#it’s a shame the writer of this story isn’t know because they did a great job with it

[daydreamerdrew]

Whiz Comics (1940) #50

[hazel-eye-coffee-shop-girl-blog]

Limelight Series - Chapter 6

Happy Monday! So this chapter 6 of Limelight Series. It is a short chapter, this was scheduled to be the last chapter of the series…but….I am thinking this story has one more chapter to it. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments if you want another chapter and if so what do you want to see???

I am really liking these two, so I may come back to them from time to time.

I want to thank you all for reading this story and going on this journey with me and a big thank you to @hobby27 for sending in the ask/message for this story.

All your likes, reblogs, comments and ask to be on the tag list are appreciated and helps my confidence grow as a writer.

If you haven't read chapter five, click here to read it and then come back to read chapter 6.

This series came way of a message/ask from @hobby27 she asked:

"I would love something with Jensen and reader. He sees her when he’s at a convention and he’s bonkers for her. She isn’t so interested in a relationship with him because of the fame. So he has to woo her. Make her understand that he’s not a typical movie/tv star. Slow burn."

So I give you the Limelight series- It's a Jensen x reader (plus size, curvy girl) story, Jensen meets the reader in a bar, he falls fist, she is reluctant of course, but secretly she fell for him the second he walked through the door. So can a small town girl and a celebrity make it work?

Warnings for the whole series: language, multi-pov and switching between the pov mid chapters (sorry I can't help it), Jensen coming off aggressive for a hot second but then cooling off. Some douche side characters and some lovable ones, body shaming, angst, fluff, swoon, Jared is there and Micha is mention.

This story takes place an AU where Jensen is not married but Jared is and has kids.

This chapter is 1K+. Feedback, likes and reblogs are always welcomed. Please don't post as your own work, this is my work. If you would like to be added to my tag list, just ask, I am always happy to add you.

Once James left you, you only had an hour to think, but that hour was long enough. You couldn't concentrate on anything but Jensen. How was he going to be? Will he come over upset and want to call it quits before you can explain yourself? Did you even have the right to ask him to understand where you were coming with your hesitation? You did up and left him, essentially ghosting him for no reason, at least no reason that he could know about.

Knocking at the door pulls you back to reality, and you cross the short distance from the couch to the door. You take a breath and remember that he asked to meet with you and wants to discuss this. Shaking the last bit of nerves, you open the door.

He is standing on the other side with a bouquet of wildflowers and a look of angst, stress, and fear on his face. The man you fell for just two days ago, the guy you never thought would be breathing the same air as you, is standing at arm's length. 

"Hey." his voice cracks slightly.

"Hey," you say, stepping aside for him to enter.

He does, and you take a deep breath to breathe in the smell of leather, sandalwood, and musk. God, you could live in that scent forever. Closing the door behind him, you take a second to compose yourself before turning back to face him.

"These are for you," he says sweetly, handing the flowers to you and giving you a half smile.   

Taking them, you smile at the fact that he didn't go the traditional route with roses; it would have been too cliche. 

"I love them, thank you." You say, crossing the room to the small kitchenette to grab a mason jar to fill with water. After placing the jars in and setting them on the table, you turn to see him looking at some of your in-progress works. 

"Can I get you something to drink? I have beer, water, and a bottle of Jameson somewhere around here.

He looks up from the painting. "Beer's good. Maybe save the Jameson for another time." He jokes, smiles, and then looks around the room. 

"This is a great space, and your work is amazing."

The cool air calms you when you open the fridge to grab a couple of beers. OK, he's making a few jokes; that's good. 

"Thanks, I lucked out when this place became available," you say, crossing the room and handing him a beer. 

You both take a drink, you can feel the silence start to set in. You look back to Jensen to see he feels it too. Something is telling you that he is going to start talking soon. That he’s going to break the silence first, and either let you down easy or just let you go. Either way the idea of Jensen ending it, whatever this is, is too much for you.

"Look, Jensen, I am really sorry about earlier today. I shouldn't have…" you start to apologize, wanting to get ahead of whatever scripted, “It’s you, not me” speech he has planned. No matter what James told you earlier, the reality is, he can do better than you, God knows it won’t be hard for him.  

"You have nothing to apologize for; I should be making the apology. I shouldn't have let my time get taken up by fans; it's not fair to you." He cuts you off, knowing that he is in the wrong here. He should have shut things down sooner and shouldn't expect you to put up with his crazy life.

Setting down your beer, you get up to start passing. Feeling the nervous energy coursing through you, you have to do something. 

"But that's just it. There are your fans, and you can't ignore them. Plus, I should have waited a few more minutes until you were done and said goodbye property, not run out on you." 

Turning back, you see him watching you, letting you word vomit all over the room. He is respectful in that way. Dammit! He has got to be wishing he didn’t come over.

You give him a slight head tilt. "Say something." you plead, wanting nothing more than to hear him yell at you or forgive you or put the final nail in your heart and tell you he’s done.

He takes a second, weighing his options, knowing that he only wants to hear what's going on in that head of hers. Does she think he's worth the hassle? Does she want to just cut and run? 

"Why did you? Because I thought we were having a pretty good morning up until…" He asks, letting the statement fall off, knowing he doesn't need to finish it.

You start to fiddle with the paintbrushes on the table. God damnit, admitting your feelings is not your strong suit, at least not with someone you want to impress.

"We were, it's just…god, this is going to sound so stupid…" You start but stop short of saying what you're afraid to. God, he will think you're stupid and not worth it!

Jensen gets up. He walks over to you, places his hand on you, stops your fiddling, and makes you make eye contact with him. 

"No, it won't; please just tell me."

You let his hand rest on yours; the feeling of his skin on yours helps ground you. 

"I just don't know how you do it. Being in public means having everyone know everything about you. People recognize you on the street and taking your picture. You can't even walk across a hotel lobby without needing two bodyguards."

Taking a breath, you can't believe you just blurted that all out. 

"I just don't think I can handle it. I don't think I would be good for your image."

Jensen gives you a questionable look. 

"Wait, what do you mean 'you're not good for my image?' Do you think you have to look a certain way to be with me? And that you don't fit it? Because let me tell you, that’s not the case." He says matter of fact. He can see you're about to protest, your eyes telling him you're not believing him.

"I just think, and I am sure others around you would agree, that you should be with someone more… let's say 'red carpet ready.' Someone who can fit into designer clothes and has some clout when working against the reporters. Not someone nobody from the sticks." You explain yourself, wishing you didn't feel that way but sadly it's the truth, and it hurts sometimes. 

