#im really enjoying standalone books at the moment

[merouses]

Books Mero read, 2022 edition

As promised (to myself?) here’s a small review for all books and book series I read this year!

The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling - This series. This FUCKING series. Its so fucking good. Its sooooo good!!! It’s 7 books in all (plus 1 collection of short stories) and they’re all at least very good. It can be intimidating since it’s a pretty long series BUT they’re all  pretty standalone still. My favourite turned out to be the 3rd book, as it best meshed the adventure and intrigue styles, which the other books tend to stick mostly to one of. My only critiques really are that some parts are really.... unpleasant to read, given the situation the characters find themselves in, and sometimes these parts reeeeally overstay their welcome. Book 4 Im looking at you(....I skimmed over like half of this book for this reason). Regardless of that though, these books are still great, the characters are amazing, and the many many times and ways Seregil and Alec were tastefully described as fucking was 100/10.

In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens - From great to bad. Ok maybe thats a bit harsh but this book is just uninspired and uninspiring, probanbly the most “young adult” of the books I read this year? Like, yeah its cute and all, and the romance is... fine? But nothing happens in this book. There’s one actual good moment that’s when the MC is kidnapped (not a spoiler, it’s in the synopsis) and that chunk of pages was actually engaging, but then... nothing. Or essentially nothing. The ‘mystery’ the book proposes is the barest of bones of one, and the ending absolutely sucked: a sudden problem solved by an even more sudden solution, all in less than 20 pages. Idk maybe this one really was just too juvenile for me, I imagine if I read it at like 12 or 13 I’d have liked it, or at least enjoyed it more.

The Fire’s Stone by Tanya Huff - This is another one that felt ‘young adult’, it’s very much a fantasy adventure book, if that makes sense. An unlikely band of heroes set out to defeat the bad guy, get the thing and save the land, yadda yadda. But... it’s pretty good! The unlikely heroes are all pretty likeable and their dynamic fun, the pacing’s pretty good, the setting interesting... Everything just clicked, really, this was a fun time.

The Last Sun, The Hanged Man & The Hourglass Throne (or, The Tarot Sequence 1,2&3) by K.D. Edwards - The harshest thing I can say about these books is that the author plans 9 of em and only 3 are out. I just. Really really loved these ones, the characters are great, the plots are fun, even if they get pretty dark sometimes (mostly on book 2)... They’re contemporary fantasy and, I’ll be honest, when I first picked up The Last Sun I thought I’d hate it. A lot of swearing, a lot of action-movie action, the mc loves his quips... honestly if I hadn’t known it was gay It’s not a book I’d pick up. But I was wrong! And everything works. The world created (where atlantis had revealed itself to the world and is now a modern day city with it’s own intricacies and conspiracies) is so engaging, it really shows its own culture and how it intertwined with today’s world. And very much today’s world, the 3rd book even brings up COVID. Really... I just can’t wait for the next books.

White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton - I’m talking about this one right after the Tarot Sequence cause they feel very similar. Not really in terms of plot, but they feel both like offshoots of the same base idea of magic in the real current world, there’s probably overlapping inspiration there. And... it’s fine! I can’t really say why, but even though I liked this book well enough it just didn’t grab me like the other books I enoyed on this list did. Maybe it’s the pacing, maybe it’s my growing familiarity with gay fantasy (this is the last book I finished out of these) but it just... fell short I guess. Or maybe it’s the fact that really this book feels very.... “american”, in the sense that it’s really about some specific american things or experiences, I guess, and I’m not american. I can try and imagine everyone’s accent as described, sure, but it’s not bringing along the baggage that’s there if you know these places first or second hand. Can’t say I enoyed the very brief but unnecessary cliffhanger though ...but I’ll still read the rest of the series, and hope they get better.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner - This book is all intrigue, essentially, and I... liked it? I think? It has similar problems to In Deeper Waters, where nothing reeeally happens till it does all at once, but it managed that pacing much better than Waters did, first by having the nothing happenning actually feel like a buildup, slow as it was, and second by having the story be actually about politics and schemes and intrigue, so it warrants its own slowness. Most of these characters are assholes though.

The Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn - Another slow one, but this time a proper slow adventure, rather than intrigue drama, I guess. I.... don’t really wanna talk to much about this one. It’s gay and it isn’t, it flows nicely, and everythings well painted but... it made me feel a lot of conflicting feelings which left me very down for several days, but I think that was because of personal feelings as to what happens here. So yeah. Idk. Can’t really say I disliked it but it doesn’t feel right to say I did, either. The title doesn’t really make a lot of sense though, that’s for certain.

Silver in the Wood & The Drowned Country by Emily Tesh - A duology of short books that can best be described as squandered potential. Man, I liked the first book. It’s short, its sweet, sure the pacings not that great and this  is definetly a fanfic that was repurposed into a book, but it’s good! It has a feel, the way the magic things, the wood itself is decribed is good, its intriguing, it made me think “oh thats a cool way to describe these things that are happenning!”. And then the second book just. Has the same characters, has the same magic things but. Does absolutely nothing with it. The interesting descriptions? Maybe a couple of passages but they don’t make up for the bad plot and pacing this time. There was the opportunity for a great ending, one which would actually made you feel things, but it dropped the ball so hard. Bleh.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Markse - This is the first book I read this year! And really, a great way to start. Its an edwardian fantasy with a veeery interesting magic system, a cool plot, good characters, if a tad tropey. I had a lot of fun reading this one! Part of that may be the posh englishmen suddenly talking about cock, and me getting sucker punched by eplicit sex scenes which I did exxpect. Either way, the sequel just came out and I’m excited to see if it can keep up with the first one. It’s apparently about lesbians, which is fun.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison - I think this is the only properly not gay book I read this year. That aside, I loved this book!!!! Like, a lot!!!!! The worldbuilding is really good, leaving a lot of space open for exploration, but it does lean heavily into fantasy mumbo jumbo, as in, boy does this book have a looot of hard names to remember. There’s a glossary of sorts at the end but most of the times I went to it for help, it didn’t have the word. That aside, it was enjoyable the whole way through. It’s another story of political intrigue and schemig, not a lot of action, but the pacing somehow still feels so fast!! It’s about the youngest son of the emperor, who had no training and no expectations of becoming emperor himself and surprise! The crown lands on his head, essentially, and then about how isolated he feels due to his new position and how he navigates his relations when there are so many epectations of him. Its really good. It almost seemed like unearthing treasure when I later found out that there are sequels and the sequels actually do have a gay main character. Read this book.

Small epilogue: I just got back into reading this year, after not really picking up a new book since around 2019? And man. Reading is great. Ive sincerely started feeling so much better, so much more creative since I got back into reading!! Im surprised I jumped right back into reading a book a week (almost) and honestly? Im surprised at how comfy it feels. Ah, reading. I’m sicerely glad that I did so.

And so the year ends! On to more gay stuff! If you read this, thanks!!

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

hi frank! im reading The Northern Caves for the first time and im really enjoying it so far. do you have any insight or thoughts about The Northern Caves, now that its been eight years since its completion?

Hi!

(And thanks – I've gotten a few new followers since I posted an ask like this a while ago so I'll try to get back to answering asks)

In my opinion, The Northern Caves is pretty darn great. The whole series (which is the first in a very long time to get published) is very good. The Northern Caves itself is my favorite of the books, although even then it's a close call. Even The Southern Caves has its moments. (For the uninitiated, "The Southern Caves" is my personal name for the series – I'm really embarrassed to have forgotten that for the duration of the hiatus. That said, I think it was a mistake, because The Southern Caves would be an amazing series title, and there's a reason that I have used it for the titles of three different books)

Anyway, it's great. I have a lot of thoughts on it, but I don't know if they'd be worth posting on tumblr. This is a long post – it starts with a quick summary of the book series and then covers The Northern Caves in more detail, but the main points are:

1. If you liked ASoIaF, you'll like these books. The worldbuilding is better in these books, and the political machinations better. It has a lot more to offer if you enjoy that sort of thing than the ASOIAF series did. On a practical level, in these books the author does a good job of writing non-ASOIAF material without making it clunky. The story isn't particularly compelling (it's much better when you're reading the whole series – I can't recommend it without spoilers), but that doesn't stop it from being a pleasure to read, because it's actually good fun.

2. If you're looking for a "big book" to binge, these might be the right things for you. The books are over 700 pages and each is divided into two parts, which are mostly standalone stories. You can read them in any order. I recommend starting at the beginning – you will definitely need to go all the way through the books before reading them, even if you stop and start and start again and read some more, because the books are very dense and it will take a while to figure out all the plot connections.

It takes a long time because the stories are very dense, but I feel like the stories really need to be read from beginning to end. If you don't care about all the connections – which is fine if you don't and this isn't a book series that you plan to spend much time with, but it's also fine if you aren't a huge fan and this is what the author wrote when they weren't feeling quite good enough to write better – the stories have to be read all the way through. So I recommend reading the books in that spirit, even if you could probably skip some of them.

If you want the full experience, read the whole thing. If you can't do that, read it all the way through before reading the other books in the series.

