#i still don’t like sci fi set completely in space. but it was the plot and characters that drew me in honestly lol

[sakizm]

never in a million years did i see myself slowly becoming interested in star wars after a weekend of watching all 3 movies of the sequel trilogy

[aphrodites-law]

Clarke wakes up eight years in the future, where her college best friend happens to be her girlfriend. Part 5/? (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4)

It was such a beautiful day that Clarke almost felt bad they’d sit in a dark movie theater for two hours. Lexa seemed happy to just hold her hand as they walked down the street, chatting about one of the business projects she was working on. 

Clarke knew questions about Lexa’s work were like flirting with danger. There was no way Other Clarke didn’t already know everything about her girlfriend's career, while she could barely hold the conversation. Parks and the environment had never made her feel so dumb. Luckily, Lexa didn’t seem to notice any gaps in her knowledge — or lack thereof. 

If Clarke was still on edge about the whole situation, at least it would’ve been nice to have some advantages. Her memory being so selective was a thorn in her side. It was like she was forced to walk this future with horse-blinders on because she might break it irreparably otherwise. It was all so… careful, tailored, that Clarke was starting to reconsider her stance on dorky sci-fi. Maybe Raven had cobbled together some kind of monstrous time machine and then stored it in Lincoln’s basement. 

“Do you want Milk Duds?”

Clarke tried to refocus. They’d arrived at the concession stand of the multiplex, where  a teenager was shoveling popcorn in a paper bag. Clarke didn’t remember this theater in particular, but the buttery-sweet smell put her at ease. Lexa and her went to the movies whenever they could, treating themselves to sweets. It was familiar territory for once — there was nothing to worry about. 

“No, you always hoard them,” Clarke replied mindlessly. 

“Do not,” Lexa protested. ��You just take forever to eat them.”

“You have to suck the chocolate first.”

“Here we go.” 

“What kind of person just bites into them right away?!” 

“I don’t know you and I don’t hear you.”

Clarke grinned, finding it so much easier to fall into their banter than more serious exchanges. When the teen set their popcorn on the counter, she reached for her purse to pay but heard a snort and the smooth swipe of Lexa’s credit card.

“Yeah, right,” Lexa said. 

They made their way down the hall toward their screen. 

“So I can’t pay for my own food at 30?” Clarke teased. 

“Not the day of, grandma.” 

“Wow, look who’s talking now.” 

Lexa pinched her ass so fast that Clarke let out a startled gasp. 

—

It was a coming of age story on the raunchy side, with loud scenes and moody visuals in nightclubs and college dorms. Clarke felt completely disconnected from the story, knowing she would forget it soon. The more obvious reason was that they were done with the popcorn and now Lexa had her hand on her bare thigh. 

She wasn’t even… doing anything, but it was there, and Clarke didn’t care about any character or any damn plot point because her best friend’s fingers were touching her skin. She could admit that much. 

The real mistake had been comparing how Lexa and her usually acted at the movies. Sitting next to each other, sharing food or candy, but never… touching with purpose. Inevitably, Clarke wondered how she would’ve reacted if her Lexa had ever attempted this. If she’d held her hand and made no move to let go. Clarke wanted to believe she would’ve been effortlessly cool about it, but her current state showed otherwise. 

Breathing was a tall order and her hands felt clammy. There was no one behind them at least.

“Lexa…” she whispered, glancing at her. 

Lexa had a small smile but seemed otherwise focused on the movie. Her hand inched up higher, beneath her dress, and then stilled again. 

In the cover of darkness, Clarke realized her assumption she’d be safe from her own desires was a joke. The secluded but still public space made it worse – forbidden in the kind of way that made her ache. Now it made sense why Lexa had responded so positively to her movie suggestion. 

From the way her body was reacting, Other Clarke clearly had a fantasy for this type of situation, and Clarke had tapped right into it. Which was unfair, because how could she know she enjoyed this before she even knew it! 

“Fuck,” she cursed, her fingers digging into the armrest. With her free hand she reached for Lexa’s wrist, a weak attempt to stop her.

“Lexa,” she repeated quietly. “What are you doing?”

Lexa drew small circles on Clarke’s skin, like an apology. Only it wasn’t. “It’s okay, baby,” she murmured a few seconds later. “Sit back.”

There was… no way. Clarke couldn’t. She couldn’t. But her heart had started pounding and the heat in the pit of her stomach felt unbearable. She knew this feeling but never this intense. There was no scenario where she didn’t take care of this. And to Lexa, there was no scenario where she didn’t care of this. 

Which was exactly why Clarke needed to choose her next words carefully: “Not here,” she pleaded, and then: “I’ll be too loud.” 

It had the effect Clarke had hoped for. Lexa lost all semblance of control and looked at her, her mouth parted open and her expression unreadable. Yet in the dark room, Clarke could still see the change in her. Could feel how her hand’s soft touch turned into a possessive grip. Fingers pressing into flesh, then her thumb rubbing against the spot as if she worried she’d hurt her. 

Lexa was quiet for a beat, then cleared her throat and gathered their belongings. “Come on.”

She’d entwined their hands without Clarke even realizing it, or maybe it was her who’d reached out first. Clarke wasn’t sure she could tell left from right anymore, or if she could even walk to wherever it was Lexa was taking her. They left the room discreetly, but the lights in the hall did nothing to snap Clarke out of her mounting desire. 

It felt like the fight had been lost the moment she’d suggested they go slow. Slow had meant eventually, and with Lexa, eventually seemed to only take a few hours. 

—

The restroom was miraculously empty for now, but the toilet stall Lexa had dragged her in was a tighter space than expected. Clarke felt a thrill.

Lexa pressed her against the door with little restraint, hand cupping her cheek as she kissed her deeply.

Clarke pulled back and looked into her eyes, knowing she didn’t want to stop her. It wasn’t just how her body reacted to Lexa’s hands or mouth. Wherever they were, from the comfort of their apartment to the cramped confines of this stall, she felt home. Home with Lexa. Attuned to her touch, her smell and her taste. The most mind-bending, confusing event of her life was happening, yet she felt safe. Tethered to this new life as if it was her own. Or could be, at least. 

Lexa rubbed their noses together. “Breathe,” she whispered. 

Clarke tangled her fingers in her hair. “I’m okay. Just wondering… why the toilet is the romantic setup I get.”

“What do you mean?” Lexa replied with a smirk. “You love traditions.”

“Tradi-”

Lexa kissed her again, her full lips like warm velvet against hers. She kissed her until it almost felt silly that was all they were doing, and really, Clarke was sick of fighting this. She reached for Lexa’s hands and brought them to her breasts, where Lexa needed no further instruction to palm them. 

“Fuck, Clarke, I can’t do the whole slow thing anymore.”

“You can’t?” Clarke repeated pointlessly, too lost in the feeling of Lexa’s hands on her body. 

“It’s your birthday,” Lexa said against her neck, inhaling when Clarke tilted her head to the side. “And I have so many presents to give.”

Her hands went down to her waist, her ass, and then pushed her dress up. She never looked away from her, smile growing as Clarke’s eyes darkened. 

“Lexa…” 

It was all she could find to say. Just the name of the woman in all her thoughts. She felt so needy; a need to connect with Lexa in all the ways they never did in her time. She pulled her close and kissed her, chasing her tongue. When Lexa moaned, she was reminded of what she’d told her earlier – how her kisses felt different. Clarke thought, good, let them be different. Let Lexa be surprised too. It was only fair. 

Lexa’s hand was beneath lace in a matter of seconds, fingers finally pressing against her. 

“Oh, god,” Clarke breathed out, knees buckling. 

“I’ve got you,” Lexa promised, firmly holding her thigh up with her other hand. 

When she entered her, Clarke’s body felt so overcome with pleasure she briefly worried she’d come on the spot.

“So wet,” Lexa husked in her ear. “I wish I could get on my knees. But not yet.”

Fuck. Clarke closed her eyes, thankful for the small mercy. She wouldn’t have been able to stop Lexa from licking into her if she wanted. Not even for a second. She could only focus on her fingers filling her, harder and faster with every moan that slipped out of her. 

Lexa took her quickly, like she worried someone would rob them of this moment if she didn't. Or couldn't wait to see her fall apart. Her eyes never looked away and her skin had a slight shine under the harsh light. She’d never looked more confident; more beautiful. And Clarke felt attractive too, though… with her tits nearly out of her dress, her leg hooked around Lexa’s waist and her fingers buried deep inside her, she should’ve felt dirty. And well, she did, but not in a way where she’d later feel empty. Where she’d be reminded she was someone you had fun with, but that was all. Lexa made her feel like a fucking bombshell. Was showing her that they were on the same page in every facet of this relationship.

Clarke wanted to last longer but couldn’t, needing release like she needed air. It hit her hard, just as Lexa found a different spot and adjusted her angle, because of course she knew every inch of her body. She muffled her moans in Lexa’s top, though she doubted it helped.

Lexa pressed small, tender kisses on her neck while she rubbed her clit in tight circles, whispering I love yous between Clarke’s sighs. For a moment they simply came down the same euphoric wave together, not in a rush to find the world again. When she finally pulled out, Clarke whined in protest. She couldn’t get enough, now wanting nothing more than to make Lexa feel the same. 

She’d crossed the line, and there was no part of her that wanted to go back. 

[strangesmallbard]

Top 5 sci fi TV shows

1. battlestar galactica (2004) - i watched bsg in 2011 at age 16 and it fired previously unheard of neurons in my soupy depressed teenage brain. the existentialism is off the fucking charts. the characters are SUBLIME. i still cry whenever i heard the adama & roslin theme song. bsg also sparked my love for sci-fi! before that, i mainly read and watched fantasy. i’ve been meaning to do a rewatch because i want to see how much my thoughts have changed as an adult.

2. warehouse 13 - what if some items were PLOT RELEVANT and had SPECIAL POWERS and a team of SECRET AGENTS neutralized their powers via dumping them in PURPLE GOO. fantastically fun show. you will cry though. and you will always think hg wells is a bisexual woman that looks like jaime murray.

3. killjoys - i lovingly describe this show as badgood television. one of the last syfy shows to embrace wacky 90’s sci-fi, complete with practical effects, stupid filler episodes, found families, and corny lines that only make the show better. there’s also two evil lesbians! who are in LOVE with each other! and oh my god just look at hannah john kamen…

4. star trek: deep space nine - still haven’t finished this show because it’s sooo fucking good and i don’t want to run out of episodes. (unfortunately that means i’ve put off watching all the other treks until i finish LMAO) the pilot made me sob and that never happens. every character is a genuine delight. KIRA NERYS….JADZIA DAX….BEN SISKO. has the legendary lesbian kiss scene that panicked conservatives across america. have i mentioned kira nerys

5. fringe - haven’t wanted to engage with fringe since learning about jasika nicole’s experiences on set, but it’s a fantastic procedural sci-fi show about weird science and parallel universes with wonderfully memorable characters. fringe also taught me about the potential for tv to explore themes and motifs in longform storytelling, which influences the way i analyze tv today.

[ridley-was-a-cat]

What I Watched This Fortnight – 9/17- 9/30

Space Adventure Cobra – RetroCrush added this to their streaming catalog just as everyone was posting their remembrances after the mangaka passed away, so I figured I should probably see what it was about. What I got was a interstellar romp featuring a blond-haired frat boy with a gun-arm and a smorgasbord of comic book villains and nearly naked women that entertained me despite my better judgement. It’s directed by Osamu Dezaki, with all the pastel freeze frames and three pans he was known for, and still looks pretty darn good for a 40-year-old anime. If you’re ever in the mood for a turn-your-brain-off sort of adventure peppered with smugly delivered one-liners, this should deliver the goods. 7/10

Project Blue Earth SOS – I found this one night while randomly poking around Crunchyroll’s library, and it’s a nice little retro-futuristic sci-fi that’s much better than its MAL score lets on. It’s set around the year 2000 in an alternate timeline Earth where humanity has developed powerful engines that allow for near-light speed travel, leading them to be targeted by an alien civilization bent on subjugating the planet. Rising up in opposition are two brilliant teenagers, one the son of the manufacturer of the powerful engines, and the other the son of astronauts killed in a space disaster years earlier, who work together with a quasi-governmental secret agency to drive them away. The art style is vibrant and colorful with a delightfully 1950s ray gun sci-fi vibe, and the story had lots of twists and turns and revelations straight out of a midcentury B-movie. 7/10

Initial D: Extra Stage – This two-episode OVA follows the driver of the blue Sileighty from Usui Pass as she faces down a challenge on the road and one in her love life. The first episode, Beyond Impact Blue, has her racing one of the Lan Evo drivers from the Emperors after he insults female drivers as a whole and challenges her to what he assumes will be an easy race for him. The second episode, Sentimental White, has her go on a date with one of the divers from the Night Kids, who suggests that he would want his girlfriend to give up a dangerous hobby like street racing, leading her to do some thinking about her life. I didn’t feel like the racing was as exciting as it was in the main series, and I don’t love this mangaka’s approach to writing female characters or romance content, but I did like watching Mako take control and set a path for herself. 7/10

Space Dandy – I don’t know what took me so long to watch this series, as an episodic space comedy directed by Shingo Natsume featuring dozens of top-tier animators and guest directors is completely my kind of food. It starts off a little dubiously with the title character monologuing about tits and asses before heading off to his favorite breastaurant, Boobies, but it was hard to stay mad at this charming idiot blundering his way around the galaxy with his talking vacuum cleaner robot sidekick and alien cat freeloader, Meow. Some of the episodes were fantastic sci-fi short stories that packed a ton of worldbuilding and creativity into 20 minutes, and others were just sort of okay monster-of-the-week episodes, with a thread of a overarching plot loosely connecting them. The art and animation varied a bit depending on who worked on the episode, but on the whole, it was very good work and a lot of fun to watch. 8/10

Gunbuster – The old anime nerds have been talking up this series ever since Discotek licensed it, and Crunchyroll added it to their catalog this week, so I watched it. If you watched Aim for the Ace and thought to yourself that it would be better if it had more mechs and titty fanservice, this is the show for you. The first episode is an almost frame-for-frame homage to the beginning episodes of Aim for the Ace, which is kind of amusing when all the girls were training to be mecha pilots to fight the alien horde. It had some solid space fights and substantial sci-fi scenarios, and I appreciated how big the stakes felt. I only wish there were fewer lovingly animated bouncing titties. 7/10

Sasaki and Miyano: Graduation – This is one of those movie sequels to a series that’s kind of hard to put a rating on. On the one hand, it’s more of the story I enjoy with the characters I love, and it’s great to see some of the moments I remember from the manga animated and acted out. On the other hand, however, it’s not structured like a movie in the least, and runs through the material pretty quickly, leaving the viewer little time to take in what they’ve seen. It’s basically just two more episodes smooshed together without an opening or ending song. If you like the series, you’ll like this, but it’s not a movie-length story with a dramatic arc that stands alone. 8/10

[pokimoko]

🍒 🍊 🍍 n 🥝!

Thank you for the fruit, my fruit. 💜

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

Platonic for sure! Anything found family is my jam, and I particularly love writing sibling dynamics, blood-related or otherwise. I also like writing F/M friendships because I enjoy them and I think they should be normalised more, honestly (though, truthfully, those always end up falling in the sibling dynamic category as well). I also like writing QPRs, though I haven't really had the opportunity to write many, but they hold a special place in my heart.

🍊 Who’s a character you don’t write for that often, but keep meaning to write for more?

Bucky Barnes, definitely; sure, I wrote one fairly long fic about him, but that was one fic; I was obsessed with the guy long and hard enough that there should be at least a few more. But nope. I did plan out a whole sequel to said long fic as well as prequels but those never really came into fruition unfortunately. Not sure if I'll write for him anyone soon but god I've had so many plot ideas about the guy over the years that I just never wrote. Still fond of the 'Bucky bonds with Cosmo the Space Dog' idea I came up with back in 2021. I wrote a post it note but nothing more. Ah. Maybe one day.

