#instead of spreading ur love and support to these authors for taking the time to make these fics that they put sm work and passion into

[beepbopzlorp]

btw authors on tumblr have lives and responsibilities outside of their blogs so you arent entitled to demanding a post from them whenever they are out of their usual posting times

[b4tasquad]

hii im happy ur back!! could you write dad!kenny please 🙏

Authors note: i finally finally finally got myself together and wrote something for Kenny. can’t believe i haven’t before 😧 also i don’t usually write anything involving pregnancy or anything so this is new…

Warnings: mentions of tough pregnancy?? nothing more

…

“Can you take her?”

Your voice is hoarse, a mix of the lack of sleep and the headache you could feel incoming making you feel all the more tired. At first, you thought your words would go by without an answer, and with a huff, you sat up. Right as you were about to get out of the comfortable bed and attend to your needy infant, Kenny shuffled from beside you.

With one hand he gently pushed your body down, and with the other, he rubbed at his sleepy eyes. You didn’t argue, instead letting his hand lay you down on the lulling mattress again. Carefully, he got up in an upright position and turned to your tired form.

“Go back to sleep baby, I got her,” Kenny promised, pecking your lips quickly before making his way to the crib.

A feeling of immense gratitude spreads around your body in the form of tingles. Watching your fiancé carefully wrap the loud child in his arms, and rock it back and forth made a little smile form on your face. It was in moments like these you thanked yourself for choosing the right man to bring a new life into the world with.

Kenny was the greatest father you could wish for your 2-month-old daughter. He handled her with such care and love and it was clear she felt comfortable with him. She didn’t have to say who her favorite was for you to know. But even if you joked about how it was unfair, seeing as you’d birthed her, you loved how attached your daughter was to her father. He deserved all the love.

Upon finding out that you were with a child after freshly turning 24, all of your dreams seemed to evaporate around you. You were wrapping up your last year at uni, and your life was the most chaotic it had ever been. Adding a pregnancy to that, how the hell were you supposed to get through?

Your family was quick to inform you of their support, and that they’d be there for anything you might need. While you appreciated their efforts, you were still not confident that it wouldn’t ruin your life. This was a child. Someone that would consume most of your time, need the most love. It wasn’t an easy decision, even if people were up for helping you with it from time to time

Kenny had been your boyfriend for a while when you dropped the bomb on him. You were ready for anything. Him leaving, getting angry, demanding for you to get an abortion. But instead, he pulled you into him, smiling from ear to ear.

“What are you smiling for?” You had asked him, feeling more at ease as his smile widened.

“What do you mean what am I smiling for, Y/n, we’re having a baby.” Kenny chuckled, shaking you gently in excitement. He was over the moon, jumping up and down til it suddenly dawned upon him. “As long as you want to though.”

That was the moment you knew that whatever happened with school, you’d have a caring man by your side to battle through it. Even in his exhilaration to have a child, he made sure that it was something you most and foremost wanted. It wasn’t something he had said with any specific intention, but even so, his words affected you in such a powerful way.

Your pregnancy had you testing new waters in both your relationship with Kenny, but also with yourself. While readying yourself mentally for the struggles you would face both in and after birth, you had plenty of time to sit back and think. The 9 months were nothing but pure torture. While you knew gaining weight and feeling weak was inevitable, you had not known to what extent. Besides the change in your body, your hormones were messing with your head badly. You lashed out, broke down, or was abnormally quiet and you hated yourself for it. The people around you stood beside you through it all, and whenever you did something, it always made you feel bad long after they’d forgotten about it. This stupid pregnancy was changing you, and you felt as though by the time it was over, you’d have no one in your corner anymore.

Kenny Ojuederie never left you alone for long tho. Through a period of 9 long months, you’d broken up with him, told him you never wanted to see him again and locked him out of your apartment… twice. But even with all these obstacles you were for sure would have made someone leave, Kenny continued to stand tall in his fight to be there for and with you. He loved you and your unborn child, and it would be a cold day in hell before he let hormones divide you.

Through his determination, you realized how much he loved you, and even more your love for him. He was your soulmate. There was no simpler way than explaining it as such.

…

‘’Should I give her the bottle now?’’ Gazing up from the food you were preparing, your eyes landed on your fiance’s unsure expression. He stood in his sweats, your daughter in his arms as he nodded towards the newly washed baby bottle on the counter. At closer inspection, you could see how tired she really was. The time wasn’t no more than 4 pm and her eyes were closing and opening.

You hesitate. ‘’It’s early.’’ She had woken up from her nap only 2 hours prior, and you knew that if the two of you let her sleep now, she wouldn’t even close her eyes tonight. ‘’She won’t be able to sleep at night’’

Kenny winces. ‘’Well, looks like you can’t sleep, princess’’ He smiles at her, raising her in his arms.

Smiling, you go back to making dinner, mixing the stir and adding spice now and then. Kenny continued to occupy the baby, playing with her as you made the food in peace. Just as you turned the stove off, the two of them appeared in the kitchen again.

‘’Looks like mommy is done with the food’’ You usually hated when people spoke to babies in that voice, but listening to Kenny had your mind wandering to a place of happiness. Missing your daughter, you gesture for him to give her, and he does so.

You hold her against your chest, smiling at her. Kenny watches you too with fondness, eyes sparkling and heart hammering against his chest. ‘’I love you’’ he randomly states, and before you have time to say something back, he kisses you.

You reciprocate his actions before pulling away and laying your head on his shoulder, baby secured between your bodies. ‘’I love you and our little family.’’

He cheeses, loving the sound of that. ‘’Our family. Fuck, say that again’’

You lean into his ear, a shit-eating grin resting on your lips. ‘���Our family… our family… our-’’ He wastes no time taking hold of your jaw and pressing your lips together for a second time. The kiss holds lust and passion, but most and foremost the purest and most genuine affection. Kenny kisses you like you’ve given him his life back, a reason to keep going. And while your lovesick mind can’t fully comprehend it yet, you truly have.