3. I really liked The Northern Caves as I mentioned before. It's got very long, very "dense" episodes, with the characters mostly being introduced in one episode and then being much less relevant the next episode, often for years. This isn't just the case for a few characters – it's a very common plot element of the series. The author seems to be a real stickler for how much plot he can get into per story, with the stories themselves getting "spun out" and "filled in" as they go along. It's very "the worldbuilding is here to help" about it, and a lot of the story does feel like it's a necessary part of the worldbuilding (the "history of civilization" bit is a big part of this). But if you have a lot of free time and a lot of patience, you can read these books in their entirety as they were written. Or, if you are very impatient, you can read them in bite-sized pieces (I do this for example). (I've actually posted an ask here about a similar problem I had with another series a while ago – I would get to the end of a story and then realize that there was more story that I hadn't gotten to, and it was much better, and it would just be fun to go back and read the previous chapter in detail, even if it meant going back to the start and "starting over" – The Northern Caves is great for this because it has these very lengthy, densely plotted "episodes," so reading some parts in depth really is the best way to go).

Again, my personal opinion. You might like the books less if you read them "chronologically," but I think the worldbuilding is really strong and makes these books worth reading at all – for me, it outweighs the somewhat awkward pacing.

4. I mentioned that the author writes a very long series of "episodes," but I haven't mentioned how long the episodes are until now, and I have to admit that it is a bit of a tease. The Northern Caves has some episodes that are shorter than others and a couple of longer ones. The Northern Caves as a whole is about 1.7 million words. I think the average length of episodes is about 35,000 words or so, so that is about 45 short books (not counting the "books 1" or the prologue).

The average length of these episodes is not very long at all, in comparison to some published novels, but the series is dense enough that it takes a long time to read.

5. I read The Northern Caves in one big swoop. It was one of the big things that got me interested in this series and made me like it, so I'm sort of biased, I guess. But my impression is that many other people read it in sections – in the "normal" way, the way where you read them in "the order they were published," and in a way that involves skipping a lot of things, because there is a lot of stuff. I read The Northern Caves straight through in about 10 days, when I got really into it, and I got a lot out of it. I would read it again, but slower (which is normal for me, because I'm usually in a much more relaxed reading state after a long hiatus than when I'm reading it for the first time).

(I am reading The Southern Caves right now; it's been about a week and a half for me. It's slower going for me at this point. I probably won't finish this series anytime soon)

So anyway, I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect! If you like any of these things, chances are it is a good bet that you'll like these books. It's worth checking out if you don't know much about the author and are thinking about it. (That is, I'm not going to make you promise you have enough patience/time/etc. to read this, but I feel like I should say some good things.)

[frolicsome]

“I was warned I’d see some strange things in the countryside,” he said, “but I admit, I didn’t expect to find a feral librarian roaming the stacks.” Margaret Rogerson’s - Sorcery of Thorns

[watchmegetobsessed]

All of colleen hoover’s books have happy endings. There’s just a lot of emotional stuff in the books before you get to the good ending. Plot twists and heavy moments are included, but I think that’s what makes her books good. She’s hated by a lot by loved by so many more. Her books aren’t for everyone but I’m personally a huge fan. It Ends With Us is a standalone novel, Colleen is only making It Starts With Us because the fans loved IEWU so much. She said it picks up right after IEWU. You technically don’t have to read ISWU if you don’t want to, it’s not necessary. If you check colleen’s instagram she has a post with a diagram full of all her books and which ones connect and which ones are standalones. I really truly recommend her work but I understand your hesitancy. If you do read her books I hope you enjoy! 💗

alright i think im gonna take the risk😄

[slutforwings]

books i read in august and what i thought of them because apparently i do that now

they both die at the end - adam silvera (YA)

spoiler alert: the title. this book takes place in a world where people are called up 24 hours before they die, so they're semi-prepared. it follows two teens who both got the call and spend their last day together. really cool concept, imo it could have expanded on the worldbuilding even more, but i guess the focus is just the main characters. and it did that really well! the romance is a bit cheesy, but what gripped me personally was the grieving yourself and future plans that will never come to fruition. 4/5

to kill a kingdom - alexandra christo (fantasy)

little mermaid inspired, sirens kill one human per year, the sea princess only kills princes. one of the princes is determined to kill this siren he's never seen. the siren gets turned into a human for plot reasons and finds out killing the prince determined to kill her might not be that easy. i reread this a year after my first year, it felt a bit more rushed the second time around. that said, i just love me some fairytale settings as well as ambigious morality and betrayal. i don't regret the reread. 4/5

the invisible life of addie larue - v.e. schwab (fastastical fiction?)

girl sells her soul and becomes immortal BUT everyone forgets her as soon as she's out of their sight. after 300 years of this, she meets someone that does remember her. once again, i was more in it for the concept than the romance. beautifully written, and a really good execution of the concept. i pirated it but ended up loving it so much that i bought a physical copy so yknow. 5/5

the memory police - yoko ogawa (fiction)

a town where things keep disappearing and the population forgets about them (perfume, birds, etc). some people don't forget, but remembering is strictly forbidden by the memory police. i dont want to say much more because it's once again a great concept and just a great book overall. to me it felt like an allegory of dementia or maybe depression, but you can really fill it in for yourself. really interesting read. 4,5/5

witches abroad - terry pratchett (fantasy)

12th discworld novel, can be read as a standalone, basically: 3 witches have to make sure the story of cinderella doesnt happen, but stories have a way of forcing their hand. a different witch doing everything to make it happen doesnt help of course. one of my favorite discworld novels so far, incredibly funny but with great life lessons a la pratchett. loved the witches as annoying tourists. for some reason took me a bit to get into it, but after that it was smooth and uninterrupted sailing. 5/5

where the crawdads sing - delia owens (fiction)

the life story of a girl growing up in the marshes of 1950-1960 north carolina, whose siblings and parents leave her at a very young age, alongside a murder case in 1969 (hah) which she is the main suspect of on account of living alone in a swamp. reading it felt like watching a movie, you can picture everything so clearly. unique reading experience. loved the themes of solitude, independence, and of course the intrigue of the murder in the future, woven inbetween. 4,5/5

cinderella is dead - kalynn bayron (fantasy)

dystopian society that every year has a ball to honor 200 year dead cinderella, girls have 3 balls to get chosen by a man, if not they're considered slaves to the patriarchy and basically disappear. one girl in love with another girl wants to overthrow the system. this book sucked ass. this is why you don't read books purely because they're 'queer and with diverse characters!'. the worldbuilding didn't make any sense, every man was such a caricature that it felt like the author was beating the point of her novel in my head with a fucking hammer. most annoying main character i've ever had the displeasure of reading. every other character existing to make the mc look good. i could complain about this book for years. don't read it. 1/5

out of my mind - sharon m. draper (fiction)

story of 11yo melody, who has cerebral palsy, is incredibly intelligent, but cannot speak. her frustration and trial to communicate with the people around her, some of which treat her like she's braindead. very moving novel, teared up a few times, had my heart racing alongside melody's at certain moments. puts you in the often extremely frustrating shoes of a disabled girl, a good reminder to never underestimate people. 5/5

ariadne - jennifer saint (historical... fiction?)

i think it's safe to say we all know ariadne and her role in aiding theseus through the labyrinth to slay the minotaur. so it's that. except told from her POV. and longer. and with added extras everywhere because her tale was not told in that much detail. i really enjoyed it, its advertised as a 'feminist' novel but its done in a not annoying way imo (AHEM take notes cinderella is dead). also at one point she gets a bee necklace from daedalus and im dying to get one too but googling 'ariadne pendant' does not give me what i want 4,5/5

[creacherkeeper]

ooh 4, 10, and 16?

