#if the vibe of the books is fantasy-ish even better

[amalias-whatsoever]

I need some recs of books in spanish for beginners. I'd like to start reading in Spanish but don't really know spanish, however I do know italian which is similar-ish to Spanish so I should manage. I hope.

[shy-sapphic-ace]

List of queer books I read, loved & recommend!

(There isn't any particular order, I wrote these as I remembered them)

Master Of One - Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett (mlm, fantasy, very cool worldbuilding and magic system, funny, cool characters)

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree (wlw, fantasy, very soft & chill vibes)

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon (wlw, high fantasy, cool worldbuilding, kinda reminds me of LOTR but with more dragons and feminism and lesbians)

Even Though I Knew The End - C.L. Polk (wlw, supernatural noir, cool 1930s detective story with angels & demons, I loved this one!)

The Love Interest - Cale Dietrich (mlm, science fiction, very cool concept)

The Darkest Part Of The Forest - Holly Black (side mlm, fantasy, cool fae lore)

The Weight Of The Stars - K. Ancrum (wlw, not quite science fiction but space stuff is involved, lovely and complex characters)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz (mlm, fiction, very nice in general, there is also a sequel)

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee (mlm, historical and vaguely fantasy, nice story but I preferred the sequel honestly)

The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy - Mackenzi Lee (wlw, the sequel to the one before, more fantasy elements than the first, asexual main character!!)

Gallant - V.E. Schwab (no romance, but in the background one of the characters(?) uses they/them pronouns, very cool dark fantasy vibe)

Stranger Than Fanfiction - Chris Colfer (gay main character, trans main character, coming-of-age, nice book)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (yes it's the Love, Simon book, mlm, fiction, pretty nice)

They Both Die At The End - Adam Silvera (mlm, sci-fi ish but mostly fiction, cool ideas, but the ending is sad! Very amazing book though, I haven't read the prequel yet)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (wlw, bi main character, historical fiction, cool story, just a neat book in general)

This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (wlw, sci-fi, very cool time travel stuff!! and very beautiful, it felt like reading poetry most of the time)

One Last Stop - Casey McQuinston (wlw, background trans & pan & queer characters, sci-fi or fantasy idk, but time travel, I loooved this book, great)

The House In The Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, THIS BOOK oh my gosh you should read it!!, just cute and lovely and good)

Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, this book is also sooo amazing, great character development and awesome relationships and stuff, it's been a while since I read it but it was so good)

In the Lives of Puppets - TJ Klune (mlm, ace main character!!, sci-fi, now THIS is found family, oughh feelings. argh, tj klune you’ve done it again, a human and his family of funky robots… I love them)

And They Lived... - Steven Salvatore (nblm, fiction, about gender identity and learning to love yourself, read it a while ago but it was very nice)

I Wish You All The Best - Mason Deaver (nblm, fiction, about finding your identity and people who care about you, very cute and sweet)

The Song Of Achilles - Madeleine Miller (mlm, historical, very good in general)

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (mlm, background wlw in the third book, fantasy, it's a trilogy, basically Harry Potter if it was gay and also better)

Silver In The Wood - Emily Tesh (mlm, fantasy, very pretty, lots of fae stuff and lovely descriptions, it has a really good sequel too)

Pretty much anything by Alice Oseman (all cute and lovely and great, though I've only read Radio Silence so far I hear only good things, Solitaire is on my to-read list)

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuinston (wlw, fiction, it's been a while but I liked this book)

The Falling In Love Montage - Ciara Smyth (wlw, fiction, this book was so cute and funny and deeply emotional it made me Feel way too many things, I'd definitely recommend it)

What Big Teeth - Rose Szabo (a bit of queerness all around, fantasy, werewolves and monsters, this one was pretty cool!, lots of original ideas for the world/character building)

His Quiet Agent - Ada Maria Soto (mlm, asexual, fiction, about like spies but this book was so gentle and sweet I wanted to cry in the best way possible)

Some By Virtue Fall - Alexandra Rowland (wlw, historical fiction(?), theatre drama!! rival romance!! duels!!, a very good read in general)

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend - Emma R. Alban (wlw, historical fiction, I’m not usually one for regency romances, but I really liked this!!, very cute and lots of drama, and there’s a sequel coming out soon!)

[papermonkeyism]

Been thinking of fantasy lately, as relating to the Arcanth setting, and I figured out what's been bugging me about elves.

I've been doing a bit of a dive into fantasy genre, with rereading some of the old Drizzt books, watching some Tolkien essays and watching Frieren with a friend of mine lately, I discovered I don't actually mind elves having long arse lifespans, contrary of what I've said before.

However I DO mind elves having long arse lifespans when it shows absolutely nowhere in said elves, and that what I ACTUALLY dislike is treating elves as something extra special while stripping them of the inherent Otherness of being elves and just make them look and act like just some normal guy who just happens to have pointy ears.

You get to either have awesome special magic elves who live long and act distinctly very Other, OR you get elves who are basically just some guy who lives next door, but looks weird and other, but like, if you're gonna give them endless lifespans they better act in a way that marks them that way, and in any case I will be very disappointed if your elves look like normal-humans-with-pointy-esrs especially if they act just like everyday people. Why would you even bother making them elves in the first place if they weren't in any way Other??

I am still in the process of figuring out what this means for Arcanth-setting elves specifically. I think I want to do my elves more down to earth, vibe-wise, and don't really want to go the route of making them feel ancient and ageless (I am more okay with them having long-ish lifespans than I did before, though still not to a degree of practically immortal, as that's not the feeling I want for these specific story characters I have in mind), so to get the amount of Otherness I crave to see in elves I'm probably going to be leaning more on the visuals and making them LOOK different. I did consider making basically all elves to be part human to get the effect (ageless ancestors, maybe some still roaming around, but most "modern" elves actually being mixed heritage), though I haven't yet made any specific decisions on what degree exactly.

No idea how I'm gonna get the effect in practice, but I think it's still something to know what I want! (This would be so much easier if hominids weren't my artistic weak point, but hey, you learn by doing! Never gonna get better at drawing unless I do the actual drawing part.)

Thank you for indulging my half asleep rambles here. Going to bed now.

[your-unfriendlyghost]

How'd you end up discovering your art style?

Well, it wasn’t much of a discovery- it’s just how I draw, I guess! It evolves over time and changes based on what artists I’m looking up to and what styles I’m into

But I can give ya a (recent-ish) evolution of my style/a break-down on all its influences over the past two years if ya wanna see how it all happened!

-

Some stuff from July-October of 2022

Two-three-ish years ago, for instance, it was more classical painting inspired. I was real into Over the Garden Wall and also just…general American history back then don’t judge I was coming off of my first American history class since elementary school and I thought it was so cool So my art had more of like…that going on yk? It wasn’t as good as my stuff now at all, because I’ve since improved my anatomy skills, learned how to draw fabric folds (sorta), and learned a bit of color theory lol. But they’re ok for what they are, I guess.