…

Tag list:

@p3drii , @jiusz , @n1kodl , @shuuuuush , @w1shes43 , @alltoowill0w , @slutforpablogavi , @enhacolor , @allygatcr , @romanlawkickingmyassrn , @randomhoex , @batmansb1tch , @jamespotterssidepiece , @Eatmybootyhair , @distantfromu

[kaveuh]

HI EI how ru? i got this idea and I wld like to request it

Hm so imagine this scenario with like ok so like yk how there bias which is ur fav person in a unit.

So basically reader supports switch as a whole but their bias is Sora and Natsume rlly like them romantically so he gets rlly frustrated whenever you show up in Sora themed merch

It’s just a little idea so if u don’t get want to write it it’s alright! Pls rest well and take care of urself!

"THIS IS, INFACT A COMPETITION!"

★ ( natsume sakasaki !! )

warnings — not proof read

author’s note — kaze this is such s silly idea i love it. and i’m doing okay, i hope you’re doing great as well. i’m ngl, i actually don’t know much about switch since i haven’t read much of their stories so hopefully this isn’t too ooc. (i have no idea how the hell natsume’s dialogue works so i just did whatever LMAO)

Natsume had known you since forever. You were there when he was at his lowest, right after the Five Eccentrics were crushed. You were there when he formed Switch and watched all his hardwork and efforts. You’re basically Switch’s #1 fanatic at this point. It’s not all that surprising to say that the magician had fallen in love with you.

However, there is a problem. A huge problem.

"[name], you came aGAIN." Natsume stated, a smile that was barely noticeable plastered on his face. His gaze slowly trailed down to your bag that was decorated with pins, acrylic keychains and even some small nuis.

You supported Switch as a whole. But, he wasn’t your oshi. Secretly, he was heartbroken. Instead, it was his fellow unitmate, Sora. Your bag was decorated with multiple pins and keychains of Sora. You always showed up with the same themed bag, and it would make him feel things that he really shouldn’t feel.

"Of course I did! When have I ever missed a Switch event?" You exclaimed, handing him a bag decorated with adorable little cats as its prints. "For you. I usually don’t bring gifts, but I did this time."

Natsume was flabbergasted. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Do you want someTHING from mE, [name]?" He tried to avoid looking at your bag as his eye subtly twitched. "This is omiNOUS, I must sAY."

You simply laughed, waving your hands as a sign of reassurance that you didn’t want anything in return.

"Don't tell the other two, but you’re actually the only one I bought a gift for. So shush, alright? I didn’t even get Sora anything." You confessed, giggling as you witnessed Natsume's face turn as bright as his hair. "Wahaha, you’re blushing, Natsume!"

The idol quickly turned away, huffing. "Am nOT! Don't spread such liES." Suddenly, the frustrations and thinking all disappeared and was replaced with a giddy feeling in his heart. "…No matTER. Thank you, [name]. I li— now gO. TiME is up."

Your shoulders slumped. "Aw… already? I wanted to talk to you more." Huffing playfully, you quickly showed him the mini-sized Natsume nui that you recently bought along with a Tsumugi one. Without even letting him get a chance to speak, you had already left the room.

[sometimesrosy]

U have advantage that ur a writer and also have a degree. But there r other people in the fandom who r writers with a degree. That girl erin from met station. I think she also lost hope

I have an advantage because I have degrees and decades of experience and an understanding of the discipline, so i can sometimes go deeper than others, or pull on extra-narrative knowledge, but understanding a story is not some esoteric, elite skill that only people with degrees can do.

A story, whether book or movie or tv show, is laid out for you. All right there on the page or screen. We all have access to the same canon facts. And as it’s a tv show, not some academic, high-literature experiment with post modernism or something, most of the interpretation of The 100 is pretty basic. I found season 3 to be the most ambitious and complex, but they pulled back after that. 

I don’t believe you need a degree or to be a writer or an english major or a teacher or in hollywood to understand what’s going on in the show. All you have to do is make sure that your own personal opinions, desires and fears aren’t taking over your interpretation and confusing what’s happening in canon.

And I don’t believe HAVING a degree makes you more able to do that. Unfortunately, erin, while a professor, has a hard time separating what she WANTS to happen from what IS happening on the screen. She has a tendency to decide what the meaning is (for whatever reason) and not allow any question about it into the equation. Whether she decides her interpretation through analysis, shipping, or the “correct” pc position, is irrelevant. She won’t allow anyone to question it, or have an alternate interpretation. She told me, personally, that I wasn’t allowed to have my own interpretation of Polis, or understand authorial intent, because SHE understood authorial intent, and I was wrong. I was also immoral for my interpretation. 

And as a lowly public high school teacher, I can tell you, EVERYONE has a right to their interpretation, especially if they show you where they got it from in the text. In fact, that’s what I taught. Come up with a hypothesis, defend it with evidence from the text, come to a conclusion of what it means. This is SIMPLE analysis, and anyone who pays attention to the canon can do this. If ANYONE tells you that you have no right to your analysis, they are untrustworthy, because they are trying to dominate the conversation, silence you, and keep you from thinking on your own. That a TEACHER would tell someone that they were NOT ALLOWED to interpret a work of fiction differently from their interpretation offends me as a pedagogue. It’s our job to teach students how to understand, analyze and think. It is not our job to teach students our dogma and to follow only our interpretations.

As it turned out, erin was wrong in her interpretation. And not only did the narrative prove me right, but so did the writers, as my interpretation was confirmed and hers was debunked, no matter how she said only she was allowed to interpret the story. But it’s not really ABOUT the interpretation. It’s about a refusal to question her own interpretations, because she’s the authority and believes she’s right and anyone who disagrees with her is felt to attack her identity. 

Erin lost faith because the story did not turn out like she thought it would, and the only explanation she can come up with for that is that the story is wrong and JR is a bad writer, and he hates Bellarke, and she’s been betrayed. So, at this point, you can see that not only does she think other people are not allowed to have different interpretations from hers, she also doesn’t think the WRITERS are allowed to have a different story than the one she has declared is happening. 

