#i'm going to upload the books online for everyone to be able to read

[cazzyf1]

Memes from Mike Hawthorn’s second children's book: Carlotti takes the wheel

[cdragons]

Bound by Embroidered Chains - Aemond Targaryen x Seamstress!OC x Jacaerys Velaryon - Chapter One

Prologue

Summary: Dragons have a habit in hoarding the prettiest of jewels, and pearls are of no exceptions.

Warnings- MDNI 18+ Obsessive Behavior (we all knew this was coming), tiny!Aemond is delulu, tiny!Jace is delulu, Dark Themes, not betaread we burn like Harrenhal, etc. Also translations for Valyrian will be added at the bottom! Also I used an online translator for the High Valyrian, so it may not be great 🫠

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for the amazing support for this story's prologue, I did NOT expect so many positive reviews! I'm sorry this took so long, but I had a ton of applications and finals. But since I am on winter break, hopefully I will be able to upload more fics! Happy Holidays and big shoutout to @valeskafics, who continues to be the HOTD fanfic writing ICON that we all know and love! If you liked reading this work, reblog and comment if you want to be tagged in future installments of this work! Also I apologize for any grammatical errors, I wanted to post this as soon as possible.

You have known your entire life that you were going to be one of the many seamstresses that serviced the Royal Family.

By the age of three, your mother would teach you how to begin your very first stitches, which soon shifted to learning the most complicated patterns of embroidery. You still remember the tears in her eyes as you presented the silk-woven handkerchief that had lovely little purple and blue flowers embroidered on the borders for her birthday. Your face flushed to an almost too bright red when she insisted on showing all the other royal seamstresses and tailors your first handkerchief. But it made you smile in remembering how big her smile was that week, as she was so pleased by how much you’ve progressed at such a young age.

When you were only six, your mother had begun to teach you how to properly extract the dye from beautiful flowers and the scales of brightly-colored insects. So skilled and nimble were your fingers that you even gave your childhood playmate, Aemond Targaryen, a thick green wool cloak with green and silver dragon embroidery. The cloak’s wool had been dyed by your hand with copious amounts of goldenrod and indigo flowers. You then carefully stitched silk to line the inside of the cloak to prevent him from overheating, as even the harshest winters in the Crownlands were hardly anything compared to the summers in the North. It had caught you off-guard in the almost too-tight embrace he locked you in, but you eagerly reciprocated as you could tell he appreciated the gift more than words could describe.

It was not just a gift for is name-day from a childhood companion, but also a way to reassure him that he will one day have a dragon. And even if the gods do not grant him worthy in their eyes, he would always be considered a prince worthy of the Targaryen name in yours. After all, there were not many princes that would willingly spend all their free time with a lowly seamstress’ daughter – even if the supposed seamstress that was your mother was so heavily favored by the Queen.

“Pearl,” came a voice with a tone far too serious despite its youth, “what are you doing in the Godswood?”

You lifted your head from old tome you were studying, only to see a young boy of only nine name-days, that stood as straight as one of the stone pillars that stood in the Sept of Baelor. His white locks nearly blinded you with how the sunshine seemed to reflect on them.

“Well my prince, as you can clearly see, I have decided to take advantage of this fine day to do a bit of studying of my own.” You lifted the near ancient tome on your lap to show him the title, Myths and Legends of the Jade Seas.

Whatever outwardly beauty the book possessed had long diminished, the spine was bent from the hundreds of hours spent looking through its contents and the letters were near faded to a dull grey as the pages yellowed from age. But the colors of the ink remained as vibrant as when they were first painted on the frail sheets, accompanied by beautiful imagery of magical dragons and elusive mermaids. The details were so fine and intricate that it felt as if you only needed to touch the ink in order to be transported into the stories. You remembered how you begged either your mother or father to read it to you every night, as utterly transfixed by the colors back then as you remained so now.

“You are more than welcome to join me, but if – and only if – you share one of those apples hiding in your knapsack.”

Finally showing an expression appropriate for his age, the young prince reached in his pouch to show two gorgeous apples – the skin was practically gleaming in the sun as your mouth watered for its taste. Aemond handed one to you as he sat by your side underneath the plentiful shade of the heart tree. Scooting over to make room on the overgrown root you sat on, you eagerly showed him strange text.

“Look Aemond!” you exclaimed as you shoved the book to his nose. “This book says that there were dragons in Yi Ti! Isn’t that amazing?”

Aemond looked at you as if you had suddenly grown two heads and five eyes. “How can there be dragons in Yi Ti? All the dragons save the ones in the dragonpit and the rocky shores of Dragonstone had perished in The Doom that sunk Valyria. Everyone knows that pearl.”