I think my main problem back then was the fact that I did not fully know how to use references- and a lotta my references were like. Cartoons. And stuff that was very much not meant to be painted in the amount of detail I aimed for at the time.

(Even here, you can tell I was dissatisfied, because they all look pretty different from each other yk?) (and you can see how hardly any of the fabric has folds and how little I understood lighting 😭)

-

January-March ‘23

Anyhow, after this, in uhh early 2023, I had a 80s-90s comic book/pop art phase, which was a pretty drastic swing in the opposite direction. I still rendered things sometimes, but things were less soft/warm. BUT I was starting to use real photos as references which was vital

I was also watching a lotta tmnt with my kid brother, which is what I blame for why the proportions got so stylized- folks in the 2012 version of that show were just kinda built funny, which I think subconsciously impacted my art. My posing did get a bit stronger in this time as I practiced more, and I think things got less stiff

-

June-August ‘23

Next, as the summer months came, I had a lotta changes in inspo and also just in life lol. I had temporarily moved to my neighbor’s place, and I didn’t have a car yet/any friends who I liked enough to hang around with, so all summer long I rewatched a lotta 80s movies, fell in love with the first season of Stranger Things (not the others as much tho 😭), skateboarded, and watched a lotta art tutorials online. (I specifically remember Jackie Droujko’s yt shorts saving my assss- I loved her stuff so much. Definitely check ‘em out she explains things real well)

I improved slowly, but I DID IMPROVE a HELLUVA LOT. I focused a lot on trying to draw people who looked recognizably like themselves, but also stylized because realism (usually) bores me. I also got better at coloring- the first two here ain’t great in terms of colors, but I was learning. Plus, back then I was very into oddly saturated color schemes. (I mean it is a solid vibe. I may not do this a ton anymore but I can dig it still)

-

October-November ‘23

As autumn came, I was pretty enamored with all the like…✨fall vibes✨ that time around. My life was goin’ well, so I had a lotta optimism and a re-ignited love for nature, forests, and fantasy. Plus I was dating this girl who was really into vintage-y Wes Anderson stuff so I think some of that uhhh twee-ness rubbed off on me lol

My influences here were mainly old storybooks, a hint of Lord of the Rings (as you can probably tell by the hobbit), and a decent amount of Fantastic Mr. Fox. And for faces I was mainly using the Laurenillusrated Brushpack at the time I think? I don’t use the “Sketchy” brush in it as often anymore as I did then, but I should. It’s a great brush, and I actually am really liking all the little sketchy lines. It adds a nice touch.

also don’t look at my goddamn long hair in that self portrait on the left. I hated it on me then and I hate it now too. I cannot believe I ever let it get that long it was really bad

-

December ‘23-April ‘24

I honestly did like a total of like. Seven drawings in these four months. As opposed to my usual…uhhh I wanna say 25 every four months. Idk what was up- art just wasn’t fun at the time. I mean, it was also just a lousy few months in general, so I’m sure that’s a part of it lol, but yk. This style is pretty close to my current one- my inspiration just came from x-files-ish sci-fi and American gothic stories/images as opposed to nowadays’ Beat generation and greaser inspo.

May-Now (October) ‘24

The Outsiders kinda dragged me back into enjoying drawing again honestly. I’d read and loved it back in 2023, but upon rereading it/watching the movie in February of 2024, it just sorta…entered my headspace and stayed this time. (Still, I didn’t really draw any Outsiders/greaser-y things till May)

Lately, I take artistic inspiration in 2d animated films, like the ones by Disney with the real nicely drawn fabric folds. And also just a lotta inspo from real life. I also do a lot of black and white comics, because I find that I generally have a “Go big or go home” mentality about most things- which can be a LOT of pressure! By allowing myself to draw simpler doodle-y things, I’ve regained that love for drawing. I think for a while it just felt like work, but in letting myself take it easy, art’s become a good time again :))

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Confounding Oaths by Alexis Hall

4/5. Releases 8/27/24.

vibes: Shakespeare x Jane Austen, a man in uniform, WHIMSY

Heat Index: 2/10

The Basics:

Mr. John Caesar is escorting his sister Mary through the marriage mart--avoiding his parents' own desires to see him settle down, because, like, that's not John's goal. Things get a bit more complicated when Mary accidentally ends up with an evil fairy godmother, which leads John to work with Orestes James, a war hero who's ready to leap into action. (Perhaps in more ways than one.) As they attempt to rescue Mary, Orestes and John grow close; but even if they do live through this, is John ready to commit wholeheartedly to anyone?

The Review:

Another fun, whimsical, magically-narrated fairy tale/Jane Austen romcom from Alexis Hall! These books are quite unique, to be honest. Not only in terms of the narration--which is delightful--from Robin, a literal omnipresent immortal, but just... the world? Early in the book, we have a discussion about Jane Austen fandom and writing fanfic? From a couple of Regency-era girlies? It's so fun, so lighthearted, so completely itself.

And in general, Alexis can always write the fuck out of a book. The way he shifts between styles is honestly so impressive to me. Dude can turn a phrase, and that makes his books just... a pleasure to read for the sake of reading. The uniqueness of these particular novels only adds to it. (Do you need to read Mortal Follies before this one? Not exactly, but it might help; and to be real, you should just read it anyway, as it's a good work.)

Where I will say this book does fall a little behind MF for me is that the romance feels a bit less prominent. This is probably because John and Orestes are essentially trying to save someone for much of the book, whereas the last novel had more direct peril for the heroine. So it does feel a little more "save the day forward" versus "romance forward". Not that there isn't romance. There is, and it's lovely, and I also really liked that Alexis gave them breathing room and didn't act as if these were two guys lacking life experience simply because they were queer in a homophobic society.

Speaking of, both Orestes and John are Black (John is biracial) and this fantasy world of Hall's doesn't just throw racism out the door. It's not heavy, but it is thoughtful... and comes with a rather snarky remark alluding to the deplorable treatment of a certain duchess. And I did appreciate that. I don't know if Alexis was responding to some of the... less than perfect choices of a certain big time Regency romance show. I don't want to say he was. However, I did find this book's observations much more interesting and insightful.

The Sex:

This is a closed door romance--sex is definitely alluded to, but because our narrator is a third party, he doesn't just sit there and perv on everyone. Which makes sense. I support that choice. Alexis Hall is one of the only writers who can make closed door work for me.

All in all, this is a fluffy yet adventurous Regency-ish fantasy romance with a lot of humor, a good bit of sweetness, and a fuckton of wit. It's a good time, as most Alexis Hall books are a good time. Is it my absolute favorite of his? Maybe not, but a good book by Alexis Hall is better than a lot of other people's best books, to be real.