Jensens feels the range and anger start to build. Not towards Y/N; he could never feel that way towards her, but toward society and whoever has hurt her in the past to make her think that she is not beautiful or worthy to be next to him. 

"Wait a second if you're talking about my manager or agent. They don't get to dictate who I am with. And if they started to, they would be fired in a second. I am a grown-ass man; I decide who I want to spend time with and who I want in my life." Grabbing her hand to intertwine with his. 

"And it's you. I want to be with you; I want you in my life."

"But…" you start to protest, even though you can see he's sincere in his words. He said he would drop-kick everyone to the curb if they began to dictate who he could see. Still, he’s only known you for two days, what if this one choice ruins everything for him?

"No, buts, I want to be with you because…I am falling for you… you're funny, smart, and sexy as hell. You don't put up with anyone's shit; you're strong and confident. You make me feel like a regular person when I am with you. I can breathe when I am with you." He declares, almost going as far as to say he loves her, but thinking better of himself, that would really scare her off.

You could tell he's holding something back, and you're sure you know what that is. It's the same thing you're holding back from saying because it's crazy to think that in this short time, you could be, no, you are in love with him. 

"I feel the same way… I've never been with anyone that makes me feel safe and comfortable in my own skin." 

He lets out a breath that he is holding, and relief floods him. That smile of his with the twinkle in his eyes, fuck, you were done. He pulls you into his arms; the feel of his muscular body against yours grounds you even more. Pushing your insecurities aside and being present at the moment. Jensen Ackles wants you; he said he's falling for you!

But what does this mean for you two? How are you going to make this work?

To Be Continue......

Tag List:

@ladysparkles78

@smoothdogsgirl

@n-o-p-e-never

@stoneyggirl2

@lmhf1

@kr804573

@deansimpalababy

@livingdeadblondequeen

@winchesterwild78

@foxyjwls007

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

A bit of a ramble about agere and fanfiction

Sometimes I think about steering away from adding agere into fics that aren’t agere-centric because I feel the need to make my fic as digestible for as many people as possible and agere is something that, unfortunately, a lot of people will pass over purely because it’s there.

I’ve had multiple people comment on one shots that ARE specifically agere-centric telling me that they normally dislike agere fics and wouldn’t bother but that they took a chance and really liked mine. And as nice as I’m sure that intends to be, I am not some unique, one-in-a-million writer. Nothing I do is new to the agere space, particularly when it comes to fanfiction. I will admit that I do cover regressors that can be less represented in these spaces (older regressors, older headspaces, ect) but I am far from the only fic writer that does it.

Agere is JUST as valid and acceptable as a trauma response and coping mechanism as anything else that I’d be willing to put in these kinds of fics, and refusing to include it purely on the basis of “well, people don’t understand it and therefore wouldn’t read it” is clearly a mindset that comes from my own shame and weariness of other people’s reactions. And that isn’t great when my fic could be the thing that educated them on what agere is and how it can benefit someone— the thing that has educated people before.

The long fic that I’m currently working on has a main character that regresses due to trauma and it is something that is blatantly obvious throughout the entire story; but I never actually said that was what was happening. When I finally decided to put a word to it, like, twenty-five chapters in and officially say “yes, he is regressing in these moments”, there were some people saying that the story was good but that this was something they weren’t interested in and that they wouldn’t be reading any longer. Which is fine, anyone can read or drop whatever they want, but it is really upsetting to me because this was THERE the entire time. I just never called it what it was. On the flip side, however, I did have other people who didn’t know much about agere and actually learned something from my portrayal of this character, or even felt represented in a way that they otherwise wouldn’t have been. And, to me, that means so much more than how many hits or kudos I get from shying away from something that deserves to exist outside of the community.

So, every time I think about not having a side mention of agere in my fics, I think about the potential people who could learn something new from me and the way that I could help normalize something that means so much to me in a way that makes sense to the average person. That, alone, makes it so important and absolutely worth doing.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  MuseumGiftShopEraser! They have 9 works on AO3 in the Stranger Things Fandom, and 6 of those are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @museumgiftshoperaser:

Paint the Devil on the Wall

Conversations About Love

Now I'm A Stranger

An Exercise In Denial

Baby, You Were Meant To Follow Me

Her fics are BEAUTIFUL. When I first read Paint the Devil on the Wall I was so obsessed I immediately recced the fic to everyone I knew who would be vaguely interested in a steddie fic. -- anonymous

Below the cut, @museumgiftshoperaser answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I stumbled into it immediately after season 4 came out. I’ve felt very attached to Steve as a character from the beginning of the show and I think I was subconsciously waiting for someone to pair him up with. I think they’re both such great characters to explore themes of dealing with expectation (either by conforming, or fighting against it) and that’s something I always love to write about.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Absolute sucker for fake dating. Can’t get enough of it.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Enemies to lovers! Though now that I’m looking through my AO3 I haven’t actually written that much of it. It doesn’t have to be very intense enemies, though. I just like it when characters don’t immediately get along.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

My brain has been forever rewired by took you for a working boy by pukner. It’s such a gentle, nuanced queer story. It feels vulnerable to me in a way that really only fanfiction can be. Can I sneak in another one?? Because everyone should also absolutely read the shame is on the other side by scoops_ahoy. It taps into this very specific kind of queer compartmentalizing, that I’ve never seen written this well. It broke my heart and patched it right back up.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I’ve been stupidly busy with my masters lately so there’s probably not a lot of writing on my horizon. I do have a wip called Doll that I’m slowly chipping away at. It’s a little darker than stuff I’ve written before. I know ‘dark’ isn’t really a trope, but I’m excited to see if I can push these characters a little further. 

What is your writing process like?

Absolute chaos. I write non-chronologically, without an outline, all in the same document. I keep writing snippets and scenes until the whole thing slowly comes together. 

Do you have any writing quirks?

Italicizing words for emphasis. I love it so much, you can rip it from my cold dead hands. It accidentally makes its way into my academic writing for my degree sometimes which is a little embarrassing, but I just love the flair of it. 

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I don’t really do schedules, it doesn’t work for me at all. I try to make sure I have a decent amount of the story written before I start posting to give me a bit of a head start, but forcing myself to finish something by a certain date is a surefire way to kill my motivation.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Probably Paint the Devil on the Wall. It was the first time I’d written the entire story before I started posting so it went through way more rounds of editing than normal. I think you can really tell. It’s also the longest story I’ve ever written (in general, even outside of fanfic). The whole project gave me a lot of confidence as a writer.

How did you get the idea for Paint the Devil on the Wall?