“These dragons are different! According to my kepa, Yi Ti dragons don’t even need wings to fly!”

The young prince rolled his eyes at that. “How could they fly if they don’t have wings? Even Carraxes the Blood Wrym has wings, and he looks like an overgrown red snake.” Honestly, his pearl could be so silly. “Besides, what would your father know? He’s a bastard from the Iron Islands, that’s nowhere near the Jade Seas.”

Now it was your turn to roll your eyes. “He heard so on his travels with Lord Velaryon and Prince Laenor! Apparently, these dragons use magic and live in the ocean. And they don’t even breathe fire! They make it rain and control the oceans!”

“…Pearl, I think you’ve been spending too much time making those dyes. The fumes must have gotten to your head.”

You openly gaped at your friend’s comment, completely in shock for how blatantly he dismissed you. It made you want to pound your fists on his person until he took it back. So naturally, you did just that.

“Aemond Targaryen, you take that back right now!” you shrieked. Although your actions told otherwise, the smile on your face showed that you took no true offense to his words. If anything, it pleased you to know that you could still make the stone-faced prince giggle as a boy should at his age.

“Never!”

As the two of you giggled and played, several pairs of wandering eyes spied and grimaced at the distasteful display. Although your friendship with the next generation of the royal family was no secret, much of the court disapproved of how highly the royal family thought of you and Prince Aemond’s friendship. After all, he was the second born prince of House Targaryen, born of King Viserys and Queen Alicent. By the time the Targaryen prince could toddle, great things were expected from him. From a very early age, he immersed himself in his studies befitting of a prince of Westeros. You, on the other hand, were only the daughter of a seamstress and a bastard knight who became a lord of a holding so minor that it had no name. You only skills were that you could make pretty dye, and stitch pretty pictures with a needle and thread.

But he always treated you kindly and defended you whenever his eldest brother decided to use you as his latest target for mockery. You were a precious pearl – his precious pearl – Aegon may be his brother, but he could never love Aegon as much as he loved you. True, your father being a bastard did you no favors in the Red Keep’s court, but Aemond would never tell you that himself. Instead, he openly acknowledged his bravery and commended his loyalty to the Crown. After all, how many bastards can boast that they saved the Lord Corlys Velaryon, holder of the Driftwood Throne, from a siege of pirates during one of the lord’s many voyages to Essos?

In turn, you always made sure to provide comfort and support whenever his brother and nephews decided to pick on him. Without fail, he would seek out your company – his eyes red and puffy, while his cheeks were wet from hastily wiped tears. You would take his hands and the two of you would venture out to the library’s more secluded sections. You made sure to pack whatever you have been working on with you. While you were glad that he came to you for comfort, it would do little good for either of you if you were to be punished for not completing whatever tasks your mother assigned you.

“Who cares if you don’t have a dragon?” you once asked him as the two of you laid next to each other, surrounded by books. “There are plenty members of the Targaryen line that did not have dragons, but they still lived out important lives in serving their family however they could. King Jaehaerys was considered a great ruler for how he served the realm– not for riding Vermithor. And even if you had a dragon, is that all you wish to be known for? Your grandfather, Baelon the Brave, was wise and beloved by the small folk for how he tried to make their lives easier. But all he is known for in history books is how he burned down Dorne with Vhagar.”

“Better to be known for a dragon than to disappear, not being known for anything – not even a dragon worthy of the Targaryen name.”

Sitting up against a bookshelf, you repositioned Aemond to lie his head on your thighs. Luckily the candlelight made the area dark enough so that you wouldn’t see his ears turning red. Instead, he buried his face in the soft cotton of your blue tunic as you stroked his soft silver white locks. Although his heart was beating erratically, your sweet scent along with your body’s suppleness was enough to take away any ire left in him.

“Stop that,” you ordered, “you will not be forgotten, don’t be so dramatic.” Eyes softening at his tense shoulders, you eased on the sternness of your tone. “Nyke pendagon iksā brilliant. Eman dōrī rhēdan anyone else qilōni kostagon ȳdragon Valyrio Eglie hae sȳrī hae ao.  Kostā solve problems bona aegon ēza trouble lēda during aōha lessons lēda se Giēñatī.  Aemond, iksā ñuha sȳrje raqiros.  Gaomagon daor ivestragon kesā sagon daor rūnas.”

You pretended not to notice how tightly he clenched your dress as you ignored the how warm the spot where his hot tears grew.

As you continued to stroke his hair, Aemond made a silent vow that when he finally claimed a dragon, you would be the first person he would ride it with. He thought about how his bastard nephews would always try to take you from him, especially Jace, how he despised that boy. No, your touches would belong to him, and only him. Your sweet words and kind demeanor were his to cherish. You were his pearl – his pearl – and no one else’s, especially not the pretend Targaryen that was Jacaerys Strong.