4) favorite character you’ve written

fanfiction answer: i feel like this is not what people would expect from me, but in more recent fandoms, probably adora from she ra? (the truer, long term answer is prob fitz from a*s but we dont have to talk about that.) like adora is pretty multidimensional in terms of psychology, theres a LOT of complicated stuff to unpack with her but shes also like? pretty funny? and i feel like i was decent at writing humor with her? idk in real life im very attracted (broadly, non romantic) to enneagram 2 people and adora is a great example of one so. i really enjoyed writing her lol. also she has great dynamics with everyone so i liked how she plays off the other characters. love the repressed jock nerd

book answer: probably one of my antagonists, ms. angelina. shes a ... pretty complicated character in that she is actually motivated to do good but has fallen into the detached, selfish mentor roll due to trauma. i LOVED writing her because she's presented as one of the good guys who the main character very much hero worships through a lot of the book, but she's also very manipulative and smart and mean and. yeah. she was super fun. trying to toe the line of "this is a toxic mentor relationship" and "of COURSE the protagonist would turn to her for help" was a really interesting thing to balance in a middle grade fantasy. love a conniving old lady

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

so silence is preferred but im also VERY sensitive to noise and distraction, so i either have to put in ear plugs or just loop a song over and over. it doesnt really matter whether its instrumental or has lyrics but it MUST fit the vibe. i tend to go to video game OSTs a lot for this. sinking ship by wild child was my number 1 song for this spotify wrapped because i listened to it about 90 times while writing paladin!aelwyn fic lmaooo

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

oh a lot of them. if we're JUST talking writing -

fanfic: at the moment, definitely aelwyn abernant lol. listen sometimes you must simply lie awake at night staring at your ceiling crying over your good good daughter

original: my character dinara. she's actually the granddaughter of the character i talked about up there ^ she's a middle aged asshole scumbag who only shows up for two chapters to give some important info to the main character but like. she has a WHOLE backstory that i would love to write as a novel one day but dont see ever happening because getting companion books to standalone middle grades is,, well,,, but she really is so near and dear to my heart like. sometimes you just take a middle aged jewish lesbian woman and youre like i can pack SO much implied trauma into your two scenes here and i think i maybe just WILL

[astarfilledsea]

got tagged by the lovely @sunsetsswerve 💖ty lovely

tag 9 people to know more about their interests, hobbies, etc. (no pressure!):

feel free to just look at my answers, dear friends :)) tagging @wistfullullabies @buckleys-diaz @ronanlyneh @eijunes

MUSIC

fav genre? it depends on my mood really, whatever im feeling is what i’ll put on but i do listen to pop/pop punk and alt rock lol not recently tho

fav artist? does this include bands? im gonna say yea: pvris / paramore / fob / dermot kennedy / jonas bros / halsey / hozier / bad suns / bts to name a few 

fav song? good to be alive - pvris is one of many

most listened song recently? your eyes tell - bts / b s&t orchestral cover

song currently stuck in your head? i was singing airplane pt. 2 earlier

fav lyrics? it’s just a spark, but its enough to keep me going / and when its dark out, no one’s around, it keeps glowing - last hope by paramore

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume | slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS

fav book genre? fantasy / also really depends on what im feeling atm / also do enjoy manga as well

fav writer? i have a couple but i’ll say v schwab / erin morgenstern

fav book? too many, next q

fav book series? percy jackson / the raven cycle : those two are just....they’re books that i know i can go back to again and again and still love them also soc duology is good

comfort book? see above answer 

perfect book to read on a rainy day? oooh anything, really - leaving that

fav characters? percy jackson / ronan lynch

5 quotes from your fav book that you know by heart? here are some random ones bc i cant tell you 5 from just one:

the dam quote from titan’s curse

"In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them. Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her raven boys."

"Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human."

“Strange isn’t it? To love a book. When the words on the pages become so precious that they feel like part of your own history because they are. It’s nice to finally have someone read stories I know so intimately."

“"Kaz leaned back. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?" "Knife to the throat?" asked Inej. "Gun to the back?" said Jesper. "Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina. "You're all horrible," said Matthias."

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator  | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES

fav tv/movie genre? animation, comedy

fav movie? how to train your dragon is one of the many

comfort movie? she’s the man (even tho its been a long while since ive seen it)

movie you watch every year? i try to watch olive the other reindeer every year, its weirdly one of my fav christmas movies 

fav tv show? haikyu / diamond no ace / shadow & bone / vincenzo (even tho i have to finish it) 

comfort tv show? haikyu

most rewatched tv show? haikyu 

ultimate otp? vincenzo and the gold underneath that building / i feel like id answer this better if i watched more tv/movies but imma be real, i have not seen much of both

5 fav characters? see fav tv show, everyone in there is my fav

tv shows or movies | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once

[smileyjaeminies]

reader tag game.

tagged by ; @neocitybynight

hardcover or paperback ; rent or buy ; reads in silence or reads with music (or both sometimes, it’s more whatever feels right at the moment) ; standalone or series ; annotations or pristine pages ; ebook or physical copy (I cannot STAND ebooks im sorry) ; dog ears or bookmarks (I will fight anyone and everyone that dog ears books) mismatched series or complete set ; cover matters or you don’t judge ; lend books or keep them to yourself (I’ve had a really bad experience lending books so I dont do it anymore) ; enjoys lit classes or despises them ; browses shops or orders online ; reads reviews or goes in blind ; unreturned books or clean library record ; rereads or once was enough (rereads until I could probably recite the entire thing I just love delving back into worlds that feel comfortable and safe) ; fanfic enthusiast or a stickler for canon ; deep reader or easily distracted ; must read the book before seeing the movie or order doesn’t matter (can’t stand spoilers I want to know what’s coming) ; has neat bookshelves or messy bookshelves (i just tidied mine omg) ; skips ahead or resists temptation ; reads aloud or in your head ; guesses plot twists or never sees them coming 

Couldn’t resist adding my own little comments, but this one was so much fun!!

Tagging: @hanniejeekies, @thenctaddict, @moondustaeil, @moonttaeil

[rontra]

do you have any recommendations on how to like. Take In Umineko. I think it looks really cool and I’d like to get into it, but there’s a lot of things that are confusing (like all of the different games, the manga, the anime, ect.) and I’m not really sure where to start watching/reading it. Do you have any advice on where the best place to start is?

HOH BABY NOW THIS IS A GOOD ASK

Basically, a lot of this depends on you and how you prefer to take in media. People are different after all; some people like reading long novels, some prefer comics, u know! So let’s just go over all the avenues and how to get at them, and the rest is up to you!

I’m gonna make this post very long. VERY VERY LONG. IM SO FUCKn SORyr

First, I’ll talk abt what umineko is; then I’ll discuss the various media; finally, at the end, I’ll write down what I typically recommend to newcomers! SCROLL REALLY FAST TO THE HEADERS IF U HAVE NO TIME FOR MY RAMBLING LOL

So…here we goooo

READING UMINEKO: UNTANGLING THE WEB

OR: what the fuck is umineko and why do you want me to read it, diesel?

Since this is a general To Whom It May Concern post: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Or Umineko: When They Cry, alternatively When The Seagulls Cry) is a murder mystery/fantasy/metafiction visual novel published between 2007 and 2011. I know “murder mystery” and “metafiction” sound pretty boring when you combine them, but trust me–Umineko’s unlike anything you’ve seen, and defies explanation. Still, I’m here to do my best!

Umineko is about a rich and complicated family, and their annual family conference–and the year it goes super duper badly. On an isolated island, in the middle of a typhoon, tragedy befalls the family–on a massive scale! Someone is killing them–all of them–and the only answer that seems to be rising is–

“Beatrice did it.”

But Beatrice isn’t supposed to really exist. Not for real!! No one by that name is on the island. It’s just a story! She’s made up–Beatrice is a legend. A witch who has lived for a thousand years–who loaned the family patriarch ten tons of gold, an insane amount of wealth, in exchange for his soul. Now she’s collecting on that loan, taking everything back, with interest–the lives of the family included.

Is the culprit a human, or not? Does the witch exist, or not?Is the culprit one of the 18 people? Does a 19th person exist? Or…?And, most importantly–when the typhoon passes, will anyone remain alive on the island?

[YouTube: Umineko opening]

I’d super-recommend Umineko if you enjoy: strong characterization, a solidly built mystery (with plenty of smaller mysteries to try your brain with along the way ;) ), complex and nuanced characters, hype magic fights, Logic-Based Combat(???), deep discussions of trauma and its consequences, large casts of characters, Genre Fuckery, coping, Meta™, and milfs Complex Lore

I would, however, NOT recommend Umineko if you are triggered by/can’t stomach reading about: body horror, gore, death, trauma, child abuse, bullying, discussion of suicide, discussion of sexual assault, etc (you can message me for a more complete list of warnings; I’m happy to provide super-specific ones if there’s something specific you’re concerned about, or even give you specific scenes to watch out for. I kept this vague on purpose, but if you message me off anon or via DMs here or at @aceyasu, I’ll be happy to answer anything!)

Overall it’s a pretty dark, emotional story, with a lot of Themes™–but it’s also full of love and genuine heartfelt Feelings. I don’t think any story has touched me the way Umineko has! Of course, everyone’s experience is very unique to them, but I think Umineko has something for everyone (provided, of course, that we’re taking into account the content warnings and excluding people who can’t/don’t want to encounter those things!). The characters, music, story and message–it all has a lot of heart and it all is very important to me as an individual. Obviously no media is flawless, but I think Umineko’s good outweighs its bad…YMMV though of course :p

Also, hype magic fights.

OKAY WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY

Umineko’s story is told over 8 arcs–styled as “episodes”. I use “arc” and “episode” sort of interchangeably! Specific ones I just call “EP#” though. All you really need to know though is there’s 8 of them, of varying length, and you have to read them all for the full story.

Thankfully they’re numbered, am i right?? HAFDmgkdfmg

Each episode has its own focus within the overarching narrative and comes with its own fun mysteries and harrowing developments just for you! yay! But basically, the important thing is that they’re divided into the Question Arcs (1-4) and Answer Arcs (5-8).