Aside from him, I'd say Jake Lockley. I definitely need to write more of him and I want to. He can be a bit hard to pin down character-wise because we were given nothing more than crumbs, but I also enjoy the freedom that offers too. He definitively hasn't been getting enough love from me. But hopefully that will change soon.

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

I generally avoid AUs; in fact, I exclude most of the more popular ones (Collage, High School, Coffee Shop, etc) from my searches because I'm really not fussed about reading them. I just find writers often strip the characters of any distinguishabilty to the point of them being basically a different character (not their fault, really; changing the setting and origin changes the character's experiences and dynamics, which fundamentally changes them, and that can be a difficult thing to wrangle). Some people, though, absolutely excel at using the AU and the worldbuilding therein to explore deeper into the character, their dynamics and motivations from a viewpoint that is different yet still feels like it aligns with what's been established in canon, and I love when it's done right. So I don't avoid AUs completely. Just really picky about them.

As for the ones I like, I like Alternative Universes in the most classic sense of term, where universes are defined by a path not chosen, a mistake not made. That is to say, I really like Canon Divergence and What If? scenarios. Anything that keeps the characters and world somewhat familiar but their dynamics and/or motivations altered. (Also love when alternate selves—or even selves from different points of the same timeline—meet and get to see the verion of themself they could have been if things had been different and/or interact with who they were before that Great Terrible Thing changed them.) For more extreme alterations, I'm not against a well written Fantasy/Sci-fi AU or Fusion AUs (so long as it's not an all-out crossover and the fusion is not all-consuming).

I am not a fan of No Powers/No Magic/Human AUs (or Modern Setting AUs if the original setting isn't modern). That's Just Some Guy in a Just Some Guy world now (which always looks suspiciously like our own). And powers/non-humaness is generally tied up a lot with the character themself, so stripping that from them removes a lot of who they are, in my opinion. And as we established, I'm really picky about characterisation. I don't much care for Soulmate AUs either, but that's a whole amatonormativity essay I won't get into.

Also I wouldn't say I have beef with Coffee Shop AUs, I just will never understand them, and I don't mean in a "urgh why is this so popular" kind of way, I mean I literally don't understand. I don't drink coffee and I've been inside Starbucks maybe once (mostly to gawk because I rarely come across them, even in the city), so words like venti and frappe and just coffee culture in general flies over my head, and I do not care enough about coffee to learn. It is simply a fic space I am not meant to inhabit. I have made my peace with that.

🥝 What’s your favorite trope/AO3 tag to write?

Character Studies are my happy place, my life blood if you will. Is it obvious yet I'm obsessed with exploring characters and their dynamics with others? Because I am. I am nothing more than a clockmaker taking these characters apart to see what makes them tick, and how the gears of the world and those around them fit into it all. Other tags and tropes I'm fond of are and that show up a lot in my writing include: angst (duh), unreliable narrators, memory loss/amnesia (guilty pleasure), dream sequences/unreality, hey! let me patch up your wounded hand, forehead kisses, extended metaphors, horror as a metaphor because I'm pretentious and was fundamentally changed as a person by being taught Gothic and Romantic Literature in my senior school years, and finally mind control/posession (guiltier pleasure).

---

Always a blast getting to answer questions like these, thank you! :D. There's more fruits/questions here if anyone else wants to send some in.

[airiat]

Besides your skyrim and witcher fics (which guuuurl dear lordt I love them, so glad you still update once in a while) what are some of your other works? Anything published (self pub or otherwise)?

i've got two other works that have not been put in any sort of public space.

the first is another witcher fic that is also about iorveth and vesta. it's a first draft that sits at about 120k words, is divided into three different but concurrent storylines, and deals with fate and enduring necessary darkness to get to the better times. it has a large cast of characters, mostly original, and expands upon some of the undiscussed parts of witcher’s lore, especially that which is in the distant past. i have like 25k words of the second draft done, and it has changed A LOT from the first but has been on hiatus for about a year now as i have been working on

my second project, which is a stranger things fic i started this summer, though the sci-fi aspects have been stripped entirely away in exchange for romance. it’s my first foray back into realistic fiction since i gave it up for fantasy a few years ago. in fact, i never thought i’d see this return, but billy hargrove deserved better, and i was utterly compelled to fix that. i have been extremely lowkey about this work and in fact, will say nothing more about it because this fic has made way for

the seed of my third project. which is completely original. when i was writing the stranger things fic, i found myself really frustrated with the setting; i do not actually care all that much about the 80s and very much care for the 70s. so here we are in some yet undecided location in california, circa the late 1970s. same characters, same plot, same themes and ideas. just, billy has become my original character, kurt hester, who is only similar to his predecessor in that he’s the high school heartthrob, lowkey bully with a traumatic past.

i am not published, but i will be. i want nothing more from my life than that. i do not know when this will happen as i'm slow and delicate in my process—i am currently pursuing a secondary career so that i can have the means to write exactly how i want to and take it further when i'm ready. i don’t know what i’ll publish first. i always thought i was meant to be a fantasy writer, but realistic fic is still my foundation. but always, no matter what, i will be a romance writer.

thank u v much for asking and for the love :')

[ironwoman359]

A Markiplier Lore Primer

So I’ve encountered quite a few people who, for one reason or another, are trying to get into these Markiplier videos, but are confused and or overwhelmed by the sheer amount of lore and catch-up videos there seem to be in order to even start. That’s certainly understandable, especially right now, since Mark has been bombarding us with codes and ARG elements while promoting/hyping up Space part 2.

Well, if that’s you, I am here to tell you Two Things!

ONE! You should watch In Space With Markiplier! Regardless of the rest of the lore, characters, easter eggs, etc, Space is a fantastic choose your own adventure story in an incredible sci-fi setting, and it is SO much fun. I promise, you don’t need to know anything about @markiplier​​ lore or previous videos or anything like that, if it seems like something you’d like to check out, I highly recommend you do so! If you’re not so sure about space as a setting but still want to try this cool interactive form of story telling, check out A Heist With Markiplier, it’s got the same choose your own adventure style of story telling, but with a modern heist setting instead of a futuristic sci-fi one.

I reiterate, both Heist and Space can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of prior knowledge of the lore, and if you have even the SLIGHTEST bit of interest in watching them, you absolutely should!

And TWO! If you want to know what’s going on with all the extraneous lore but don’t know where to start or are confused by it all, fret not! I am here to show you which videos you should watch if you’re a total beginner, and to explain the plots/themes of each if you still have questions after watching or you don’t want to watch every video that contains lore but you still want to understand what’s going on. So without further ado, here we go!

*Note: this post will attempt to avoid all theorizing or speculation; rather, it is meant to give the facts of the various interconnected videos Mark has made as plainly as possible. If at any point what I’m stating is not canon, but my opinion/interpretation, it will be clearly stated as such. This post also will not be discussing the plot of Space or the codes involved in the last several teasers, it instead should serve as background information for how the world of Mark’s stories functions.

Also, since this post is very long (nearly 9k words!) and has a lot of links in it, tumblr might end up strangling it by not showing it in the tag, so reblogs would be really helpful in making sure people who might want to read this post get to see it!

Background Info

First things first, let me lay some groundwork for the completely uninitiated. Mark Fischbach, aka Markiplier is a gaming youtuber, (a comment I get a lot on posts is “wait what, isn’t this guy like, a letsplayer? What’s with all the lore?) but ever since his channel’s inception, he’s also enjoyed creating short sketch videos and fun characters, and often performed as characters other than himself as a bit during let’s play videos early in his channel’s history. 

Characters that Mark played, either in sketches or let’s plays, became colloquially known as “egos,” short for “alter egos” since the idea was that the characters were alter egos of Mark himself. There were several of these “egos,” such as Googleplier, Dr. Iplier, Bim Trimmer, etc., but by far the two most popular and most commonly used in both fanworks and by Mark himself are Wilford Warfstache, an eccentrically violent television interview host with a pink mustache, and Darkiplier, the ‘evil’ or ‘dark’ version of Mark.

(Image: Wilford Warfstache. He is a man with a bright pink mustache and wearing a pale yellow shirt with a pink bow tie. In this photo, he also has bright pink hair and is wearing grey suspenders. He’s holding one finger up to his lips to signal an off-screen audience to be quiet.)

(Image: Darkiplier. He is a man who is shown to be mostly in grayscale, save for a red and blue chromatic aberration, or “color fringing” effect around his outline. He is wearing a dark gray suit and tie, and is grimacing or snarling at the camera.)

Wilford was a character that appeared in several short sketches and let’s play videos (and in fact, Mark’s long time channel icon technically depicts , while Darkiplier (also known simply as Dark) was more of a community name for whenever Mark would make spooky edits or act particularly sinister in horror videos. Eventually, Mark began to lean into the idea of Darkiplier, intentionally creating videos with him and making him a “real character” on the channel, so to speak. 

Keep these two characters in your mind, they’ll be coming up quite a lot as we go on.

Before I continue to explain, this is where I’m going to pause and list all the videos that are a part of the overarching plot we’re going to be discussing. Now, while there are ego videos going back almost as long as Mark’s channel has existed, we’re going to start our main timeline with the ego videos made in 2017, which is when Mark and his team began creating bigger and more intricate projects with the egos. 

If your interest is piqued at this point and you’d like to watch the videos before having me explain them all to you, I definitely recommend you do so! 

I’m going to list them in what is, in MY OPINION, the best viewing order for someone who is completely new to this world and these characters. Please note that this is NOT necessarily the chronological order of the story, which I’ll get into later; I recommend this order because it gives you a level of context going into some videos that make plot points clearer when they’re revealed to you.

Markiplier TV -  A short sketch compilation made to emulate flipping through TV channels in the 90s (similar to the Phineas and Ferb episode “Ferb TV”). This video is 100% goofy fun and comedy, no serious plot or lore or even character work. However, I recommend it first because A) It’s hilarious, and B) it has a significant amount of screen time dedicated to the concept of the egos in general, and specifically there’s a lot of Wilford Warfstache both throughout the bits in the videos and in the ending sketch.

A Date With Markiplier (Also referred to as ‘Date’ or ‘ADWM’) - A short choose your own adventure game that brings you on an interactive date turned adventure. This served to pioneer the interactive format used later by Heist and Space. It is also about 99% just fun and humor, but I recommend it next because it helps familiarize the viewer with the concept of being a character In the Story, as well as gives you a first taste of the interactive elements of this universe. It also gives Darkiplier more screen time in one of its routes, and as I said, Dark and Wilford are important characters to remember

Who Killed Markiplier (Also referred to as ‘WKM’) - Who Killed Markiplier is a four chapter long murder mystery series that continues in Date’s tradition of the Viewer as a first person, self insert character in the universe. While it is not the same choose your own adventure format as Date, it does encourage the viewer to attempt to solve the mystery as the chapters continue on. Each chapter is also followed by a “Jim News” segment, that mainly serve to provide comic relief and levity after the more serious plot points. This is the first video series that starts to balance humor with serious character work and story beats.

Wilford ‘MOTHERLOVING’ Warfstache (Also referred to as ‘WMLW’)- A direct sequel to Who Killed Markiplier, this video dives deeper into the characters of Wilford Warfstache and Abe the Detective (who debuts in WKM)

‘Damien’ - A direct sequel to Who Killed Markiplier, taking place at roughly the same time as WMLW. This video dives deeper into the characters of Damien, Celine, and Mark, as well as clarifies some unclear points from WKM. 

The Warfstache Automated Interview Automaton (Also known as the WAIA) - It is unclear where the WAIA takes place in the timeline, but I’m placing it here because, like WMLW and ‘Damien’, it serves to further clarify plot points from WKM and dives deeper into Wilford’s character. It is a very short choose your own adventure style interactive video in the style of the animatronic salvage sections from the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s Pizzeria Simulator. Short, funny, and spooky!

A Heist With Markiplier (Also known as ‘Heist’ or ‘AHWM’) - Heist takes the format from Date and perfects it, bringing you the Viewer character on a fantastical choose your own adventure interactive story that begins with a museum heist and ends anywhere from a zombie apocalypse to a pirate treasure hunt, all depending on your choices. Timeline wise, it’s unclear at this point whether this or Space takes place first, but it is clear that they take place in the same universe, and that this is also the same universe as the WKM timeline. However, unlike most of the other videos on this list, Heist is relatively light on lore and can be enjoyed by both hardcore Markiplier fans and complete newbies to the channel alike.

In Space With Markiplier (Also known as ‘Space’ or ‘ISWM’) - Space, like Heist, is an interactive choose your own adventure story, but this time, we’re IN SPACE (I know, you never would have guessed). While there’s more nods to previous videos and lore in Space, it can still 100% be enjoyed by anyone, Markiplier fan or no. 

Those who wish to see the videos completely blind for themselves turn back now, Here there Be Spoilers! Seriously, I’m about to start explaining plot points now, and in order to do so I’m going to be spoiling the entire mystery of WKM and most of the runs of Heist and Date and Space, so this is your final SPOILER WARNING - go watch these great experiences for yourself if you haven’t yet, and see what endings you can get! Then come back and read this post if you have questions about the lore, which, let’s be real, you probably will, because it can get a little complicated. 

The Timeline 

So to start off with, let’s briefly talk about the timeline. As I mentioned briefly above, the watch order that I recommended is NOT the chronological timeline, it’s closer to the release order of the videos, though WAIA actually came out after Heist. Either way, chronologically within the universe, the Actual timeline of events is this: 

Who Killed Markiplier - knowing this is inherently a bit of a spoiler before you watch it, but WKM is actually a prequel to the rest of the videos, and serves as an origin story for both Wilford and Darkiplier. 

Wilford Motherloving Warfstache/Damien - These two videos take place directly after WKM, and also take place simultaneously. They serve to provide midpoints to the characters from who they were at the end of WKM to who we see them as later in the timeline. 

Markiplier TV - Again, while not really a lore heavy video, Mark has stated in a livestream that this the next thing that happens after ‘Damien.’ 

A Date with Markiplier/ A Heist with Markiplier/In Space with Markiplier - There’s no clear way to tell exactly which of these comes first. As we’ll get into later, time in this universe post-WMLW is a bit fuzzy, and while Date->Heist->Space is the release order of the videos, it might not be the order that the stories happen in. At the end of one run of Heist, for example, Mark says to the player “So...you wanna go on that date?” implying that while he as asked the Viewer to go out with him, they haven’t done so yet, and there’s an internal monologue line in Space implying that Mark hasn’t yet worked up the courage to ask the Viewer out on a date yet. Then again, Space is set in a far off future, while Date and Heist are (for the most part) modern day. At the end of the day, it’s still unclear what exactly the timeline of these three is, or if that is a detail that even matters, which, like so many other things, I’ll get into more later.

The Warfstache Automated Interview Automaton - It’s unclear exactly when in the timeline this takes place. Really, it could fit in anytime after WMLW, especially since Wilford himself doesn’t even technically appear onscreen, but I’m placing it here because the animatronic Warfstache is wearing rainbow suspenders, a costume detail shared only with Heist. 

Now that we know the rough chronological order of each video, let me actually talk about and explain the Plot, and again, MAJOR SPOILERS for pretty much everything from here on out. 

Plot Part 1: Who Killed Markiplier

Basic Summary: In Who Killed Markiplier, the Viewer plays the part of Y/N, the District Attorney (will be referred to in this explanation mostly as the Viewer, but occasionally as Y/N or the DA). They have been invited to a poker party at Markiplier Manor, along with three other guests, The Mayor, The Colonel, and The Detective. Two manor staff members, a suspicious looking Chef and a charming Butler are also present at the party. After a night of drinking and card playing and general partying, the party goers wake up, only to discover Mark’s corpse...there’s been a Murder! The Detective enlists the DA as his partner to help him solve the mystery, and everyone in the house is a suspect. 

Explanation:

Throughout the four part series, it is revealed more and more that this was no ordinary murder. Something about the house seems off, multiple characters aren’t quite following the laws of physics, especially the Colonel, and by the time a new character, the Seer, arrives at the manor, it’s clear that something far bigger than just a murder mystery is going on. 