Yes, it pleased Aemond to know that he was your best friend. But sometimes it frustrated him in how you refused to take him seriously as a man. For example, he once announced that when he claimed his dragon, he would finally be a noble dragon knight who would protect you from the most vicious of beasts. No matter how he insisted on his sincerity, you only rolled your eyes at the proclamation. You told him that you had no need for a knight, let alone a dragon knight. You had your dearest kepa for protection, and there was no finer knight in all the Seven Kingdoms in your eyes. So silly was his pearl indeed.

“Ashi’!” a new voice called out, interrupting the comfortable silence between him and his pearl. It belonged to the king’s eldest grandson, Prince Jacaerys Strong Velaryon, heir to the Iron Throne after his mother, Princess Rhaenyra. “Your mother is looking for you! She said that she needs your help with Mother’s clothes!”

“Alright!” When you stood from you spot, you made sure to brush away any dirt or debris left on your skirts. You gathered your mother’s book in both arms when you made your way to the prince. “But why did my muña not send one of her attendants instead? It would not have been difficult to find me. Everyone knows that I enjoy reading under the Hearts Tree in the Godswood during my spare time. Are you not busy with your own duties, my prince?”

Straightening his posture to appear taller, Jace did his best to sound as authoritative as his father had taught him. “I just finished my lessons for the morning, and I volunteered to escort you. Besides, I figured that it would do me some good in practicing escorting you. I’ll need to do it in the future when I am king after my mother.” His round freckled cheeks reddened to a rosy hue at that last part.

Not at all catching the terribly obvious implication, you shrugged off his words as you figured that he meant that he was using you as practice for whichever future noble lady he would court in the future. However, the suggestion was not at all lost on your friend, who was still sitting on the overgrown root, glaring at his eldest nephew with a fury that rivaled the Great Doom that sunk Valyria.

“Well, we should be on our way then. Come on Aemond, we should get going!” You held out your held for your friend to hold on to, but were quickly interrupted by the brown-haired Targaryen at the side.

“He can’t! I mean-” stammered Jace as did his best in thinking of an excuse, “-I’m afraid my uncle cannot join us. You see, um – his mother, the Queen, requested his presence in her solar.”

“I’m sure my mother won’t mind waiting for a few moments while I join you in escorting my pearl to her favorite friend, nephew.” This wasn’t a lie on Aemond’s part. While he didn’t like the idea in keeping his mother waiting for him, he despised the thought of you being alone with the Strong Knight’s eldest bastard even more. Besides, his mother adored you as if you were her own daughter. It would have gone without saying that she would be happy with her son spending time with her best friend’s daughter.

“But why would you want to risk it, uncle?” Jacaerys wasn’t going to let his selfish uncle hog all of your attention. You were his friend too! It wasn’t fair that he had find crumbs of your time and affections, while his uncle got to feast on your smiles and laughter. He had spent hours with the dragon keepers of the dragonpit to help him train Vermax, all so that he could finally show you how close he was in riding him! But you were always too busy comforting his stupid dragonless uncle!

Enough was enough. Jacaerys may have been a Velaryon like his father, but he was also a Targaryen like his mother. It was he who carried the dragon’s blood, and dragons took what they desired or felt what they deserved. And he desrved to be with you more than Aemond.

“It’s alright Aemond, we’ll talk more later! Let’s go Jace, we shouldn’t keep our mothers waiting any more than we have.” Grabbing his hand before walking out of the gardens, you weren’t able to see the younger prince throw a triumphant smirk to his uncle before once more facing you with the story of how Luke accidentally got egg in his hair.

Watching his literal bastard of a nephew walk hand-in-hand away with his pearl, Aemond Targaryen felt his fury grow more potent with each step. He hated that you called his nephew by his nickname, all while he had none. What’s worse was the fact that you allowed him to refer to you as “Ashi.” What a ridiculous name, only a lowborn such as his nephew would refer to someone as precious as you as something as study and simple like “Ashi.” You were a pearl – his pearl, in fact. A fact that he felt was important to emphasize as he watched your head being thrown back in laughter. His anger grew to an all-time high when he watched you ruffle Jacaery’s hair with abundant affection.

Not wanting to make a scene, he walked to his mother’s chambers in fuming silence. While her presence wasn’t yours, maybe he could think of a plan to get you away from his whore of a sister and her illegitimate offspring.

If worse comes to worst, he might need to recruit his sister to his cause. He knew that Helaena would especially be thrilled in receiving your presence. You were the only one besides your parents that did not treat his beloved sister like an oddity. If you were not with Aemond, you were often found stitching with the young princess. It seemed that you were the only person in the entire world that could get her to smile.