Instead of going back and seeing how she got it wrong when canon didn’t do what she thought it should, where her interpretation was off, and how she could better understand the body of work that he was analyzing, she declared the body of work wrong, bad and inferior. So that her interpretation could remain. She demanded the story follow HER story, not the creators’. This is actually a pretty common thing in fandom and you can see it all over, like when fanboys decide that star trek has gotten too political, despite the fact that star trek was EXPLICITLY political all the way back in the pilot episode. THEY don’t want to see it as political, so they erase the story being told, and say canon now is WRONG, because it doesn’t match their experience and interpretation and what they valued from the canon in the first place. 

IMO, as a teacher or as an academic or as a writer or whatever, we should always double check our own ideas about the facts/canon. Make sure we are staying true to the facts/canon, make sure our own biases aren’t coloring our interpretations to the point of ignoring canon. We all have biases. There’s no way to avoid them, but there is a way to get past them, and that’s double checking your opinions and how you came to them. Asking yourself, “if i see it a different way, do I come up with a different interpretation, and if I do, is that interpretation more valid than my original interpretation?” Look at your canon with different perspectives. “If lxa is a hero, what is happening here?” “what would this story look like if Clarke were the hero vs if Lxa were The Hero and which seems to be the story?” “if clarke is in a dark pscyhological story, how would it change the meaning?” “Does the story make more sense if Bellamy is the villain or Bellamy is struggling with his own darkness to do the right thing and become the hero?” “If I was wrong about Lxa being the hero and Bellamy being the villain, then what did I miss, and if I take that into consideration now, how will my interpretation change?” Please note, i’m only talking about interpretations from s3 right here. Erin never did this. She simply went, “Well JR is a bad writer who told the story wrong, nobody understood it.” And I would like to say, no they didn’t tell the story wrong, they didn’t tell HER story. 

And this attitude continued into season 5 where she believed that Bellarke was not romantic, and ignored all the canon evidence for a romantic story of Clarke and Bellamy having romantic feelings for each other including the word “love” and canonical on screen jealousy, being called his girlfriend, comparisons to canon love relationships, and a narrative focus on Clarke and Bellamy, their relationship, their feelings for each other, and their reunion, rather than the “canon” relationship of B/E. She believed Bellarke wasn’t happening so she ignored all evidence to the contrary, because it contradicted her theory.

SO. When she got “inside information” from someone who said that the writer’s room used to argue all the time about whether or not to do romantic Bellarke and they didn’t argue anymore, she interpreted that to fit with her theory that Bellarke was NOT happening at all. She suffers from confirmation bias. When she hears evidence, she only hears the evidence that confirms her bias, she ignores totally anything that challenges her interpretation.

Because she didn’t see Bellarke in season 5, despite all the canon romantic bellarke and canon love triangle of C/B/E which makes Bellarke a romantic story. When someone said the writers didn’t fight about doing romantic bellarke, she decided it meant they’d chosen not to do bellarke at all and it was platonic. It confirmed her belief that Bellarke was dead.

I hear the same evidence, and because I saw a classic dead-wife-back-from-the-dead love triangle romantic trope, and that means THEY ACTIVELY PURSUED ROMANTIC BELLARKE IN THE WRITERS ROOM, I hear that they’re not arguing anymore, because they’ve already started the romantic bellarke story. There’s no should we or shouldn’t we, because it’s already happening. Bellarke is coming.

HOWEVER. That’s not what happened with Erin. Erin took something told to her in confidence and spread the rumor that Bellarke was dead, and it was confirmed dead, and JR was never doing Bellarke because it was confirmed. Because she said so. Despite, as a professor, knowing that nothing is canon until it is canon. Or I guess she doesn’t know that. I guess she thinks interpretations and rumors are canon. 

I will be honest, I have refrained from talking about her, even though my conflict with her was years ago. I do not believe she understands the story at all. She keeps ending up wrong. And she doesn’t admit it. Instead, she blames JR for doing it wrong, fandom for interpreting it wrong, or me personally for having an interpretation she personally didn’t like so didn’t listen to. :)

But to actively harm fandom by spreading unconfirmed gossip and rumors and saying they meant bellarke was CONFIRMED dead, and using her position and authority as someone who is in the know to destroy people’s enjoyment of a tv show, means that I find her HIGHLY unethical and I blame her, personally, for a lot of the anguish in the fandom.

She’s a professional. She should behave professionally. And she’s not. She’s using her position as a professional to give her interpretations more clout, rather than using the CANON to defend and support her interpretations. 

So if you try to challenge my interpretations, and say “yeah sure you have degrees, but erin has degrees and she thinks bellarke is dead, so your degrees don’t mean anything,” I’m gonna have to tell you. You bet our degrees don’t mean anything. Not mine, or hers.

The only thing that means anything is canon. Stick to the text. Never think that someone’s degree means their interpretation is better than yours. Because degrees don’t support an argument. EVIDENCE DOES.

[glittergummicandypeach]

Katelyn Beaty: QAnon is the alternative religion that’s coming to your church

It’s a rough time to be a pastor. An election year, national racial unrest and a global pandemic each challenged the usual methods of ministry. Taken together, many church leaders are facing the traditional post-vacation ingathering season with a serious case of burnout.

But there's another challenge that pastors I spoke with say is on the rise in their flocks. It is taking on the power of a new religion that's dividing churches and hurting Christian witness.

Mark Fugitt, senior pastor of Round Grove Baptist Church in Miller, Missouri, recently sat down to count the conspiracy theories that people in his church are sharing on Facebook. The list was long. It included claims that 5G radio waves are used for mind control; that George Floyd's murder is a hoax; that Bill Gates is related to the devil; that masks can kill you; that the germ theory isn't real; and that there might be something to Pizzagate after all.

"You don't just see it once," said Fugitt. "If there's ever anything posted, you'll see it five to 10 times. It's escalating for sure."

Conspiracy theories — grand narratives that seek to prove that powerful actors are secretly controlling events and institutions for evil purposes — are nothing new in the U.S. But since 2017, a sort of ur-conspiracy theory, QAnon, has coalesced in online forums and created millions of believers. “To look at QAnon is to see not just a conspiracy theory but the birth of a new religion,” wrote Adrienne LaFrance in The Atlantic in June.