Sometimes, to make things confusing, the Answer Arcs are also called “Core Arcs” or “Chiru”. I will use “Answer Arcs” here, but if you encounter those two elsewhere, that’s what they are. :p

ACTUALLY EXPERIENCING UMINEKO

(now that im done YAPPING)

The anime

Generally viewed as a poor product. It’s a bad adaption that fails as a standalone, too, because of the amount of important scenes that are missing. Don’t watch the anime first if you really want to get into Umineko. It’s a fun watch once you know how it’s supposed to go, though :p Covers the Question Arcs only, ends with EP4–so even if it was good, it would only be half the story… press f to pay respects. The opening fuckin slaps though, and all the VAs are solid.

The manga

Each Episode has its own manga adaption, usually done by a different artist (with exception of EP1, EP3, and EP8, which are all by the same artist). Generally solid; gets the most important parts. For people who want to get through quicker, the manga helps a lot.

The primary cost is that a lot of characterization doesn’t get to shine AS bright, as there’s simply no time to get into the nooks and crannies (still a great cast, though). However, the art is usually fantastic–since the artist changes every EP, it’s easy to deal with even if you don’t like a specific one’s style. It’ll be gone by next Episode!

A lot of moments get punched up by the more visual format of the manga. You really get a better sense of the characters interacting physically with one another! You do, however, run into the Scanlation Problem…..

I know, I know–most people, when given the option to, don’t want to pay for things. So when given the choice between fan scanlations and the official release, a lot of people would choose the scanlations. And they’re fine…for the most part…except for the parts that aren’t. Some parts (notably in the Answer Arcs) are…bad. Really bad. Even I can’t really understand it sometimes, despite knowing this story inside out… LOL

If you’re good at parsing Scanlation SNAFU or can’t afford/don’t want to buy it, you can find Umineko on MOST manga hosts! I don’t know which you prefer so I’m not gonna link ‘em hahahafkgmfh I usually use Manga Rock but that’s because I usually am reading on my phone and I like their app. The episodes are all numbered, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around!

On the other hand, if you have a hard time understanding poor translations, reading inconsistent typesetting/fonts, or simply Can afford it/prefer buying media, the manga is being officially released in English by YenPress! As is standard nowadays, you can get them in both physical volumes and digital e-books! However, YenPress’ release is currently ongoing–the first volume of EP8 is slated to release in March.

[YenPress link]

The visual novel

Ah, here we are–the head honcho himself…! This is the original version of Umineko. These are the ones we call “games”, and why we sometimes say u “play” Umineko, but. Really. It’s just reading. They’re kinetic novels. Its literally just reading. So I don’t know why we complicate things like that.

(“if she an .exe, shes a game”, I guess… xD)

This is where the characterization and voice of Umineko really shines! The style is often simple to read, sometimes even comically casual, but it cuts deep when it wants to. Even really simple lines can have a really strong impact–it’s a really pleasant style to read, IMO…pretty easy to understand most of the time, but emotionally resonant all the same!

Reading the VN is somewhat of an undertaking, because of the amount of hours required…It’s a far longer read. Depending on your reading speed and whether or not you pause to think/talk about things as you read, people clock in 100-200 hours to finish it.

But, on the upside–because it has so much more time than the manga, the VN can really get deep into the characters, their dynamics, and their inner conflicts. You really get a deep sense for everyone’s character and it makes most of the cast feel fleshed-out enough that you appreciate all of them to some extent (whether positive or negative :P)

Oh, actually–the original Umineko branded itself a “Sound Novel”….as opposed to a Visual Novel, where the emphasis is on, uh–Visuals–Umineko leans more heavily on audio to create its atmosphere. And the music? Fuckin rips!! The Umineko soundtrack is huge and has tons of absolute bangers. It’s easy to see why it decided to market itself as a Sound Novel rather than a visual novel–the graphics of the original PC version are simple, but the atmospheric sound effects and BGM really shines.

Here’s some enticing tracks to pique yr interest (be careful about the comments/etc though, there’s Definitely spoilers in there xD)[worldenddominator] [dead angle] [dir] [system0] [hope]

The VN nowadays is split into the two halves; if you get EP4, it’ll include 1-3 as well, essentially. Picking up Question Arcs (or EP4) and Answer Arcs (or EP8) gives u the whole 8 episodes. Easy peasy! Because we live in the future now, and retroactive inclusion of past games is just convenient!

There is an official English release now, which is a brand new luxury. It’s even on Steam! Wow! That’s the easiest way to get your paws on the hands-on experience. The translation has been slightly updated as well! Also, they added a new set of toggle-able graphics that are…um…I mean they’re certainly new…#BarelyContainedOpinionAlert

If you don’t want to pay or can’t afford it…uhhh….I used to have torrent links but they’re all dead. :T still, you can probably just find them, if you know your way around torrents. For the translation, you’ll have to either get a pre-patched version of the game, or use the translation group’s instructions to patch it yourself. 

If you can’t do either of those, or just don’t really have a preference, or…any number of reasons, you can also find all the games fully recorded and uploaded to YouTube (with or without commentary)!

As for the links, I’ve got them right h–

Wait–oh, sh–the graphics are bad?!? You think the graphics are bad? Or you think plain reading is boring? Y-you can’t understand what the background image in this scene is even supposed to be? Ah…the post-2007 struggle….

The visual novel, Part Deux: AH, THE JPEGS edition

OKAY SO I SPLIT THIS APART BECAUSE IT*S IMPORTANT

If you wanna spruce up your VN-reading experience, here’s the thing: they ported the game to PS3, with brand new graphics and–get this–full voice acting. Wow! There’s even CGs now…Jeez!

These are NOT the same graphics as the new ones from the official English release! That’s important!

SO, if you wanna spruce up the graphics a bit, or you enjoy voice acting with your novels, you can do that! People took apart the PS3 games and made patches for the PC version to enjoy the new graphics and voices. And now it’s available for the Steam version as well!

[SPRITE COMPARISON: ORIGINAL PC | PS3 | STEAM]You pick your favorite!

ALSO VOICE ACTING! WOW!! Remember how I said the anime got two things right and they were the OP and the voice cast?

SAME CAST, BABEY!!!! They are all excellent and do a wonderful job! It can really add some more interest if you struggle with staying focused on “plain” reading.

Okay so NOW the links:

You’ll have to dig up torrents yourself if you want those, bc its 6am and I’m too sleepy to… uzu

QUESTION ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

ANSWER ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

YOUTUBE[Non-commentated, with PS3 patch] you can find more just by searching but this one looks good to me :p

RONTRA OPINIONS / SUGGESTIONS

Personally, I favor the VN for most scenes, but the manga for my light casual reading. Y’know? The VN can be pretty…um…dense, at times.

Ironically, I think EP1 itself might be the biggest hurdle for total first-timers. It’s definitely paced as a “part 1 of 8″ for the first solid portion! By which I mean, it really takes its time establishing the cast and their individual situations. Which isn’t a bad thing–especially in the overarching scope of how long the story is–but if you aren’t sure about the premise, format, or if you’ll enjoy Umineko at all, it can be sort of…challenging.

It all really depends on the individual–things like attention span, investment, and personal preferences, imo. Some people just don’t enjoy reading that much text at once! And that’s fine! Some people love it and that’s fine! Some people think the intro is too long, some people think it’s intriguing from the start. Some really like watching character building, and some prefer to see action happening. Either way is fine, so it’s really up to you!

Usually, if someone isn’t sure, I suggest they try EP1 in manga form first, just to see if the general premise entices them; it’s fully possible to jump back and do the VN if you decide you like it! It sacrifices some characterization in exchange for exploring the main premise a little faster.

Similarly, if you just can’t get into the VN–you can read the entire thing with manga too, if you favor action over the deepest character lore. It’s still a good time and a good experience!

Though, in EP1′s favor–if you ARE sure about it, and are able to dedicate your attention to the first 10-13 hours of set-up, EP1 has one of the most rewarding escalations I’ve encountered! If you are able to sit and read a fairly long-winded introduction, you are rewarded with the most buck wild Popping Off you can imagine.

So there’s nothing wrong with jumping right in there with the VN, if you enjoy reading!

However, if you do find that the VN is dragging too much for you, you can go in reverse too–and finish EP1 by manga, then decide if you want to jump back to the VN or not. I promise, the novels pick up the pace too–it’s just getting all the introductions down that can be daunting, when the initial cast size is a staggering 18 people (plus the LORE has to be established too)!!

Just for you–if you want to get into Umineko, but struggle with EP1, I’ll offer my private archive of YenPress manga rips for EP1–read the manga, official english translation, for free thanks to your dealer friend, rontra,You will have to message me about it, though–off anon or via DMs, here or at @aceyasu.

My favorite setups when I play by myself are either Original PC Graphics + Voice Acting, or Full PS3 Patch. I personally really like the original PC graphics, but I understand some people think they’re kinda…um…Rough, to say the least xD PS3 graphics are a close second for me though.

I don’t really like the steam version’s new sprites. Some people don’t mind them, so it’s up to you what you prefer, but I think they don’t really convey the feeling as well as their counterparts sometimes… :/

But hey, everyone’s got their own opinions!