Such a sweet girl, his pearl. Someone so kind was not meant to endure the presence of lowly bastards – even if they did technically carry royal blood.

He needed to come up with something fast.

Translations:

“Nyke pendagon iksā brilliant. Eman dōrī rhēdan anyone else qilōni kostagon ȳdragon Valyrio Eglie hae sȳrī hae ao.  Kostā solve problems bona aegon ēza trouble lēda during aōha lessons lēda se Giēñatī.  Aemond, iksā ñuha sȳrje raqiros.  Gaomagon daor ivestragon kesā sagon daor rūnas.” - “You’re brilliant. I’ve never met anyone else who can speak such fluent High Valyrian, especially at your age. You can solve problems that Aegon has trouble with during your lessons with the Maester. Aemond, you are my best friend. Don’t say that you will be forgotten.”

Tagging:

@valeskafics, @faesspace, @aphroditesmoon, @dreaming-for-an-escape, @nellychick, @asa-do-your-thing, @arcielee, @bellamys-girl1, @immyowndefender, @xxlovingfandomsxx, @elinedjarin, @meg-egg-blog, @marvelescape, @mandiiblanche, @lokiofasgard12, @boxedpandas, @anewpersonthatexists, @toodlesxcuddles, @mckiquinn, @cvspians, @aemondslove

[musiccomicnerdperson]

How in the ever-living fuck do I have 20 fucking assignments that I need to get done late/current. How the shit am I supposed to get this done. I have 9 fucking essays I have to try to write for this fucking week. It would be so much easier to just say fuck it to my sleep schedule and pull an all nighter just trying to function off of caffeine until I inevitably crash but I fucking can't because I have to drive to fucking campus tomorrow which is an hour away!!! I can't even fully blame myself like always for putting myself here because even if I was a magic robot who only ever did fucking school work and gymnastics I would still be behind on a few assignments! The worst thing is that it's only going to keep piling up because my History of the Vietnam War Through Film class is averaging 3 FUCKING ESSAYS PER WEEK and my psychology has an anal deadline policy where you can't even make an attempt after the fucking deadline!!!! Unfortunately for me I also have to worry about studying for 2 FUCKING EXAMS NEXT WEEK that I'm totally going to get fucked on because it feels like there is no way I am going to get done with all of this before this weekend and study for two classes that I am barely getting by in and if I bomb these exams my grade becomes TOTALLY FUCKED. On top of this I'm supposed to do actual fucking reading from the text book for my fucking psych class. BITCH I'M FUCKING LUCKY IF I EVEN GET THE FUCKING ASSIGNMENTS DONE ON TIME! I'VE STAYED UP WAY LATER THEN I SHOULD HAVE FOR EACH FUCKING IN CLASS TASK BECAUSE OF OTHER SHIT THAT NEEDS TO GET DONE! I'm not actually shocked I have to actually read a text book for a class despite most text books being useless in the class for most classes I've previously taken, it's just a lot to try and manage! What is fortunate is that my Vietnam War professor gave everyone amnesty on assignments because there were some at the beginning of the semester where he didn't upload them until the day before it was due but yet again this class is averaging 3 ESSAYS PER WEEK so I need to CATCH UP OR GET FUCKED!!!! ONE WAY OR ANOTHER I'M FUCKED EITHER BECAUSE I WON'T SLEEP OR BECAUSE I WON'T BE ABLE TO GET ENOUGH DONE IN TIME!!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!

For the record all my professors are really nice people. I could have a better relation with my psych professor if I actually communicated with my professor with it being an online class and shit but I just haven't because I kept telling myself I need to get all this other shit done and here I am fucking ranting about said shit that needs to get done.

If anyone read this I'm sorry, I just needed to let this out.

[lil-tachyon]

Recommend dinosaur media besides Jurassic Park?

Dinotopia: All the books are super fun, but the first and last are the best. Just some rambling, cozy journeys through an imagined land of prehistoric beasts and eclectic architecture. The middle two books are still great in terms of visuals, but they lean too much into narrative stuff and I don't think that's Gurney's strong point. The writing feels a lot more like a child's first chapter book. Maybe that's what he was going for, I'm not sure.

Xenozoic Tales: Long time fans of the blog will at this point be tired of me recommending it, but I'm not going to stop because most people I talk to (even other terminally-online SFF artists) still haven't read it. It's obviously super pulpy but it really grows into itself toward the end and is able to handle some more mature ideas without ever taking itself too seriously. Highly recommend.