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[the---hermit]

The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly

This is a reread of a book I first read two years ago (and here's the post I wrote at the time which I did not reread but I am linking in case you are curious). After just one read this book made it to my favourites shelf, I adored every single thing about it, and I loved my time reading this novel a second time. This is exactly the type of book I like. It's a dark fantasy with fairytale vibes that have a horror-ish spin to them. I didn't remember how graphic some scenes were, but that just made the contrast with the fairytales even better for me. The story is focused on a boy who is dealing with the grief of losing his mother as well as the anger for his father's new life with a second wife. His grief and anger, as well as his loneliness, make him vulnerable to a creature that lures him into his world. This fairytale like world the main character finds himself in is extremly dark and violent, an obscure forest where days aren't bright and every creature is probably dangerous. The streght of this book in my opinion is how well the author worked in popular fairytales like snow white, and red riding hood. He took all these stories we all know so well and turned them into dark and sometimes even violent aspects of this world, still somehow keeping this fairytale atmosphere. I don't know how he did it but it worked so well. I picked this book up, as it was recommended online as the book that will ruin your childhood's favourite stories in the best way possible, and honestly that is a great way to put it. I also recently found out the author published a second book set in this world, and I cannot wait to put my hands on it. I think this is the perfect book for spooky season, and I highly recommend it.

[rocicrew]

11, 16, 17!

end-of-year book ask

11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

i did read dracula this year, through dracula daily, and i think that's the oldest book i've read this year, however le guin hs me in a chokehold and the left hand of darkness has to take this spot.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

i haven't read that many books this year in general rip so i don't think any of the books i did read fall into the very over-hyped kind of category that i associate myself with this question.

so i'm answering this in a bit milder way with the expectations i went into these books based on what i'd seen here on tumblr*. and i think i expected a little more from all systems red by martha wells. i did rate it 4 stars, i did enjoy it. i think it was a solid novella and it did accomplish what it was trying to do with the story. i just think i went into it expecting something more from the story from what i heard and i have to give an answer. that being said maybe the rest of the series will expand into something more and it will all make sense. (i don't have access to them tho rip, besides the 2nd book being out of stock for months, none of the rest are imported here so :( idk if i'll find out)

[*i also had the same approach with ancillary justice but i vibe with the way the story unfolds more, (even tho i now realize I've rated both of them the same and thus i need to bump up ancillary justice) soo that's why that's my pick tho i don't think it serves the over-hyped category fully]

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

first of all, i didn't think i would like annihilation as much as i did. i knew i'd probably enjoy it because it ticks the weird unnerving alien ish mystery box i'm always down for even when zero questions are asked but it is a book that either works for you or it doesn't. and it ended up being right up my alley and i can't wait to write down some passages/quotes from it.

second, i gave a chance to a scifi & fantasy collection of short stories from various authors in my mother tongue since there aren't a lot of local books in the genre. the title roughly translates to what if or maybe depending on the context. not every story gripped me the same way, but some were really good, and some were not for me. but it was certainly interesting not only to see how they meshed either local mythology or folklore with elements of the scifi and fantasy genre but also how the language as a whole (with each person's writing style or certain tricks with syntax that do not fully apply to english [or translators often avoid while adapting works to better suit the original]) affected the storytelling and the rhythm of reading. so that was also a different read this year.

i think the rest of my reads were a little more on par (either a bit higher or lower) with my expectations going into them, either because i was familiar with the authors and knew what i was getting or generally from what i knew of them.

[literaticat]

What would you think if you read this comp? My YA fantasy is Yellowjackets meets Alice in Wonderland. Fans of Holly Black will also love my novel for its lush imagery and down-to-earth narrator. I'm just wondering if it's terrible to comp a TV show and a classic novel, even with a current author comped.

First, IMO there's a difference between what you're doing here, which I consider "Tone Comps" vs Comp Titles. Read what I mean by Tone Comp here.

I don't mind TV shows in pitches/tone comps/whatever personally, though some people might, and IMO there should definitely ALSO be comp titles that are books.

The problem with this is, to me, these three feel like a bit of a mismatch. I haven't seen Yellowjackets but I'm familiar, and in my head instantly conjures an image of a GROUP of girls, violence, intense, survival-at-all-costs, etc. But mostly: A GROUP of violent teenagers, like a girl gang but with cannibalism, set in a heightened "real world" scenario.

Alice in Wonderland conjures an image of one very young girl in a weird ass kinda psychedelic but cozy imaginary world. Much younger, much more tea-time-with-talkin-animals-ish, and mostly, much more about ONE GIRL.

Holly Black books, to me, are yes atmospheric and darkly lush worlds etc -- but also her most recent and arguably most popular series are specifically about the Fair Folk / set in a Fae-filled realm. (I personally ADORE the Curse Workers series, which is like Magical Mafia rather than Fae, but it's also more than ten years old, and I don't think that's what instantly comes to mind for most people when you say "Holly Black")

I'm not seeing the natural connection between these three things, is what I'm saying. And I haven't read your book, so IDK what's more accurate. If you mean that it's like Yellowjackets (because violent/thriller-pace/about a group of girls) but it's got lush, dark fantasy vibes, is set in a Faerie realm or whatever, maybe it would be better to leave Alice out of the equation. If it's about ONE heroine thrust into a dark/scary/whatever Fae-filled realm, maybe leave Yellowjackets out of the equation. And if your book doesn't have Faeries / Fae in it, I'd probably leave Holly Black out of the equation, unless you mean a different book than the Folk of the Air series! Or, put her in with some other examples to dampen the Fae aspect.

Examples:

TITLE is a thrilling, high-stakes YA fantasy about a rag-tag 'found family' trapped in a magical realm who need one another to survive, but also need to survive one another -- think YELLOWJACKETS meets SIX OF CROWS. Fans of Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black will be drawn in by the lush dark magic of the world.

or

TITLE is a YA fantasy that I liken to ALICE IN WONDERLAND, if Alice was a bad-ass warrior and Wonderland was populated by very vicious monsters bent on destroying her. Fans of Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black and Laini Taylor will be drawn in by the lush dark magic of the world and voicey narrator.

[mistwraiths]

4 stars

I really enjoyed this, mostly because I LOVE dragons and there absolutely needs to be more dragons in fantasy books. Was this the greatest thing I've ever read? No. But if you like romance and dragons, and simple fantasy setting, I think you'll like it.

When I didn't think too hard about the worldbuilding, the plot itself and its holes, the history of the world, or the mechanics of this world, I liked the book better. That sounds like a bad thing to say. This book has fantasy but it doesn't really buckle down on it because it's more focused on Violet and Xaden.

What I mean is: I don't understand what the war is about or for?? Like they're stopping gryphons and their riders attacking or something?? Why?? But also there's a treaty or something??? They trade certain things but apparently that doesn't stop the war? This has been going on for 600 years but some things have happened over time like the treaty. There was a rebellion not long ago but we aren't told what for. (I know now at the end but not even a good made up reason is given???)

I don't understand how the wards work. How they're created? How they're created? The magic is described enough but like so there's ~wild magic outside the wards and only dragons can channel magic within wards and through people and it won't kill their soul or whatever. It's all a little confusing.