The time period is vague, and while part of that is by design, it’s a common opinion in the fandom that it’s set sometime in the 1930s or 40s, though this has never been confirmed. Suffice it to say, with a few interesting exceptions like security cameras and the style of the Detective’s gun, this appears to take place in the past.

Before I explain the plot in detail let me briefly run through some important characters (The first names are revealed gradually throughout the four videos. Also, Mark, Damien, and Wilford are all played by the real Mark, while Celine, the Detective, and other minor characters are played by other actors).

(Image: The Actor standing on the staircase of the manor, on hand on his hip. He is dressed in a red silk bathrobe with a white cravat, and he is grinning at the viewer.)

The Actor = Mark, Signature line: “Life is for the living.” (note: this is the character Mark in this fictional universe, not the real world content creator. To differentiate between the two, when I refer to the real person from now on, I’ll use “IRL Mark” or “Real Mark”)

(Image: Damien is standing in the front room of the manor. He is dressed in a black tuxedo with a white bow tie and a white carnation in his right lapel. On his left lapel is a black silk ribbon with the word “Mayor” written on it in cursive. His hair is combed neatly and he’s carrying a silver headed cane)

The Mayor = Damien, Signature line: “Life is ours to choose.”

(Image: Abe is staring directly at the camera, one finger raised to point at the Viewer. He is dressed like a classic detective, with a deerstalker cap and a light brown trench coat over a brown suit with a blue shirt, accented with a gold patterned tie)

The Detective = Abe

(Image: Celine is a woman with short black hair and dressed in a black dress with little white stars on it. She is wearing a black shawl over the dress, and a black pillbox hat with a black netted veil falling around her face and a black feather sticking out from the top. There is a small pink silk rose on the side of the hat. She is sitting at the dining table in the manor, looking off to the right.)

The Seer = Celine

(Image: The Colonel is standing in the courtyard outside the manor. He is dressed in a light tan safari style military uniform with a matching pith helmet that covers his forehead and the top half of his eyes. A red scarf or collar is poking out from his uniform jacket collar. He wears glasses, and has a large, bushy black mustache.)

The Colonel = William, Signature line: “Life needs a bit of madness.” (His name is clarified to be William in WMLW)

Now, as I begin to explain plot points, let me clarify something about IRL Mark as a creator. He is a big believer that, regardless of his intentions as the author/creator, if something is not literally stated or shown on screen, then it’s not canonically what happened. One of the biggest flaws of WKM as a series is that Mark didn’t end up translating all the ideas he had about specific events and characters and their motivations to the screen. Part of the plot of WKM is later clarified/canonized by the other videos in the series, which is partly why some people watch all of WKM and then still come away with so many questions. For clarity’s sake, I’ll note when a piece of information comes from a video other than WKM, or if it’s something that IRL Mark has said in an explanation stream but was not explained precisely in canon. 

SO, with all that out of the way, what happened? 

Mark, Damien, and William were once all childhood friends. Mark and William literally grew up together, at the very manor where this all takes place, and Damien was their friend who frequently visited. They were friends for years, even as they all went off into different careers, William reaching the rank of Colonel in the army, Damien becoming a politician and being elected as Mayor, and Mark gaining fame and fortune as an actor. The three had a fourth friend in Damien’s twin sister, Celine, who Mark eventually married. (Note: It is clarified that Damien and Celine are twins in ‘Damien’) 

However, the friendship between the them was thrown into upheaval when Mark and Celine’s relationship fell apart (it’s unclear exactly how or why this happened). Celine left the manor, “running off” with William and the two of them had a brief affair (it is also unclear whether the affair itself was the cause of Mark and Celine’s separation or if it happened after Celine left, though specifics on the timeline here aren’t super important). Left alone in his manor, Mark began to spiral downwards. Unfortunately, Mark wasn’t spiraling downward in just any house.

The Manor is cursed by, or perhaps infested with, an unknown powerful Entity. This powerful presence is responsible for the strange physics of the house, for the supernatural lightning that strikes every time someone says “murder,” and due to its power, death in the manor is not the same thing as death outside the manor. Mark discovered this fact, perhaps through a suicide attempt, and began to research more about the manor, its history, and how it worked, becoming corrupted by the Entity in the process. (Note: That Mark learned about the house’s power through a suicide attempt is never explicitly clear in canon, but is stated by IRL Mark in the livestream “I Explain Everything.” It is also in this livestream that Mark explains that the Entity in the house is a sort of intelligence with its own goals, and that to further those goals, it corrupts your thoughts and brings out your worse qualities, and can push you to act on your darkest impulses in a way that will benefit it, all while convincing you that you are the one who came up with the idea. If you want to watch the lore relevant parts of the stream, check the comment section on youtube for timestamps) 

Eventually, Mark hatched a plan to get revenge on the people who he viewed as responsible for ruining his life, namely William. He invites William, along with Damien, Abe, and the District Attorney (remember, the DA is the Viewer) to a poker night at his manor. Mark’s plan was to stage his own murder and frame William as the culprit. 

During the party, Mark invited William down to the wine cellar, where he confronted William about “stealing” Celine. He suggests that William and he play “the most dangerous game,” meaning Russian Roulette, stating that if they both survive, then all is forgiven. Of course, Mark is shot and (apparently) dies.  (Note: this is explained by Mark in the “I Explain Everything” livestream, and then later properly canonized by The WAIA and parts of ‘Damien.’)

When Celine arrived at the manor, she immediately recognized something otherworldly at work in the manor and enlisted Y/N's help to use her own knowledge of the arcane arts to learn more, but she wasn’t strong enough to resist the house’s power. When Y/N goes outside with Abe to investigate another lead, both Celine and Damien end up overwhelmed by the Entity. Tensions between the remaining characters escalate, and William shoots Abe, then accidentally shoots the Viewer when you try to wrestle the gun away from him, and you fall from the balcony to your death.

But remember, Death does not mean the same thing in the manor.

The DA awakens in some sort of void (IRL Mark and the team refer to it as “The Upside Down” in an homage to Stranger Things), where Damien and Celine are waiting for you.  Through the conversation here, we learn that Mark has stolen Damien’s body and possessed it, leaving Damien and Celine trapped here in the house with Mark’s own dead and broken body, and since you died, you’re now trapped too. Then, Celine proposes a solution. Using her power, she sends all three of you back into your recently deceased body, and then she and Damien push you back out of your body, leaving you behind and trapping you in the house.

So role call for the end of WKM:

Abe, no more immune to the powers of the house than the rest of them, survives his own fatal wound, and begins a vengeful quest to hunt down William. 

Mark is now possessing Damien’s body and using it as his own. His old, repeatedly killed body is an empty shell left behind in the house.

(Image: Mark’s broken body lies limp in a black void, titled slightly towards the viewer)

Damien and Celine are possessing the DA’s body using the power of the house; this amalgamation becomes what we know as Darkiplier. (Note: Mark stated in the “I Explain Everything” stream that both Damien and Celine believed they were doing the right thing, but were lead astray by the Entity in the house. However, besides feelings of guilt that they both express in ‘Damien,’ nothing else to confirm this has ever been shown on screen.) 

(Image: Celine and Damien are standing side by side in a black void. Red light shines from Celine on the left and blue light from Damien on the right, mimicking the chromatic aberration that Dark displays)

(Image: Darkiplier looks at his reflection in a broken mirror. The view of the camera implies that the viewer looked up into the mirror and saw this as their reflection. The whole scene is in grayscale and is covered in the red and blue color fringing. Dark is holding Damien’s cane and frowning out at the Viewer.)

William, after spending ten hours sitting beside your apparently dead body, cradling the cane of his supposedly dead best friend and mourning his actions, loses his sanity completely after seeing you get back up again, and the fractured remains of his mind become who we know as Wilford Warfstache.

(Image: William is leaning back in the foyer of the Manor, his face twisted into something between a laugh and a sob. His jacket and hat are gone, revealing a pale yellow shirt with red suspenders underneath...directly paralleling the pale yellow shirt and pink suspenders later worn by Wilford Warfstache)

And Y/N, left behind by Damien and Celine, is trapped forever in the house with no way of escaping.

(Image: the broken mirror from before, but Darkiplier is gone. The Viewer has been left behind in the mirror, no longer tethered to a body. Static seeps out of the cracks in the mirror, and the red and blue chromatic aberration remains on the reflected objects in the mirror.)

Plot Part 2: Wilford ‘MOTHERLOVING’ Warfstache

Basic Summary: After apparently surviving a gunshot wound to the heart, the Detective has never forgiven The Colonel for what happened in the manor. After countless close calls, Abe's finally cornered the madman as his latest persona... Wilford 'Motherloving' Warfstache. But when he tries to interrogate Will, he quickly realizes that there’s something much more...confusing going on.

Explanation:

So this video is mainly composed of three parts: Abe’s Noir Detective style narration at the beginning, the Disco Club scene where Abe confronts Will for the first time, and Abe’s office where he interrogates Will. Most of the video consists of dialogue or Abe’s internal monologue, so I’m not going to go through the entire thing beat by beat (if you want to read something like that, I actually already have a post doing so that you can read here, though note that there is a level of theorizing/speculation in that post as it was written before IRL Mark’s explanation livestream came out), but I do want to give a general explanation for what’s going on and what this video means for the rest of the story.

The first thing to note is that this is the video where we learn The Colonel’s real name: it’s William J. Barnum, though post-WKM he’s been going through aliases in an attempt to distance himself from those memories. After this video, “Wilford Warfstache” becomes the main name he uses. For clarity’s sake, I’ll often refer to the overall character as “Will” from here on out, since it works as shorthand for either William OR Wilford. 

Now, as to what is actually happening here.

As I state in the post that I linked above, this video essentially showcases the Birth of Wilford Warfstache as we know him today. When you look at the costuming choices, it’s clear that this is a midpoint between the immediate end of WKM and the modern Warfstache character design.

(Image: William at the end of WKM, in his yellow shirt with red suspenders. His mustache is bushy and completely black.)

(Image: Will in Abe’s office in WMLW. He’s in yellow pants and a pink silk shirt, and there’s a pink afro wig on the desk next to him that he was wearing previously. He’s holding a martini glass and looking off to the right.)

(Image: Will in Abe’s office, looking up at Abe. It’s a closer shot, and you can see that his bushy mustache has been twisted up slightly at the tips, which are dyed pink.)

(Image: the modern Wilford Warfstache design. Wilford is looking down at the camera, in his yellow shirt, his suspenders now faded to pink. He’s wearing a matching pink bowtie, and his mustache is completely pink and curled up at the ends. He’s holding a pistol and is preparing to shoot it.)

But this video is not just a visual medium between William and Warfstache. It's a window into what is going on not only in Will's head, but in Abe's as well, as they deal with the bizarre situation they've found themself in. And what a bizarre situation it is. From the beginning of the video as we're in Abe's internal monologue, there are several clues that point to something being Off about reality, or at least the way that Abe is experiencing it. And as soon as Abe starts interacting with Will, that reality bending starts going off the charts

Not only is Will just as able to appear and disappear as ever, he can A) Be in multiple places at once, B) Hear Abe's internal monologue, and project his own thoughts into Abe's head to have a telepathic conversation, and C) Dodge bullets with ease, and literally be shot point blank but be completely unaffected by the bullet.

Will has decided to lean fully into the chaos. Now, this doesn't mean he understands what's happening. He says himself that "I don't understand anything anymore," and even forgets who Abe is for the first several minutes of their interaction before his memory is jogged, later musing that "Sometimes I forget even the simplest of things." So Will doesn't understand what's going on with reality, but he doesn't care to. He's found peace in embracing the madness and just living for the moment, finding whatever joy in life he can.

Contrast this to Abe, who is still so desperately searching for answers, growing more and more distraught throughout the video as he realizes that not only is he not going to get any, but he doesn't even really understand the questions he's asking, either. In the opening monologue, he states that he "Can’t count how many countries I’ve cornered [Will] in. Couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve had him in my big strong hands,” and then when Will presses him for details, we learn that this isn't just a colloquialism, Abe literally can't give those details. He doesn't know them. He can’t remember things he’s supposedly done, whereas Will can remember things that apparently haven’t even happened yet. The world that they are in does not follow a logical timeline.

Part of what makes WMLW potentially confusing to watch, at least from a lore standpoint, is that we don’t necessarily get answers to what precisely is happening. Details about the how and the why aren’t clearly spelled out, but that’s because that isn’t the point of the video. Towards the end of the video, Will tells Abe that he's too focused on the minutiae of it all to see the bigger picture, and that he’s like a “freshly born fawn trying to find its legs in a world that doesn’t make sense.” Because the point of the video, first and foremost, is to tell a story, and it’s a story of Will finding Abe lost in the same confusion and despair that he himself experienced years ago. In IRL Mark’s stream following this video, “Wilford ‘MOTHERLOVING’ Warfstache FULL BREAKDOWN,” he described Abe and Will as being “in the same boat, but Abe doesn’t know the boat’s leaking.”

But Will does know the boat’s leaking. It’s pretty much the only thing he knows for sure anymore, and like I said, he’s found his own peace in acceptance of that madness, and this video is about him helping Abe reach that same mindset.

(Image: Will leans close to the detective, the frame filled almost entirely by his face, saying “Listen, friend.”

(Image: Will continues “It was a bit of a shock for me, too.”)

Will's life has been completely turned on its head because of what Mark did that night, but after years of running from his past and running from his problems, when he finally sees Abe again, he chooses to approach him with understanding and compassion, and the video ends when Abe ultimately accepts that compassion, sets aside his own obsession, and gives in to the same acceptance that Will has found. We don’t get all the answers for what is going on, where they are, why Abe’s memory is the way that it is and why Will can apparently break reality with such ease, but that’s because the minutiae of it all, the little details, aren’t what’s important. What’s important is the story being told about how these two men deal with the sorry hand that they’ve been dealt.

Plot Part 2.5: The Warfstache Automated Interview Automaton 

This is gonna be a quick one, because there’s very little new information presented in this video. The Warfstache Automated Interview Automaton, or WAIA for short, is a short interactive video that, as I said before, serves to clarify some specific events from WKM. As I said above, the details of how Mark was actually killed aren’t explained very clearly in WKM itself, but as you go through the choices in this miniseries, the gaps become filled in.

To explain what exactly is going on with the WAIA, Wilford has created an automaton to conduct interviews for him, but it’s malfunctioning and the player is tasked with testing it out. The videos are meant to be both funny and scary, as they’re based on the animatronic scrap segments from FNAF Pizzeria Simulator, but there’s more than just simple fun to be found here. As we find out at the very end of each path, the automaton was created using a perfect scan of Wilford’s brain. Therefore, the automaton has all of Wilford’s memories, and as we go through the process of calibrating the machine, it starts to recognize The Viewer, and is pulled back into Will’s memories of what happened in the manor.

Lines of Note:

“It was an accident” - a classic Warfstache line, which originated from WKM when William accidentally shot us in the manor.

“I Saw You Die” - referring to when William sat beside our dead body for hours before Celine sent us back.

“A man goes to a party. This man met an old friend. The two friends share some wine. The two friends played a game. The most dangerous game. I didn’t know the gun was loaded, I didn’t know......Was it my fault?” - This is Will confirming the events of WKM. This is what happened the night of the party, when Mark set up William to kill him.

“I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done. I don’t remember who I was. I wish I did. But I am sorry.” - This reinforces the fact we learn in WMLW, which is that Wilford doesn’t consciously remember WKM. While he’s found his own kind of acceptance with his situation, there’s a part of him that knows something is missing, and he wishes that he could remember everything, but he’s too far gone now to do so. 

“You can’t change the past. You can tell all the stories you want to tell, it won’t change what happened. You can’t rewrite the past. If you live in fantasy forever, you’ll lose yourself in the story.” - This further clarifies something about the nature of the world that the characters find themselves in, something that we’ll get into more as we talk about Damien (which did come out before the WAIA).

Plot Part 3: ‘Damien’

Basic Summary: After the events of WKM, Damien finds himself lost in the woods. More specifically, after the events of WKM, we find Damien and Celine snowed in at a cabin in the middle of the woods; every day Damien goes out to chop down a tree for firewood and every night Celine goes out to hunt. However, we very quickly can see that this is not an ordinary cabin, an ordinary forest, or an ordinary winter, and Damien is soon confronted by a familiar face from his past.