An Alphabet of Dinosaurs: Just a great collection of Wayne Barlowe's paleoart. It's a 10-minute read and it's aimed at kids but you're buying it for the art and its one of the only Barlowe books you can reliably pick up for less than $10 so I'd say it's worth it. Good chance your library may have it, too.

Dinosaurs by Thomas R Holtz Jr: Very accessible non-fiction work on dinosaur biology and cladistics. It's probably a bit dated now (came out in 2007) and the art is very hit-or-miss (about half the illustrations are obvious products of the era of early digital art when everyone was photobashing and throwing these awful digital textures onto everything, ugh...) but it remains a fun and informative read. If anyone has a more contemporary but similarly thorough dinosaur book, please let me know! I know there have been a lot of huge discoveries, especially from China, since this book came out.

C. M. Kosemen's (keep track of how many times that name appears on this list) and @simon-roy 's Dinosauroids: This was a HUGE influence on what I wanted to draw and what kind of stories I wanted to tell when I first found it and middle school and it still totally holds up. Check it out here!

Walking With Dinosaurs: Huge, multi-part BBC documentary from 1999 that presented stories about Mesozoic fauna as if it was a contemporary nature documentary. The CGI for which it was initially so famous is very dated now but the practical effects are great and it's honestly the narration and presentation that sells it anyway. Also recommend Walking With Monsters which is the same thing but for the Paleozoic. People routinely upload both series on youtube, they're not hard to find.

All Yesterdays by Jon Conway, C. M. Kosemen, and Darren Naish: Unique and outrageous reconstructions of dinosaurs and other paleofauna that challenge our preconceptions and highlight the limits of our understanding of their appearance and behavior. Also really cool for me personally because in my lifetime I've seen this book go from a neat project by people I followed on deviantart to being (rightly) considered a landmark in paleoillustration.

Dino Run: This game bangs and I pity the kids who weren't around in 2008 when this took over the internet for a brief but wonderful period

The Rite of Spring segment from Fantasia: From the big bang to the climactic end of the Mesozoic, all set to Stravinsky. Apparently the only Disney media I enjoy is stuff that The Mouse just does not give a shit about because this one's also on youtube.

That's some stuff off the top of my head, should be enough for now. I may add more if I think of it. Some parting thoughts:

C. M. Kosemen's youtube channel is great for learning about what I'll call "esoteric paleontology" for lack of a better term. Also he just does lots of weird, eclectic videos that I find interesting.

I don't hesitate to recommend Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal because he's literally never disappointed me and everyone I know says it's great, but I personally have not yet gotten around to watching it.

I don't promote pseudoscience, but I do think David Peters is a funny guy with weird, neat ideas. TLDR this one guy has a bunch of fringe theories about pterosaur biology and believes that because literally no one else agrees with him that he must be being censored by "mainstream science." Don't believe any of it, just enjoy the weirdness.

Any time you can pick up a dinosaur or other paleofauna book secondhand, I recommend you do it. Tons of outdated and cheap books that nonetheless contain great illustrations. That kinda stuff is a constant source of inspiration for me.

The Land Before Time is probably still great. It's been over a decade since I last watched it, but I have fond memories. Maybe time for a rewatch...

[cassandraclare]

I'm sorry to hear that your hard work was leaked but I was curious about what happened. I hope the person faced consequences because that was a very selfish thing to do leaking your work like that :(

I haven’t taken action against the person who leaked the book. I know who they are, since they uploaded the page I signed for them, and I was able to match that against my records. 

I haven’t refrained from taking action because I feel sympathy for them. I don’t. It’s beyond shitty behavior to receive an early, signed book as a gift, and to then leak the entire book online. It’s a shit thing to do to the authors and an equally shit thing to do to other fans. However, I don’t want to put myself (and Wes) through the exhausting, grim and expensive process of legal repercussions. It doesn’t mean what this person did isn’t horrible, and it doesn’t mean they haven’t cost the entire fandom any chance of there ever being an early contest giveaway like that again. They did. There never will be. There will be no ARCs of Chain of Iron, either, and you can thank them for that, too. 

Part of what makes piracy such an issue for authors goes far beyond the individual assholes who upload and distribute and translate stolen books. It’s that the whole system is set up to make it incredibly difficult for us to do anything about it. Publishers do little to nothing to prevent piracy, and authors shoulder the entire burden of searching out and reporting illegal copies of their books. And even then, we’re dependent on whether or not the reported website feels like complying with copyright laws or not. Twitter is incredibly slow to respond, Tumblr is about fifty-fifty on bothering at all. They’re legally required to take action, but they also know that the effort of doing something about it if they do not falls on exhausted, overburdened artists who often can’t afford to follow up with a lawyer’s letter.