[Read more: Former Utah lawmaker calls on RNC to remove Burgess Owens’ speaking slot claiming QAnon ties]

Named after “Q,” who posts anonymously on the online bulletin board 4chan, QAnon alleges that President Donald Trump and military officials are working to expose a “deep state” pedophile ring with links to Hollywood, the media and the Democratic Party. Since its first mention some three years ago, the theory has drawn adherents looking for a clear way to explain recent disorienting global events.

Once the fascination of far-right commentators and their followers, QAnon is no longer fringe. With support from Trump and other elected officials, it has gained credibility both on the web and in the offline world: In Georgia, a candidate for Congress has praised Q as “a mythical hero,” and at least five other congressional hopefuls from Illinois to Oregon have voiced support.

One scholar found a 71% increase in QAnon content on Twitter and a 651% increase on Facebook since March.

Jon Thorngate is the pastor at LifeBridge, a nondenominational church of about 300 in a Milwaukee suburb. In recent months, he said, his members have shared “Plandemic,” a half-hour film that presents COVID-19 as a moneymaking scheme by government officials and others, on Facebook. Members have also passed around a now-banned Breitbart video that promotes hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus.

Thorngate, one of the few pastors who would go on the record among those who called QAnon a real problem in their churches, said that only five to 10 members are actually posting the videos online. But in conversations with other members, he’s realized many more are open to conspiracy theories than those who post.

Thorngate attributes the phenomenon in part to the “death of expertise” — a distrust of authority figures that leads some Americans to undervalue long-established measures of competency and wisdom. Among some church members, he said, the attitude is, “I’m going to use church for the things I like, ignore it for the things I don’t and find my own truth.

“That part for us is concerning, that nothing feels authoritative right now.”

For years in the 1980s and ’90s, U.S. evangelicals, above nearly any other group, warned what will happen when people abandon absolute truth (which they located in the Bible), saying the idea of relative truth would lead to people believing whatever confirms their own inward hunches. But suspicion of big government, questioning of scientific consensus (on evolution, for example) and a rejection of the morals of Hollywood and liberal elites took hold among millennial Christians, many of whom feel politically alienated and beat up by mainstream media. They are natural targets for QAnon.

There’s no hard data on how many Christians espouse QAnon. But Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, noted that distrust of mainstream news sources “can feed a penchant for conspiracy theories.”

A 2018 poll from BGC found that 46% of self-identified evangelicals and 52% of those whose beliefs tagged them as evangelical “strongly agreed that the mainstream media produced fake news.” It also found that regular church attendance (at least once a month) correlated to believing that mainstream media promulgates fake news (77% compared with 68% of those who attend less regularly).

Jared Stacy said the spread of conspiracy theories in his church is particularly affecting young members. The college and young adult pastor of Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Stacy said some older members are sharing Facebook content that links the coronavirus to Jeffrey Epstein and secret pedophile rings. He says his and other pastors’ job is to teach that conspiracy theories are not where Christians should find a basis for reality.

“My fear … is that Jesus would not be co-opted by conspiracy theories in a way that leads the next generation to throw Jesus out with the bathwater,” Stacy said, “that we’re not able to separate the narrative of taking back our country from Jesus’ kingdom narrative.”

Others are concerned the theories will become grounds for more mistrust. “Young people are exiting the church because they see their parents and mentors and pastors and Sunday school teachers spreading things that even at a young age they can see through,” said Jeb Barr, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Elm Mott outside Waco, Texas. He said conspiracy theories are “extremely widespread and getting worse” among his online church networks.

“Why would we listen to my friend Joe … who’s telling me about Jesus who also thinks that Communists are taking over America and operating a pedophile ring out of a pizza restaurant? … Why would we be believed?”

But Barr and other pastors I spoke with are reticent to police church members’ social media conduct. Instead, they try to teach broader principles. “Christians are meant to be agents of hope, to be peacemakers; the Bible says we’re not to be quarrelsome,” said Barr. “We’re not to be the ones spreading fear and division and anger.”

Barr also teaches critical thinking skills and encourages his members to read “boring news.” He will recommend news sources that are credible.

But teaching media literacy isn’t enough, precisely because QAnon thrives on a narrative of media cover-up.

Fugitt said it’s not effective to tell conspiracy spreaders that what they are sharing online is false. “Nobody joins a cult. I don’t think anybody shares a conspiracy theory either because they believe it’s truth.” Rather, he tries to address the dehumanizing language of QAnon theories that equate certain people with evil. History is replete with examples of where such language can lead.

“I can’t hate another person, but boy if I can make them less than human, that’s the Crusades, that’s Jewish persecution throughout history, that’s racial issues hand over fist there.”

In a fraught political moment, the pastors I spoke with worried that taking on QAnon, by addressing politics directly, would divide the church.

But QAnon is more than a political ideology. It’s a spiritual worldview that co-opts many Christian-sounding ideas to promote verifiably false claims about actual human beings.

QAnon has features akin to syncretism — the practice of blending traditional Christian beliefs with other spiritual systems, such as Santeria. Q explicitly uses Bible verses to urge adherents to stand firm against evil elites. One charismatic church based in Indiana hosts two-hour Sunday services showing how Bible prophecies confirm Q’s messages. Its leaders tell the congregation to stop watching mainstream media (even conservative media) in favor of QAnon YouTube channels and the Qmap website.

And it’s having life-and-death effects: It’s hampering the work of anti-sex trafficking organizations. The FBI has linked it to violence and threats of violence. And its adherents are downplaying the threat of COVID and thus putting others’ lives at risk.

The earliest Christians contended with syncretism in the form of Gnosticism, which blended elements of Greek philosophy and Zoroastrianism with Christianity, emphasizing the good-evil spirit-flesh divide as well as secret divine knowledge (Greek: gnosis is “knowledge”). Early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian battled Gnostic ideas, rejecting them as heresy.