I knew I wanted to participate in the Bigbang and the deadline was coming up, but I still didn’t have an idea. I decided to work backwards and try to think of something that would be fun for the artist(s) to draw. I had a vision of Eddie wearing dungarees without a shirt, absolutely covered in paint and I knew I had to write something to make it happen. I set the story in 80s New York because neo expressionism is really the only kind of art I could see Eddie making. I think it suits him very well. I do actually have a background in art, though! I’m currently getting my MFA, but I’ve worked full time as an artist for several years before that. I had a lot of fun working my passion for art (and all those art history classes I had to take) into the fic.

When writing Paint the Devil on the Wall, what was something you didn’t expect?

All of Steve’s character, to be honest. The fic is written from Eddie’s POV and for a large part of it he has a very hard time figuring out what Steve’s deal is. Right alongside him, I also had an incredibly hard time figuring out his character. It wasn’t until I was working on the final chapter that he finally clicked for me. I realized very late, just like Eddie, that Steve liked him from the very beginning. Most of the enemies to lovers premise was all in Eddie’s head.

What inspired Now I'm a Stranger?

Oh boy, that was forever ago! I remember I started writing it while I was camping with friends because I liked having something to do after everyone went to bed at night. I think I had the idea for that very first scene where Steve doesn’t remember Eddie and it all sort of spiraled from there.

What was your favorite part to write from An Exercise in Denial?

That was the very first fic I wrote, right after season 4 came out! I’ve never written something that fast, I think the whole thing took me less than a week. My favorite part was probably Robin being completely exasperated with both of them. They’re such complete idiots in that fic.

How do/did you feel writing Baby, You Were Meant To Follow Me?

Ahhh… I never got around to finishing that one. I probably never will, to be honest. I wrote the first two parts quite quickly and then the idea I had for the plot spiraled out of control and I realized I didn’t actually feel like writing the rest of it. There were going to be a lot of misunderstandings and I learned that I find that an incredibly frustrating trope to write (when done for drama at least. For comedy, I’m a sucker for misunderstandings.) So I guess I felt a little in over my head.

What was the most difficult part of writing Conversations About Love?

The ending! That fic is so incredibly personal to me and I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to have a very sappy, happy ending. It was important to me to write an aromantic character getting everything they wanted, but I realized as I was writing it that I don’t actually fully know what that means. So it took a bit more soul searching than fics typically do, but it was very much worth it. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I still think the short little prologue for Paint the Devil on the Wall is the best thing I’ve written. “You don’t draw on things that aren’t yours, baby” is probably the best summary I have for that story.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Not really!

Thank you to our author, @museumgiftshoperaser, and our anonymous nominator! See more of @museumgiftshoperaser works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[yonemurishiroku]

Jason died cause he boring. He literally an all American boy someone who would have been popular in the 90s. Compare all main characters first chapter to Jason and you can tell he bland like white bread. Jason lacks the popularity of Percy cause if Percy was dead expect a riot plus we already had a better Zeus contrast with Thalia. Apollo is the more interesting character and Apollo son is a better contrast to Nico. Had he not had a GF maybe he could have been Nico love interest but Rick decided on Nico being gay extremely late he said it himself and what does it look like having a guy break up with his GF (poc) to be with Nico(white emo kid) in a kid series. Will was convenient no weird background no known relationship and the complete opposite to Nico and people get mad but it work you don’t get a solo book if the fanbase wasn’t big. The

There’re so many points at once in this ask and I don’t think I’m comprehending them right so I guess I’ll just post my reactions upon reading this.

- Jason’s bland like a white bread -> Good news! I like white bread. I think white bread is a perfect canvas to add all of your favorite toppings to make the best meal for you. ☺️😋😋

So if Rick really did kill Jason only bc he’s bland then he’s a coward solely bc he can’t figure out what color to put on Jason’s canvas.

- Apollo’s son is a better contrast to Nico -> This is subjective so I’ll leave it for any day. Though it got me thinking. Why, exactly, should the contrast matter?

Because fun fact! Jason and Nico have many working parallels that can be great materials for relationship development. Ask a random Jasico fanfic writers and they’ll give a thesis.

On the other hand, to be honest?, we already have Percabeth as the opposites-attract/bantering/significant annoyance trope. I ngl can do without another similar one. 🤷‍♀️

- Err i’m not American so I don’t think I’m in any position to talk about the poc girl vs white emo boy thing but if anything, I find it’s valid. Smh shame

Edit: Haise pointed out that Nico is not white, he’s Venetian and has olive skin. I honestly don’t know what it makes this…

- You don’t get a solo book if the fanbase isn’t big enough -> This is undeniably true.

HOWEVER

Pal. My friend. Mate. Listen. Just wait until I show you how many people absolutely despite the existence that is TSATS——

I’m all for letting people enjoy things. Though, if you ask me - me, who came to PJO solely for Solangelo and binge read TSATS in like 2 nights and cried a river on my pillow, I would say TSATS is Rick’s poor attempt of:

1/ milking the franchise (which is understandable. Capitalism you know bla bla bla)

2/ giving a half-heartedly made closure to the fandom’s favorite (which is sort of fanservice? Idk)

3/ and along with it solidifying the foundation of his gay love story, which didn’t have the… err prettiest start? (which I reckon accounts for a lot of the franchise’s popularity).

And yeah it’s easy to see that Nico being gay is a late decision with how Rick worked it out lmao.

[cctinsleybaxter]

2023 in Books

I need to stop bragging that I’ve got this reading thing all figured out, because man if 2023 wasn’t a year of terrible books. I liked less than half of the 37 I read and nothing quite gripped me in the way it has in years past… but to put it more optimistically I liked a full third of what I read, and the ones I liked best were a fascinating and unexpected silver lining. Without further ado:

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, trans. Brian Hooker

Tell this all to the world- and then to me. Say very softly that… she loves you not.

I read a couple of plays this year for the first time since college and liked them fine, but there’s a reason this has been adapted five million times. Everyone go watch Megamind right now.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

Of all the found footage-inspired horror fiction I’ve read this one makes the best case for existing in its chosen medium, as a 70s UK folk rock band are interviewed about the summer they spent recording what would become their final album [thunder crashes.] It reminded me of a Tana French mystery in its language and ability to make space feel lived-in; the character writing is so strong I realized that at some point I had stopped checking the interview headings to know who was speaking. Hand unfortunately distrusts her audience to read between the lines at a few crucial moments (and ruins what would have been a perfect ending and a deeply affecting scare by gilding the lily, or, in this case, photograph), but I love that she went from seemingly by-the-numbers American YA fiction to a meticulously-researched and truly unique horror novella. Puts other writers working in the genre to shame.