I don't understand the tone either. Is this kind of medieval Europe vibes? But why is the dialogue so modern?? It gives me ACOTAR vibes where its fantasy but modern feeling/writing and its palatable. I prefer my adult books to be more adult-y I suppose?

Parts of this book feel very similar to a mix of books. Quadrants where you are either Healer, Scribe, Rider, or Infantry feel almost like Divergent-y. Violet's brown hair going to silver through the length felt reminiscent of Mare Barrow and then her power literally being lightning felt like Red Queen-ish. Xaden with his dark hair and golden skin and being tall and his shadow wielding powers felt a lot like the usual love interest of any popular book right now. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book.

To me, I did feel like the pacing was off. The first 200 pages or so was very enjoyable, with her struggling and making friends and trying to survive and claim a dragon. But after that, this book dragged quite a bit. A lot of the scenes felt like they went on for longer than needed. Once she gets a dragon, it's mainly about Xaden and her. I was under the impression that this was meant to be a military fantasy type book, like we were going to like get battles or like discover that the leadership was hiding things. There's like... one scene where Violet and Liam find something about a outpost and the teacher doesn't say anything about it. And they are confused for the page, and then promptly nothing else happens. The way we learn about what the book mentions of the secrets the leadership is hiding and her suspecting isn't really her suspecting at all? She sees it firsthand at the VERY end. It just felt like a misdirection in the summary.

I do like Violet. Is she frustrating at times, yes, but I found her to be a good MC and to actually be smart and tough and capable. I love that the book SHOWS me she's smart, it doesn't just tell me or have her ask a million questions to be answered by the love interest. She's a good person and compassionate. The whole two dragons bonding was a little eyerolling to me but whatever. To be honest, the only annoying thing about her was her not thinking Xaden didn't care for her/love her, when she gave Dain a million chances, and at the end where she acted like everything was lies.

I do like that the book highlights her differences and while there is ableism the book always shows how terrible and shitty it is. I say differences because it mentions that she's sickly but also her joints are weak and pop out/bones break easy but it never specifically states what she suffers from. Maybe it mentioned she's chronically ill but she never shows pretty much any symptoms. She talks about being in pain too. But she's never sick in the books and her bones aren't like glass. So, it did kind of feel disingenuous with its representation to me. She does have to train to get better but everyone has to do that.

There's a big part where it mentions she can't make jumps/pull herself up because not only her disability but she's short. How short is she? Are there NO other short people who experience that problem too about the vertical ascent? Also, a big majority of the book focuses on her being unable to keep her seat on a dragon. It's mentioned MANY people fall to their death. Um?? Why not make saddles a regular thing? It's been 600 hundred years and there's no advancements???

Xaden was good, we don't really get to know him a lot. Other than Violet being immediately hot for him, that's pretty much all we get until we slowly see he's a decent and good guy. I do respect that he never tries to make choices for Violet and he treats her like she can handle herself and helps her. I really admired his loyalty to all the rebellion kids and how he feels responsible for them. It's absolutely asinine and ridiculous that people make children suffer for the actions of their parents. It honestly makes me wonder about how great the dragons REALLY are when they're marking children and going along with it.

I'm also really glad that this was never a love triangle. She shut that shit down so fast. Dain was literally the WORST friend and just so god damn awful nearly every time. And like HE KEPT SOUNDING LIKE A BROKEN RECORD about literally everything.

Big spoilers ahead

When we find out the truth that Xaden's been keeping, Violet acts like it's SUCH a huge betrayal and she hates him because he didn't trust her, etc. Let's not forget that they haven't REALLY been together together for not even 24 hours yet. Plus, like... that's SUCH a huge secret. You have to slowly really trust someone because it could endanger SO MANY PEOPLE. This isn't a "don't tell people I met with a group of other rebellion kids to help tutor them through the year" kind of small secret. This is a EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS A LIE AND YOUR FAMILY IS COMPLICIT AND PEOPLE WILL DIE IF TOLD kind of secret. I'm not saying she doesn't have a right to be angry. HOWEVER, I think she could be more "I'm angry that you didn't feel like you could trust me, but I understand how big and hard of a secret this is."

Also, we don't know for SURE if Dain did steal memory from her or not. I absolutely wouldn't put it past him to be honest and wouldn't be surprised if he did. HOWEVER. There's a mention that specifically states that command and leadership didn't expect the rebellion kids to survive and bond dragons, and states specifically that they aren't quite sure what to do with them! Xaden and his third years are the first about to graduate!! It makes more sense to me that leadership just either set them up to die because it was an easy solution. Especially since we did have that scene where Violet tells Dain to never take without permission and without asking and he's like omg I didn't ask?? And apologizes. Doesn't mean he DIDN'T DO IT I'm just throwing it out there. It's all just speculation.

I do think I'll keep reading the series whenever the next book comes out. I'm interested and I like the dragons and characters.

[acourtofquestions]

The Assassin and the Desert

— (thoughts while doing my first read) —

Is Ansel the person referenced in Crown of Midnight? The one who taught Celaena about the witches? Does that mean SHE will be the betrayer??? … is this the same person she said “she’d kill” if she ever saw again?!? (These are rhetorical thoughts; more theory than question😂).

The entire time Celaena is talking about these shoes shoes (and really it’s written like poetry; when she compares them to calligraphy👌👌👌) but all I am picturing is green Elf style curly shoes🤣🤦‍♀️… then again those would make a statement sooo…

“and why Arobynn had thought he'd need three seasoned assassins to restrain him that day.” — YEAH I THINK ABOUT THAT TOO CELAENA (Sam🥹😭… ugh this angsty/pining true-soulmate childhood love trope is going to BREAK MEEEE🖤)

Wait… is this where we learn the Asterion Mare tale?!

“Saying that she was sorry didn't feel adequate. She knew what this sort of loss was like, and words didn't do anything at all. ‘Where do men find it in themselves to do such monstrous things? How do they find it acceptable’” — The way Sarah writes sisterhood & female friendship is very special; honestly one of my favorite parts of her books & writing style. She hits the nail on the head 👏EVERY🥹DAM🥰TIME😭 — (not me crying cause Celaena isn’t under the stars sad and alone this time) … this is why Nehemia mattered so much😭

— also if I had a nickel for every time she said “silver lined eyes”🤣

Celaena taking the blame for Ansel because she thinks she doesn’t have a purpose but Ansel does🖤

Every time Celaena flinches I both want to hug her, hug Sarah, hug younger me, (kill Arobynn… I’m with ya Sam😅) and then thank all of them for the trauma representation; heartbreaking as it may be it’s pretty real for a fantasy series, and their is comfort in shared trauma through that lens.❤️‍🩹

EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE (giving me Ruin & Rising levels of fear here Sarah😬) — “but I’ve seen this episode and still loved the show”

It’s lovely to see Celaena be young & normal-ish; like she’s still a teenage girl in this book, she’s mortified over her first kiss, obsessed with shoes, making new friends, recklessly having fun… smiling for once… there’s an innocent joy in this book; one we never see in the post-Assassin’s Blade series…

… I think reading it post-Crown of Midnight (when I am) is especially perfect because you understand her & the books better (including tiny references like the Ironteeth witches & Asterion mares) … There’s also a sense of grief seeing her before it all “ended”, you already understand her now & now you do then too; which makes her make EVEN MORE sense; its not quite a “lost humanity”, but a grieving of lost innocence. — Despite all she had already been through, there were still these little pieces of life kept for herself back then; and something preciously heartbreakingly accurate to girlhood within them.