At a time when church leaders are having to host digital church and try to meet members’ needs virtually, the idea of adding “fight heresy” to their to-do list might sound exhausting. But a core calling of church leaders is to speak the truth in love. It’s not loving to allow impressionable people to be taken in by falsehood. Nor is it loving to allow them to spread falsehood and slander to others.

“Conspiracy theories thrive on a sort of cynicism that says, ‘We see a different reality that no one else sees,’” said Stacy. “Paul says to take every thought captive — addressing conspiracy theories is part of that work.”

This content was originally published here.

[kickstarter-promotion]

Another Amazing Kickstarter (a serialised online fantasy adventure by Andrew Leon Hudson —Kickstarter) has been published on http://crowdmonsters.com/new-kickstarters/a-serialised-online-fantasy-adventure-by-andrew-leon-hudson-kickstarter/

A NEW KICKSTARTER IS LAUNCHED:

Four hundred years ago, when control of the world came to depend on naval power as never before, a courageous few set off on journeys of discovery and conquest that would alter the fates of nations in ways no-one could imagine.

But once they’d sailed the seven seas, what if they found another?

ARCHIPELAGO is a historical fantasy serial with multiple new episodes appearing every month. Imagine a blend of Moby Dick, Pirates of the Caribbean, Master & Commander and Game of Thrones – with Lovecraftian monsters lurking beneath the surface!

Archipelago isn’t just about storytelling, though. Readers will have the opportunity to influence events as the adventure develops, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes devastating.

We launch in June and you can get a taste of what’s to come right now, with three free stories appearing during May as we prepare to set sail. 

We’re offering digital rewards through Kickstarter as part of our promotional campaign, but before we uncover the treasures first we should introduce…

In the Seventeenth Century, great explorers sought out new lands, war fleets of powerful nations battled for control of the waves, and pirates pursued galleons loaded with treasures from the New World. But when a truly new world is discovered, the course of history is changed forever.

Mysterious portals begin to appear on the open sea, drawing the unwary and the foolhardy into unknown waters, scattered with islands where incredible treasures – and perils – await. Yet this isn’t merely an eighth ocean: it is an ocean planet, with countless marvels and dangers lying just beyond the seemingly endless waves.  

Three unwitting rivals seize this opportunity to tip the balance of power in their favour, unaware they are not alone in their quests – nor that they are drawing ever closer to each other…

Before there was a British Empire, England battled its European rivals for dominance over the waves. In 1610, privateers loyal to King James I are dispatched to plunder the Spanish treasure fleet as it departs the Americas – but before they can claim the New World’s richest prize, miraculous disaster strikes when an impossible portal transports the combatants from the Caribbean warmth to an unknown arctic ocean! But the deadly ice disguises an amazing secret, one which could forever upset the balance of European power, in England’s favour. 

The first attempt to start an English colony in the Americas was ill-fated in the extreme – or so history tells us. In the aftermath of the Starving Time, early American settlers fled to Roanoke Island, site of the mysterious Lost Colony. There, they find a portal to an unclaimed world teeming with danger, and with artefacts that could make the most ordinary person more powerful than a king. Straddling the New World and the newer world, Roanoke becomes an epicenter of exploration and ambition, completely hidden from the outside world… for now. 

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, the Ajuran Suldaanate makes plans of its own when a third portal opens off the coast of Somalia. The city of Mogadishu has long been a jewel in the Horn of Africa, a vital port and centre of a trade network that spans three continents – and now two worlds. The Suldaan establishes the city of Al’Tahj, his most closely-guarded secret: capital of a new empire, one founded on naval excellence, raw bravery, and the power of blood…

Now you know a little about the story world, here’s what we want to achieve with this campaign.

ARCHIPELAGO is effectively an online magazine. Our readers will enjoy a regular jolt of fantasy fiction available in their browser, by email, or via ebook. We’re pleased to say we have a strong foundation: all start-up costs have been covered and the core content is prepared for delivery. 

Now we want to get down to the true challenge of publishing a magazine: demonstrating that our stories have what it takes to satisfy our audience. We think they will, and by backing us here you’ll help give us the chance to prove it, week-by-week, 52 weeks per year.

This campaign will provide valuable funds towards the cost of monthly ebook production, making that first year an easier journey – but if we exceed our target we’ll get to work polishing our diamond in the rough: commissioning glossy new cover art for the Complete Season One book at the end of the year, and hopefully releasing it as ebook and print!

But now it’s time for the important thing: what’s in it for you?

We’re offering our core rewards from as little as £2 because we want to spread the word as wide as we can. However, if you’re interested in supporting at a higher level, you’ll find a selection of other bonuses on the right that provide you with the chance to name a ship or appear on the Archipelago in person – even to discover your very own island…

The real treasure of the Archipelago is the serial itself – intertwining tales that will go out to subscribers three times a month. However, in parallel with our promotional campaign we’re offering these exclusive digital rewards to whet your appetite for adventure:

Our Kickstarter-only ebook will include: 

the three Prologue stories from our promotional month: “In Extremis” by Andrew Leon Hudson, “Whatsoever is New” by Kurt Hunt, and “The Ur-Ring” by Charlotte Ashley

the Season One World Guide, featuring an ecological exploration of the Archipelago, faction profiles and biographies of key characters

the exclusive, unavailable-anywhere-else prequel story “The Deepness, Near and Far” by Andrew Leon Hudson

If we exceed our target that’s just the start of things – hitting our push goals will unlock more exclusive fiction from our other authors!

And, of course, all our backers will be thanked by name in The Crew Roster at the end of the ebook, as well as via Twitter if they so desire.

To dress up the background of your preferred device, we’re offering a set of wallpapers suitable for smartphones, tablets and computers. If we blow through our primary push goals we’ll expand this set as well!

And while we’re on the subject… 

Our campaign will be triggered as soon as we collect just one-hundred pieces-of-eight (or “English pounds”, as they’re now known), but that doesn’t mean we can’t gather an even greater treasure trove!

If we hit one hundred-and-fifty ducets, we’ll add a second exclusive story to the Ebook Set, this one by Kurt Hunt, plus an additional wallpaper design to the Artwork Set!