A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin

Reminiscent of the best kind of TCM suspense thriller (and was adapted into one), but could only exist as a book for the kind of narrative tactics it employs. Levin is brilliant at setting and character; I think any one of his contemporaries would have leaned into archetypes for this sort of story, and he instead distinguishes his proper nouns in subtle, clever ways that lend them the weight a noir needs. Can’t wait to read more of his stuff!

All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva

I’d like to know why this anthology got hit with what a friend has termed a pottery barn throw pillow cover + a ‘the tiny things we know to be small’ title, because the eponymous story isn’t even called that! It’s just The Names They Used for God, and is, appropriately, about two women kidnapped by a religious extremist group. High risk-high reward; I think taken at their base premise the stories could have been insufferable and are instead strange, compelling, and fantastical. There’s a methodicalness and, I don't know, lack of whimsy? to them that’s unusual for fantasy, but also an absence of any one goal or moral in the way Le Guin speaks so highly of. It made me feel the way I did reading and adoring Kelly Link in middle school, and Sachdeva has a much different style that I guess works all the better on adults. My favorite was Robert Greenman and the Mermaid.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Lauren Hillenbrand

Someone recommended this to me via Tumblr anon over five years ago, so let me start by saying if that was you I’d like to thank you properly! This book rules! It was written in ‘99 so falls prey to a very specific kind of jingoism, but the mechanics of that are interesting in and of themself. Seabiscuit the animal is a lens through which to view turn-of-the-20th-century America written from the precipice of the 21st; his story told through the expertly-researched biographies of his owner, trainer, and jockey. Hillenbrand is not only a good pop nonfiction historian, but has been a sports writer since the 80s and I never imagined the genre could be so thrilling as I did reading her work. Horse racing is insane and no one should be riding these things btw.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

It was one of the great livery-stableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.

Wharton came from old money New York*, was deeply disillusioned with it and pined for rational (i.e., even more insane) social and political scenes, had myriad thoughts about women and gender relations, and held a love for interior design. I learned all of this after reading but it’s apparent on every page; deeply funny and perceptive, fantastic use of language, the moments where it lost me completely nothing if not interesting. What sticks with me the most are a flair for the operatic and an ability to voice both the feeling and consequences of losing oneself to imagined scenarios. Read the pink parasol scene.

*Ancient Money New York; the saying ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is apocryphally attributed to her father’s side of the family

Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan S. Slaght

We’d return to our camp to huddle in the freezing tent and wait for our owls in silence, like suitors agonizing over a phone that never rings.

One of the better pieces of science writing I’ve read in a long time, as Slaght frames rural communities as a quintessential part of ecology rather than a barrier to it. His style is amiable and matter-of-fact (sometimes overly so; the amount of metric GIS directions, help), but he's super engaging and clearly holds just as much compassion for people and history as he does animals and natural landscapes. The Blakiston’s fish owls he’s studying are described as unreal, with hoots so low and quiet it sounds like someone has thrown them under a blanket. You can listen to them here.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Took my breath away and surprised me in a way a book hasn’t in years. I'd read Clarke’s 2004 novel when I was maybe fourteen and had vaguely positive but mostly neutral memories of it, and Piranesi being sci-fi-fantasy that came recommended by Tiktok had me very dubious. I ended up devouring it in the way I haven’t read books since I was fourteen; more of a mystery than the suspected high fantasy, with characters I would do disservice to in trying to describe in brief. While the mystery isn’t difficult to ‘solve’ (I’d argue the book also skews young!), the story ends in a way that’s both deeply unexpected and in the only way it could have.

Honorable mentions

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, trans. Peter Washington

[Jigsaw voice] Every man has a devouring passion in his heart as every fruit has its worm.

I spent so much time running my mouth about this one on Tumblr there’s really not much left to say. I think it’s a work of genius that was physically exhausting to read, and I’m sticking it with the honorable mentions mostly because I remember The Three Musketeers being the better book. If you want to read Dumas- and you should- start with that one.

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

I would’ve liked this more had I read it in my late teens/early 20s, but I still think it’s pretty good and would absolutely recommend to anyone in that age bracket. Things that normally annoy me about philosophical first-person lit fic didn’t matter under the weight of Jon’s narratorial voice. He reminded me a little of Lynda Barry’s Maybonne in his understanding and depictions of community and family; his stream of consciousness letting contradictions sit rather than trying to explain them away (Whitehead also makes sex very prosaic and pretty-sounding while still being frank and gross about it, which is a rare talent!)

The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From by Edward Dolnik

This one fell in the rankings because the writing isn’t my favorite (think early days Vulture article rather than NYT), but I cannot stop referencing it in conversation. I want to read the whole thing to people and make them understand how truly unfathomable it is not only that every one of us is the product of 1 sperm and 1 egg, but that anyone ever figured out how that process works. When Western Europeans first started using microscopes they studied water; there were gross little bugs in there to watch and enjoy, so when semen was revealed to have its own bugs no one was shocked, but they also weren’t impressed. We would not see one enter an egg until EIGHTEEN SEVENTY-FIVE.  

Killer Dolphin by Ngaio Marsh

The Malaise of First Night Nerves had gripped Peregrine, not tragically and aesthetically by the throat but, as is its habit, shamefully in the guts.

Has made it into my top 5 favorite Inspector Alleyn mysteries. I’m not keen on Marsh’s theater settings (and there are a LOT of them), but a convoluted setup made this one all the more rewarding. The final revelation as to a point of blackmail is visceral and bizarre in a way I haven’t seen from her before.

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

We all have dirty hands; we are all soiling them in the swamps of our country and in the terrifying emptiness of our brains. Every onlooker is either a coward or a traitor.

Best read in conversation with other writers, I wouldn’t recommend Fanon as the end-all-be-all introduction to communist and socialist thinking (the fact that he inadvertently describes what was going wrong with the USSR at time of writing is fascinating), but he explicitly invites that conversation and the value and impact of his work really can’t be overstated. Our points of disagreement tend to be in regard to nationalism, not his condonation of violence.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Fascinating to see how Austen was thinking about relationships near the end of her short life. I laughed to see the idea of preferring your brother-in-law’s family to your own was back in full force from my own favorite Emma, as well as an eleventh-hour ‘maybe I should ship the villains??’ My biggest issue is that, like Emma, Persuasion is written in third person limited narration, but Anne is fundamentally Good™ so doesn’t need to learn anything about herself or the world; critic Bob Irvine points out that she and her dashing, misogynistic sailor are beset rather than changed by it. That said I love a people being beset by people (concussed temptresses) places (Bath) and things (cars), and Austen's writing style is really firing on all cylinders here.