Despite having never been in love and not known much love Celaena seems to understand it better than most… there’s a special thing to that within her character; her joys resilience, drive for love, and draw toward goodness.

She finally feels safe… at peace🥹 (if only Sam were there… it would be home🥹😭💔)

Oh NO; normal teenage girl drama fight, meets highly trained traumatized assassins; this feels dangerous!!!

NOT FAERIE WINE AGAIN🤦‍♀️… wow if only Celaena had a nickel everytime someone tried TO POISON HER😅😱🫥

THE STOLEN RING DETAIL/CLUE

Celaena is giving Ahsoka vibes

THAT damned gloriella AGAIN

Her, seeing The Master trying desperately to save his son; doing what a good father should. Meanwhile in opposition her “father figure�� Arobynn who was the one to first draw blood

“Wincing as blood from her face dripped to his white clothes” — “A pang of guilt at the sight of her blood staining Arobynn’s exquisite red carpet” — One my heart broke at these lines; she literally feels sorry for bleeding! Two the difference within the Master in white (unstained, untouched, pure) clothes and the Master with red (already red like blood) RED carpet; that she still feels sorry to bleed onto… it’s ALREADY red—he’s the one who drew blood—& yet she’s the one who feels guilty.

Is the foreign language he reads & speaks Wyrd?

SHE WAS NOT AFRAID!

… don’t tell me she gets back and Sam is a Courtesan (or some form of indenture) that’s going to require her gold & stop her from leaving😅PLEASE😅I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS😬

The note of the silent Master’s footsteps & lack of cruel punishment, in comparison to Arobynn’s fear invoking silence & unjust cruelty… the fear she feels just standing in front of him once again, feeling little again within minutes of coming back from months of near-freedom… barely a few pages in to The Assassin and the Underworld and I can tell it’s going to crush my heart — isn’t it?!

[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.

[profiterole-reads]

HP-like LGBT Books (not written by a TERF)

In no particular order. These are only books I've read and enjoyed. There are more out there and I will add them to the list as I make my way through them.

1. The Grimoire of Grave Fates created by Hanna Alkaf & Margaret Owen and written by 18 diverse authors: several non-binary characters, a trans woman, two trans boys + some f/f and m/m. This is an incredible collaboration! The students investigate the murder of a close-minded professor at their magic school.

2. Simon Snow by Rainbow Rowell: m/m. This is the most famous one. I wouldn't mind a TV adaptation, or even movies, but that sounds less likely.

3. A Hero at the End of the World by Erin Claiborne: m/m. This one is cute and funny. It doesn't hurt that the cover art is gorgeous.

4. Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues by HS Valley: m/m (YA, but very sexual). Simon Snow meets Sex Education, with a fake baby assignment. Simply hilarious!

5. Branches of Past and Future by MN Bennet: m/m + a trans boy and an ace girl. This is a magic school adult book series, focused on a teacher, though the students are all very interesting too. I adore the magic system.

6. Gallowgate by KR Alexander: queer male protagonist (MG). This one is about learning how to hunt ghosts and has horror vibes.

7. Magic University by Cecilia Tan: m/f and m/m, as the protagonist is bisexual + some trans characters (erotica). This series is surprisingly my favourite, even though I'm very picky with erotica.

8. [Spanish] Prodigioso principio de amor by Silvia Aliaga: m/m. This one takes place at the University of Magic and Eloquence, in Florence, Italy, and the two leads are from Spain and the UK.

9. It Ends in Fire by Andrew Shvarts: m/f and f/f, as the protagonist is bisexual + a non-binary minor character. This takes place in a heroic fantasy setting. I love the magic system.

10. Scholars and Sorcery by Eleanor Beresford: f/f (novellas). This short series is super sweet. It's mostly about life at the magic school.

11. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey: f/f-ish (content warning: murder mystery about a dead queer woman). If you're looking for something darker, go for this one.

12. [French] L'éveil des sorcières by Cordélia: lesbian major character (MG). This is another cute and funny one, with a lot of diversity. It hasn't been translated so far, but I'll keep you updated.

13. When the Letter Comes by Sara Fox: trans girl protagonist (short story). It's a little sad at first, but it gets better. You can read it legally and for free here.

14. DIY by John Wiswell: queerplatonic m/nb (short story). It's about climate change and capitalism and also has disability representation. You can read it legally and for free here.

15. My Name is Magic by Xan van Rooyen: f/nb + a major queer male character. I love that this story is inspired by Finnish folklore. There's a strong focus on protecting nature as magic is being consumed too fast.

16. Trans Wizard Harriet Porber by Chuck Tingle: trans woman protagonist (weird erotica for a laugh). This is the biggest crack I've ever read, as well as the biggest F*** You to transphobia.

17. This Is How We Fly by Anna Meriano: the protagonist is questioning her gender identity + some non-binary characters and some f/f (non-magical). This is a novel about muggle quidditch, a co-ed sport where "the gender that a player identifies as is considered to be that player's gender."

18. Brooms written by Jasmine Walls and illustrated by Teo DuVall: some f/f + a trans woman major character (graphic novel). A group of diverse women take part in unsanctioned team broom races.

[olderthannetfic]

Could you shout out a couple of your favourite m/m authors or books, please? (nw if you don’t like reccing things tho, I find it stressful myself.)

I also find the one ship per book in a series not my cup of tea tbh. I find it too jarring to switch over to other characters I’m not as emotionally invested in within a world.

--

I don't mind side stories that wrap up supporting characters' romances, but I tend to like a main series that's about the same characters/ship most of the time.

I recced a few in response to another ask. That should be posting... some time. (You can tell how well I keep track of my queue.)

Who haven't I mentioned... let's see... Jenn Burke's Not Dead Yet series is pretty interesting, though it eventually angered me with a side character death.

E.J. Russell has a lot of books with different ships but that are all in the same universe. They work better for me than most such books because there's an urban fantasy arc plot about missing fae running through them. Some are a bit too ultra-fluff for my taste. Many are pretty funny. A lot of them feature things like supernatural dating agencies or event planners.

Integrate by Thea Hayworth is only available on Smashwords and is a one-off, but I can't say no to an alien-human buddy cop duo. Both the case and the romance are reasonably fleshed out for this short length, and the worldbuilding is fascinating. I want more! Come back usually-fic-author and write original!

I enjoyed AJ Sherwood's Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case and sequels/stuff in the same universe.