I also prefer the EP8 manga to the EP8 VN. If I have control over someone’s first playthrough, I always push over to the manga for EP8! In my opinion, it’s a rare instance where the adaption is better than its original. People have different opinions on this, of course, but since this section is My Opinions Central, that’s my opinioooon!!! :D

SO BASICALLY MY OWN PERSONAL PREFERRED STRUCTURE IS

->TRY EP1 (jump over to manga if struggling; if enjoyed manga ep1 until the end, hop back into the VN at EP2 and come back to EP1 if you want to later)

EP2-EP7 VN

EP8 MANGA(EP8 VN if desired afterwards, once the dust settles)

But you’re free to do what you want, of course. ;9

And then after that there’s some spinoffs that I didn’t talk about because that’s a post for another time. (There’s a fighting game! It’s packed full of spoilers.)

AFTERWORD

All in all, Umineko is…big. its very very big. it has a huge cast (the final count comes out to like, almost 70 characters!) and a huge story. and huge feelings.

The manga and the VN are the main avenues of getting into it. It’s easier than it looks at a glance; and yet, more daunting than it seems…

If you have the time and energy to pour hours of your time into it, Umineko is a super worthwhile story that tackles genuinely difficult material with a delicate but honest hand.

It clowns up sometimes and stumbles over its own demographic–see: Weird Vaguely Unpleasant Anime-brand Sex Comedy that springs up a lot in EP1, some in EP2, and then largely disappears save for a few dumb jokes here and there–but overall is a solidly built and solidly delivered story about trauma, love, loss, and getting your family ritual-murdered by a thousand-year-old witch who may or may not be real.

And if you have any questions at all (or just wanna talk Umineko), you can send an ask or IM me here or at @aceyasu–you can ask for my Discord too if you wanna really get into it. Or DM me on twitter! I’m happy to answer any question or elaborate on anything you’re confused about. I tried to go over this post quickly, so if I was too vague on something, feel free to ask!

The same of course applies to content warnings; if there’s something specific you’re worried about, I can answer it for you, whether it’s “does [specific thing] happen/appear” or “how much of [thing] is there, i can handle a little bit”! Anything! Of course I want people to read my favorite, but I also more than that want u all to be safe.

I’m very sorry that this post is literally three thousand words long. Umineko’s been my special interest for almost ten whole years. I get chatty! But hopefully my passion shines through and gets you excited!!!

LOVE, A BIG NERD

[robazizo]

Call Me By Your Name Fic Recs #3

- Finding The Stars by Woodentrain (aka @natures-cunning-ways​) Oliver's side of the story-Oliver's a normal kid, from a normal family. He's not like the rest of them, though- nobody expected him to want to sit with his nose in a book all day. Nobody expected him to want to go to college. Nobody expected him to go to stay with a professor in Italy to edit a book he's actually written himself. And when he gets to Italy there’s this kid, the professor’s son. He’s intimidating as hell. But when he smiles, really smiles, Oliver’s heart turns over...

- Bring Me Back With You by thecosmicfragments Did you know that a broken heart doesn't make any sound?

- Il Respiro Trattenuto by JWAB Their last night together in Rome.“We’ve still got hours.” “Hours,” Oliver repeated. So little, when he wanted decades. When other people got a lifetime.

- Per Aspera Ad Astra by Albione Oliver leaves B once more leaving Elio behind. Both live their parallel lives, but this time they have to face the reality of who they are and what they want. Twenty years is a heavy weight to deal with and time has changed them and those around them. The people they have loved and lost, family and friends, all have shaped them; can they still be happy living in a coma or is it time to reach for the stars? And if they do reach for the stars, will it be too late? 

- To Be A Room Without A Flame by labeledbones When Oliver finally sees Elio again, they’re at a funeral. Oliver and Elio reunite in New York in 1988 during the AIDS crisis.

- Closer Still by @thereisalwaysroom​ "Abbastanza,” I rasped. “Want you now.”

- Then, So Be It by @servem​ Oliver's last trip to the villa, and all the things he wanted to say.

- If not later, when by lq_traintracks “They can never undo it, never unwrite it, never unlive it, or relive it—it’s just stuck there like a vision of fireflies on a summer field toward evening that keeps saying, You could have had this instead.” ~André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name

- Mise En Abyme by @everyforkedroad​ A collection of vignettes of Elio and Oliver's coming together after the events of the novel. Adheres to the novel's timeline but vignettes are posted in non-chronological order. Stories will alternate between Oliver and Elio's POV.  This is the only WIP on this rec list, but the chapters are standalone.

- Husbands And Wives by nygirl26 After eight years together, there are still confessions to be made and concerns to quash. And dinner parties to throw.

- Waiting by @lookingforatardis​ It’s been six years since that summer, four of those spent in silence. Elio never let go, he was always there, waiting. When he stumbles upon Oliver by happenstance one day, he finally tells him.

- Somewhere On Twitter, May 2017 by mae428 (aka @all-things-all-the-time​) Set in 2017. Elio and Oliver meet on Twitter.

- At Last by Shelly_Webster Elio now an old man back in B. still remembers the love he has for Oliver...

- Traviamento by blackvogue (aka @terxture) basically read a particular part of cmbyn again the other day and it fucked me up so when i was feeling particularly angsty i just wrote this and nope i'm probably never going to finish it. wish i could end it on a mic drop moment but im too emotionally exhausted. also: im shit at writing so please enjoy

- And I’ll Call You By Mine  by ZombieAmoeba The entire story of Call Me By Your Name but from Oliver's POV. Mainly based on events in the film but with a few details from the book that I liked. As in the film, starts off slow burn then slash in later chapters. My Oliver is the shy, caring man hiding behind a casual carefree facade as guessed at by Samuel Perlman, if you prefer a different interpretation of Oliver then this might not be for you.

CMBYN Fic Recs #1 / CMBYN Fic Recs #2 / CMBYN Video Recs / My General Rec Tag

[annleckie]

Speaking of CJ Cherryh, which of her works would you recommend as a good starting point to somebody who hadn't read her stuff but was interested?

Oh, wow. This is a difficult question to answer.

IME Cherryh is an author who can take some getting used to. And various folks will prefer different works of hers. But! 

I’ll suggest trying Downbelow Station, which has the virtue of being a standalone (though there are lots of other novels in that same universe). You might also want to try Cyteen.

If you want to read the book(s) that had the most obviously direct influence on my books, try Foreigner.  Stick through the first two sections, which are essentially backstory (I skip them on re-reads) until you get to Bren Cameron. He’s the actual main character, and that’s where the actual story begins. If you don’t like being in Bren’s head, you won’t enjoy the rest of the series and can avoid them with my blessing.

There are some things in her work that make me go “hrm really?” but there are also lots of things in her work that strongly appeal to me. Cyteen is a work that creeps some folks out, for various reasons that are probably obvious if you’ve read it. Downbelow Station has some wtf moments. And there is a reason I do not advise you to start your Cherryh reading with Tripoint. (Seriously, don’t.) But I love her interest in language and culture, and I particularly love the Foreigner series.

[coldflasher]

Fic Writer’s Year In Review

I was mentioned by @silas-lehnsherr and @sophiainspace - thank you! this is such a nice way to look back on the year :D

General Fic Stats for 2018:

Word Count:  172,163

Number of fics: 7

Most Popular by Kudos:

aftermath

this fic is my baby and ate 2-3 years of my life - i entirely blame this fic for the reduced amount of things i’ve posted for this fandom, because it’s uh... long. 

summary: this fic is a rewrite of season 1 of the flash, but with barry and len dating from the onset. unsurprisingly, this causes complications. technically the third in a series but can also be read as a standalone. 

the fic is finished but i’m posting one chapter at a time - we’re currently on episode six and it’s uh. over 100k. that tells you everything you need to know about this fic probably

My Favorite Fic To Write:

i already mentioned aftermath, which i adored, so im gonna talk about sticks and stones - a constangreen angst-fest. this was my first time writing constangreen and i had a blast with constantine as a character; dialogue is my fave, and i heard his voice so clearly, it was so fun mimicking his speech patterns. also gary is a cutie. 

summary: the last time john constantine got involved with a guy named gary, it didn’t go so well. keeping gary at arm’s length seems like the best way to save his soul - too bad john’s drunk self has other ideas.

Funniest Fic:

i don’t know that i write many funny fics, per se, although i do like to include funny moments. but i guess the best fit would be take me out tonight. the idea was probably funnier than the execution, but i had a good time writing it haha.

summary: barry and len are having a nice, quiet date. unfortunately, central city’s metahuman population has other ideas.

Fluffiest Fic:

the promise 

this is a coldray fic that grabbed me and basically forced me to write it. also lowkey angsty cos i’m a monster whoops BUT THE ENDING IS FLUFFY I SWEAR.

summary: leo is returning to earth x to propose to the love of his life, and mick has the perfect ring. aka mick is finally ready to move on and figures his partner’s ring will do more good on ray terril’s finger than it will in his pocket. 