[transamorousnetwork]

No, Sexual Abuse Doesn’t Create Trans-Attracted People

Back in May I gushed about the Netflix Limited Series “Baby Reindeer”. My focus, obviously, wasn’t on the main plot, but the sub plot; that being the main character “Donny’s” trans-attraction. I gushed about it because I thought the entire series did a great job describing how shame and self-loathing can create a truly, sucky life.

Which is exactly what Donny lived.

While writing that series of posts, I received an interesting comment from a trans-attracted guy. The comment made a point I hadn’t considered. I hadn’t considered it because I don’t believe the point the writer made about trans attraction or about the show. So the point went right over my head.

I’m glad then, that the commenter made the point. It’s worth taking a closer look at it.

So let’s take a look at what he wrote, then unpack what he’s saying.

The comment

Reading between the lines of his comment, it’s clear the writer isn’t ashamed of his trans attraction. Not only that, it seems he’s out about it. That’s great. So here’s what he had to say. I’ve added some clarifications [in brackets] for reasons that will be obvious:

I was baffled at first that people kept asking me if I’d seen Baby Reindeer – I’ve never seen *any* must-see TV shows. Then I realised there was this cis-trans relationship subplot. People I know wanted to know how I felt about that because they know of my own orientation and dating experience… I thought [transgender actress] Nava Mau’s performance was fantastic and [her character] “Teri” was probably the only likable and relatable person in the show tbh. But I did feel that the show let her down in plot terms. No exposition at all for *why* the main character decided to go on a trans dating site. In an ideal world, sure, it would be unremarkable, but in the real world, it’s obviously not something everyone *just does*. And in that absence of explanation it felt uncomfortably like we were supposed to see it as some kind of sexual trauma response to his previous experiences as revealed in ep. 3. When, after their split, he hardly seemed to give her another thought, that seemed to reinforce that she was almost just a plot device to show him going through stages of trauma and self-questioning. Given that it’s based on a true story, of course, that may just be a reflection of this individual’s reality. And yes, that reality may reflect a wider reality of a lot of cis man/trans woman relationships. But I guess I’m just disappointed that the plotline in that regard always seems to be one of trauma, hangups, internalised shame, etc. That’s not at all my experience in my own relationship, and I’d like for once to see that portrayed! So as representation goes, yes, Teri was a triumph, but as a portrayal of a relationship between a trans woman and a trans-attracted man I felt it was a lot less positive.

Shallow thinking creates condemnation

I really like this guy’s perspective. And, he’s right. I believe a trend exists in the minds of people that trans attraction is a response to some unsavory past. Often, that past includes sexual “trauma”. And while that may be true for some, I don’t think that’s true for the majority of trans-attracted men.

The commenter, clearly, hasn’t had that experience. As well, most of the men I’ve worked with also don’t have sexual “trauma” they’re responding to. Many of them did experience an event which surfaced what may have previously been unconscious orientation behavior. But sexual abuse “trauma” doesn’t create trans attraction in people.

Take me, for example. I didn’t realize my trans-attraction until a girlfriend in Japan took me to a bar that featured trans go-go dancers. That doesn’t qualify as sexual trauma or abuse. But it did open my eyes to an aspect of who I was.

One could say the trope that trans-attracted men trans attracted because of past sexual abuse parallels the idea that trans women are just “men in a dress”. Like the latter, the former offers no introspection or analysis. Nor does it reveal any effort on the part of the speaker to understand trans attraction, nor the men (and women) who orient that way sexually. Such comments don’t point to a truth. They just represent shallow thinking on the part of the person expressing them.

Which is why they’re worthy of us ignoring them.

Another trope needing examination

Trans-attraction is just as valid as any other sexual orientation. For transgender people, it is an important orientation. That’s because such people represent perfect matches for trans people. And because of that, trans people can find love they desire.

I’ve written before about how every sock finds its shoe. The way the Universe works, no aspect of being goes unmatched. There always exists someone to match someone who wants to match with someone.

Now, some people do exist for which no match exists. Such people eventually discover they are happier without relationships. I’ve known women who, after dating men and women, for example, discover their best relationship is with themselves.

That’s a great realization to come to. But it often comes after trial and error. Because all of us are conditioned so strongly to have a relationship. Otherwise something is wrong with us. And that’s another expression that’s gone without much examination.

A lot more happiness would exist if people didn’t try fitting themselves into the box the peanut gallery prescribes. That goes for trans people, trans-attracted people and everyone else.

Stories DO create reality though

All that said, I did have a client who believed part of his experience in desiring trans women came from what HE considered to be sexual trauma involving a relative. After looking at what happened over several months, however, we discovered a couple things about that experience. One, such sexual experimentation between relatives is very common. It’s not sexual abuse. And two, his role in it was far less offensive than he was making it.

In other words, his stories about what happened shaped his judgments about what happened. They also shaped his self-judgement. A self-judgement so harsh he contemplated suicide many times. 

These days, however, this client is becoming more and more free of his negative stories. As a result he’s finding himself more comfortable accepting who he is, what he likes, and what happened in the past.

And that’s the point of all of this. Our stories create our realities. That’s why it’s so important looking at the stories we have. Looking at them we change those that create experiences we don’t like. Every experience we don’t like comes as a result of beliefs we hold. That means any experience we don’t like we have the power to change.

I think Donny, the main character in Baby Reindeer showed us this. By changing his stories he came to embrace who he was. The result not only transformed his life, it also produced a sensational hit streaming show.

Read my series on that show here: Post one, post two, three and four.

[samobservessonic]

Today’s issue starts with Sonic not quite managing to meet his treadmill expectations, before stopping so take a shower out in the middle of Green Hill. So there you have it, folks, if you’ve ever wondered where Sonic lives, the answer has been here all along - he just leaves random household appliances around Green Hill and I guess everyone lets him do that

I guess chili dog lore hasn’t been established yet, because Sonic stops to have some burgers, before Tails gets kidnapped by what looks like bacon, but is actually more badniks. The badniks threaten to pull Tails’s arms and legs off if he tries to resist them, so once again, no one is messing around in early StC

We get what could’ve been some cool lore about how Labyrinth Zone stretches under half of Mobius, because the badniks have been digging it out for months - another moment of showing how staggeringly OP the badniks are in these comics that I’m honestly all here for. But what ruins it for me is that it doesn't look like Labyrinth Zone. After seeing the preview for the last issue saying that we’d be going to Labyrinth Zone in this issue, I was excited to see such an iconic location from Sonic 1 visited in the comics, but the art is just some dark tunnels and I think that really lets down what the story was going for here

Sonic decides to take some of his friends along with him to rescue Tails this time and look, actual Sonic & Sally interaction in StC! Even if it is him telling her not to be “such a girlie”