I've only checked out Beth Bolden a little bit. I met her at a conference, and she seems cool. (Definitely a recent fic fandom person, like many of us writing original m/m.) I read part of a boy band romance of hers that she admitted was 1D with the serial numbers filed. Filed well, I might add: the original version is sufficiently SoCal that I wasn't positive which boy band it was riffing off of. But what I really enjoyed was her fairytale-ish fantasy novel Yours, Forever After.

Meghan Maslow's Starfig Investigations was an instant favorite for me. I'm not sure if younger people will even be familiar with the genre of fantasy it is. It didn't click for me until I heard her talking about it, but the series is basically a take off of Robert Asprin's Myth series: oldschool secondary world fantasy full of dumb puns and jokes that only make sense in relation to the real world. Like that series, Maslow's features portals between realms and a lot of magic tech in advanced cities even if the trappings are Ren Faire-ish. The sense of humor style was pretty common in early 90s sff publishing and turns up in old games like Monkey Island, but it's not something I see all that much in m/m fantasy novels.

Harper Fox's Tyack & Frayne series is about a cop and a psychic in small town Cornwall. Lots of pagan vibes in this one, and some of the supernatural stuff picks up as the series goes along, but the basic structure is contemporary British mysteries.

The Plumber's Mate series by J.L. Merrow is a much more comedic take on UK village mysteries. I'm not usually into stories where people end up with their bully from school, but I liked how it was handled here. The side characters are a hoot, especially the camp best friend and the dwarf porn star turned vegetable salesman.

Morgan Brice I'm not as fond of, but she has a bunch of series including one that feels like early seasons Supernatural.

I don't think I ever read the sequels to My Zombie Boyfriend by T. Strange. It's... well... about a dude who finds a hot corpse and decides to revive him as a zombie. The lead is a weird little perv with an ex who's a goth mortician, a horrible undead pet cat, and an obsession for his new zombie project. I found this one while looking for creepy books after reading one too many bits of ultra-fluff with barely any plot.

I was enjoying the Hours of the Night series by Irene Preston and Liv Rancourt, but it seems like they stopped writing it without resolving anything? A lot of the books I've read are good but would have been better with more sequels, so they don't spring to mind here.

There are seriously a shitton of writers working in this space. I just found a few authors and started trying books and seeing what else was on the same goodreads lists and so on. You need to have a tolerance for hideous cover art, but plenty of the actual books are fine.

[crymeariveronceagain]

okay its just the thing is

in classic works, ones that really stick with you, there's a reason, no matter how small, behind every scene. nothing is tossed in willy nilly, everything is helping the story along, even if you can't tell until the end

so ik shannon messenger is not as good a writer as, say, Flannery O'Connor, or Oscar Wilde, or Charlotte Bronte but I know she and I are roughly on the same-ish level of skill? Maybe? except she's better cause she doesn't write fanfiction. she does what i want to do with my life lmao. write kotlc books.

but thats beside the point

i don't know how she's writing these fricking books. like if she's writing it just from a "nothing matters throw stuff in there because it's fun!" pov or a "everything matters, that scene will relate to everything later on" pov. Because it matters!!! When you're analyzing things, you can analyze all you want, but if it never comes up again, was just thrown in for the heck of it, then it doesn't matter how much you analyze it, it's never going to mean anything anyways

*leans back in my rocking chair*

i just dont know how to read kotlc anymore

because some part of me wants to believe that shannon messenger had a meaning, a purpose, behind every scene and line that denotes something wrong.

like she's definitely writing a covert fantasy dystopia, but i'm not sure if she's got that level of detail on everything else that she's doing

like sure Tam and Linh lived with the gnomes. Sure, Fitz hid his stuffed animal dragon so well that his mother didn't know it existed until Keefe did. Like sure, Sophie was dehumanized by the Black Swan constantly throughout Everblaze and a huge vibe check is forcing them to treat her like a person and she can't believe how it happened basiclaly overnight. But that doesn't necessarily add up to anything unless shannon wants it to

like i can analyze all i want

i can watch and look and think and listen to the words the characters say and think about color symbolism(which i love to throw into my fanfics btw) and how its dystopian and how it can be viewed as an allegory for current times and all that jazz

but it means nothing if the author really did mean, "the curtains are blue"

classics writers never wholly meant it when they said the curtains were blue

i just can't tell if Shannon thinks the curtains are just blue.

[radley-writes]

The time has come... for a DRESSAGE DRAGONS BETA ROUND!

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a hot bitch in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a dragon.”

Pandora Deerhart has it all. Money. Looks. Dragons. But when a childhood nemesis threatens her reign over the draconic dressage circuit (which she totally hasn’t tied her sense of self-worth to, shut up) Pandora must destroy her. By any means necessary.

Too poor. Too queer. Too scruffy. No one thought Charlie Darling would excel at dressage. No one thought she’d excel at anything. Least of all Deerhart, who Charlie’s hated since she was old enough to name this bile-deep urge to introduce her knee to Deerhart’s nose.

You might even say… it was loathe at first sight.

But dragons are vanishing along England’s east coast. When the girls find themselves in the belly of a far larger beast, they must face their greatest challenge yet: working together. 

 SPECS: YA, urban fantasy (rural fantasy???), wl(gq/gnc)w, queer characters abound, 95 000 words. 

WARNINGS: Violence, violence against animals, blood, mild gore, child abuse, death of a family member and grief, enemies-to-something, Britishisms, a tragic dearth of Oxford commas and rampant UST.

 WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR: Six-ish Betas, preferably a couple with dressage experience, to read my enemies-to-??????? horse-girls-but-with-dragons novel!

 WHAT I WANNA KNOW: Does the plot work? Do the characters work? Does the pacing work? What does ‘work’ even mean in this context? (You don’t have to answer that one; that’s a general question for the universe.) Do I have a solid foundation on my hands, or a pile of steaming dragon poop?

 WHAT I DON’T WANNA KNOW: ‘You used the wrong ‘its’! This sentence clunks!’

This isn’t a shiny, publication-ready draft. It’s a third draft following two complete rewrites. It’s an ‘I finally have a plot and fleshed-out characters and I need to know if they all gel together’ draft. It’s an ‘I possibly had a breakdown while writing this book and am months behind schedule and still recovering (though doing much better now, thank you)’ draft.

If you’re more interested in line edits and proofreading, mad respect and all, but this ain’t the Beta round for you!

 HOW TO APPLY: 

Read the first chapter to see if you vibe with my writing style! 

Fill in the form! 

If you’re successful, I will send you a link to a Discord server, and we can go from there~

EDIT: I have 20 applications!!! Thank you all so much. I’ll have a look through and let the lucky 6-8 know, hopefully tomorrow! (Some of you are already Aware ;P)

[safyresky]

Frostmas Year Nine: Behind the Scenes

Prologue | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 | Y6 | Y7 | Y8 | Y9 | Y10 | Y11 | Y12

(in Kermit the Frog voice) Let's begin!