And like, I get being broke and wanting to read books; there were a lot of books I had to pass up reading when I was broke (I will be forever grateful to the library system of New York and Brooklyn, which is how I read books at all from about 2001-2004.) I was broke enough that I slept on a bare mattress because I couldn’t afford sheets, but I’m pretty sure if I broke into Bed, Bath and Beyond and stole a bunch of fitted percale bedding I wouldn’t have encountered much sympathy if I got caught. 

I talked about this on Twitter before, and I’ll say it again here though I know it will make very little difference: pirating books doesn’t just hurt the author of those books. It hurts everyone at the publishing company, where the margin of profit is razor-thin (and yes, publishers should do more to protect themselves against piracy; I agree there); it hurts bookstores, especially indie bookstores (I remember doing an event at a store that told me, sadly, that they were likely going to have to close because people “came into the store, looked at the books, took notes, then went home and pirated them.”) It hurts libraries, who rely on circulation for funding, and the shutting down of libraries hurts people who actually can’t afford books.

Now, I know is no way to talk people out of piracy; the internet has normalized it, and besides, people will generally do the cheaper, easier thing — you can’t talk people into not doing something they want to do by telling them it’s wrong, in my experience. They’ll find ways to justify it, whether it be that they can’t afford the book or it isn’t yet available in their language or that they find the author “problematic” and this is the way they’ve chosen to punish them. 

The reason I put “problematic” in quotes is because yes, of course you can read and enjoy work that has problematic elements. Pretty much everything has some element that’s going to be found problematic by someone — which is exactly why deciding that it’s morally excusable to steal from people you think are creating flawed work is more than problematic. Holding creators accountable for their work means critiquing that work, not stealing it.

I listen to a lot of political podcasts, and some of them review work by extreme right-wing politicians etc. who have written books that the podcasters find morally despicable but wish to, or need to, review and discuss. Since they don’t wish to give money to the authors, they buy second-hand copies or take the book out of the library. They certainly don’t steal, translate and distribute copies of the books because they genuinely do not like them and do not want more people reading them. That’s what it looks like when you have an actual moral problem with a book or author. 

However, running multiple fan accounts for a book series, naming your internet identity after characters from that book series, and talking endlessly about “your favorite parts” and how this is “your favorite book” entirely invalidates any argument that you’re doing this because you think the books are bad, evil, etc. If you claim a book is actively homophobic or racist but are so desperate to read it that you’ll steal it, so excited about it that you’ll share that stolen copy, so obsessed that you’ll illegally translate a whole book and provide that stolen translation to as many people as possible, and so dedicated to the fandom that you’ll name yourself after the characters in the books and write poetry about them, I have to tell you: the last thing that looks like is that you actually find the books problematic, regardless of what you say to the contrary. It looks like you like them but don’t want to pay for them, because in fact, that’s the case. (Either that or it looks like you’re really into racist, homophobic books, and making sure as many people read them as possible, which is your problem.)

One of the issues I have with piracy is that it teaches you to hate creators. You have to hate them, because you’re doing a fucking awful thing to them and you have to justify it. This results in lying about creators — about their process, their translations, their research — as if somehow, even if they were bad researchers, that would justify widespread theft. (It doesn’t.) Those who steal books wind up in a headspace where they are obsessed with the content of the books, and entirely unwilling to accept the reality that those books were created by a real person that they’re really harming. It encourages the mentality that I didn’t create Jem or Magnus or Will or Cordelia: they came from some kind of sparkly outerspace planet and I was just lucky enough to get to write down their adventures. It invalidates the hard work creators put into what they create, and in fact, erases their very existence. The internet attitude toward creators is already incredibly toxic (especially if they’re women, LGBT+ and/or BIPOC) and the feeling of entitlement to free content, and vicious hatred toward those who aren’t providing it (even though a lot of creators, me included, provide a great deal of free content) contributes to that. Genuinely, if you’re stealing someone’s work, the least you could do is not also be an asshole about them. (Or pretend you’re Robin Hood. He stole from the rich who had taken property and goods from the poor, and returned that stolen wealth. He didn’t steal from artists and independent bookstores and use that stealing to benefit himself and his friends. The idea is actually kind of funny.) 

 I understand there is a pressure to be up to date on the books that are being released so as to participate in fandom, and I do get that. Unfortunately, piracy has real consequences that stretch beyond just hurting me and Wes. Because LGBT+ books are pirated at such an incredible rate, and we’ve definitely seen that with TEC, I am left wondering if there will ever be an actual Spanish translation of TEC, or whether the publisher will decide not to bother because it’s already been so thoroughly pirated in Spanish. I have to wonder if there will even be a third book of TEC at all, or whether publishers will feel it isn’t worth doing. And I have to wonder why the people who create this situation so often have usernames that include Jem or Magnus or Alec or Cordelia or Julian or Tessa. What an incredible misunderstanding of those characters, to imagine a world in which Will Herondale or Magnus Bane or James Carstairs would approve of stealing books and harming writers. And why name yourself after a character who absolutely couldn’t stand you? I don’t know. I don’t get it, any more than I get hating someone who provided you with something you claim is your favorite book. 