We get some sequences that flick between the badniks kidnapping Tails (literally threatening to “bash his brains in” if not for Robotnik wanting Tails alive) and Sonic & friends travelling through the apparent labyrinth until they catch up. There’s not much to say here, but one of the badniks does drop this line about being something called a prime badnik - a pure robot with no animal battery. This works with what Kitching established last issue about badniks seeking out their own batteries. Though the implication here is that the prime badnik is stronger or at least harder to destroy, which creates the question of why they'd seek out animal batteries if that's the case? Anyway, I didn’t expect to be talking so much about badniks in these posts, but it is interesting to see what StC did with them, since at this point they were the only enemies besides Robotnik that the series has to call upon

Anyway, the labyrinth floods, Sonic burns the last badnik and everyone gets away. There isn’t much else to talk about here. I have to admit that this is the first story so far that I haven’t particularly enjoyed and that’s a bit of a shame, because writer Mark Millar was bringing great concepts to the table and expanding upon what’s already been established, even only five issues into the series. The labyrinth flooding was a neat reference to the latter part of the Labyrinth Zone stage in the game itself. But the art really does let this issue down a lot. Which is a shame, because we already saw Woodrow Phoenix do art in an earlier issue and it was fine! But it feels lazy here? Or perhaps Phoenix just wasn’t told what the Labyrinth Zone was supposed to look like? Either way, it was a bit of a let-down, but I know things only improve going forward, so I won’t dwell on it

[alectology-archive]

a day of fallen night final thoughts below the cut, but to summarise I think this is a book people can enjoy easily but it didn’t really do anything particularly great for me in terms of the themes it was dealing with (although I do feel very positively about it’s scathing criticisms of monarchical systems of power especially when they wield power in alliance with the fantasy!church. also that climate fiction is always delicious to read about). spoilers include the ending and partly the general character arcs.

thoughts on the technical aspects of the book:

having finished the book I still strongly believe that the pacing of the story progressed at break-neck speed and left no room for the characters to breathe. I do think this is specifically an issue with the editors involved with this book because all of her other books have never given me the same impression and samantha has repeatedly mentioned that her editors trimmed a lot of words from tpotot and adofn. male writers get to keep nonsensical bits of useless exposition; she should’ve been allowed to throw in a couple more thousand words to let the characters breathe and develop and feel. not that it necessarily means that the manuscript didn’t need to shed some weight, but you know what I mean. the scenes also cut off pretty abruptly sometimes to shift POVs which is well. not good.

… speaking of which a lot of scenes that we build up to take place off-screen despite having a lot of emotional and narrative significance (for instance we learn off-screen that wulf spent 9 months in the priory and also that he was easily convinced that cleolind really defeated the nameless one). this happens multiple times, and made for a very frustrating reading experience - I think dumai’s storyline particularly suffers from this.

I never really felt my heart leap in my chest the way it did multiple times while reading priory and tbs - her writing style involves making her characters face a continuous stream of conflicts that seem insurmountable which is kind of what really drew me to her books in the beginning. I suspect this might be because I kind of have a sense for her writing patterns now that lets me predict her style of storytelling.

I think glorian’s storyline should have started around the time preceding/following sabran vi’s death because I really tired of her POVs before that - it just didn’t have any plot significance. I also admittedly don’t care for reading about characters who’re in their teenhood any more.

with dumai’s storyline, the story seemed to promise court intrigue but failed to really deliver on it. samantha’s also pretty good at writing flawed antagonists but none of them landed well for me in this book.

adofn also seemed to feature a lot of Telling rather than Showing, but this might also be a personal issue because I prefer books to be a lot more subtle with their character development and themes. this was not really the case when I was 16, so I’m not sure if I’ve just become more critical of her work (it’s probably just that).

I think samantha isn’t very good at writing Nice Male Characters. I say this fondly. I love that she excels at writing terrible men, though. jaxon tbs sucks! I love him.

we spend more time with training sequences than we seem to with scenes with conflict between the protagonists and antagonists which is kind of a shame.

this is a very vague criticism and people might not agree, but I also did get the impression that samantha had a hard time letting women just be… horrible in this book. really morally questionable in a significant way. this was not a problem she had in priory. I do think it’s interesting to really deconstruct the concept of a witch in the woods and instead present her as a person who seeks to protect the land, but it also seemed to… contradict kalyba’s pre-established characterisation? like she retconned her background while working on this book? just…. let women be horrible lol. nikeya also wasn’t nearly half as devious as the narrative tried to convince us she was.

she often clarifies how a certain character is queer sometimes in ways I don’t necessarily like (this is specifically referring to the point about how I’ve gradually grown to appreciate more subtlety in books recently). in nona the ninth, we learn that camilla hect has two dads and tamsyn muir never descends into discussing the minutiae the way samantha does.

while the climate and balance element of the magic system was dealt with a lot of nuance a lot of the antagonists lacked the depth that the magic system had with a bunch of conflicts being painted as black and white scenarios (it doesn’t really turn out that way at the end of the book, but you do spend most of the book with certain assumptions that are only countered in the very last chapters of the book. it doesn’t make for an fun reading experience).

kediko onjenyu should have waged a war against the priory. prince guma and robart ellar should have been allowed to mount a more formidable political opposition to glorian. the river lord and nikeya shoild have done more politicking. there was a lot of opportunity for more politicking that was wasted as empty threats.

I was personally a little annoyed that religion played such a heavy role in every single POV we got, but it’s fine, it’s not a big deal. I love examinations of religions in text, but I also don’t enjoy stories that have a high density of religious characters because I don’t like the touch of false belief that religion infuses into the narration of the characters who keep strong faith.

While her writing style was really the one I first remember falling in love with, I do think you could tell when certain sections of the book were better edited and went through more rewrites. it’s fine! she cares a lot about writing as a craft and that’s all I really expect from an author. it didn’t particularly wow me this time, although I continue to love her usage of metaphors.

thoughts on thematic coherence:

the single most frustrating narrative was the very unsatisfactory conclusion to siyu’s storyline - it ended with the narrative seemingly concluding that she needed to properly submit to the suffocating structure of the priory that caused her severe psychological and emotional distress ie it ignored the family as a tool of oppression. I’m not saying the criticism was entirely absent - the narrative is pretty sympathetic to her and generally indicates that she was treated very cruelly - but that criticism is negated when it’s ignored in the latter half of the series. why would you do this to her! I’m glad she was allowed to go to inys at the end of the book, but the conversation where tunuva and esbar apologised to her should have taken place, and it never did. ead’s storyline did focus more on the need for reform in the priory, but I don’t recall if it really dealt with the questions siyu’s storyline was posing.