I straight up thought this chapter would be fairly short, because when I wrote it out in point form the events didn’t seem like they’d have a lot of action. Then I began writing it, and I was DEAD wrong

I listened to the opening scene of the North Pole Resort SOO MANY TIMES to hear the lyrics to the song perfectly. I had to ask my wonderful housemate to take a listen to try and figure out the “santa t-shirts, santa ties” line and WHEN I FINALLY WATCHED IT ON DISNEY WITH SUBTITLES, HEARD THAT I GOT IT W R O N G! It's Santa SIZE. I'll have to change that up lol

FUN FACT! “at this point I’ve adopted a stance of the less I know, the better” is my family’s motto up until recently

“I like the cut of your berg” is one of my FAVOURITE frosty-fying slang lines I’ve ever done! It’s a frosty version of “I like the cut of your jib” which was used in sailing in the 1700s ish to describe if an incoming ship was frens or not frens

-> I originally thought it was just some funky 20s slang, then googled it to make sure I was right and learnt the above!

-> the berg is short for iceberg--B likes the cut of Jacqueline’s iceberg, being the idea to maybe get rid of the awful recordings :)

Sometimes I’m like ‘these things don’t really need explaining’ but I get excited about my own work and then have to share how I got the ideas with everyone so ONWARDS I SUPPOSE

Man I miss multi-level lists! this Frostmas BTS has been in my drafts for FOREVER, and was the last one I did before tumblr switched to the new post editor

WHICH DOESN'T LIKE MULTI LEVEL BULLETED LISTS!

So it's kinda all over the place. My bad lmao.

LET'S KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Jacqueline realizing that she hadn’t updated everyone on what the elves thought of her nonsense was a BLESSING because I realized that I hadn’t addressed it, so thank you for that opportunity, Jacqueline

Archie's Guide to Important People in the North Pole: Big Man->Santa. Boss Man->Bernard.

I would like to take this moment to credit @shittyelfwriter with Archie’s existence in those few chapters of ROE, because I love him and always picture him as the elf playing the piano and going UGH and facepalming during Jack’s rendition of North Pole, North Pole (pictured below). THANK YOU FOR NAMING THE BOY, ANA!

The conversation between Jacqueline and Archie, that dripped sarcasm, was my favourite thing to write this chapter :D

The scene with Chrys give you weird vibes of all manner? Yeah, that was intentional. "Perfection" can be unsettling, after all

Bernard is definitely so DONE this year and it SHOWS -> That is exactly what I was going for, especially since I know that he's not normally

Okay so. Let's Talk About Chrys. TW: Sexual Themes

very embarrassing, but I got the concept from a series of fantasy erotica novels and I wish I was joking

(they’re called the World of Hetar series, very good, very very VERY smutty. I’d say it’s 60% SEX, 30% PLOT, and 10% SEX DRIVEN PLOT)

(I know people who know me are like YOU READ SMUT? YOU?? AN ACE??? and yes, I did, I read exclusively smut from the ages of 12-17 because my Dad worked for "Trash Romance Novel Company" and brought home books for free every month, and the books were, in fact, mostly if not totally smut)

Erotica aside, I quite liked how the author had built up the magical world, the beings, and how magic works in it

In the third or fourth book, called “The Twilight Lord”, the fairies ally with the desert princes who are some kind of magical fae themselves, and they create the Perfect Wife for the corrupt leader of the neighbouring continent to distract him from starting a war

She was a mix of his current 2 wives and the things he liked about them, and looked like the protagonist, Lara, who cursed him to not be able to fuck I shit you not and who he ALSO had a big huge thirst for which was GROSS because he was old as fuck and even though she’s half fairy, she was like. 12 or 13

And this new wife is able to GET IT UP with him, hence how he’d be distracted--he really liked sex (reminder: this is an erotica series)

So he’s too busy fucking her and then on top of that, she would divide the other two wives and basically bring the house down from the inside, neutralizing the threat of this corrupt sex loving mofo

And that’s where the idea of Chrys came from!

So basically tl;dr: Chrys was inspired by a spell a sexy bunch of desert princes in an erotica series did to make the perfect wife for their enemy and knock him right tf down :)

How this works with Cheri’s magic: same concept, less sex

Chrysanthemum is a Perfect Being, who is bound to a specific magibean. Chrys’s purpose is to be Jack’s Mrs Claus, and because she was made with dark magic she drains energy of those around her (except for jack’s energy bc he’s the person she’s bound to) and magnifies bad ideas

spoiler alert: in the long run, Chrys will be TOO perfect and TOO agreeable for Jack and he’ll grow tired and it adds to the whole “I thought this would get me everything I’ve ever wanted but it didn’t” long term theme I have going for Jack as Santa

but yeah

end tw for sexual themes. away from chrys we go!

battled with the “cultural appropriation” bit because I felt as though it may be insensitive but then I wrote it anyway because that’s what it is at it’s base :\

it was supposed to be a stand in? I'd go back and change later? then I didn't. We're rolling with it now lol

Have you ever heard Elf’s Lament by the Barenaked Ladies?

Because it’s where I got the Union Comment from

Then I was like “but DO THEY HAVE UNION???!?!” and remembered the “accident or design” thing and realized “OH they ARE their own union” and figured that in terms of a Santa like JACK, The council would step in (which they’ve done. and tried to do stuff. but haven’t had luck bc PLOT)

god Frostmas is exhausting. Villains are underappreciated for all the effort they put into for being on TOP of things

(in Korvo Solar opposites Voice) what fucking scene are we on. why are these so long. why did i do this to myself. FUCK

ANYWAY CIRCLING BACK TO THIS MESS OF A BTS!

This uniform thing was unplanned/meant to be just a footnote. Then. Well. THIS.

It is a decent feature of the Resort in the movie so, I guess it works out :)

FUN FACT: I was playing a very good dnd campaign at the time! And that's how Davian got her name, lol. One of the amazing NPCs was named Davian, and we had a really good session with them and the name stuck and boom! Into Frostmas it goes. Once again, Frostmas is proving to be a time capsule reminding me of wtf I was doing while writing these bad boys :)

I miss my friend's campaign ):

And yeah, this fight is one Jacqueline cannot win. this is on the elves. So what does she do? Goes back to her hyperfocus of destorying SantaJack

How? By figuring out wtf Chrys is >:)

STUPID DUMB CHRYS

Alright. Scene subheadings are back! Right on.

"Myles would be proud AND would probably have been able to connect the dots and figure out what was up, and then place it on a neat presentation board, to boot."

LEGATE DROP! Myles is Tooth Fairy's Legate! He's v sweet, a lil bit clumsy, SUPER into conspiracies--hence Jacqueline being like "MAN I WISH THAT KIDS WAS HERE, HE'D KNOW WTF IS UP"

So let's talk about BLINTER. Just to clarify: THEY WERE NOT ABOUT TO GET IT ON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DEN. This is just a typical post work day for them: start a fire, make a blanket nest, be cozy until kid 2, 3, or 4 come to harass them

Blaise is pouty bc they didn't even get a single cuddle in before Kid 2 came in like

And I was 100% referencing the meme lmao.

god tumblr killed the quality. I'll post it separately. ANYWAY

the Blinter and Jacquie scene was fun to write! This is one of the scenes where I was dropping very strong hints that Jacqueline was freezing--and Winter AND Blaise were noticing. Winter'll explain it all in Y11 ;)

FINAL RESORT

"You could really tell that graphic design was Chrys's passion"

another meme reference:

I think we, as a collective people using slang, should bring back "gag me with a spoon". Also some older slang! I try to sneak those in when I know of some to show. Y'know. AGE.