Explanation:

So this can come across like a hard video to understand, but in terms of what is literally happening, it’s not as complicated as it seems. The forest and the cabin are not literal, physical places, they’re constructs of the mind. Specifically, a construct that Celine has built with the intent of keeping her brother Damien safe (this is the video where it is canonized that they are twins, with Celine being older by ten minutes). Within this place, time is looping, and Celine is keeping Damien occupied with chopping firewood in order to keep him from discovering the truth of their situation.

However, outside forces are breaking into the loop, and Damien hears voices out in the woods a few minutes into the video, voices that we recognize as Will and Abe. What Damien is hearing are snippets of dialogue from WMLW. Once he hears those voices, he starts to become more cognizant of the loop, mumbling along with Celine’s familiar dialogue and questioning why he needs to cut down a new tree when they already have plenty of firewood, but Celine dismisses his concerns, going out to hunt again as she always does, insisting again that he sleep while she is gone.

Before he can sleep, though, he hears a strange voice coming from a mirror in the cabin, a mirror he’s never noticed before, and he suddenly finds himself in the woods again.

(Image: a shadowy reflection of Damien’s profile shows in a mirror, its features hidden. Subtitles read: [Distorted voice] You aren’t quite feeling like yourself, are you?)

(Image: The reflection’s features have been revealed to be that of a corpse, with rotting skin, missing teeth, and red eyes shining out of sunken sockets. The distorted voice continues “DAMIEN...”)

(Image: The camera is zoomed into Damien’s profile, which is lit in red. Damien is squeezing his eyes shut against the horrible image he sees in the reflection. The distorted voice says “It’s time to wake up, Damien.)

(Image: One frame later in the video, on the same focus of Damien’s profile. His eyes have opened, and he is no longer in the red tinted cabin, but in the blue tinted snowy forest.)

Out in the woods, Damien is lured by the sound of Celine calling for help, but when he reaches the source, a frozen lake that he’s never seen before, he doesn’t find Celine. Instead, he is pulled into the lake and finds himself in some sort of void, where he sees an old friend.

(Image: Actor Mark, dressed in a red tuxedo jacket and holding Damien’s cane, stands in the void, an apparent wall of ice behind him. The ice is cracked in the same pattern as the cracks in the mirror from the end of WKM.)

The conversation that Mark and Damien have is a long one, full of a lot of beautiful artwork and voice acting (seriously, if you haven’t watched any of these other lore videos, you should watch ‘Damien,’ it’s seriously an impressive piece of art), but here are the two most important highlights:

Number one: We get clarification on Mark’s motives and actions during Who Killed Markiplier. This is where we get on screen confirmation that Mark wanted William to be accused of his murder, but that things didn’t go how he intended. "Mistakes were made! Plans weren’t exactly properly executed. The right people started pointing fingers at the wrong people.” Mark wanted the DA and Abe to immediately accuse William of the murder, and for Damien to go along with that, but this didn’t happen, especially once Celine showed up at the manor.  

This conversation also gives us further clarification about why Mark took Damien’s body. “And okay, I MAY have made a deal to POSSIBLY make sure a certain lady couldn’t go around breaking anyone else’s heart, ever again.”

Mark wanted to take William’s body, but that was thrown out the window when Celine showed up. The Entity in the manor was far more interested in her, and possessed her when she tried to meddle with its power. Mark made a new deal with the entity: that it could keep Celine’s body and that he would take Damien’s, and Celine and Damien’s souls would be left behind in Mark’s broken shell.

Number Two: We find out what Mark wants now.

(Image: a close up of Mark’s profile in the void. The subtitle names the speaker as “Damien” but this is an error, it is Mark speaking. He says “You don’t realize this place is a dream; a never-ending starring role as the hero.”)

(Image: a close up of Mark’s face head on. He continues “But what is a hero without...a villain?”)

(Image: a close up of Mark’s grinning mouth. He says “Every good story needs a villain!”)

(Image: Mark is standing in front of the cracked ice, pointing at Damien, saying “You are going to make the perfect villain in my story.”)

Mark is in Damien’s body now, but he hasn’t left the manor. He’s staying there, using the power of the Entity to craft the perfect stories where he gets to play the hero, over and over again. And he wants Damien to be the villain in his stories. IRL Mark mentioned in his ‘Damien’ explanation stream that Mark literally doesn’t understand why Damien wouldn’t want to be a part of the fantasies, that he thinks he’s doing Damien a favor. But Damien, angry at Mark for destroying all of their lives, refuses.

The refusal only amuses Mark, since he can see that Damien doesn’t yet fully understand what’s going on. Mark keeps pushing him, saying that “It’s time to wake up,” but before things can escalate further, Celine shows up. And promptly embeds an axe in Mark’s chest. This doesn’t kill him, but it does banish him from the pocket of reality that they are all in. However, the damage has already been done, and Celine’s place for broken things is crumbling.  (A note about the linked video: “go back to sleep” came out several months before ‘Damien’ and was essentially a proof of concept/teaser. Nowhere in ‘Damien’ itself is the world they’re in referred to as a “place for broken things,” but I am counting the “go back to sleep” teaser as part of ‘Damien’ canon, just as I count WAIA as part of WKM canon.)

Celine has been keeping Damien safe in this mental construct, hiding the truth of their situation from him and keeping his memories of that night at the manor subdued while she hunts for Mark, but all that has been undone. She intends to keep going on, to continue to hunt actor down and make him pay (“But he hasn’t won yet”), but she’s weakened after using so much of her power for so long without any breaks.

Damien doesn’t understand the nature of the world they’re in as much as Celine does, but he does remember everything now, and he insists that Celine accept his help, promising to be the one to protect her for once, and let her get some sleep. Celine cautions that stepping intentionally into this role will change him in a way that he can’t come back from, but he’s okay with that. He’s finally choosing for himself, something that he’s been denied the ability to do from the moment Mark died, and even if this choice makes him the villain, he’s willing to do it to help his sister.

‘Damien’ ends with Damien accepting his place in the story, his soul taking the front seat in the being that is Darkiplier, and with Darkiplier becoming the Villain for Mark’s stories. However, because Damien is choosing to be the villain on his terms, Dark is something that Mark cannot control the way he controls other aspects of the stories (more on that later). 

IRL Mark said in his ‘Damien’ explanation livestream “WHY KILLED MARKIPLIER?” that he likes to imagine all of the events in ‘Damien’ taking place at the of WKM when Y/N reaches for Damien’s cane, in the split second when the hand glitches and changes.

(Image: a feminine hand reaching out to pick up Damien’s cane at the end of WKM)

(Image: the monochromatic filter with red and blue chromatic aberration associated with Darkiplier is warping the image of the hand.)

(Image: the hand holding the cane has changed, the hand is now played by IRL Mark)

(Image: Darkiplier’s reflection in the mirror at the end of WKM. He’s looking at the cane he’s just picked up [the fact that the Viewer’s eyeline does not match with his shows that the Viewer’s soul has already been ejected from the equation.])

Just like WMLW shows us the true birth of Wilford Warfstache, ‘Damien’ shows us the true birth of Darkiplier.

However, it also clarifies events in WMLW and lays the groundwork for the way the rest of the videos in Mark’s body of work interact with each other, so let’s focus on that for a bit.

Plot Part 4: How Does The World Work? Implications of ‘Damien’  

While ‘Damien’ is first and foremost a character study of Damien and Celine, it also holds the key for understanding how the world works for everything that happens in Markiplier story videos post-WKM. If you haven’t pieced it together yet by reading all these explanations, let me give it to you straight from the mouth of the man himself, Mr. Mark Edward Fischbach from the WHY KILLED MARKIPLIER? stream:

“These are stories. Pure and simple. In this universe, the world that they live in after the events of WKM are that they are in stories. They are acting out scripts, they are acting out these videos, they’re doing these things because they are characters in stories.”

And this isn’t a case like WKM, where this is what IRL Mark wanted to have happen but didn’t show, no, this is textual with what we see in ‘Damien.’ Actor Mark has lines like “This place is a dream! A never-ending starring role as the hero” and “In this place, I’m gonna make something beautiful.” The videos that we see that take place after WKM are stories being acted out by the characters within the manor, and Actor Mark is the star of the show. He orchestrates his own fantasy worlds, using the power of the house, and he wants everyone else to be a part of them.

“The Actor wanted Damien to be the Villain. He wants people to slot into these roles into these stories and act them out and be these characters. And with Celine and Damien, they live this place because Celine made a little pocket story of her own. She made up this narrative, just enough so that Damien wouldn’t question it.”

As Celine says in WKM, which is echoed in ‘Damien,’ “Mark isn’t the only one who can use this place to his benefit.” Using her own abilities as a practitioner, she uses the power of the house to build herself and Damien a story to keep Damien safe and hide them both from Actor. Darkiplier is only created once Damien and Celine leave that pocket story and step fully into the world of stories that Actor Mark has made.  

This also further clarifies Abe and Will’s behavior in WMLW. Abe’s memory is spotty because he didn’t live through all the close calls and near misses of attempting to catch Will, but the script says he did. As long as he stays in the role of the Detective and doesn’t question reality, it doesn’t fall apart.

Will, meanwhile, doesn’t follow the rules of the story. He’s not playing his role correctly, breaking the rules and just having fun, and this is why he is able to exist so fluidly, remembering things out of order and acting outside of his role. It’s when he starts asking Abe specific questions, outside of the script, that Abe’s perception of reality shifts and Abe is broken out of the role of the Detective.

The WAIA, which came out after ‘Damien,’ also clearly states that the characters are all living in stories: “You can’t change the past. You can tell all the stories you want to tell, it won’t change what happened. You can’t rewrite the past. If you live in fantasy forever, you’ll lose yourself in the story.” 

As for Y/N, since they are still in the manor, they are also a part of the stories that Actor Mark crafts.

“The stories that play out inside of this universe, you are forced to be an observer of it. Never actually being able to change anything, never being able to do anything, just watching.”

We the audience are always watching the videos on IRL Mark’s channel in the real world, but within the universe, the Character played by the Viewer is also part of the stories, as an observer in some cases or as a controlled participant in others. And armed with this knowledge, the rest of the stories told on IRL Mark’s channel become clear.

Plot Part 5: Date, Heist, Space, and Beyond

A Date with Markiplier, A Heist with Markiplier, and In Space with Markiplier, as well as any future videos that Mark makes that fit this theme are all not only stories for us here in the real world, but they are stories within the realm of the manor as well.

Specifically, in all three of these, the ‘Mark’ who we the Viewer are going through adventures with is a character played by Actor Mark, and all the other characters are characters playing various roles within those adventures. The timeline is weird because they might not all be in the same story, and the callbacks and nods to each other are just references to those other stories.

It is MY OPINION that the Mark Actor plays in Date and Heist are meant to be the same character and that these two stories, within their respective universe, take place relatively closely to each other, while Space is set many years in the future and that the Mark played there is a different character than that of Date/Heist, but it’s very possible that all three stories have different ‘Mark’ characters in them. Either way, Mark is always played by Actor, as he takes the role of Hero in all his stories. 

Explaining the stories of Date, Heist, and Space can clarify what happens within their own worlds, but ultimately they don’t change anything about the lore outside those stories. The characters are still in the manor, continuing to act out stories while we watch. (I do have my own theory about how the three series might connect within their own narrative, but as it is not yet confirmed since Space Part 2 is not out yet, I won’t be stating it here. If you’d like to see that theory, I’ll be writing it up sometime in the next week, and will link it back here when it’s completed)

While we don’t know what projects IRL Mark will make next, we do know that ‘Damien’ was written to open up the types of stories he writes, and allow whatever he makes to stand alone as its own project, while still fitting back into the overarching lore for those of us who go feral for that kind of stuff.

And that’s what’s so great about projects like Date/Heist/Space, they do stand alone. There are paths in each that nod to Dark and Wilford, confirming that they’re still within this universe we know, but at the end of the day, they’re meant to be enjoyed. They’re fun! And as deep and complicated and sometimes sad the lore of these characters can be, where we leave all of them for now is a place where they can be used to tell amazing stories, stories that in our real world, have done a lot of good and made a lot of people happy.

And at the end of the day, that’s good enough for me.

Dumb Version

(Because I can’t make a Markiplier Primer without riffing on the Go! My Favorite Sports Team primers when Mark asks for the details to be dumbed down)

Manor Bad. Manor Possessed by Demon. Demon Make People Bad. Mark live in Manor, Mark Bad Man. Mark’s Wife Leave Him, Go with Friend Will, Mark Sad. Mark Want Revenge. Demon in Manor Trick Mark into Revenge Plot.

Mark Throw Party, Mark Plan to Frame Will for Murder. Friend Damien and Friend Abe and Friend Y/N come to Party. Mark Plan Not Work, Mark’s ExWife Celine Come Back.

Demon Take Celine’s body, Mark take Damien’s body, Will Kill Abe and Y/N. Celine and Damien take Y/N’s body, Will Go Insane, Will become Wilford Warfstache. Celine and Damien Fuse, Become Darkiplier.

Mark Want Stories, Mark Want Fantasy, Damien Become Mark’s Villain, Wilford Not Play In Story, Wilford Outside Script.

All Videos Stories, All Marks Actor Mark, All Viewers Watch Stories. 

Stories Good, Stories Make People Happy, Me Proud of Mark for Stories.

The End.

Special Thanks

I have been writing this beast of a post for a week straight now, and I couldn’t have done it without the awesome community of theorists and fans in the official Markiplier discord server, particularly those of us who have been hanging out in the study channel for the past two weeks.

I’d like to especially shout out @cookieface678​​, @apersonofnointerest​​, or2072, MellissaLou, and DragonEyedLin for helping me proofread this post and double checking the info to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important. To @laur-rants​, @mirrorslament​, @dae-walker, @gh0stf1ux​​, and everyone else in the study, y’all are real ones, and thank you all SO much for the constant encouragement and feedback while I worked on this all week.

See you all again on May 2nd!

[fictionadventurer]

A Ranking of all the Cinderella Retellings I’ve Read

(Completed via a very unscientific method where I try to balance between “I liked it” and “It was well-written.” Your mileage may vary and my ranking would probably vary if I made this list again.)

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine: The Gold Standard. The retelling that started it all for me. Manages to twist the fairy tale (even dislike some parts of it) while remaining true to the heart of it. A+ worldbuilding, A+++ ending.

A Cinder’s Tale by Stephanie Ricker (in the Five Glass Slippers collection): A sci-fi retelling where Cinderella works a highly-dangerous space mining job. Fantastic worldbuilding with a wonderful ensemble cast.

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley: Cinderella meets Joan of Arc. Has a fantastic multi-first-person-narrator structure. Some of the fairy tale plot points are an awkward fit, but I still enjoyed it.

Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey: A fairly basic retelling with a fantastic autumnal atmosphere that tempts me to reread it every year, even though the story’s rather basic and the ending’s too convenient.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: The famous science-fantasy retelling. There are things I don’t like about the series, but this first book is a solid retelling with some good twists. I like it less than several others on this list, but it’s too solid to rank it much lower.

The Stepsister and the Slipper by Nina Clare: If Georgette Heyer wrote fantasy. Cinderella’s spunky stepsister and a roguish hero manipulate each other in competing schemes. The worldbuilding’s sketchy and the ending’s very rushed, but I had too much fun to care too much.

Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling: Fantastic twist, adorable relationship between Cinderella and her prince, a sweet and melancholy atmosphere, and an underwhelming ending.

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo: Wodehouse meets Cinderella, starring a very grumpy fairy baker. Gets a bit too slapstick, but its snarky, silly vibe is a breath of fresh air in a YA-romance-dominated retelling world.

Traitor’s Masque by Kenley Davidson: I love the Ruritanian atmosphere and the political tension between the two brothers, even though it’s at least 33% too wordy and the plot makes less sense the more you think about it.

The Windy Side of Care by Rachel Heffington (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Cinderella meets Shakespeare. Has a strong voice, a heroine with a ton of spunk, and a fun “fairy godfather”.