Two hundred doubloons, you say? Well, better make that another bonus wallpaper, plus a third exclusive story, this time from Charlotte Ashley!

Too soon to say…

ARCHIPELAGO is a competitive collaborative project – a battle between three speculative fiction authors, in which the pen and the sword may be equally dangerous. Interconnecting tales of action, adventure and exploration will ultimately weave together into a conflict spanning two worlds – and there can be only one victor. But who are the competitors?

Charlotte Ashley is a writer, editor, bookseller, and reckless thrill-seeker whose stories are all mostly true. Since moving to Toronto, Canada, she has dabbled in the arts of fencing, parkour, capoeria, and LARPing, applying the lessons learned to her skill at writing rollicking swashbuckling adventures. Her stories have appeared in F&SF, PodCastle, the Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and numerous anthologies. She has been nominated for both the Sunburst and Aurora Awards, and once wrote and performed a science fiction musical from the equipment of a CrossFit gym. You can learn more about her at Once-and-Future.com or on Twitter @CharlotteAshley.

Kurt Hunt was formed in the swamps and abandoned gravel pits of post-industrial Michigan. At 17, he fell in love and moved into a shabby Chicago apartment instead of that fancy school he planned to attend, a decision that convinced him that the best things in life cannot be planned but must instead be conjured through a combination of good luck and poor impulse control. His fiction has been published at Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and PodCastle, among others, and he co-edited the 2016 “Up and Coming” anthology of writers eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Andrew Leon Hudson is an English writer, editor and designer based in Europe, a ten-year resident of Madrid with the local vocabulary of an introverted three-year-old at best. He is only now coming to terms with the stunning moment of culture shock that came with realising Sir Francis Drake (one of England’s great naval heroes, especially famed for his victory over the Spanish Armada) is viewed in his chosen home as nothing but a despicable pirate. He became involved with the Archipelago project as a way of working through this nautical trauma, and you can track his general therapeutic progress at his pseudonymous website.

They do say No Pain, No Gain, don’t they? Well, “they” aren’t always right…

  INFORMATION PROVIDED BY Kickstarter.com and Kicktraq.com VISIT PAGE SOURCE

[glittergummicandypeach]

QAnon: The Alternative Religion That's Coming to Your Church

(RNS) — It’s a rough time to be a pastor. An election year, national racial unrest and a global pandemic each challenged the usual methods of ministry. Taken together, many church leaders are facing the traditional post-vacation ingathering season with a serious case of burnout.

But there’s another challenge that pastors I spoke with say is on the rise in their flocks. It is taking on the power of a new religion that’s dividing churches and hurting Christian witness.

Mark Fugitt, senior pastor of Round Grove Baptist Church in Miller, Missouri, recently sat down to count the conspiracy theories that people in his church are sharing on Facebook. The list was long. It included claims that 5G radio waves are used for mind control; that George Floyd’s murder is a hoax; that Bill Gates is related to the devil; that masks can kill you; that the germ theory isn’t real; and that there might be something to Pizzagate after all.

“You don’t just see it once,” said Fugitt. “If there’s ever anything posted, you’ll see it five to 10 times. It’s escalating for sure.”

Conspiracy theories — grand narratives that seek to prove that powerful actors are secretly controlling events and institutions for evil purposes — are nothing new in the U.S. But since 2017, a sort of ur-conspiracy theory, QAnon, has coalesced in online forums and created millions of believers. “To look at QAnon is to see not just a conspiracy theory but the birth of a new religion,” wrote Adrienne LaFrance in The Atlantic in June.

Named after “Q,” who posts anonymously on the online bulletin board 4chan, QAnon alleges that President Donald Trump and military officials are working to expose a “deep state” pedophile ring with links to Hollywood, the media and the Democratic Party. Since its first mention some three years ago, the theory has drawn adherents looking for a clear way to explain recent disorienting global events.

Once the fascination of far-right commentators and their followers, QAnon is no longer fringe. With support from Trump and other elected officials, it has gained credibility both on the web and in the offline world: In Georgia, a candidate for Congress has praised Q as “a mythical hero,” and at least five other congressional hopefuls from Illinois to Oregon have voiced support.

One scholar found a 71% increase in QAnon content on Twitter and a 651% increase on Facebook since March. 

Jon Thorngate is the pastor at LifeBridge, a nondenominational church of about 300 in a Milwaukee suburb. In recent months, he said, his members have shared “Plandemic,” a half-hour film that presents COVID-19 as a moneymaking scheme by government officials and others, on Facebook. Members have also passed around a now-banned Breitbart video that promotes hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus.

Thorngate, one of the few pastors who would go on the record among those who called QAnon a real problem in their churches, said that only five to 10 members are actually posting the videos online. But in conversations with other members, he’s realized many more are open to conspiracy theories than those who post. 

Thorngate attributes the phenomenon in part to the “death of expertise” — a distrust of authority figures that leads some Americans to undervalue long-established measures of competency and wisdom. Among some church members, he said, the attitude is, “I’m going to use church for the things I like, ignore it for the things I don’t and find my own truth.

“That part for us is concerning, that nothing feels authoritative right now.”

For years in the 1980s and ’90s, U.S. evangelicals, above nearly any other group, warned what will happen when people abandon absolute truth (which they located in the Bible), saying the idea of relative truth would lead to people believing whatever confirms their own inward hunches. But suspicion of big government, questioning of scientific consensus (on evolution, for example) and a rejection of the morals of Hollywood and liberal elites took hold among millennial Christians, many of whom feel politically alienated and beat up by mainstream media. They are natural targets for QAnon.

There’s no hard data on how many Christians espouse QAnon. But Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, noted that distrust of mainstream news sources “can feed a penchant for conspiracy theories.”

A 2018 poll from BGC found that 46% of self-identified evangelicals and 52% of those whose beliefs tagged them as evangelical “strongly agreed that the mainstream media produced fake news.” It also found that regular church attendance (at least once a month) correlated to believing that mainstream media promulgates fake news (77% compared with 68% of those who attend less regularly).