This whole scene with Jack and Chrys actually was me laying the ground work for FINAL RESORT. Trying to get in all of the booths we see, the petting zoo, and the different announcements about various activities set up before the double digit years! That was my goal :)

THE ELVES UNION AT WORK

Ah yes. the walk out. God, this uniform thing was meant to be small, but lord did it EVER go big. I'm actually okay with it--my y9 notes were so lacklustre, I was concerned it would be (you'll laugh I know) TOO SHORT lmao

No. Fr. Look at them.

"Because those outfits are a joke, and you wouldn't catch me dead wearing those."

Sassnard. We Stan.

"I'm so proud of all of my crew," said Davian. "Crimes against fashion should NEVER be tolerated!"

"And the break from the constant ruined showtunes, what a relief!" said Archie, leaning very far back in his stool."

The elves have their priorities lol. I Bet Archie and Davian are biffers.

Curtis on damage control was A) a stroke of genius on my part and B) the way I decided to start laying the groundwork for Customer Service Sales Person Curtis we see when Scott gets to the Resort! God, there is SO MUCH GROUND WORK FOR VARIOUS ITTY BITTY BITS WE SEE IN THE MOVIE, IT'S ACTUALLY INSANE. No wonder you all dig Frostmas so much. good lord

And then, we have it! Final Resort. Wholly heckeros! And yes, I did indeed name the Fire Marshall. Marshal. I'm a genius 🙃🙃🙃

""Course! It's lunch. I doubt anything will happen during lunch."

Famous last words, B-Man. And yes, I did that on purpose >:)

CHRYS UNMASKED. AND ALSO, IT'S CHERI!

Cheri's...interesting

While she is master of the dark witch arts, she isn't evil? Very chaotic. Kind of lets it slide a lot of the time when Witches use "dark" magic. Everything has a price, blah blah blah, it's not her place to tell people off about it--that's the other Grand Witch's place, Gwen, aka, Glenda, master of the light witch arts

And also, dark magic will take what it needs in response. She just makes sure people don't use it SUPER illegally. Otherwise she kills em. It's her favourite part of the job :)

Lawful Evil?? Idk.

FUN FACT: She gave Gwen the nickname Glenda, like the good witch in The Wizard of Oz (derogatory), and Gwen went, "oh! Glenda, like the good witch in The Wizard of Oz (affectionate)? you're such a sweet sister I'll take it :)" and now everyone calls her Glenda much to Cheri's (dis)satisfaction.

Cheri is very not serious and hates being called in for business unless murder is involved. She does NOT ignore any summons, ESPECIALLY from Mother Nature.

Hence why Tara had a easy enough time getting her in

But Cheri does NOT make things easy for people, nope!

"Hay, Jacquie" a la Catra going "Hay, Adora". I was watching SPOP at the time. It's a DAMN good show, Catra/Adora my BELOVEDS

FUN FACT: Only recently decided how Warlocks worked in my universe! They know everything and can guide ANY castor. It's like a reverse of Warlocks in DnD. They don't need a patron; they ARE patrons!

By RETIRING Cheri means that a lot of Warlocks went into Rosehaven with the Call. They were making BANK on the feuding fae factions.

Petty vengeance->one night stand with Jack where he said he'd call back, and didn't, which Cheri expected but any excuse for petty revenge is a good one! Good karma->Cheri explains it herself: if it helps the "good" forces, and she contributed to it, she gets a bit of a pass on being The Worst :)

OH SHIT I FORGOT ABOUT THE SNAP BACK INTO THE PRESENT

this was an idea I had had since like, the BEGINNING. Halfway through or so, Jack would bug Jacqueline in the proper timeline, to check in and also let her know that he'd like a turn and also, as a plot device so I could remind everyone it's a story of the past being told from the future, and plant the seed of "wait, is Jacqueline going to forget it? Or is she going to remember it?"

Is she? Well, you're not finding out until the Epilogue :)

It is just as jarring as I had hoped it'd be, especially since I forgot all about it! I was ready to title this section THE END and talk about Bernard's amazing exit.

But yeah, it was a fun reminder that this takes place POST redemption, TECHNICALLY, which is a lot of fun! And that was so pleasantly jarring. I'm pleased >:)

anyway

THE END: BERNARD'S STELLAR EXIT

if you listen to this version of the halo theme song on loop, you may enter the space I entered when I wrote this bit

anyway. i love Jack. He is. the Blorboest Blorbo EVER. But he did, in fact, steal Christmas for his own holiday and turned the park into a Resort. Implying that there is an overnight stay. Especially with a pamphlet THAT THICK. It;s not even a pamphlet. It's a fucking guide book. FUCK.

And like, there were no hotels that we saw. Maybe there are inns! I mean, the Winter Wonderland has rooms. But I digress.

REGARDLESS, something needed to happen to really get B-Man, well, GONE. And this was the final straw: Elf's houses for you to stay at, with your own personal elfsisstant!

It HURT to SUGGEST Jack would make the elves like. SERVANTS so I tried really hard to avoid that sort of thing--but yeah, they'd be like hotel staff but live in. Imagine being an elf and having to NANNY HUMANS?! FUCK

"That's what your emotional support sprite is for," I said.->Meme alert! "sir this is my emotional support x" meme lol.

Jacqueline gets to kick down doors, once again. Idk why she slams doors open so much? She just does lol

"...It's perfect," Jack said. "It's everything I've ever wanted." I tilted my head. There had been something about the way he said that that made me think that he did not believe that anymore"

I'M LIKE, DROPPING HINTS NOW AT JACK'S ENDGAME FOR FROSTMAS (since we already know Jacqueline's)

AND JACQUIE IS PICKING THEM UP!

I wanted to avoid "servant" related words, but B-Man is way more blunt than I am and we thank him for it tbh

"Really? Cause this is me, walking away."

SO THIS RAW ASS LINE WAS GIVEN TO US BY @shittyelfwriter YET AGAIN! WOMAN'S A GENIUS! We were chatting about BMan's exit and she sent a snippet with that line and I went "Ou. Yeah. That's GOOD" and did a bit of "do it different so they can't tell it's copied"

but credit is given where credit is due lmao! Ana's mind is like, BIG BRAIN when it comes to writing and connecting dots n shit :)

and there we have it! Frostmas BTS: Y9. Y10 coming to you SOON I hope! I'm clearing out my drafts. They're all just. Frostmas BTS and wips that have yet to see the light of day :3