Fated by Kaylin Lee: Great magical-1930s worldbuilding. The characters were also solid. The plot was a bit too long and too convenient at points. But the worldbuilding is the draw here.

The Earl of Highmott Hall by Nina Clare: Another Regency fairy tale by this author. Probably technically better-done than The Stepsister and the Slipper but I found it less fun.

Silver Woven in my Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Short and sweet little book with minimal magic and a lot of charm, but I don’t remember much about it anymore.

Midnight’s Curse by Tricia Mingerink: Set in a European-castle + American frontier setting that’s unique (even if I can’t quite decide if it’s cultural appropriation), with some interesting twists and themes.

The Spinner and the Slipper by Camryn Lockhart: Mashes up Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin with just a touch of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If I remember right, it did a decent job of it. The loving competition between Auberon and Titania was fun.

Letters by Cinderlight + Wishes by Starlight by Jacque Stevens: A Russian-ish retelling with some fantastic ideas (parts of it reminded me of Ella Enchanted) and unfortunately shaky execution. If it had been better written, it may have been one of my favorites.

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix: I was pleasantly surprised by parts of this (mostly Ella’s character arc of learning to accept help) and hated other parts (the villains were completely unbelievable strawman caricatures). In the balance, I’ll stick it here.

Mask of Scarlet by Sarah Pennington: Set in a very unique and very complicated 1920s Chicago + Iceland world. Of the series, this was the book where I was best able to understand the worldbuilding, and I think the fairy tale was decently done, but even though I read it earlier this year, I remember almost nothing specific.

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George: This one’s hard to rank because I think it was decently written, but I remember so little about it. I’ll stick it here, for whatever that’s worth.

What Eyes Can See by Elisabeth Brown (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Sweet, magic-free Regency-ish retelling with a very shy Cinderella and a nice stepfamily. It’s a bit basic, but it’s grown on me over time.

The Moon-Master’s Ball by Clare Diane Thompson (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Very strong autumnal and slightly spooky atmosphere. I remember liking this one well enough, but can’t remember much else about it.

The Other Cinderella by Beka Gremikova: This treats Fairy Tales as an external worldbuilding thing (people are cast in fated roles, etc.), which I usually hate, but there’s a twist at the end that impressed me.

A Gown of Spider Silk by A.G. Marshall: Short story retelling with one twist that’s kind of fun, but not quite my thing.

Another Midnight by Amanda Marin: Short-story Cinderella involving a time-loop. I remember almost nothing about it, but I think it was decent enough.

Cinders and Blades by Amanda Kaye: Short story Russian-influenced retelling. I remember almost nothing except that it disappointed me.

Slipper in the Snow by Alice Ivinya: Another short story. I remember even less about this one.

Rook di Goo by Jenni Sauer: I was promised Cinderella meets Firefly. I got an ensemble cast I didn’t connect with, worldbuilding I didn’t understand (what do they even do with their spaceship?), and a fairy tale that felt shoehorned-in.

The Stepsister’s Tale by Tracy Barrett: I don’t remember much except that I found it disappointing.

Broken Glass by Emma Clifton (from the Five Glass Slippers anthology): Mildly steampunk retelling imagining that the slipper fits the wrong girl. The humor here just isn’t my cup of tea, and the ending doesn’t make sense.

The Coronation Ball by Melanie Cellier: Short, shmaltzy and basic. There’s nothing that terrible about it, but for some reason there’s a lingering distaste that makes me recoil from it.

Cinderella (As If You Didn’t Already Know the Story) by Barbara Ensor: Written for lower middle-grade. One of those fairy tale retellings that thinks making anachronistic references is clever. It’s not.

Happily by Chauncey Rogers: Ugh. There’s one really dumb twist to the fairy tale that’s so dumb that it makes me angry just thinking about it, regardless of what else may be in the story (I don’t remember much else).

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwall: Double ugh. It had such a promising premise, but I hated so many things about this worldview that it gets the bottom ranking forever.

[qqueenofhades]

20+ Books That You (Might Actually Want) To Read During Pride Month!

Right, so. I got annoyed after seeing the list referenced in this post last night, told myself that my books are all packed up so I couldn’t do anything about it, and lasted all of a whopping 10 minutes before picking up my phone and attempting to make my own list instead. Behold, my from-memory attempt to present 20 books with strong LGBTQ plots, characters, and/or authors, that DON’T just rely on Suffering and Identity Politics and are... you know... fun.

Listed in alphabetical order by title. Links take you to Bookshop.org, where you can buy them from your local independent bookstore at a discount and NOT from the evil empire.

1. A Master of Djinn – P. Djeli Clark * author of color * steampunk Cairo in 1912 * djinn! magic! murder mystery! * butch Arab lesbian main character * devout hijabi Muslim badass assistant * anticolonial alternate history

2. An Accident of Stars – Foz Meadows (Sequel: A Tyranny of Queens) * trans author * bi, pan, trans, aro representation * racially diverse characters * all female POV characters * high-fantasy world adventures

3. Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall * queer author * look I love this book SO MUCH and have absolutely screamed about it before but also I LOVE IT SO MUCH * contemporary M/M fake dating in modern London, complete with full cast of disaster found-family queer friends * it is. fucking. HILARIOUS. I almost died the first time reading it * there is a sequel called HUSBAND MATERIAL scheduled to be released in 2022; I am a normal amount of excited for this book

4. Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir (Sequel: Harrow the Ninth) * the book cover says “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted palace in space!” * that is exactly what you get * slow-burn enemies-to-lovers F/F main romance * I cannot describe this book, it is dark, genre-bendy, science fiction-y, Hunger-Games-with-lesbian-necromancers-in space? Kinda? I have literally never read anything like it * also fucking HILARIOUS

5. One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston * queer author (who wrote Red White and Royal Blue) * bisexual fat girl from the South/lesbian-daughter-of-Chinese immigrants from the 1970s-riot-grrl main romance * time traveling mystery involving the Q train in Brooklyn (mentions Brighton Beach ahem) * magical realism * many more found-family chaotic queers including a trans Latino psychic and a Black accountant by day/drag queen by night and the mean little gay disaster who has a hopeless crush on them

6. Parasol Protectorate (series) – Gail Carriger * this is one of my favorite series, and there are five books: Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, and Timeless * steampunk vampires/werewolves late Victorian London, like Jane Austen crossed with P.G. Wodehouse (they are all fucking hilarious) * pretty much everyone is queer; we got your flamboyantly camp gay vampires (Lord Akeldama ftw!) We got your gay werewolves! We got your lesbian French inventors! We got your big disaster idiot werewolf main male love interest! We got your crazy adventures! You name it we got it! * two spin-off novellas: Romancing the Werewolf (M/M) and Romancing the Inventor (F/F) * she has a ton more books in this same universe and writes sexy queer supernatural romance as G.L. Carriger

7. Plain Bad Heroines – Emily M. Danforth * queer author * historical horror-comedy set between a haunted girls’ school in early-1900s New England and in the modern day * all sapphic female main characters * plays with style/form/voice, a story within a story within a story

8. Red White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston * you’ve probably heard of it but here I am reccing it again * the biracial son of the first female POTUS falls in love with the Prince of England; shenanigans absolutely ensue * yes, the British monarchy still absolutely sucks a big fat dick * hilarious, heartfelt, reads like fanfic, just go get it, it will change your life

9. Rosaline Palmer Takes The Cake – Alexis Hall * same author as Boyfriend Material, this is his newest * bisexual female protagonist * absolutely perfect satire of The Great British Bake Off (you can tell this man has watched EVERY SINGLE SERIES and all of the holiday specials) * sweet and surprisingly thoughtful

10. Starless – Jacqueline Carey * genderqueer/transmasculine main character of color * almost all main characters are brown people! * lush Middle Eastern/India-inspired fantasy world * gods, prophecies, monsters * the best Oh God Why Me I Am A Horrible Mentor wise-old-mentor

11. The Future of Another Timeline – Annalee Newitz * nonbinary (they/them) author * time travel but make it The Handmaid’s Tale * will probably make your head explode * feminist, queer, subversive * diverse characters

12. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue – Mackenzi Lee * queer author * technically YA but historical/magical adventure set in the 1700s * bisexual disaster main protagonist and love interest of color * (mis)adventures across Europe * has a sequel (see below) with the badass asexual sister of the protagonist

13. The Hate Project – Kris Ripper * nonbinary/genderqueer author * M/M enemies to lovers/sex with no strings attached (spoiler alert: strings attached) * HECKING HILARIOUS * sweet, escapist, and very low stakes * diverse characters, including fat protagonist with realistic anxiety disorder

14. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy – Mackenzi Lee * PIRATES, obviously * sequel to Gentleman’s Guide * asexual female protagonist * strong queerplatonic f/f friendship * more historical/magical 18th century adventures

15. The Last Rune (series) – Mark Anthony * Imma be real with you chief, I haven’t read this series since I was a clueless teenager with no idea why I liked Gay Stuff so much, so if it does turn out to suck now, don’t throw rotten veggies at me * but especially since it was written in the NINETIES, this series was hella progressive?! * gay characters, disabled characters, characters of color, all playing significant and heroic roles in six-book epic fantasy cycle * people from Earth end up in high-fantasy world of Eldh * endgame M/M romance for the main character * books out of print, I think, but you can find them cheap somewhere like AbeBooks; first one (Beyond the Pale) linked above

16. The Library of the Unwritten – A.J. Hackwith * queer author * heaven-hell-Valhalla supernatural adventures * The Good Place x Good Omens x Lucifer x The Librarians * Pansexual Black badass female heroine * Queer found families * The Sassiest TM Bisexual Villain Turned Reluctant Hero (is he my favorite? Why on earth would you think that.)

17. The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon * epic doorstopper science fiction/historical fantasy set in a vaguely 16th-century world * main F/F romance between a queen and her sorceress bodyguard * sassy old gay alchemist whose backstory will give you Feelings * so many strong women and characters of color * no homophobia! marriage is fully gender-neutral, spouses are called “companions”

18. The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller * likewise one you have probably heard of but still * a little light on the myth/historical part imho, but the writing is beautiful and will give you many feelings * M/M romance between Achilles and Patroclus  * reimagining of The Iliad (her other book Circe is also really good)

19 The Stars are Legion – Kameron Hurley * all-female apocalyptic space opera * messy messy antiheroines * grimdark war fantasy * queer sci-fi drama

20. Witchmark – C.L. Polk * author of color * M/M romance * main character is a veteran and a doctor dealing with his own hidden magic and repressed war trauma * gaslamp fantasy set in a world reminiscent of post-WWI England * strong sibling relationship

[malarki]

Harry Potter FanFiction I greatly enjoy (it’s just tomarry and sevitus)

Fair warning, I’m not good at describing stuff, and most of these are not complete (yet) but if you have similar tastes as I do then you’ll definitely like these stories.

Meddling of a Mischief Maker - by Athy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5380535/chapters/12427268

I enjoy this fic because it shows a more human Voldemort with him still being an asshole as per usual. They do a good job of having Voldemort believably change into a not crazy murderous bastard haha. It also has Sirius interacting with Voldemort and for some reason I find those scenes hilarious in any fic I read.

“Harry's being a horcrux is a bit reworked here in this AU Story set during the summer after 5th year. A Mischief Maker intervenes in the Ministry during Voldemort and Dumbledore's duel, changing the course history. MorallyGrey!Dumbledore, Sirius, Restored Souls, HP/TR”

Draw Me After You (Let Us Run) - by ToAStranger @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22327684/chapters/53334382

This story is a delight, it’s tone is very good and they do a great job of writing in the characters ‘voices’ for their pov’s. I especially like the posh way Voldemort talks and acts. This story is also hilarious on top of just being a very good slowburn, AND it has Sirius, which as you might have guessed, I love dearly. They also don’t bash any of the characters, and instead make them well rounded but flawed individuals, which I really appreciate.

“Harry Potter,” comes the soft, sibilant hiss of a voice he has heard in his dreams, in his nightmares, in his waking hours for years.

Slowly, carefully, Harry twists over and pushes up onto his hands and knees. He stays there, short breath fogging in front of his face, and his pursuer lets him. Harry has no doubt of that; he’s being allowed this respite. This small moment to catch his bearings, heart pounding in his ears, blood singing.

“It seems I have finally caught you.”

Consuming Shadows - by Child_OTKW @childotkw

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040089/chapters/16011331

I’ve read two of childOTKW’s fics and both of them are fantastically written and attention grabbing stories. This one was the first one I read, and it has a very interesting take on lily Potter (one which I really enjoy) and the plot can leave you on the edge of your seat at times. The characterization is great, and the process of Harry and Tom getting to know each other is done very well.

“His attention skipped passed the students and moved to the politicians’ pavilion. His gaze locked with crimson, and he nearly faltered under the sheer hunger in those eyes.

It unnerved him how fixated the man was on his dirtied, exhausted figure.

But what troubled him more was the slight smirk he could make out on the man’s lips. It was almost pleased.

On the night of the attack, Lily managed to escape with her infant son, but at the cost of her husband’s life. Distraught and distrusting of her friends, she fled to France with Harry, to raise him away from the corruption in Britain and the rising influence of the Dark Lord. She trains him to the best of her abilities, shaping him into a dangerous, intelligent and powerful wizard.

But when Britain re-establishes the Triwizard Tournament, and Harry is forced to return to his once-home, he finds himself questioning whether he really wants to kill the Dark Lord. Voldemort finds an unexpected challenge in the child, and as his intrigue and amusement grows, so too does the desire to possess the spark in those defiant green eyes.”

A story that is kind of similar but not really: The Train to Nowhere

You Belong To Me (I Belong To You) - by child_OTKW

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11270490/chapters/25203408

This is a story inspired by the manwha ‘At The End Of The Road’ by Haribo. A comic I read before reading this, which is very good I recommend it. They do not take the exact plot from the comic though, obviously changing significant details for it to work properly as a Tomarry Fic, but one main thing stays the same, which is that this is a body swap. Honestly I really enjoy childOTKW’s works, and this is no exception. The characterization is wonderful as always, and Harry is Fantastic. Plus I’ve always been a fan of time travel fics. (Fair warning this is another slow burn and Harry centric)

“What I find absolutely fascinating,” Riddle said, stalking closer, “is you.” He marched forward, backing Harry up until he was pinned to the cool wall of the common room. “Do you know why?”

“No. And I’ll be honest here, Riddle, I don’t particularly care.”

The taller boy grinned at him, small yet infinitely pleased. “That. Right there.” One hand rose and brushed some of Harry’s fringe from his face. “Nathan Ciro was a spineless little boy too afraid of his own shadow to dare even glance in my direction. But you…”

He leaned closer, “You look at me like you want to stab me.”

“After an accident, Auror Harry Potter wakes up in the body of fourteen year old Nathan Ciro, a tormented Slytherin who recently tried to end his own life. Seeking answers to his strange predicament, Harry returns to Hogwarts, and causes quite the stir through staff and students - especially when they come to realise he is not the same boy as before.

He tries to avoid suspicion, but as his quest for the truth draws more and more attention to him, Harry begins to think that he might not like what he will discover.”

Some Bonus AU tomarry

A Thousand Paths Among The Stars - by Haplessshippo @haplesshippo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12015060/chapters/27191238

This is a star trek au and it’s honestly my favorite tomarry au fic. Granted, I am a huge sci-fi fan. There’s also a bit of a twist at the end, or at least it surprised me, due to the way we usually expect tomarry plots to go.

“Harry Potter, newly appointed Captain of the Marauder and son of the famous Captain James Potter, was falling apart at the seams. His crew didn’t respect him, he was lost in the empty expanse of space, nightmares plagued his sleep, and his Commander deserved the Captain position more than he did. Good thing multiple attempts on his life and a vicious warlord after his head was all it took to turn it all around.

Alternatively, that space fic in which Harry Potter almost dies too many times, Tom Riddle slowly becomes the most smitten fool on the ship, and the rest of the crew are all just a bunch of assholes with popcorn watching the show. And exploding ships, don't forget the exploding ships.”