Saddest Fic:

faces to the moonlight

this one was for the coldflash valentines day event. somehow i took a nice prompt like slow-dancing and made it sad because, as mentioned, i suck. 

summary: this year barry allen’s valentine is a memory he can’t seem to let go of. aka barry spends the night dancing with a ghost in ferris airfield and mourning missed opportunites. and leonard. who is dead. happy valentines day!!! 

Most Challanging Fic To Write:

wow, can i say aftermath again. im gonna say aftermath again. the final draft is OVER 300k SO I THINK THIS IS JUSTIFIED

Fic I’m Proudest of Writing:

aftermath, hands down. i don’t have a huge pool of fics to choose from this year, but The Fic That Ate Three Years Of My Life will always be one of my proudest achievements. 

Least Popular Fic:

faces to the moonlight again! this is fair, it’s pretty sad. i don’t blame y’all for not wanting to do that to yourselves.

Honourable Mentions:

shoutout to all the fics that i haven’t finished yet!! none of these have titles cos titles are my kryptonite. hoping to finish and post these in 2019, fingers crossed.

1. the coldflash vegas fic. 

i have a horrible first draft of this and intend to rewrite it when i have the time! this was based off something we talked about in my old dctv discord chat, flashtrash, which i left basically because i got super busy and forgot to talk and then got too anxious to ever speak again so i just kind of. disappeared. oops.

anyway this fic was fun but i was depressed and burnt out when i wrote it and it deserves better. barry and len get whammied during a metahuman altercation and suddenly decide that getting married is the best idea ever. funnily enough, team flash disagrees. the fic is basically about barry and leonard running away to vegas to get married and team flash frantically trying to catch up to them before they make A Mistake. i really do love this fic and i wanna finish it but my creative writing degree is eating all my time rn... sigh

2. the dark!iris/killer frost fic

this one is slowly coming along and i reckon i’ll finish it soon...ish? when i have time? 

after her brief stint as the flash, iris becomes obsessed with becoming a speedster for real. the solution is to steal barry’s powers, obviously. when killer frost finds out, iris thinks it’s game over - but as it turns out, they make a pretty good team. 

basically, it’s about villain!iris and killer frost falling in love and stabbing everyone else in the back. it’s terrible, i’m obsessed with it. 

General Writing Impressions:

I haven’t had as much time to dedicate to fic this year because I’ve been devoting myself more to original projects. I’m doing a creative writing degree and so a lot of my energy has gone towards that. however, I do miss writing fic - it’s so nice to write just for fun, you know? no goals of publication, no impending grade that will, inevitably, make me feel bad about something i loved and was proud of... just writing for the love of it. i do miss that. 

in 2019 i’d like to strike a balance. of course my degree comes first, but i want to make time to write some (shorter) fics this year - it reminds me of why i love writing and why i want to do this. overall i’m never going to be a prolific fic writer who writes like, 100 short fics because i find them very hard, but i’d like to write more short fics and explore more pairings and just have fun, let loose and enjoy the process of writing fics whenever i get the chance. 

Writers You Should Read:

again I haven’t dedicated enough time to reading fics recently :( (i read over 130 books instead because apparently i always lean massively one way or the other. it’s either all fics or all books?? wild.) but here are some writers who wrote fics i enjoyed very much!

@sophiainspace , sandrineshaw (sandrine), crimsondomingo (of course!), harleygirl2648, katyakora, barrylen and more! 

(i don’t tend to tag people because uhhh anxiety, but feel free do this and say i tagged you!)

[dawittiest]

HOW $#@! DO I READ NEW AVENGERS?

New Avengers (Vol. 1) is one of the most recommended Avengers runs by me and it’s a classic. Great, so how do I read it? Not by picking up the first issue and hoping for the best, that’s for sure. To get it, you have to know the context behind Avengers Disassembled and the House of M, and it’s a good idea to maybe read Young Avengers v1 too, and when you finally start reading actual New Avengers run then you get to Civil War and things get… confusing. (This is going to be a long post).

SO! Welcome to the biggest cluster of events in Marvel U history! It’s also my fave.

(see also: totally subjective intro to avengers comics)

Most of it is a brainchild of Brian Michael Bendis – now, to be a proper Comics Fan™ you need to be aware of the Bendis Discourse. My good friend Brian here is the definition of a Problematic Fave; he has written a good chunk of my favorite comics ever – he’s also written some of the worst. Now, I’d argue that his New Avengers era (running impressively from 2005 to 2012) is his Peak moment and one of the best creative moments in Marvel’s history. But it’s a fuckton of comics.

First in the NA run comes Civil War – the original limited series written by Mark Millar is probably one of the most controversial Marvel comics to be published (up until last year’s Secret Empire but we don’t talk about that). It’s, well. For starters, it’s not great for the characterization of all involved. Then there’s the issue that it seems not a single editor was involved in publishing this comic (is Matt Murdock in jail or prowling the streets? Who the fuck knows!! Certainly not the author). It’s aggressive. It’s over the top. It’s very Millar.

But Civil War is undeniably one of the most iconic storylines in modern comics. And while the original series is, let’s say, problematic, some of the tie-ins and aftermath issues are good. Plus, Civil War practically singlehandedly birthed the SteveTony fandom into existence. What can I say, I’m biased.

Once upon a time in my younger and more foolish ways, I decided to read the entirety of Civil War, spanning over 100 comics total, over the course of one summer month. I came back from this experience aged with wisdom to obliterate Bad Discourse with my encyclopedic knowledge of all relevant panels and to tell you which Civil War comics you should read for best experience. Honestly, no regrets (well, maybe except Moon Knight. I regret reading that a little).

Mind that this is a completely subjective selection. Also, seeing as Civil War spans over one-fucking-hundred comics I didn’t list all that are worth reading – just those that are most relevant to the story. It’s still a Lot.

BEHOLD – CIVIL WAR!

Prelude

-       The New Avengers Illuminati v1 #1 (one-shot)

-       Amazing Spider-man v2 #529-531

-       Civil War #1

-       Amazing Spider-man v2 #532

-       Civil War Frontline #11

1 CW Frontline is great. It’s also 11-issues long. If you’re not intimidated by the sheer number of comics to read, I really recommend it. If you’d rather cut the unnecessary comics out of your diet you can skip it on first reading, though I recommend you go back to it someday – it guarantees to make you look at certain players in Civil War through whole different eyes.

-       Civil War #2

-       Civil War Frontline #21

-       Civil War Frontline #31

-       Amazing Spider-man v2 #533

-       New Avengers v1 #21

-       Civil War #3

-       New Avengers v1 #22

-       New Avengers v1 #23

-       Black Panther v4 #182

2 The real wedding of the century! It’s not really all that important in the grand scheme of things but I included it because it’s just one issue and really, it’s iconic. Definitely worth the read.

-       Civil War Frontline #41

-       Civil War Frontline #51

-       Amazing Spider-Man v2 #534

-       Civil War #4

-       Amazing Spider-Man v2 #535

-       Civil War Frontline #61

-       Civil War Frontline #71

-       New Avengers #243

3 You can skip it, really.

-       Civil War #5

-       New Avengers v1 #25

-       Iron Man v4 #13

-       Iron Man v4 #14

-       Amazing Spider-Man V2 #536

-       Civil War Frontline #81

-       Civil War Frontline #91

-       Iron Man/Captain America: Casualties of War

-       Civil War #6

-       Civil War Frontline #101

-       Amazing Spider-man v2 #537

-       Civil War #7

-       Amazing Spider-man v2 #538

-       Civil War Frontline #111

-       Captain America v5 #254

4 It’s part of the Brubaker’s run on Cap, which means it’ll probably throw you on a few occasions since you don’t have the full context. Still, you should read it, it’s important; besides, not knowing what tf is going on is just part of the Comics Experience.

-       Civil War The Confession

The Aftermath

-       What If – Civil War

-       Fallen Son: Death of Captain America

-       Iron Man Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (IM Vol. 4)5

5 Do you like TEARS and PAIN and some BODY HORROR? This run is for you. You don’t really need to read it right after CW; it’s acts pretty good as a standalone and you can always go back to it later. But I really recommend you do – it’s some of the best comics there are.

-       Captain America Vol. 54

4 Ah, the (in)famous Brubaker Cap! Some love it, some hate it. I have to say, it’s one of my favorite runs, period. It’s epic-length so I don’t recommend you dive into it right this second, but you should go back to it sometime – it will give you some further insight to the NA era and it’s just good storytelling. (There is some misogynistic bs to beware of, but honestly, that’s like token warning for all comics).

So you’re done with Civil War! Time for a breather, right? Wrong. Marvel has another event in store for you and this one is probably my most favorite of all.

BEHOLD – SECRET INVASION!

When you’re done with Civil War’s aftermath, you can continue reading NA up until you hit

-       New Avengers v1 #37

then you proceed to

-       New Avengers Annual #2

in which Brian wraps-up his pre-SI storyline and the next issue after that begins

Prelude: The Infiltration

-       New Avengers v1 #38

-       Mighty Avengers #7

-       New Avengers Illuminati v2 #1-#56

6 You don’t really have to read all of them, but I recommend you do. If you recommend I shove it, read at least #1 and #5, as the events in these will be brought up again and again.