That was a much longer answer than you were probably expecting or hoping for, and I know I’ll get yelled at quite thoroughly for writing it. Writers always do, when we engage with the issue of piracy. I know most of you reading this acquire your books honestly; most of you are not like this at all. But like most things on the internet, a small amount of people really do have the power to make things pretty rotten for everyone else.

[wormtoxin]

I want to get into moomin stuff but idk where to start 🥲 pls help. is there an order for reading/watching stuff? what do you recommend?

Hi anon,

Short answer: Tanoshii Muumen Ikka, released from 1990-1992 in Japan and later localized in English as The Moomins (or, Adventures in Moomin Valley), is my personal favorite version of the Moomins. It's the one I find the most atmospheric, endearing, and enjoyable. Sorry, but I don't know where you can find it these days. The books are the original media, and can be enjoyed in any order, as the story of The Moomins is mostly episodic. There is a new animated show, Moominvalley (2019) that is apparently pretty good, but I myself haven't watched it.

Long Answer and full story of the Moomin Hunt Google Drive below:

I have some bad news. In 2019 or so, my answer to this would have been very different! At the time, someone had compiled all the old 90s moomin episodes in a google drive folder, where you could watch them all for free. Passed around by word of mouth, the show was freely accessible online for anyone to view.

This is my personal favorite version of the Moomins- Tanoshii Moomin Ikka, Localized as The Moomins, aired from 1990-1992, and was later dubbed and released in english as Adventures in Moomin Valley. I watched most of it on the google drive at a low point in my life, and it was lovely to have something so peaceful, atmospheric, and sweet to cheer me up.

The Moomin Company is a licensing empire, led by the surviving relatives of the late original artist, Tove Jansson. They sell licensing rights to Moomin content, in exchange for a cut of the profits. Since The Moomins are such a finnish cultural icon, The Moomin Company guards the moomin characters fiercely. You can read more about that here: https://finland.fi/business-innovation/moomin-characters-ltd-keeps-a-national-treasure-in-the-family/

Even during the great moomin resurgence in 2018/2019, when a lot of American fans were getting into The Moomins for the first time due to the google drive, artists were warned away from selling any merch featuring the moomin characters at cons or in online stores. I know at least a few artists received cease-and-desists from The Moomin Company for exactly that. (I actually have an unofficial acryllic phone charm with moomin on it- it's especially dear to me, knowing the artist probably wouldn't have been legally allowed to sell it, and might have even received legal action for doing so).

In Feb 25th, 2019, the Moomin company released their new animated show, Moominvalley. Apparently it's good? I haven't watched it. If you're looking for the most accessible, contemporary place to start, that might be it? But I'm not personally familiar with it, sorry. Shortly after the release of that show, the Moomin Company took the user who originally hosted The 90s Moomin show on the google drive to court, suing them for a huge amount of money, and forcing the google drive to go completely offline. I don't know the details, but The Moomin Company threatened 10k in damages.

TL;DR here.

Shortly after, the Moomin Official youtube channel reuploaded the full series to their own youtube channel. For a while, these episodes were freely available to watch, just as they had been from the google drive. It was bittersweet. The 90s moomin show was more freely available than ever, able to be watched and enjoyed by everyone, and not just those in-the-know on the google drive. Seemingly a blow to the piracy industry, but a show of goodwill from the corporation holding the media rights to the moomin characters, right?

As of this moment, episodes 17-77 of the 90s moomin show are freely available online. Now that the accessible way to pirate the show is permanently down, Episodes 1-16 of The Moomins are copyright-restricted, at least in my country. Even the official uploads on the Moomins Official youtube channel are restricted for me. I can't recommend you start with the official uploads, as it would drop you directly in the middle of the series. I also can't DIRECTLY recommend that you pirate the show, as I don't have a clue how to safely torrent myself. I don't know where to direct you, or how to share the show with newcomers. The show is unavailable for rent or purchase on any platform I'm familiar with. You might be able to hunt down DVD releases, but I shudder to think what price these are going for now. If you're in the US, you're a little bit screwed. Sorry.

The good news is that Moomin content is largely episodic. If you can find any bit of moomin media, it will be freely accessible to you to enjoy without prior knowledge of the characters and story. If you're able to roll with the punches and learn characters' traits and habits on the fly, Moominvalley will be a very welcoming, peaceful place for you to enjoy. If not- I'm sorry.