The Matchmaker - by TanninTele

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16507676/chapters/38664089

I am ALSO a huge true crime fan, and this story has a criminal that kinda reminds me of one that might appear in Hannibal (but with less murder). I enjoy the characterization, though tom is pretty tame in this compared to more cannon fics, considering he’s not the criminal and instead an investigator. Harry is also different from how people usually portray him, but I still like it.

“'The Matchmaker' is a serial abductor whose modus operandi consists of pairing two same-sex individuals together in a coffin, six feet underground - buried alive. He isn't a killer. He's a kidnapper with morals, and Detective Chief Inspector Tom Riddle finds himself obsessed with solving the case.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Matchmaker is just as intent on knowing him.”

And on to the Sevitus Stories

Far Beyond A Promise Kept - by oliversnape

https://archiveofourown.org/works/547431/chapters/974693

A classic, Harry stays with snape and unintentionally proves all his assumptions wrong and makes snape care about him. Both the stories have this aspect, but this one has snape a bit nicer from the get go. Probably because it takes place during the third book, so they’ve only known each other two years. It’s quite wholesome though, and I rather enjoy the progression of their relationship.

“Snape never wanted anyone to know of his promise to Dumbledore, but has realised that he can protect Potter much better by taking a less passive role in the boy's training. Actually liking Harry Potter has never been part of his plan. mentor/guardian.”

Crime And Punishment - by melolcatsi

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24102232/chapters/58018174

Snape and Harry have way more of a rocky start in this one, and Snape having to pick Harry up from the police station Really Doesn’t Help Snape’s opinion of him. This story very realistically shows the progression of their relationship, going from enemies to family, and near the ‘end’ (it’s not finished) it becomes very wholesome with Snape trying to help Harry with his mental and physical health after years of abuse/ neglect.

“Harry is accused of burglary. The Dursleys leave him to rot. Dumbledore sends Snape to remedy the situation. Harry finds himself in the care of an irate Snape. Not slash, gen-fic w/ focus on Sevitus relationship. Angst galore. Warnings: coarse and suggestive language, mentions of abuse/neglect. Un-betaed and un-Britpicked.”

[writingwithcolor]

Space based story with prison camps: problematic parallels?

Trigger warnings:

Holocaust

Unethical Medical Experimentation (in the post and resources)

ivypool2005 asked:

I'm writing a sci-fi novel set on Mars in the 25th century. There are two countries on Mars: Country A, a hereditary dictatorship, and Country B, a democracy occupied by Country A after losing a war. Country A's government is secretly being puppeted by a company that is illegally testing experimental technology on children. On orders from the company, Country A is putting civilian children from Country B in prison camps, where the company can fake their deaths and experiment on them. (1/2)

My novel takes place in one of the prison camps. I am aware that this setting carries associations with various concentration camps in history. Specifically, I'm worried about the experimentation aspect, as I know traumatic medical experimentation occurred during the Holocaust. Is there anything I should avoid? How can I acknowledge the history while still keeping some fantasy/sci-fi distance from real experiences -- or is it a bad idea to try to straddle that fence at all? Thank you! (2/2)

We are far from being the only people to have suffered traumatic medical experiments.. 

--Shira

TW: Unethical Medical Experimentation (in the post, and all of the links)

Medical experimentation in history

Perhaps without intending to, you have posed an enormous question. 

I will start by saying that we, the Jewish people, are not the only group to have unethical, immoral, vicious experiments performed on our bodies.  Horrific experimentation has been conducted on Black people, on Indigenous people, on disabled people, on poor people of various backgrounds, on women, on queer people... the legacy of human cruelty is long. Here are some very surface-level sources for you, and anyone else interested to go through. Many, many more can be found.

General Wiki Article on Unethical Human Experimentation

US Specific Article  on Unethical Human Experimentation 

The early history of modern American Gynecology is largely comprised of absolutely inhumane experimentation, mostly on enslaved women (with some notable exceptions among Irish immigrant women)

An Article on Gynecological Experimentation on Enslaved Women

I  also recommend reading Medical Bondage by Deirdre Cooper Owens

The Tuskegee Experiment 

First Nations Children Denied Nutrition

Guatemala Syphilis Experiment

Unit 731

AZT Testing on Zimbabwean Women

Project MKUltra

Conversion Therapy

Medical Experiments on Prison Inmates 

Medical Interventions on Intersex Infants and Children

Again, these are only a few, of a tragic multitude of examples. 

While I don't feel comfortable saying, as a blanket statement, that stories like this should never be fictionalized, it feels important to emphasize the historicity of medical experimentation, and indeed, medical horrors. These things happened, in the real world, throughout history, and across the globe. 

The story of this kind of human experimentation is one of immense cruelty, and the complete denial of the humanity of others. Experimentation was done on unwilling subjects, with no real regard for their wellbeing, their physical pain, the trauma they would incur, the effect it would have on families, or on communities. These are stories, not of random, mythical "subjects," but of human beings. These were Black women, already suffering enslavement, who were medically tortured. These were Indigenous children, who were utterly powerless, denied nutrition, just to see what would happen. These were Black men, lied to about their own health, and sent home to infect their spouses, and denied treatment once it was available. These were Aboriginal Australians, forced to have unnecessary medical procedures, children given brutal gynecological exams, and medications that were untested.. These were inmates in US prisons, under the complete control of the state. These were prisoners of war. These were pregnant people, desperate to save their fetuses, lied to by doctors. These were also Jewish people, imprisoned, and brutalized as part of a systematic attempt to destroy us. 

The story of medical torture, of experimentation without any meaningful consent, of the removal of human dignity, and human rights, is so vast, and so long, there is no way to do it justice. It is a story about human beings, without agency, without rights, it's the story of doctors, scientists, and the inquisitive, looking right through a person, and seeing nothing but parts. This is not some vague plot point, or a curiosity to note in passing, it is a real, terrible thing that happened, and is still happening to actual human beings. I understand the draw, to want to write about the Worst of the Worst, the things that happen when people set aside kindness, and pick up cruelty, but this is not simply a device. This kind of torture cannot be used as authorial shorthand, to show who the real bad guys are. 

On writing this subject - research

If you want to write a fictional story that includes this kind of deep, abiding horror, you need to immerse yourself in it. You need to read about it, not only in secondhand accounts, and not only from people stating facts dispassionately. You need to seek out firsthand accounts, read whatever you can find, watch whatever videos you can find. You need to find works recounting these atrocities by the descendants, and community members of people who suffered. 

Then, when you have done that, you need to spend time reflecting, and actively working to recognize the humanity of the people this happened to, and continues to happen to. 

You have to recognize that getting a stamp of approval from three Jewish people on a single website would never be enough, and seek out multiple sensitivity readers who have personal, familial, or cultural experience with forced experimentation.

If that seems like a lot of work, or overkill, I beg you not to write this story. It's simply too important. 

-- Dierdra

If you study public health and sociology, it is often a given that the intersection of institutional power and marginalized populations produces extreme human rights abuses. This is not to say that such abuse should be treated as an inevitability, but rather to help us understand, as Dierdra says, how often we need to be aware of the risk of treating our fellow humans poorly. Much of modern medical history is the story of the unwilling sacrifices made by people unable to defend themselves from the powers that be. Whether we are talking about the poor residents of public hospitals in France during the 18th century whose bodies were used to advance anatomy and pathology, to vaccine testing in the 19th century, to mental asylum patients in the 20th century who endured isolation, lobotomies, colectomies and thorazine, one can easily see this pattern beyond the Holocaust. 

Even when we shift our focus away from abuse justified by “experimentation”, we have many such incidents of institutionalized state collusion in abuse that have made the news within the last 20 years with depressing regularity. Beyond the examples mentioned above, I offer border migrant detention centers and black sites for America, Xinjiang re-education sites and prisoner organ donation in China, Soviet gulags still in use in Russia, and North Korean forced labor camps (FLCs) for political prisoners as more current examples. I agree with Dierdra that these themes affect many people still alive today who have endured such abuses, and are enduring such abuses. 

More on proper research and resources

Given that you are going to be exploring a topic when the pain is still so fresh, so raw, I think you had better have something meaningful to say. Dierdra’s recommendation to immerse yourself in nonfiction primary sources is essential, but I think you will also want to brush up on many established works of dystopian fiction featuring themes relating to state institutions and the exploitation of vulnerable populations. While doing so, read about the authors and how the circumstances of their environments and time periods influenced their stories’ messages and themes. I further recommend that you do so both slowly and deliberately so you can both properly take in the information while also checking in with your own comfort. 

- Marika

[ibis-gt]

*slides you 37 pennies* how would luther handle trying to go on a public date with cam (movie, restaurant, etc.) with the whole… affection turns height to no.

had two requests for this one so here u go! luther does his best to keep it together for date night. 2750 words, warning for brief mention of violence in a movie and some hanky panky between consenting adults. not explicit, just a little spicy.

~~~

Four months into their relationship, and Luther has more of a handle on things now.

He’s got the size thing totally under control. He hardly ever shrinks just because Cam looked at him anymore. He can take a compliment like a champion. Those soft, sweet, gentle smiles that spread across Cam’s face like molasses? Barely make him lose an inch. Physical contact? He’s… still working on that one.

But at the very least they can have date nights in public now, as long as Cam behaves himself, and Cam is quite willing to behave himself. Most of the time.

It’s a snowy Saturday night in December, and they’ve got a date planned. Cam will pick Luther up at eight, they’ll go have dinner at a local sushi place, watch a late night special feature from the 80s, and then come back home for some wine and light snuggling before bed. An absolutely perfect night, if Luther can make it through enough of it full-size.

He’s still debating his outfit when a gentle knock at his front door heralds his beloved’s arrival. Five minutes early as usual.

“It’s open!” Luther calls. “C’mon in and help me choose, will you?” He’s standing in his bedroom in a pair of black slacks with the horrid green jumpsuit undone and tied around his waist, staring critically at his two choices of top. A lovely turquoise turtleneck, or a stylish electric blue button-up. The floor creaks behind him as Cam ambles in. “Which one do you think is better? I guess it depends on what you’re wear - eep!”

Luther squeaks and jumps as Cam presses his lips to Luther’s neck, big warm hands sliding up his arms to rest on his bare shoulders, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine.

“Both look nice,” Cam murmurs in his ear. “But I think I like the blue one better.”

“C-cam,” Luther whines, his face going pink. “If you keep this up we’re not even going to get out the door.” The hands remove themselves, and Cam pulls back, chuckling.

“Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. All that exposed real estate, you know.” He lets out a perfect wolf whistle. God damn him. Luther glares over his shoulder and folds his arms, letting annoyance take over.

“We’ve been planning this for weeks, and you’re going to ruin it,” he pouts. “Go on, out. Wait in the living room if you’re going to be like this.” Cam puts his hands up in a placating gesture and retreats, but that damn smile doesn’t leave his face. Luther tosses his hair and huffs, secretly proud of himself. He didn’t even lose a half inch. He turns back to consider his options.

Well, if Cam is so focused on his neck tonight, that sweater might be the better option to afford him some protection. But he said he liked the button-up better… It’s lighter than the sweater so it won’t keep him as warm, but that means he can steal Cam’s big coat later on. The turtleneck would completely cover the green jumpsuit, but the blue of the button-up actually compliments it nicely. Luther nods decisively. The button-up will be perfect.

He dresses quickly, gives himself a final once-over in the mirror, unbuttons his top button, and heads out to see Cam. His boyfriend - his boyfriend! The thought still sends a thrill through him - has picked up the cat, Scrunge, and is stroking her head, making little baby noises at her. She purrs in her usual way, fast and loud, like a revving motorcycle. Cam sets her down when he sees Luther and sighs happily.

“You look fantastic,” he says.

“You clean up pretty nice yourself.” Luther crosses the room and fondly brushes a loose strand of hair behind Cam’s ear. Cam’s in a dark grey v-neck shirt and black suit jacket, slightly tarnished silver cufflinks adorning the sleeves. He’s got his big heavy winter coat draped over one arm so he doesn’t overheat in the relative warmth of the apartment. Luther sneaks a covetous little glance at it before grabbing his own shabby coat off a hook near the door.

He bends down to give Scrunge a goodbye scritch behind the ears. “Behave yourself while I’m out,” he tells her. “No tearing around the place and knocking things over.” She meows plaintively. Luther retrieves her bag of treats and gives her two as a bribe, which she accepts happily.

“Okay,” Luther says, straightening and shrugging on his coat. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Cam says, and takes his hand.

They walk to the restaurant. No point in searching for parking, it’d take longer than just hoofing it anyway. It’s been snowing on and off throughout the week and piles of dirty slush cover the sidewalk. It’s cold, but Luther’s coat is keeping him warm enough for now. He and Cam hold hands as they walk to the restaurant, and Luther doesn’t even shrink a little bit. His chest swells with so much pride he thinks his feet might leave the ground.

The place is only a little busy, so they have a short wait before they’re shown to their table. They get their usual orders. Luther prefers simple rolls and nigiri so the taste of the fish is front and center, while Cam likes to get the complicated, loaded rolls for the variety of texture and flavor. While they wait for their food to arrive, Luther fills Cam in on Scrunge’s latest reign of terror in his apartment, and how much it’ll cost to fix the cracked frame of the painting she’d somehow managed to knock off the wall in her frenzy to catch the fabled red laser dot.

The food arrives. Cam offers Luther a taste of his rolls - he’s gotten something deep fried with cream cheese, cucumber, and crab, and another loaded high with four kinds of fish, topped with roe. Luther tries the one with all the fish, but passes on the deep fried one. He trades Cam a piece of mackerel nigiri. Then he continues on talking, telling Cam about his week, how work’s been, the new guy they hired, and the annoying new habit his coworker’s formed of singing along with the music on the jukebox, regardless of whether she knows the lyrics or not.

Luther suddenly catches the look in Cam’s eyes. There’s something… hungry in them. It’s the only way he can describe it. It’s not regular hungry, because he’s practically ignoring his food in favor of listening intently to Luther’s rambling story. He’s leaning forward, arms folded on the table in front of him, drinking in every word Luther has to say. He’s hungry for him. The realization hits Luther like a truck and he stops mid-sentence, jaw dropping, a blush starting to spread across his face.

“What’s wrong?” Cam asks, innocent as ever. How could he even know the effect he has on Luther? How could Luther ever explain?

“N-nothing, um, I… I’ve been talking a lot, why don’t you take over for a bit? What’s keeping you busy at work?” It was delightful to listen to Cam ramble on about his job. Luther barely understood a word of it, but his enthusiasm was adorable and, importantly, not about Luther. He could keep it together and breathe a bit, work on calming down the scramble of emotion in his gut.

Sure enough, he wins himself a good fifteen minutes of calm while Cam talks on about carburetors and mufflers and manifolds. He could be making it up for all Luther knows. It’s not until Cam realizes his deep fried roll has gone cold that he breaks off to eat. They finish their food, decide to pass on dessert, pay, and head for the theater.

It’s only a few blocks away, a fifteen minute walk at most. The night has gotten a little colder and darker, and now stray snowflakes drift and spin through the air, catching the streetlights and twinkling like stars. Cam has a lot of fun pretending he’s a dragon, his warm breath turning to steaming clouds in the freezing air. Luther’s shivering now, his old secondhand coat doing little to protect him from the chill. Cam notices, of course, and whips his own coat off in an instant.

“Oh, please,” Luther demurs, “You’re so chivalrous, but really, I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking like a weathervane in a hurricane, sweetheart. I’ll be fine, I’m my own space heater.” Cam arranges the coat over Luther’s shoulders neatly and slips his arm around Luther’s waist, pulling him in close. It’s so warm and so nice, and so very, very close. Luther’s shivers slacken and cease, and then one more shakes him, different from the rest.

“Oh no,” Luther whispers, “I was doing so well, please…”

Luckily, he only loses about three inches. His clothes are a little looser, and he’s engulfed a little more by Cam’s huge coat, but he’s still a perfectly normal height. He sighs in relief.

“So what’s this movie we’re seeing?” Luther asks, trying to take his mind off of things.

“Oh, so it’s this old sci fi cult classic based on a book no one’s ever read. I saw it the first time when I was like… eight? And it scarred me for life, really, and now I’m obsessed with this shit. The special effects are super gnarly, and they hold up okay, even though you can totally see the tube for the fake blood in the decapitation scene. Don’t worry too much about following the plot, it’s not really the point of the movie, but what you should know ahead of time is…”

Cam rambles on like that, filling the night with fog. Luther snuggles in closer and listens happily, totally at ease. He made it through the most important part of the night, and once they get in the theater, he can relax. It doesn’t matter if he shrinks in the theater - from what Cam’s said, the only people watching this late-night special feature will be die-hard fans who’ll be glued to the screen, and in the darkness they won’t have to worry about anyone catching sight of them.

That also means, of course, that Cam might get a little handsy once the lights dim. If he’s being honest, Luther would be disappointed if he didn’t.

They get a seat in the back row. As the previews start up, Cam reaches over and takes Luther’s chin in his hand, turning it gently so they face each other. For a moment, he just holds them there, staring into Luther’s eyes with an adoring softness that makes Luther’s heart sing. Then he leans in and kisses him, just once, softly on the mouth. Luther shivers and loses another few inches. Cam lets him go, but Luther’s not satisfied. He grabs Cam’s collar and pulls him down for another kiss, this one deeper and hungrier. Cam chuckles against his mouth and nips at his bottom lip, catching it between his teeth for just a moment. Luther sits back heavily in his seat, breath coming in shallow gasps. He grips his armrests tight, trying to pay attention to the trailer for the newest slasher flick as it blares out through the theater. No dice. He’s losing height fast now, shrinking down to four feet tall, his normal clothes hanging off his frame.

They stay apart for all of a minute before Cam’s hand sneaks across the seat and slides into place on Luther’s thigh. He strokes his thumb back and forth in a slow rhythm, humming happily. Luther gasps and shrinks more, staring wide-eyed as Cam’s hand covers more and more of him, soon easily encompassing his entire thigh.

He’s maybe two feet tall now and he can’t see the screen over the seat in front of him. Cam glances down, catching the pouting, grumpy look on Luther’s face, and presses a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.

“Here, sweetheart,” Cam murmurs, and picks Luther up with one hand. With the other, he frees him from his clothing so that he’s only clad in the jumpsuit. Cam settles Luther gently on his lap. This has fixed the problem of not being able to see the screen, but only momentarily. Luther goes bright red and dwindles down even further. By the time the previews have finished, he’s only eight inches tall.

As the opening theme blares with discordant trumpets, Cam pinches the back of Luther’s jumpsuit between thumb and forefinger and lifts him up. He dangles Luther in front of his face for a moment, expression torn between adoring and apologetic, then brings him in close for a gentle kiss. He sets Luther on his shoulder and hands him a piece of popcorn.

Luther hides his burning face behind the buttery morsel. He’d been expecting a little hanky panky, but nothing so direct. Stolen kisses, maybe a fake yawn that disguised Cam putting his arm around Luther, a little playing with his hair. Going for the thigh like that… that was entirely unexpected. He’s beginning to suspect Cam was trying to get him tiny.

The movie is just as gory and weird as promised. Luther isn’t super squeamish, but more than once he turns and ducks his face into Cam’s neck, squealing in disgust, his voice quiet enough at this size that he doesn’t have to worry about disturbing anyone else. Every time, he feels Cam shake under him with silent laughter, enjoying Luther’s reactions.

The movie ends before too long, and the other theatergoers file out, chatting animatedly with one another about the flick. Cam holds his hand up to his chest, and Luther pushes himself off Cam’s shoulder, landing gracefully in his palm. Cam sets him down on the armrest while he folds up Luther’s discarded clothing and tucks it in an inner pocket of his big coat. He looks down at Luther and tilts his head to one side, lips pursed in a calculating expression.

“You’re just a little too big to hide comfortably… here, let’s fix that.” Cam puts his elbows on either side of Luther on the armrest and looms over him, completely blocking the dim theater lights overhead. Luther takes a few involuntary steps back and bumps up against Cam’s hands, linked together behind him to form a ring penning him in. “You’re all mine now,” Cam breathes, quiet as a whisper. “So tiny and cute. I’m going to put you in my pocket and carry you home, and then… well, then we’ll see what I’ll do with you, hm?” A crooked, meaningful grin spreads across Cam’s face, and that hungry look comes back into his eyes.

It works like a charm. Luther’s legs shake, his heart pounds, and he shivers. He dwindles down to half his height, a mere four inches.

“There we go,” Cam croons, and scoops him up in one hand. Cam stows him safely in his coat pocket, held in a loose fist to keep him safe from jostling and the cold. He exits the theater and moves through the crowds easily. People tend to make way when they see a man his size coming towards them.

Luther curls up against Cam’s fingers and sighs happily. Cam’s hand is warm, calloused in places but soft in others, and the pocket sways gently with his gait. It’s so safe and cozy, combined with the late hour and the exhaustion of the day, it’s the perfect recipe to knock him out. He fights the heaviness of his eyelids as long as he can, but only makes it a few blocks before he’s fast asleep.