-       New Avengers v1 #39

SECRET INVASION

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #127

7 Mighty Avengers are great for further insight into SI! But you don’t really need them. You can always go back to those later.

-       New Avengers v1 #40

-       Secret Invasion #1

-       New Avengers v1 #41

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #137

-       Secret Invasion #2

-       New Avengers v1 #42

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #147

-       Secret Invasion #3

-       New Avengers v1 #43

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #157

-       Secret Invasion #4

-       New Avengers v1 #44

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #167

-       Secret Invasion #5

-       New Avengers v1 #45

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #177

-       Secret Invasion #6

-       New Avengers v1 #46

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #187

-       Secret Invasion #7

-       New Avengers v1 #47

-       Secret Invasion #8

The Aftermath

-       Mighty Avengers v1 #20

We’re saying good-bye to Secret Invasion with MA #20 and moving up to an even darker period in Marvel’s history

BEHOLD – DARK REIGN!

Now, Dark Reign isn’t considered an event per se, because Marvel just advertised it as “The New World Order” (see how long that sticks). But I’m still gonna treat it as one, since it’s hard understanding just what tf is going on if you don’t have some background reading.

-       Dark Reign The Goblin Legacy8

8 This is not as much as a new comic but a reprint of some older comics that give you much-needed background on Norman Osborn/Green Goblin. Don’t get discouraged by the silly Silver Age-ness – the comics are the product of their time and anyway, this is basically required reading.

-       Secret Invasion Dark Reign9

9 Not a required reading but an entertaining behind-the-scenes look. Definitely recommended.

-       Dark Avengers10

10 Okay, again, not required but so much fun. If you like asshole antiheroes and more in-depth look at Norman Osborn’s twisted shenanigans you will really enjoy this book. And Victoria Hand is everything. (If you decide to read it right now, I recommend you read NA up to Siege and then read all of DA up to Siege too).

-       Dark Reign New Avengers: The Reunion

-       Invincible Iron man: World’s Most Wanted (IIM v1 #8-19)11

11 Cool concept, uneven execution, cool characters, uneven characterization – Fraction’s IIM in a nutshell. Plus, Larroca’s ugly-ass art. I have sentiment for this arc but admittedly, you can probably go back to it later.

Continue reading NA up to

-       New Avengers v1 #60

after which you should read

-       New Avengers v1 Annual #3

which leads you up to

SIEGE!

Maybe I’m biased but Siege is a pretty lukewarm event. Still, you need it, so I’m going to give you bare required reading.

Prelude

There’s like… 15? Thor issues leading up to Siege but they’re boring and I didn’t read all of them so you can skip them too.

-       Captain America: Reborn12

12 I don’t really think you should read it without reading Brubaker’s Cap first or you’ll be very confused. All you need to know is Steve is back! And you can read up on everything leading up to that in CA v5 later.

-       Invincible Iron Man: Stark Disassembled (IIM v1 #20-24)13

13 Fraction is back at it again! And just like before, you can probably get back to it later. Still, I dig the whole Disassembled concept.

SIEGE

-       Siege #1

-       Dark Avengers #1314

14 only if you decide to read the series

-       New Avengers #61

-       Siege #2

-       Dark Avengers #1414

-       New Avengers #62

-       Siege #3

-       Dark Avengers #1514

-       New Avengers #63

-       New Avengers #64

-       Siege #4

-       Dark Avengers #1614

The Epilogue

-       The Sentry: Fallen Sun

-       New Avengers: Finale

Aaaand that’s that! Wow, you read a fucking load of comics. Get back to me when you want to devour even more.

NEXT STOP – HEROIC AGE!

[philipshay]

all of the writing questions 1-54

1. Favorite place to write.

my bed lmao 

2. Favorite part of writing.

that moment when you just frantically have to get something out??? and the words just spill out like crazy and idk its amazing

3. Least favorite part of writing.

having to write the boring chunky stuff thats essential for plot

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?

not really tbh

5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.

maggie stiefvater and lauren oliver definitely

6. Favorite character you ever created.

so shes my current mc for my trilogy and her name is isla and i just really fucking love her

7. Favorite author.

lauren oliver

8. Favorite trope to write.

i love angst idk if thats a trope??

9. Least favorite trope to write.

probably like.....idk tbh i dont have anything that i dont like when it comes to tropes

10. Pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

i would die to write a book with lauren oliver like i would write anything she wanted to write

11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

step one: frantically write a paragraph or scene

step two: frantically try and fill in around that first thing

step three: leave it alone for a while

step four: finish when the motivation returns

12. How do you deal with self-doubts?

the only way to deal with them for me is to just. let them be. i know im gonna have them, and that i cant get rid of them, so i just work around them. i write regardless of them. 

13. How do you deal with writers block?

take a break for a little while. read something. watch something. wait for it to become easy to write again.

14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?

for my first book i did hours of research on amputations and prosthetics and stuff because my mc was an amputee

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

everywhere. songs or quotes or shows or books. 

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

readers and just myself. i enjoy the writing and it makes me feel good to do it. 

17. On avarage, how much writing do you get done in a day?

i try and write a little each day. but some days it doesnt work and i have to just set it down. 

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

look...i fucking hate revision and i grumble through it and hate it

19. First line of a WIP you’re working on.

its for an evak fic btw: 

Something that Isak Valtersen has tried to accept over the last year is that sometimes love isn’t enough.

20. Post a snippet of a WIP you’re working on.

from my book: 

One of her hands came up to cup my head, and she held me tighter than she ever had before. It reminded me of when I was small, on the nights I was afraid and young and didn’t understand why I had to stay downstairs. 

The small basement had seemed so big when I was a child. Monsters lurked in all of its corners. Demons waited in the shadows. 

I myself was a monster, but I didn’t know it yet. I was a different type of monster; I was the type that couldn’t be killed. I was too human for that. I was the dredge of humanity. 

But the thing is, when half of the population is as well, it’s much harder to hunt us. It’s much harder to hunt us when we share the faces of those that are good. 

Before I knew what I was, my mother would come downstairs and tell me that one day I wouldn’t be scared, that one day I wouldn’t have to spend every day downstairs. She’d hold me and whisper empty promises. 

Even then, as she held me, there was another empty promise on her lips. She didn’t say it, as I was far too old to believe it, but I knew what she was thinking.

21. Post the last sentence you wrote in one of your WIP’s.

from my current book too:

Because it was a lie. My freedom was a beautiful, beautiful lie. 

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you?

okay so honestly im a 1 draft kinda girl and then i go in and edit. 

23. Single or multi POV, and why?

it really depends but currently i prefer single.

24. Poetry or prose, and why?

prose. it has more freedom.

25. Linear or non-linear, and why?

i havent written non linear but i really love it because its so complex and theres so many ways to slowly reveal things and idk its amazing

26. Standalone or series, and why?

ive noticed that most books that are in a series are never as good as book 1. but, that said, there are some worlds that i love to live in and will totally take multiple books. 

27. Do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 

usually wait until its polished

28. And who do you share them with?

i have a writing friend amy who i used to share everything with and other than her i guess tumblr? idk

29. Who do you write for?

myself. 

30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.

this sounds conceited but there’s so many that i like. i guess one of my favs is: 

Sometimes people leave, and sometimes they’re lost. And sometimes we don’t ever find out why. That’s a darkness that just doesn’t go away.

31. Hardest character to write.

writing my mc marley from my first book was difficult because she had so much anger towards what happened to her and it blinded her to quite a bit. and as the author i knew she was going to get over that but the character herself didnt, and it was hard. 

32. Easiest character to write.

so this is fic but tbh percy jackson because it was on him and the other pjo characters that i learned to write and i spent so much time in that world that i know the characters

33. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?

yep usually

34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?

typed

37. Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

probably “The promblem isn’t your thighs. The problem is your head.” because it reminds me that my eating disorder is the real enemy, not food. 

39. Do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

definitely on real people. there are pieces of people i know in all of my characters. like the nurse that helped marley in my first book is based off my friend amy. 

40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

both. they both have their perks and their cons. 

41. How many stories do you work on at one time?

so many. so so so many. 

42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.

it comes in pieces. like, i just figured out a few days ago that my mc wasnt a redhead after all. it just happens naturally. it occurs to me randomly tbh. 

43. Are you an avid reader?

i used to be. i do love reading but i dont do it as much anymore. 

47. Do you start with characters or plot when working on a new story?

it depends. 

48. Favorite genre to write in.

i love dystopian and contemporary.

49. What do you find the hardest to write in a story, the beginning, the middle or the end?

the beginning. 

52. How did writing change you?

it showed me who i was. it gave me purpose and showed me what i wanted to do and idk it made me into the person i am. 

53. What does writing mean to you?

everything. writing is so important to me like....its everything. 

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” it truly is. comparison is the enemy. try not to take part in that shit. 

[allyouhavetodo]

Read Harder 2019: An Alternate History Novel

My goal for this category was: no nazis. And ideally also: no slaves. No need to start 2019 off with more of a bummer than necessary.