^^^ speaking of which I do think it’s weird to reaffirm the need for siyu to integrate into a system that has hurt her when samantha specifically writes with the intent to critique the concept of family and marriage. she needed to do some more retrospection in that department, I think :/ also I’m probably making it sound worse than it really is, but the resolution was still Not Great.

the reproductive burden that women face in continuing bloodlines and its significance in monarchies particularly was dealt with excellently, as was the mechanisms through which the institutions of power that they were a part of played a role in the dehumanisation of women and in denying them any real autonomy over their bodies.

samantha’s personal struggles with mental health also give her an informed view on depression and I could Relate. excellently done, no notes, I did mark the quotes so I’ll hunt them down and post them later.

the individual endings presented to us in the epilogue were all pretty great though! I always love her endings - particularly, the touch of tragedy she infuses into them always makes them very satisfying.

[carlos-tk]

hello beloved and happy nice ask week !!

i know we talked briefly in replies about buddy the vampire slayer, so i wanted to ask what you fav season, character, couple and villain from it are !! + if you wanna use this to gush about any other shows/characters you like feel free to (/nf) <3

Hi my dear Flare 💗

Thank you for giving me a chance to talk about my forever gal Buffy 👩🏼

My favourite character: Of course it has to be Buffy Summers. Strongest girl in the universe. I love everything about her. Her strength, her courage, her personality, her sarcasm and wit, her kindness, how much love she has for everyone around her 💗 She’s dynamic, she’s layered, she makes mistakes and she isn’t perfect. She just feels like a real person that you want to root for. We got to watch her go from adolescent to adult and persevere and survive it all. I could talk about her for hours!! SMG gives such a great portrayal of her and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role

Favourite episode god there’s so many good ones! Let me just say ‘The Body’ S5 E16 is one of if not the best episode of television ever, one that you’ll rarely ever want to watch again. It’s a beautiful, heartwrenching exploration of grief and mourning. and in a show that deals with so much death and destruction from monsters the worst loss you have is a human death by natural causes 💔 That episode is so hard to revisit so I’m gonna give you a favourite that is a fun one! ‘Tabula Rasa’ S6 E08. In the episode, a spell goes bad and every character forgets who they are and it’s just so funny. You get a lot of references to earlier episodes and funny jabs about the characters usual selves and the comedy was a nice break from how serious the rest of the season is

My fave couple obviously involves Buffy herself. Spuffy or Spike x Buffy! Vampire slayer and vampire. Literally trying to kill each other enemies to lovers excellence. There’s a lot to say about this ship but the thing I fell in love with most about this paring is the fact they just capture your attention in any phase of their relationship. They're just so interesting!! The constantly changing dynamic is just something special. You’re invested when they're enemies, when they're reluctant allies, when they're lovers, and when they're something undefinable by the final season. Their journey is a long one fraught with so many differences and similarities to become a real love story. But in saying that the ship was definitely toxic and not all that healthy at times but whatever!! and I understand people who don’t like it because the writers certainly made a choice in one particular episode that really does sour the relationship. Also sorry not sorry if you’re a Bangel fan lol 😅 I have some fave ship quotes I can share too because look at the material:

“When I say I love you, it’s not because I want you, or because I can’t have you – it has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try… I’ve seen your kindness, and your strength, I’ve seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You’re a hell of a woman. You’re the one” LIKE they wrote that and I was supposed to be normal about it!! Impossible!!

“No you have to stay”, “You’ve got another demon fighting for you”, “That’s not why I need you here”, “Is that right? Why then?” “Because I’m not ready for you to not be here”(screaming btw!!)

“But I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted, of course, but after that. Every night after that. I'd see it all again, do something different. Faster or more clever, you know? Dozens of times, lots of different ways. Every night I save you”

“Buffy, shame on you. Why does a man do what he musn't? For her. To be hers. To be the kind of man who would nev... To be a kind of man. And she shall look on him with forgiveness and everybody will forgive and love. And he will be loved”

“I've lived for sodding ever, Buffy. I've done everything. I've done things with you I can't spell, but I've never been close to anyone, least of all you until last night. All I did was hold you, watch you sleep and it was the best night of my life. So, yeah, I'm terrified”

This is them in the final episode btw and I cry everytime 😭❤️

Fave season has to be S3. Buffy’s last year of high school and the introduction of Faith, another slayer! The ‘big bad’ of the season Mayor Wilkins is one of the best too. It had great overarching themes, amazing character development and a satisfying conclusion. The season as a whole is probably the series most consistent and some of the best episodes are from it. It is just stacked with contenders if I sat here and named it would be the whole season 😂 ‘The Wish’ is a goodie, ‘The Prom’ is <3 ‘Helpless’ is just !!!! and the 2 part finale ‘Graduation Day’ is spectacular! It’s a fan favourite with good reason

The best villain is so hard because there’s so many great options, I’d say S3s Mayor Wilkins or S5s Glory. Mayor Wilkins is a reminder that the worst guy in the world is probably a white male politician lol!! he was also a demonic snake for anyone that doesn’t know 😂 and Glory! Buffy battled all kinds of vampires and demons and the S5 rolls around and her enemy is a legit God from a hell dimension😳 and by far the worst has to be S6s pack of complete losers ‘The Trio’ that these days we’d call incels 😂

Thank you for joining me on this journey of my og hyper fixation ❤️ and if anyone wants to ask me more about my fave shows pls do!!

[glapplebloom]

You would think I would have similar opinions...

As you have seen with my Pony Comic Reviews, I don't seem to favor a lot of the decisions IDW made for the My Little Pony comics. While there were ones I do enjoy, it's their long going plots that I have issues with. But if you have been following my thoughts, you see I don't have that problem with IDW's Sonic comics. So that got me thinking, why is it that I enjoy Sonic's IDW stuff more than I do IDW's My Little Pony stuff? Thinking it over, I think I came up with a few reasons...

1 - Better Use of Underused Characters

If you played Sonic games recently, you may notice a lack of things for others not Sonic to do. Like the last playable thing that isn't Sonic was Forces with Shadow DLC and Sonic 06. So there are a lot of characters that are in desperate need of stuff to do and this comic provides it. We got Amy being a leader and motherly figure, Knuckles and Blaze talking to each other, Omega and Gemel fighting, Rouge being Rouge. It's nice to see these characters interact with each other. It's what made Sega's April Fools game so fun. Meanwhile, IDW Ponies tends to focus on the usual characters the show does. Sometimes doing similar stories we would see on the show. Yet there are so many characters they could use and when they do they're a lot of fun. Like IDW did a better job building up a potential Diamond Tiara face turn than the show did. Shame it came out after she turned good. Like wouldn't you like to see more stories with Gilda or Lyra and Bon Bon's relationship?