~~~

“Whew, cold one out tonight,” Cam says as he unlocks the door to Luther’s apartment. He can already hear Scrunge wailing on the other side. “I hope you weren’t too frozen in there.” He pushes the door open and addresses the cat. “Yes, we’re home, hello darling, we missed you too.” She winds around his legs and purr-meows at top volume. “Okay, okay, other people are trying to sleep,” Cam hisses. “You’re gonna wake up the whole floor, shitty kitty.” She mrrps in disapproval.

He pulls Luther out of his pocket. “So, babe, do you wanna - oh.” The little dear is asleep, snoring softly. Cam smiles and presses a kiss to his chest. He takes a seat on the couch, sighing as he plops himself down. Scrunge leaps up into his lap immediately and puts her front legs up on his chest, sniffing at Luther in his hand.

“Poor dear’s all tuckered out,” Cam murmurs, giving her a scritch. “Let’s let him rest.”

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: May 2022

It’s getting warmer out and yet I’m still inside watching movies and reading books. Maybe in June I’ll at least read in a park or something.

……….FILM……….

Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie (1982) So close to being a film I’d recommend. It starts with really great visuals and a big expansive world but by the end I felt like that had all melted away into a sort of Saturday morning cartoon. Certainly not terrible but I’d say the first 20ish minutes are lts best.

The Virgin Suicides (1999) Oof I was not ready for how sad this movie was. The life those sisters had? Feeling like there’s nothing left to live for? Ugh just so sad. It beautiful and  felt so personal and poetic; it really captured the spirit of reading someone else’s diary. So great and so SAD!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) The more interesting visuals (and by that I don’t mean the CG stuff but rather the portrait overlays and wonky camera work) really clicked for me and the whole thing had far more personality than I expected. Exasperated Strange paired with a plucky sidekick was a fun choice. Lots of fun choices here. But it still felt like a cotton candy movie. Maybe that’s okay.

……….TELEVISION……….

Fleabag (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) Have you ever just started a show and immediately known you were going to love it? This is that. The characters, the editing, heck even just the music sting at the start and end of each episode: it’s all perfect. Really trying to savour the series knowing there’s only two seasons but also really respect that it has a goal and will wrap when it’s ready.

Our Flag Means Death (Episode 1.01 to 1.10) It took a long time for this to click with me. I was told it would take a few episodes to get into the groove and that’s partially true. For me it wasn’t about the plot or tone, but rather the...genre? I went in expecting a much sillier and funnier show (of which it certainly has moments) but once I adjusted to a light-hearted character piece, it was more enjoyable. It wasn’t quite a comedy in my books but that’s okay. We’re moving into an era of television where nice people doing nice things is celebrated and I’m into it.

……….READING……….

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Complete) So great. This series is only two books deep and already so so good. The first one was great, then the second one comes in with a different protagonist, a slightly different style, and a totally different tone and yet it all feels entirely cohesive. It’s fantasy. It’s sci-fi. It’s meme culture. It’s everything I want out of a book.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (Complete) I always catch something new with each reread. Just great stuff and so inspiring.

The Secret Service Vol. 1 by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons (Complete) Turns out the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service was based on this so I was excited to dive in! The premise and threat are loosely adapted from this volume but the most charming bits (gentleman tech, the themes of class, the trainee conflict/camaraderie) is mostly absent. Eggsy isn’t much of a character here and the overall tone feels a little more mean-spirited than campy. Your mileage may vary but for me, it’s a case of the adaptation improving upon the original.

Dorohedoro Vol. 2 by Q Hayashida (Complete) Having already watched the anime on Netflix, most of this volume was familiar. The new stuff was fun and has me looking forward to continue with this series! 

……….AUDIO……….

The Fundamental Slimes and Humours by Nekrogoblikon (2022) Big fan of their previous album but this one isn’t connecting with me yet. It just feels like each song kinda...happens? Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that they’re noisier but it feels muddled. Hopefully that changes with further listens.

No Second Chances (Podcast) Nothing has gotten me more amped to vote than listening to this podcast. 

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) My weekly game just reached their 100th session in Neverland! They’re currently pursuing the youngest Pirate who fled with information and a magic sword. Meanwhile my biweekly group (the Mof1 crew) have returned to Neverland after a few months in Oz and are hopping around the island using magical whirlpools to get to know the area better.

And that’s it! If you have anything to recommend then send it my way; I’m always looking to discover new stuff.

Happy Tuesday!

[corpse-of-bandersnatch]

That's the whole interview with Jeff by Nicole Iskra, in which they also talked about him shaving of his chest hair. It was published in the Moviestar 05/2001 (the interview, not the chest hair).

I won't translate everything word for word, but if you wish a closer translation of a special topic/question, let me know and I try my best. (Also I apologize for the bad quality of the middle part of the scanned magazine).

PARALLAX – Madness from the Internet

„I was the Incarnation of their worst nightmare!“ - An interview with Jeffrey Combs

Before the interview starts, they introduce the latest movie Jeff was in back then, which is Parallax aka FearDotCom (almost the complete first column describes the Plot). Parts of it where shot in Luxembourg, which is also the Place where the interviewer meets Mr. Combs.

They meet in front of the Inter-Continental Hotel. Mr. Combs is PISSED, because the breakfast in the Hotel was awful (slimy fried egg) and the staff was rude (someone came in his room without knocking or apologizing, while he was sitting on his bed, only wearing a T-Shirt and Shorts).

They walk into the City of Luxembourg and Jeff's wondering about the many colourful life-sized cow sculptures, that you can find everywhere in town (quote: „Is this supposed to be art?!“).

He's searching for a souvenir for his wife, but in in his opinion, all of the dresses are outdated and their colours terrible. The interviewer teaches him the very important rule „Grün und Blau schmückt die Sau“.

They decide to eat in a Burger Restaurant called „Maybe not Bob's“, where he orders chicken wings with french fries and a coke (quote: „like a real American“).

Jeff speaks about the results of his genealogical research: Originally, his family came from Devon in England, but settled 1619 in Jamestown (Virginia) to work for Virginian Tobacco Co.

1. Question: The first question is about the renaming of FearDotCom to Parallax (reason being uncertainty about who owns the name). It follows more describing of the movie’s plot, this time from Mr. Combs himself.

His friend Bill Malone directed Parallax/FDC and offered Jeff the role, because they already worked together in Haunted Hill and Perversions of Science.

2. Question: You got along so well with Peter Jackson while filming The Frighteners. Will you at least get a Cameo in Lord of the Rings, even if it's only as Orc Nr. 260?

JC: That's the one Orc, that survived, right? (laughs). Nah seriously, I didn't get a role, unfortunately. I auditioned, , but the problem was the british accent. I can imitate it, but when you're surrounded by actors like Ian McKellen and Ian Holm, it's really not hard to tell who's a „real  Briton“ and who's not.

3. Question: Did your latest movie before Parallax/FDT – The Attic Expeditions –  had it's premiere in America yet?

JC: No, not yet. The world premiere was a couple of weeks ago here in Luxembourg and it was also shown on Festivals in Edinburgh and Amsterdam. Sadly, they didn't show it on the film festival in Brussel.

I'm really enthused by The attic Expeditions, because it's interesting, not linear, not logical, with few horror elements, but the horror is mostly psychological. It's like a dream in a nightmare on a trip. The longer you watch the movie, the less you know, what's real, it's a really complex movie, especially by american standards.

4. Question: In retrospect, would you call your role as Herbert West a curse?

JC: (sighs) Somehow, it's a curse and a blessing at the same time. Thanks to the role, I was branded as „Horror actor“ in Hollywood. After Deep Space Nine I was branded as „Horror- and Sci Fi- actor“. Movie people love to categorize you. On the other hand, the role of Herbert West opened up a lot of possibilities for me.

5. Question: 10 Years ago you told a funny story at a convention in New York, about sth. that happened while filming From Beyond. Could you maybe tell it again for the Moviestar readers?

JC: You mean the one with the children?

MS: Exactly!

JC: (grins) Well, we were already filming for a month – so I've been in this horrible make-up for 30 days already, with this awful head piece that looked like a red dog dick. I looked worse than Quasimodo! That's why I ate mostly in my dressing room. One day, they shot a commercial with a bunch of 4-year-old children in mushroom costumes on the same soundstage. We met in the hallway and as soon as those poor, innocent children saw me, all hell has broken loose. I was the incarnation of their worst nightmare, they screamed and ran to their mothers, who wanted to lynch me on the spot. So now it was me, who ran away.

But that's how it is, when you have a lot to do with make-up and masks and stuff like this. Not long ago, I was strapped to a cross made out of tubes, my throat was „cut“, there was blood all over me. And sometimes, when you're hanging there long enough, the crew just forgets that you're there, because for them, you just turned into a part of the set. Until you give a signal: „Umm sorry, guys, could you..maybe..“ - „Oh yeah sure, sorry Jeff, sorry..“

6. Question: (you might already know this one from this post): After that scene in From Beyond, in which you get eaten by this worm, your chest is as smooth as that of a baby – did they shave off your chest fur?

Jeff: Yes! (laughs)

MS: Did you do it yourself?

Jeff: Yes and I learnt something very important: Never use a normal razor blade, an electric razor is way better and safer and it doesn’t itch as badly, when the hair grows back. I had to shave my chest for a theater role once as well. I was 26 or so and played an 18-year-old.

7. Question: Do you still play in theatres regulary?

JC: No, not in the past couple of years, though theatre is very dear to my heart. Back in the days, I loved to play in theatres – living like a gypsy, 8 weeks in San Diego, and somewhere else afterwards. But that's not how I want to live today, now that I have a family. I don't like to leave my two little girls for several weeks, plus an engagement in a theatre isn't really helpful financially. I earn the same money in 1 week of shooting a movie as I do in 4-5 months of theatre work.

8. Question: I read that Woody Allen pays every actor 5.000 Dollar, because in his opinion, no one is worth 20 Million Dollar, neither beginner nor Superstar. What do you think about the explosive growth of fees nowadays?

JC: I do think that you should take the money, that the market offers you. But somebody, who earns 20 Millions per movie should share at least a million with their not so lucky co-actors.  No, seriously, it's not that easy to make a living. A friend of mine got a job, where he plays the brother of Kevin Costner. When I asked him, if he gets payed well, he shook his head and said, that he only gets tariff plus 10%. Tariff is the lowest wage possible, that was defined by union. My friend had the choice to either work with Costner or don't. And as an actor you always hope that a movie like this becomes a success and maybe improves your chances in Hollywood.

MS: Thank you for making so much time for us!

[adhdeancas]

Dean Winchester (and the script leaks last night) possessed me to write this.

Dean happens upon Chuck's latest book: Carry On. Except it ends differently than it really went, and the ending? It's really fucking bad.

tw: suicide mention, transphobia (quickly shut the fuck down) 

Dean doesn’t make a habit of going to bookstores. Not because he hates books, contrary to what Sam might think; he just prefers to buy used books. There’s something comforting about a book that has already been worn and read over and over, that already shows how much the previous owner loved it. Plus, y’know, big corporations are evil and all that. And Dean only allows himself to overlook that when his stomach or his wallet wins over his hatred of the shitty mass-produced products. 