So when 11/22/63 proved to be Too Long To Even Consider (seriously, wtf are you doing, Stephen King?), I turned to my old friend YA.

Set in 1940s Edinburgh in a world in which Napoleon was not defeated at Waterloo and consequently world politics shaped up very differently and also ghosts are real (not sure this part is Napoleon’s fault), Scotland is the subject of frequent bombing attacks by a terrorist group hoping to foment world war.

What’s this got to do with our 15 year-old protagonist, Sophie? ....Unclear, actually. Her parents were killed in an explosion when she was a baby and she was raised by her great-aunt who is, while not actually a politician herself, very politically connected, and also runs a spiritualism society, and ALSO helped invent a procedure to remove human emotions. Kinda seems like the book should be about great-aunt Tabitha, right? She’s got a lot going on. (Everyone’s got a lot going on, tbh.)

Anyway, Sophie is called upon to attend one of her aunt’s seances where the medium gives her a very strange unsolicited message. Sophie doesn’t believe in spiritualism (despite the fact that in this world ghosts are provably real and Sophie herself is psychically sensitive) so she tries to find out more about this medium only to discover the medium’s gone missing and then in short order turns up murdered. So the adventure begins? Typical teen detective stuff.

One of the most horrifying aspects of the books is this emotion-scooping procedure. No one knows that it exists and it used exclusively at a training institution for young women. Because there is a great need for good secretaries and because powerful men cannot be expected to regulate their own emotions, why not scoop out the emotional cores of girls, train them up, and hand them out like candy to whoever need a secretary. These girls who have specifically been give hollowed out, seemingly against their will, to the point that they specifically have no emotional needs of their own. Great idea. Cool, cool, cool. (The book doesn’t go into this but there’s no way these men aren’t physically and sexually abusing these women, right? They do it to regular women all the time. Im sure they treat these women who have literally had their ability to resist taken away like respected and valuable members of the team. Not like empty, fuckable shells. Not at all.) Because no one knows about the emotion-scoping, going into this training institute is considered to be one of the most prestigious courses for young women coming out of school. Blergh.

I won’t trouble you with the plot because, honestly, it’s so much. But I was disappointed to find that this book is not a standalone. Despite nowhere on it indicating that it is the start of a series, that is absolutely what it is. Because despite So Much Happening we resolve absolutely nothing by the end. We don’t take down the brain scoopers, we don’t stop the oncoming war, we don’t even find out why our girl is so special. Though, special she is. About 50 pages from the end of the. I’ll she gets a phone call from Alfred Nobel’s brain in a jar telling her so. Sure.

It’s all rather perplexing.

Plot-wise it’s a no. Plus, the main character, Sophie, is something of a ditherer. Do all 15 year-olds jump so quickly to such dumb conclusions about everything all the time? (I mean, probably, yeah, but I don’t find it a joy to read.) One of her defining character traits is: doesn’t like to be teased. And she spends half the book crushing on her chemistry teacher. 🙄

What is enjoyable is the alternate historyness of it all. Not being a big European history buff, I don’t know shit about Napoleon really. But, obviously, that momentous of a change, that far back in time would have major repercussions across time and the book really enjoyed getting into those changes, large and small.

I definitely don’t care enough about Sophie to persist with the series if it becomes one. But I’m glad to have gotten through this category Nazi-free.

[kuro-von-shitsuji]

hi! after you're done seeing the movie, would you be ok with writing some spoilers or at least a spoilery-review for us western fans who have to wait months to see it, pretty please? :( im so hyped for it but hate having to wait. hope you enjoy it!

Happy to oblige friend

Alright so let me start off by saying that the Campania arc is myabsolute favourite arc of the manga and I’ve read it more times than I can evencount. Honestly, I could probably tell you exactly what happens panel by panel,so this is a review coming from that context. Bear in mind some of the thingsI’ll mention might not even be noticeable to people who haven’t poured so muchtime into it. Having cleared that up let’s begin.

(Obviously spoilers under the cut)

We start the film with an awkward CG shot of seagulls followed by apanning shot of the Campania. The camera then pans over a milling CG crowd. Isuspect the members of said crowd were probably on their way to cameo in theAce Attorney anime right after seeing the Campania off. Yes, THAT is thestandard of the CG through out the film. This style of background animationcontinued throughout the whole thing and never ceased to be jarring. The onlytimes it felt appropriate was when it was used on the crowds of bizarre dolls,especially one particular scene where they panned through them, but for themost part it was not a great stylistic choice. 

The early scenes felt kind of rushed because they had to cram in a lotof things in not a lot of time. This meant that some minor scenes were cut suchas Ronald hitting on Meirin, Ciel comforting Snake and Ronald attackingSebastian with his knife. Of course, these were all scenes that mostlycontributed to the overall character development and not the film as astandalone so I can understand the decision. Nevertheless I was a littledisappointed. The animation in these early scenes was disjointed and not greatto be honest.

Now with all the little scenes they cut for time they somehow managed toinclude the Double Charles. Let me tell you now they contributed absolutelynothing to the plot whatsoever. They appeared in all of four scenes and onlyactually felt like they belonged in Lizzie’s flashback (probably because theywere actually in Lizzie’s flashback in the original).The last of their cameo’sI actually really liked because although brief it showed Phipps comforting a(presumably orphaned) child and honestly it wrenched my heart out. I also foundit very difficult to stay salty about their presence, because every time eitherof them appeared on screen the girl next to me would curl up in delight andclap silently to herself and it made me realise that if their presence wasbringing people so much joy I really couldn’t fault the creators for it.

One extremely minor detail I was surprised to see changed was the shippingcompany name. In the manga it is the “Blue Star Line” whereas in the film itwas very conspicuously changed to the “Majestic Star Line.” I can only assumethis was a copyright issue, since Blue Star Line is the name of Clive Palmer’sshipping company (theoretically) building Titanic II. Again, this contributesnothing to the actual plot of the film, but anyone else who’s up to date in themanga can probably see why the change is kind of jarring.

So we’ve gone through some of the bad and ambivalent aspects let’s moveonto the good. Namely, the fight scenes. They were incredible. Absolutelyundeniably incredible. Particularly the Undertaker/Sebastian/Grell/Ronald scenehad me staring at the screen in utter awe. The animation was actually extremelywell done (at least to my untrained eye) and every movement just seemed so muchmore intricate than you can ever get a feel for from a manga. Undertaker’sstrength was far more evident when you can actually see him moving. It was alsoa lot more obvious how exactly his scythe actually works, which after readingthe manga time after time I never really picked up on. They didn’t shy awayfrom the magic aspect and it just made his sheer power all the more impressive.

Speaking of Undertaker, he was attractive. He was SO attractive and I’mSO GLAD. I’m sure many of you, like me have seen the official art and given alittle shudder. However, rest assured they get the character down accurately.Junichi Suwabe does an excellent job in portraying Undertaker’s true self whilestill maintaining his iconic features, mainly his laugh. There was also clearlya sizeable portion of the film budget dedicated to animating Undertaker and itwas so worth it.

Lizzie was also incredible. Her fighting was absolutely beautiful towatch. It might be obvious in the manga to others (I’ve never picked up on it)but the way she moved was portrayed as though she were performing ballet. Herown strength was also evident in how she achieved feats like running on theceiling. I even heard someone near me gasp and whisper aloud “she’s sostrong!”

Grell and Ronald were wonderful every moment they were on screen. Ronaldparticularly I couldn’t take my eyes off but to be honest it was probably justbecause I love him so much. I can’tremember any specifics about what made Ronald so great on scene because all mymemories of his parts were just me going “aw fuck yes Ronald.” Grell,however, was an absolute delight to watch. Jun Fukuyama did a wonderful job asalways but there were very subtle things he did that contributed to the overallimpact wonderfully. 

On to Sebastian. One thing I need to go back and look over in the mangais the scene in the cargo deck where Sebastian tears apart the bizarre dollsbecause in the film he straight up entered his true form. This was, naturally,done in completely full view of Snake. Including this scene there were I thinkfour times where he went full demon, the other non-flashback time being the shortmoment where he thinks Undertaker is going to hurt Ciel. Each time he makesthis completely and utterly inhuman noise. In Ciel’s flashback Sebastian’stransformation from demon to human wavered and was distorted in a reallyunsettling manner. Both of these aspects were incredibly jarring but in a goodway (if that makes any sense at all). After watching Yuta Furukawa on stage inNovember I came away reminded that Sebastian is evil. After Book of theAtlantic I came away reminded firmly that he is not human. Not at all.

There was an after credits scene. It starts with Will collecting Ronaldand Grell as was in the manga. The final scene, however, was completelyoriginal. It was essentially just Ciel and Lizzie reuniting on the rescue shipafter the ordeal, but it tied the film together nicely.

I hope this was in some way coherent. I’m not going to give it a numberscore because honestly there were amazing aspects and horrendous aspects allrolled together. One word of advice to anyone watching it is please bear withthe early scenes because good lord it gets better. By the end I came away feelinglike the whole thing was a great experience, but it was by no means a flawlessfilm.