Corporations destroy and restrict art. Capital is antithetical to artistic value. Never assume a company will give freely what it can bleed you dry for. Treasure AO3, fan content, and media piracy for exactly what it is. Steal everything you can get your little hands on.

If you know of anywhere left to watch the Moomin shows illegally, do NOT reply to this post. The google drive was too wide-spread, too public, and too unmanageable to last. If you know how to get your hands on Moomin content, please reach out to me PRIVATELY, I'd love to hear about it. I really miss that show. It would mean a lot to me.

[dearmrsawyer]

Hey! You're a college librarian right? If you're comfortable, would you mind talking about what it's like (like what you do and stuff?) If it's not invasive of course. I'm really curious about it

Hi!! Yes i am!!!! I can absolutely tell you a little about what i do, i’m not sure if you’re simply curious or if you’re interested in following a similar path but i do want to clarify first that your average college (or university/uni for an aussie like myself) will have a couple dozen librarians split amongst a few departments, each with their own area of focus (e.g. collection management, research services, etc). But i work at a veryyyyyy small university where i’m the only librarian, so i do everything! Lol. So it’s not the average experience for an academic librarian but it does at least give me the ability to offer a wider preview of the sort of work done by academic librarians!

To preface, uni librarians are a support service for both students and staff, so i spend just as much time helping lecturers as i do our students (sometimes more, academics.... rip lol). As far as ‘what it’s like’, i think to be a librarian you need to enjoy being of service. Every part of your day is build upon being of service to someone, there’s a lot of organisation skills and customer services skills involved, and its miles away from the ‘sit around and read all day’ perception people have. It’s extremely busy, but your workload can fluctuate depending on where you are in the semester (or inbetween). I also feel like every librarian has a different experience? Like no 2 jobs are going to look exactly the same because your role is completely dependent upon who you’re there to help. Every public library is serving a different community and every academic library is serving a different group of students/every university is made up of different courses. No 2 jobs are the same which is daunting but also kind of cool! Ok so what i do: 

Front desk duty: basically helping anyone who walks into the library. Helping people borrow, search for resources, helping students understand assignments, also a lot of basic IT stuff! Helping students use the library computers, print, or even with their own devices. You might be able to answer someone’s question in five seconds, or you might sit down with them for 30 minutes and work through their research question. It’s always different! I love opportunities to really dive in to someone’s research and spend a bit of time helping them get what they need. Also answering a lot of questions that have nothing to do with the library, but the library is seen as a place where people can come ask questions, which i’m totally okay with! So mentally building up an FAQ because often people aren’t sure who to ask. 

Buying stuff: fielding books requests from both lecturers and students, but also sometimes lecturers will be like ‘can you find some books on this topic’ and i will go try to identify useful books on a particular topic. I also make the actual purchases and receive the books when they arrive. ALSO buying digital stuff, like organising subscriptions to online databases and all the technical stuff that comes along with that, working with IT to make sure our systems talk to each other properly/troubleshooting. 

Cataloguing/processing: This is everything that happens after a book arrives! I need to create a record for each book (so that you can find them in the catalogue!), and this can be very quick or complicated depending on the book. For popular books you can often copy a record from another library, but for extremely new books or rare books, sometimes you have to create the entire record from scratch. And this can take hours for one book! I have a shelf of ‘for quiet days’ books that are waiting for me to create their records from scratch lol. Once i’ve created a record, i will then label and cover the books, and add the security tag. Then they’re ready for the shelves, and i’ll shelve them!

Study resources: I started my job when this university was very young, so over the years i’ve created a lot of study resources you’d find at any university. Guides on essay writing, research skills, referencing, all your basics to get through tertiary education successfully! And some of our lecturers will build time into their subjects for me to come in during class and do a little session on some of these skills.

I also make subject material available to students. So when lecturers put their reading lists together, i scan everything and make them available for students, check links are working, upload powerpoint slides, basically once our lecturers have decided on what students need to see during the subject, i put it all together and make it presentable/functional.

Most universities will have a copyright officer who’s like, in charge of licenses the uni has to buy, how much content is allowed to be shared, keeps up to date on any changes in legislation that will effect what a uni needs permission to do, so i do all of that lol. And that’s work that kind of sits outside the library because copyright doesn’t only apply to learning materials, but also to marketing and public events etc! Copyright is also something no one was observing when i first started my job, so i had to try and force everyone to try and start uhh following the law which did take a couple of years, but now its built into our processes!

Also this is not so much a librarian’s job but i have an educational background in writing so i do a lot of proofreading/editing for lecturers when they’re writing papers lol