Jared Stacy said the spread of conspiracy theories in his church is particularly affecting young members. The college and young adult pastor of Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Stacy said some older members are sharing Facebook content that links the coronavirus to Jeffrey Epstein and secret pedophile rings. He says his and other pastors’ job is to teach that conspiracy theories are not where Christians should find a basis for reality.

“My fear … is that Jesus would not be co-opted by conspiracy theories in a way that leads the next generation to throw Jesus out with the bathwater,” Stacy said, “that we’re not able to separate the narrative of taking back our country from Jesus’ kingdom narrative.”

Others are concerned the theories will become grounds for more mistrust. “Young people are exiting the church because they see their parents and mentors and pastors and Sunday school teachers spreading things that even at a young age they can see through,” said Jeb Barr, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Elm Mott outside Waco, Texas. He said conspiracy theories are “extremely widespread and getting worse” among his online church networks.

“Why would we listen to my friend Joe … who’s telling me about Jesus who also thinks that Communists are taking over America and operating a pedophile ring out of a pizza restaurant? … Why would we be believed?”

But Barr and other pastors I spoke with are reticent to police church members’ social media conduct. Instead, they try to teach broader principles. “Christians are meant to be agents of hope, to be peacemakers; the Bible says we’re not to be quarrelsome,” said Barr. “We’re not to be the ones spreading fear and division and anger.”

Barr also teaches critical thinking skills and encourages his members to read “boring news.” He will recommend news sources that are credible.

But teaching media literacy isn’t enough, precisely because QAnon thrives on a narrative of media cover-up.

Fugitt said it’s not effective to tell conspiracy spreaders that what they are sharing online is false. “Nobody joins a cult. I don’t think anybody shares a conspiracy theory either because they believe it’s truth.” Rather, he tries to address the dehumanizing language of QAnon theories that equate certain people with evil. History is replete with examples of where such language can lead.

“I can’t hate another person, but boy if I can make them less than human, that’s the Crusades, that’s Jewish persecution throughout history, that’s racial issues hand over fist there.”

In a fraught political moment, the pastors I spoke with worried that taking on QAnon, by addressing politics directly, would divide the church.

But QAnon is more than a political ideology. It’s a spiritual worldview that co-opts many Christian-sounding ideas to promote verifiably false claims about actual human beings.

QAnon has features akin to syncretism — the practice of blending traditional Christian beliefs with other spiritual systems, such as Santeria. Q explicitly uses Bible verses to urge adherents to stand firm against evil elites. One charismatic church based in Indiana hosts two-hour Sunday services showing how Bible prophecies confirm Q’s messages. Its leaders tell the congregation to stop watching mainstream media (even conservative media) in favor of QAnon YouTube channels and the Qmap website.

And it’s having life-and-death effects: It’s hampering the work of anti-sex trafficking organizations. The FBI has linked it to violence and threats of violence. And its adherents are downplaying the threat of COVID and thus putting others’ lives at risk.

The earliest Christians contended with syncretism in the form of Gnosticism, which blended elements of Greek philosophy and Zoroastrianism with Christianity, emphasizing the good-evil spirit-flesh divide as well as secret divine knowledge (Greek: gnosis is “knowledge”). Early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian battled Gnostic ideas, rejecting them as heresy.

At a time when church leaders are having to host digital church and try to meet members’ needs virtually, the idea of adding “fight heresy” to their to-do list might sound exhausting. But a core calling of church leaders is to speak the truth in love. It’s not loving to allow impressionable people to be taken in by falsehood. Nor is it loving to allow them to spread falsehood and slander to others.

“Conspiracy theories thrive on a sort of cynicism that says, ‘We see a different reality that no one else sees,’” said Stacy. “Paul says to take every thought captive — addressing conspiracy theories is part of that work.”

Article originally published by Religion News Service. Used with permission.

Photo courtesy: ©RNS/AP Photo/Matt Rourke/File

Katelyn Beaty is a former managing editor of Christianity Today and the author of A Woman’s Place. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of Religion News Service or Christian Headlines.

This content was originally published here.

[glittergummicandypeach]

QAnon: The alternative religion that’s coming to your church

(RNS) — It’s a rough time to be a pastor. An election year, national racial unrest and a global pandemic each challenged the usual methods of ministry. Taken together, many church leaders are facing the traditional post-vacation ingathering season with a serious case of burnout.

But there’s another challenge that pastors I spoke with say is on the rise in their flocks. It is taking on the power of a new religion that’s dividing churches and hurting Christian witness.

Mark Fugitt, senior pastor of Round Grove Baptist Church in Miller, Missouri, recently sat down to count the conspiracy theories that people in his church are sharing on Facebook. The list was long. It included claims that 5G radio waves are used for mind control; that George Floyd’s murder is a hoax; that Bill Gates is related to the devil; that masks can kill you; that the germ theory isn’t real; and that there might be something to Pizzagate after all.

“You don’t just see it once,” said Fugitt. “If there’s ever anything posted, you’ll see it five to 10 times. It’s escalating for sure.”

Conspiracy theories — grand narratives that seek to prove that powerful actors are secretly controlling events and institutions for evil purposes — are nothing new in the U.S. But since 2017, a sort of ur-conspiracy theory, QAnon, has coalesced in online forums and created millions of believers. “To look at QAnon is to see not just a conspiracy theory but the birth of a new religion,” wrote Adrienne LaFrance in The Atlantic in June.

Named after “Q,” who posts anonymously on the online bulletin board 4chan, QAnon alleges that President Donald Trump and military officials are working to expose a “deep state” pedophile ring with links to Hollywood, the media and the Democratic Party. Since its first mention some three years ago, the theory has drawn adherents looking for a clear way to explain recent disorienting global events.

Once the fascination of far-right commentators and their followers, QAnon is no longer fringe. With support from Trump and other elected officials, it has gained credibility both on the web and in the offline world: In Georgia, a candidate for Congress has praised Q as “a mythical hero,” and at least five other congressional hopefuls from Illinois to Oregon have voiced support.

One scholar found a 71% increase in QAnon content on Twitter and a 651% increase on Facebook since March. 