This time it was Jack who won; he’s obsessed with this new fantasy series and the new book just came out, so there’s no way he can hunt it down on Ebay. He makes his way to the fantasy and sci-fi section, eyes roaming over the displays of new releases, and his eye catches on something that turns his blood cold. 

“Supernatural: Carry On, The Final Book of the Winchesters’ Epic Journey” takes up a whole table, the generic and overly serious cover jeering out at him. 

He storms over to the display, anger covering up for the way his body feels light as a feather and like lead all at once, and picks up a book. “Why is Sam always fucking shirtless?” he mutters, the only thought that allows itself from the mess inside his head to his mouth. 

“Book sales.” A voice behind him says. He turns to see a teenager with their arms crossed over their work polo, pierced lip fixed into a customer-unfriendly frown.

“People want to see that?”

They snort, a small grin turning up the corner of their lips. It reminds Dean of Cas. “No. But that’s what advertisers think all ‘women’ want,” They use air quotes. 

He raises an eyebrow and asks. “Women?”

They shrug and uncross their arms, leaning back against the display table behind them. Their nametag says Jadyn. “Supernatural’s biggest block of readers is queer. I’d go out on a limb and say a lot of those the marketers think of as ‘women’ aren’t, or if they are, they aren’t itching to see Sam’s six pack.” Jadyn smirks. 

Dean takes a second to digest that, then grins down at the book, thinking past Sam’s apparently badly-received nudity now. “So how’d they like it?” he asks, waving the book a bit and looking up at Jadyn. Apparently they know a lot about the fans of the books, and for once, he’s proud of the way the story ended. 

Jadyn’s face sets into all hard lines. “Most people fucking hated it.” they say bluntly, then, probably remembering that he’s a customer, correct. “Sorry. I mean, it got some good reviews, mostly from people who like Wincest, but beyond that, it had some problematic plot points.”

Dean winces at the reminder of the ship between him and his brother, then scrunches his whole face together in confusion. “Wait, what? Why?” Why would Wincest fans like it? What was problematic about their end?

Jadyn shifts from foot to foot. “I don’t wanna spoil anything for you-”

“I don’t care about spoilers, just give me the short version.” Dean says quickly. A quiet panic is rising in him, and suddenly he has a horrible feeling that he’s not holding the truth in his hands anymore. 

“Uh, okay… Well, the most obvious thing is the bury-your-gays thing, then there’s the fact that it completely contradicted the rest of the lore. And it was ableist, misogynistic, and messed up, like, every character’s arc.” they take a breath, clearly worked up by it. “Even if they changed any of the details too, it was all built on Dean’s death, and that’s just bullshit. Sorry.” they apologize again, apparently mistaking Dean’s stricken expression to be in reaction to their rant and swearing. 

“No, nah, you’re… you’re okay. Uh, thanks.” he waves a hand and wanders away from them, only remembering Jack’s book when he’s almost to the register. He manages to make his way back and find the damn thing, but he’s still in a fog when he gets to the register. 

“Did anyone help you in the store today?”

“Huh?” he looks up and meets the middle-aged cashier’s gaze for the first time. Brent, from the nametag, looks at him impatiently. “Oh, yeah, uh… Jadyn. Jadyn helped me.” Brent scoffs and starts typing with a shake of the head. “Uh, is there a problem?” Dean asks, a little annoyed at this cashier’s unnecessary attitude. He usually doesn’t care if an employee’s rude, because they have to deal with assholes all the time and honestly Dean isn’t much better, but this one gives him a bad feeling. 

“No, no, sorry. It’s just - “Jadyn’s” got this idea that he’s a girl. Makes everybody call him that name now too. Just-” Brent shakes his head. “I mean, you get it. Their generation, everybody wants to be special.”

Dean glares. “No, I don’t get it, Brent.” He says through gritted teeth. “Seems to me like Jadyn probably deals with enough assholes like you that her asking for a little basic decency is the exact opposite of special. Sounds pretty normal, actually.” He can see the fear creep into Brent’s eyes, and he knows the cashier is reacting to the murderous look in his eyes more than his actual words. 

Brent hands Dean his bag of books with a quiet, “Here you go.”

Dean snatches it away. “Oh, Brent?” he checks over his shoulder to make sure they’re alone and then leans across the counter into Brent’s space. “You should find a new job, one where you don’t have to interact with other people. At least until you learn how to stop being a piece of shit.” He starts to ease away but thinks better about it. “And if you think that’s a suggestion, it’s not. My husband likes this book coming out next month that I’ll need to buy, and if I see you here when I come, well… it would be really embarrassing for you to tell all your little friends that you got your ass beat by a ‘special’ guy, huh?” He pats Brent on the cheek condescendingly and leaves with a huff. 

Damn transphobes. 

He only remembers the book once he’s back in Baby, and he takes the time to drive out of town before he pulls over to read it. It’s an old abandoned church, the cross long since fallen from the roof and the doors hanging off their hinges. He sits on the steps just because being in Baby seems claustrophobic for once in his life, and going back to the bunker to look at this is just… not happening.

Dean only skims the beginning to see that it starts the same. The ground erupting with bodies, hell spitting out its most-conveniently placed nasties, Rowena sacrificing herself, Cas leaving. His throat closes up at that, at Chuck’s description of Cas’s heartbroken expression as he climbs the stairs of the bunker. He clears his throat and skips to the end, right past Cas’s death that he doesn’t have the time to think about right now, past them defeating Chuck and then stops. He goes back a few pages, trying to find the disconnect. 

The story’s different.

After Jack takes on God’s power, in the book, he’s totally fine. Not almost vibrating out of his skin or anything, not crying like the three year old he is because he’s scared. Not like it really happened. He just smiles and leaves him and Sam, and they let him go. 

Dean scoffs, skimming over the story as it just gets more ridiculous. 

In the book, he doesn’t even try to save Cas. They barely even mention him. And they never mention Eileen, either. In fact, Dean notes disbelievingly, practically the only characters in the last few chapters are him and Sam. They’re hunting again.

“What, is Chuck trying to keep the series going?” he whispers to himself, anger flaring through him. They let Chuck live, and he decided to write obnoxious fanfiction about them? He’s gonna kill that shameless little fucker. For real, this time. He deserves it.

In the book, Sam and Dean torture some vampire mime, and they enjoy it. Dean cringes; this is really what Chuck thinks of them. Then they tussle with more vamps in a barn and- 

Dean’s brain stops working. He rereads the scene again and again. 

“There’s something in my… something in my back. It feels like it’s right through me.” 

Dean Winchester dies in a dirty barn, on a piece of freaking rebar. 

More than that, Dean realizes on his fourth read-through. This Dean? He tried to drag out his speech, Dean can tell by the way he pauses for fucking drama. He would never do that. He would never talk to Sam for fifteen hellish minutes when he could be trying. Trying to live, so he can actually get his life back on track, get his family back. No, he made that speech stalling. He made that speech so Sam wouldn’t try to save him. 

“You gotta admit, I had one helluva ride.” He was strangely calm.

Chuck made him kill himself.

Dean reads the rest of the book through blurry eyes, reading an ambiguous and nothing-ending, one where he’s somehow happy to be dead and driving around in heaven alone while Sam raises a kid into hunting and cries about Dean decades after he’s died. Eileen isn’t mentioned. Cas is mentioned once, and Bizzarro-Dean doesn’t even think about seeing him, apparently. The whole book ends with a hug between him and Sam, both dead. Both alone. 

Dean rips the ending up. He tears through the stupid paper covering and keeps ripping the pages up until they’re the size of confetti. His lower lip wobbles. He throws the whole thing against the side of the building, and it tumbles through the broken doorway and drops into a pile of dust and dirt. “That isn’t the fucking ending.” he grounds out, knocking his hand against the flimsy handrail. It gives a little under his fist and he kicks at it. “That isn’t the fucking ending!”

He’s having a panic attack. Again. He tries to take deep breaths, but they’re gulping, too big, they’re making him panic more. He scrambles back to Baby and grabs his phone, presses the first number on his favorites list and waits for him to answer on speaker phone.

“Hey Dean, what’s up?” Sam sounds like he’s been laughing. There are voices in the background, and Dean tries to convince himself one of them is Eileen. 

“Hey Sammy.” he chokes out, trying to sound normal. “You busy?”

There’s a pause, and then the sounds in the background. “Nah, Rowena’s just over.” he says casually. 

“So those voices in the background were-”

“Rowena and Eileen, yeah. They’re trying to convince me we need to go to Mexico. For the beaches.” A smile in his voice. Dean lets out a sigh of relief.  What’s up, Dean? You need something?” The smile drops, and Sam’s worried. 

Sam’s okay. Sam’s okay. “No, nah. Hey, you heard from Donna lately?” Dean just needs to triple-check.

“Uh, no, not since Sunday dinner… Dean, you okay?”

“Yeah, she just- she hasn’t been answering my texts. Just wanted to make sure.” Dean lies quickly. His breathing is still uneven, but his body is settling into uneven shakes. 

Sam sounds skeptical. “Yeah, well, she did tell us it’s been pretty busy at work lately. Y’know, everybody going out for the first time with COVID, getting stupid. Plus, y’know, nowhere’s drowning in EMTs right now.”

“Right. Yeah.” Dean takes a deep breath, a distant memory of Donna talking about that coming back to him.

“Pretty sure you were setting up a D&D session with Charlie while she was talking about that,” Sam laughs. Dean knows he means it as a subtle jab, but there’s too much relief flooding through him to care. Still, a string is pulled taut in him, and Sam can’t fix that completely.

“Gotta go, Sam,” Dean hangs up before Sam can say anything else, and goes to his next contact. It rings for far too long, and Dean’s heartbeat picks back up to thundering.

“Hello, Dean.”

“Cas,” Dean breathes out. “Cas, you know I love you, right?” He needs to test all the bounds of this, to make sure, just to make sure. Make sure Chuck isn’t still fucking with him. Because apparently, Chuck won’t let him be queer. Not in his story. Not out loud.

He can hear Cas’s eyebrow raise through the phone, and his chest is overcome with stupid fondness. “I would be a little worried if you didn’t.”

Dean grins widely. “Like, romantically. I’m in love with you. Because you’re the love of my life and I’m bisexual.” He says it all like it’s a checklist, like he expects some cosmic being to slap a hand over his mouth before he gets each next phrase out.

“Yes, Dean. We’ve been married almost two months.” Cas is smiling. It happens everytime he talks about their wedding. Dean adores it. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, now it is.” His whole body relaxes, still vibrating with leftover panic, but satisfied. “I got Jack’s book.”

“Oh, good. He’ll be so pleased.” Cas pauses. “Dean, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Dean eases off the ground and sends a last look at the dilapidated church before climbing into Baby. “Just- read a bad book. I’ll tell you about it later. When I get home.”

[gretchensinister]

Favorite Books 2021

I read 121 books this year. (I’m in two book clubs and this is my main form of entertainment. Don’t imagine that I’m also keeping up with popular TV series or podcasts or playing plotty video games.)

Anyway, I wanted to share my favorites and ones I would recommend. The order is the order I happened to read them in over the year.

First, favorites:

The Fade by Chris Wooding: A favorite because of the unique, alien setting (complete alternate planet) for a political intrigue plot. Main character is a female assassin who is actually old enough to be the best at her profession.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee: A favorite because the artificially immortal, possibly insane (but then who can say in a such a corrupt system?) General Jedao is the exact (like UNCANNILY EXACT) kind of character I go for. Big sci-fi empire, you will have to roll with the setting, but you don’t actually need to know math to get the plot.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: A favorite because it’s short, sweet, surreal, and troubling. A what-if of a book that lingers. A man is in an endless network of hallways and galleries of statues, and eventually figures out more about how he got there.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: A favorite because sometimes you want a fairy-tale situation and you want an author who you can feel confident in.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito: A favorite because it was just so wonderfully disturbing. Now I notice spirals so much more.

The Book of Dragons ed. Jonathan Strahan: A favorite because I love dragons and this anthology had a wide variety and I enjoyed the large majority of the works in it.

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht: A favorite because of the absolutely awful (morals and personality) main characters and the gay eroticism of their horribleness to each other. Yes, it’s in the text. Cannot recommend this highly enough.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: A favorite because it’s a story about stories, and okay, it is a little more vibe than story at times (or maybe I’m just dumb), but that’s not like…a bad thing.

The Unspoken Name by AK Larkwood: A favorite because it’s got all kinds of stuff I like in it! Alternate worlds, shady immortals, dead* gods*, looking for a macguffin and finding love instead!

The Fifth Season by NK Jemison: A favorite because I was immediately drawn into the world, the characters, everything, I want to know more and more and more about the mystery of this world and how the characters are going to deal with it ending (not a spoiler). So good I feel like I need to gnaw on something, IDK.

Honor Lost by Rachel Caine and Anne Aguirre: This is the last book of a trilogy and I recommend the whole thing. It’s a fun YA space opera, and it takes a lot for me to enjoy YA these days. I will say that you have to just kind of roll with the space travel component (it makes no sense given the scale of space and no standard FTL travel or gates/hyperspace etc.). But I’ve never read a regular published book where the development of an interspecies polyamorous relationship is the heart of the series.

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White: Space adventure, science fiction setting with magic woven into that society. High stakes treasure hunt.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine: Sequel to A Memory Called Empire. All the complicated questions about empire from the first book, but now with a developing war and first contact situation with really alien aliens.

*

More recommendations! Why not favorites? The answer is that there was some aspect that I recognize is something very idiosyncratic about myself that puts them not on my personal favorites list but I still think they’re very good.

The Brilliant Death by Amy Capetta: YA set in fantasy Italy, magic of a type I haven’t seen before, and much more playing around with gender than I’ve seen in almost any fantasy novel.

The First Sister by Linden Lewis: The first book of a series, yes it’s more space empire rebellion and intrigue, I plan to continue with the next book.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse: The more I think about this one the more eager I am to read the sequel (April 2022 last I heard). Set in a pre/non-Columbian South and Central American world. A suppressed religion’s chosen one does what he’s chosen for.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson: This graphic novel is fairly well known, I would guess, among anyone who’s likely to see this post. Main character shapeshifter, nemeses and questions of heroism and villainy.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Definitely both very gothic and Mexican. Got that unsettling claustrophobia of the gothic house to a very strong degree.

The Sundial by Shirley Jackson: Horrifying but also dark, dark humor. Maybe it’s the end of the world, but if only the main characters in the book are going to live through it, who’d want to go on? Jackson’s writing always makes me want to shriek; she makes it look so easy to do it well.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V E Schwab: A young woman makes a deal to live forever, but to never be remembered. Three hundred years later, that changes.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja: Two people find an impossible, inexplicable, completely black hole in an apartment building storage room. And it gets worse and more horrifying from there. I highly recommend this one because it is so horrifying and weird, but I also found it difficult to read because it’s in first person and the narrator is a depressed bastard. There’s no clearer way to say it, and I found it hard to deal with being in such a character’s head sometimes.

Nightbreed by Clive Barker: Recommended because I enjoy horrifying and weird things, and the metaphor in this 90s comic series just hit me hard. The haven of the Nightbreed gets destroyed, and now the monsters have to deal with the aftermath and search for a new refuge. The metaphor’s very obvious when you read it but it’s still a metaphor so if that puts a bug up your ass don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross: A Beauty and the Beast story from the perspective of the Beast. Clear links, narrative-wise, to Beauty by Robin McKinley, though not directly related (I’ve just read a lot of Beauty and the Beast stories and it’s sometimes easy to spot particular influences). Kind of angsty (not a huge surprise given the premise) but if you’re interested in this premise this book does it well.

*

I will not be providing any identity list for the characters in these books beyond what I’ve already mentioned in my brief notes, because I find that trend tiresome and uninformative when I’m deciding what to read. BUT! I am willing to talk more about any of these if you’re interested. Anyway, remember that I’m just a random person that a few of you know and most of you don’t, I just read 121 books this year.