it was dramatic, it was finding love amongst a hopeless situation, it was two awkward dudes finding comfort in each other and that was beautiful. The Velveteen Rabbit scene still gets me every fucking time.

Now for how it became my OTP. I know that's not part of the question, but once I've started I can't stop.

So a few months go by. GerEng is great and all but I don't see much of the appeal outside of Dreamtalia. And then... And then it released. September 10th 2019. Erroneous Epilogue. The GerEng game based on the adlib and bad end of Dreamtalia. Arthur goes in to save Ludwig and they kiss. This was the turning point and I searched out content.

Shortly after I finished reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and got inspired to write fanfiction. With GerEng still fresh in my mind from Erroneous Epilogue and a major lacking of GerEng content, I began writing fics and here I am...utterly obsessed.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

God... God where do I begin? How could I narrow it down.. Okay we'll keep this to top 3.

1. They are both so awkward and socially inept. But they find comfort in each other 🥺

2. They're each other's rock following the world wars. Ludwig had nobody after that so Arthur became his support. And when Arthur started to spiral once everything calmed down with both Ludwig and the aftermath of the war, Ludwig was there for him as well.

3. They have a lot in common, but are different enough to balance out most of each others short comings

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

We're a small ship here and everything that I've seen as wildly agreed upon I agree with. So I don't think I have one.

[sappholovell]

There’s a series called Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, it’s queer and a lot like Harry Potter and as far as I know the author isn’t too problematic. Contrary to what the media tells you, there are fantasy series other than Harry Potter that you can and will enjoy. (Also if you want to read Harry Potter stuff you can always do a cheeky little search for the book followed by “epub download” and get the book for free without supporting the author financially). Just… be nice, be considerate, and think before you say and do things, guys. The trans people in your life are more important than a book series.

remember when jkr went full mask off and started acting evil and hp fans were like "ok we need to think carefully about the stuff we consume, how can we justify enjoying this series, how can we love it without supporting the author? should we try to separate art from artist or should we leave it be? isn't showing solidarity to trans folks more important? if we remain openly fans of this series will it show trans people we aren't safe or trustworthy?"

and then they decided that none of those questions really mattered and they continued to uncritically consume their stupid badly written children's books, and jkr has only gotten more nasty and hateful, and people only hate trans folks more, and now the answer to the last question is invariably YES. I don't trust any goddamn person who still loves Harry Potter in 2024 bc you've decided your nostalgia about a mediocre story written by a bigot is more valuable than the safety and wellbeing of trans people 🫶🖕