Jon Thorngate is the pastor at LifeBridge, a nondenominational church of about 300 in a Milwaukee suburb. In recent months, he said, his members have shared “Plandemic,” a half-hour film that presents COVID-19 as a moneymaking scheme by government officials and others, on Facebook. Members have also passed around a now-banned Breitbart video that promotes hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus.

Thorngate, one of the few pastors who would go on the record among those who called QAnon a real problem in their churches, said that only five to 10 members are actually posting the videos online. But in conversations with other members, he’s realized many more are open to conspiracy theories than those who post. 

Thorngate attributes the phenomenon in part to the “death of expertise” — a distrust of authority figures that leads some Americans to undervalue long-established measures of competency and wisdom. Among some church members, he said, the attitude is, “I’m going to use church for the things I like, ignore it for the things I don’t and find my own truth.

“That part for us is concerning, that nothing feels authoritative right now.”

A demonstrator holds a QAnon sign as he walks at a protest April 19, 2020, in Olympia, Washington, opposing the state’s stay-at-home order to slow the coronavirus outbreak. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has blasted President Donald Trump’s calls to “liberate” parts of the country from stay-at-home and other orders designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Inslee said Trump is fomenting a potentially deadly insubordination among his followers before the pandemic is contained. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

For years in the 1980s and ’90s, U.S. evangelicals, above nearly any other group, warned what will happen when people abandon absolute truth (which they located in the Bible), saying the idea of relative truth would lead to people believing whatever confirms their own inward hunches. But suspicion of big government, questioning of scientific consensus (on evolution, for example) and a rejection of the morals of Hollywood and liberal elites took hold among millennial Christians, many of whom feel politically alienated and beat up by mainstream media. They are natural targets for QAnon.

There’s no hard data on how many Christians espouse QAnon. But Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, noted that distrust of mainstream news sources “can feed a penchant for conspiracy theories.”

A 2018 poll from BGC found that 46% of self-identified evangelicals and 52% of those whose beliefs tagged them as evangelical “strongly agreed that the mainstream media produced fake news.” It also found that regular church attendance (at least once a month) correlated to believing that mainstream media promulgates fake news (77% compared with 68% of those who attend less regularly).

Jared Stacy said the spread of conspiracy theories in his church is particularly affecting young members. The college and young adult pastor of Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Stacy said some older members are sharing Facebook content that links the coronavirus to Jeffrey Epstein and secret pedophile rings. He says his and other pastors’ job is to teach that conspiracy theories are not where Christians should find a basis for reality.

“My fear … is that Jesus would not be co-opted by conspiracy theories in a way that leads the next generation to throw Jesus out with the bathwater,” Stacy said, “that we’re not able to separate the narrative of taking back our country from Jesus’ kingdom narrative.”

Others are concerned the theories will become grounds for more mistrust. “Young people are exiting the church because they see their parents and mentors and pastors and Sunday school teachers spreading things that even at a young age they can see through,” said Jeb Barr, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Elm Mott outside Waco, Texas. He said conspiracy theories are “extremely widespread and getting worse” among his online church networks.

“Why would we listen to my friend Joe … who’s telling me about Jesus who also thinks that Communists are taking over America and operating a pedophile ring out of a pizza restaurant? … Why would we be believed?”

But Barr and other pastors I spoke with are reticent to police church members’ social media conduct. Instead, they try to teach broader principles. “Christians are meant to be agents of hope, to be peacemakers; the Bible says we’re not to be quarrelsome,” said Barr. “We’re not to be the ones spreading fear and division and anger.”

Barr also teaches critical thinking skills and encourages his members to read “boring news.” He will recommend news sources that are credible.

But teaching media literacy isn’t enough, precisely because QAnon thrives on a narrative of media cover-up.

Fugitt said it’s not effective to tell conspiracy spreaders that what they are sharing online is false. “Nobody joins a cult. I don’t think anybody shares a conspiracy theory either because they believe it’s truth.” Rather, he tries to address the dehumanizing language of QAnon theories that equate certain people with evil. History is replete with examples of where such language can lead.

“I can’t hate another person, but boy if I can make them less than human, that’s the Crusades, that’s Jewish persecution throughout history, that’s racial issues hand over fist there.”

In a fraught political moment, the pastors I spoke with worried that taking on QAnon, by addressing politics directly, would divide the church.

But QAnon is more than a political ideology. It’s a spiritual worldview that co-opts many Christian-sounding ideas to promote verifiably false claims about actual human beings.

QAnon has features akin to syncretism — the practice of blending traditional Christian beliefs with other spiritual systems, such as Santeria. Q explicitly uses Bible verses to urge adherents to stand firm against evil elites. One charismatic church based in Indiana hosts two-hour Sunday services showing how Bible prophecies confirm Q’s messages. Its leaders tell the congregation to stop watching mainstream media (even conservative media) in favor of QAnon YouTube channels and the Qmap website.

And it’s having life-and-death effects: It’s hampering the work of anti-sex trafficking organizations. The FBI has linked it to violence and threats of violence. And its adherents are downplaying the threat of COVID and thus putting others’ lives at risk.

The earliest Christians contended with syncretism in the form of Gnosticism, which blended elements of Greek philosophy and Zoroastrianism with Christianity, emphasizing the good-evil spirit-flesh divide as well as secret divine knowledge (Greek: gnosis is “knowledge”). Early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian battled Gnostic ideas, rejecting them as heresy.

At a time when church leaders are having to host digital church and try to meet members’ needs virtually, the idea of adding “fight heresy” to their to-do list might sound exhausting. But a core calling of church leaders is to speak the truth in love. It’s not loving to allow impressionable people to be taken in by falsehood. Nor is it loving to allow them to spread falsehood and slander to others.

“Conspiracy theories thrive on a sort of cynicism that says, ‘We see a different reality that no one else sees,’” said Stacy. “Paul says to take every thought captive — addressing conspiracy theories is part of that work.”

(Katelyn Beaty is a former managing editor of Christianity Today and the author of “A Woman’s Place.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of Religion News Service.)

This content was originally published here.