2 - Better Exclusive Characters

So far from reading, there has been no comic exclusive character in MLP that stays around beyond their one story. Mina the Dragon, great dragon to hang around with Spike. Gone. Princess Eris, cousin of Discord and just as powe... Gone. Cosmos, evil ex who was REALLY responsible for all the chaos Discord's reign di... GONE! Like the ones who stay around is the old pony who keeps the Princesses on track and Luna's Pet Opossum. Meanwhile IDW's Exclusive Sonic characters get to stay around for more than one story and explore things the main cast couldn't. Belle the Tinkerer finding out her father is gone and replaced by Eggman. Whisper having to get used to having a crew again. Tangle trying to curb her enthusiasm. Surge and Terrance basically doing the Android Saga without Cell. They fit so well, they could fit into the games with no issue. Speaking of which...

3 - Better connection with the Main Series

This is more about how tight of a control Hasbro and Sega has over the comics. Hasbro was more loose, only vetoing stories that they would likely explore on the show. So the IDW Crew could do whatever they want since nobody has to worry about missing something important in the comics since it's not necessary reading. Even the Season 10 comics are not required to enjoy the TV series, since they did a time skip and showed what would happen in the future and the Season 10 comics barely explored things leading to that ending (just a few times with Pinkie/Cheese). Sega was like this back in the days of Archie, which is why you hear some weird stories that probably wouldn't fly today. Then one of the writers decided to fight for the rights of his characters he made for the series. Because of the incompetence of Archie, Sega demanded stricter guidelines in future Archie works and eventually IDW. So they're more hands on at keeping the characters act like how they want. Though recently they are losing their grip with IDW... That's because the head writer for IDW Sonic is now writing the games for Sonic. Which allowed him to explore the main cast in the games like he would do for the comics. And the Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog showed so much personality among the crew. As far as I know, there was never a case where a Pony Writer for the comics worked on the show or vice versa.

So that's why I enjoy IDW's Sonic works more than their pony works. But I would definitely be open for a Crossover with the two. Ian Flynn did write the Pony/Transformers crossover and he is what made Frontiers good.

[herembers]

Just some musings about my historical romance story…

The story I wrote for my grad class begins in a graveyard. The heroine finds out that her husband has died in a run-down brothel with his pants around his ankles. They’d been married less than a week. It’s the talk of the town. He’s left her utterly humiliated with debt collectors hounding her to pay off his debt. She ran away from home to marry him. She doesn’t have any money. She doesn’t know anyone in this town, but everyone knows her as the widow whose husband died mid-coitus. She can’t stay there. The shame is unbearable. She needs to skip town.

Before she flees, she decides to visit her husband’s grave one last time and because she’s melodramatic, she decides to do it in the dead of night. Maybe to spit on his grave or curse his name, but she can’t because it’s just a big empty pit. Someone is in the process of digging him up. This man is my heroine’s intended love interest: seedy graverobber by night, aspiring physician by day. She doesn’t know the second part yet, she just knows this scary man is digging up her dead husband. He’s not exactly thrilled to have been caught in the act so he drags her back into town. Instead of turning her in like she expects, he takes her to a brothel. She’s incensed at his audacity. He knows who she is. However, this brothel isn’t like the one her husband died in. This place is ritzy and high-class. Her husband couldn’t afford a 30-second conversation there let alone a night. Plot happens. She ends up working there as a maid to both pay off her husband’s debts and set money aside to someday leave.

More plot happens. She finds out the graverobber visits the brothel weekly to provide medical care free of charge. Oh. Maybe he’s not as bad as she thought. Even though he comes off as cold and detached, he’s consistently taking care of others. (Secretly taking care of her too). She harbors a lot of unfair resentment towards brothel workers and he doesn’t put up with her shitty judgemental attitude. They butt heads constantly, but he doesn’t tip-toe around her feelings. She likes that. She keeps finding excuses to spend time with him. Lots of stolen glances. Wistful longing.

I got to a point in the story later where I felt totally stuck. Writer's block in the extreme. I knew what was going to happen, but I needed a bridge to get there. I asked my professor for advice. He thought my story was engaging. He liked my characters. He’d given me great critique up until this point like where my dialogue needed to change to flow better etc. So when I told him I could use some direction, he gave me a few ideas. His main suggestion? Give my heroine a love interest.

Now, this is a slow burn, but I feel like I tend to lack subtlety. I thought I was being fairly heavy-handed in showing that the graverobber is her endgame. My professor went on to describe a potential love interest for her being a friend of the graverobber. Someone completely clean with an innocent profession and no interest in visiting the brothel as a customer. Maybe the graverobber could introduce the two and I could add an element of romance to my story!

Me? Add romance? Groundbreaking.

This is a professor whose first lecture contained a good amount of romance novel bashing. Jabs at bodice rippers. So I can’t say I’m entirely surprised he may have missed the signs. Maybe I really did do a poor job of painting a burgeoning love story.

I just don’t understand. Why would I introduce a love interest halfway through the story? Why would he be bland and stripped of any intrigue? Why did he think the graverobber was an unsuitable option for my heroine?

I didn’t get a chance to ask. I thanked him for his advice and managed to pump out a few more chapters but damn. I’m kind of left feeling…perplexed about the whole thing haha.

[askgothamshitty]

I’m curious, did you watch Poor Things? What did you think of it? I, to admit honestly, found it to be quite rapey and pedophilic. Even the blasé and base level mentions of socialism go unexplored to allow Bella to adopt and forgive her initial groomers( Godwin’s) position as a doctor while forgiving her fiancé too, who she was betrothed to while mentally still a toddler. Not to mention the brothel sequence…

Well I did very much enjoy it; I would rank it as my 4th favorite movie of the year. I thought it was really funny, and the production design, costuming, makeup, and music were great. Emm Stone definitely deserved the win for the way she portrayed Bella, who I loved. And I think Mark Ruffalo should have won over RDJ!

I have seen many people, though, agree with you and say that it was pedophilic. I would have to disagree. I don’t think the “baby’s brain in a woman’s re-animated corpse” is meant to be taken literally. Lanthimos himself says the movie doesn’t work if you approach it that way. It’s supposed to be a outrageous and fantastical and bizarre way of setting up the premise of Bella’s character - a woman who has not experienced the socialization of polite society and is autonomous enough to resist it. This very much follows the spirit of the director’s other work like The Lobster. And it’s not like the movie ends with her defeat either. She turns her abusive ex into a goat, lives with her female lover, has a successful career as a surgeon, relieves Mrs. Prim from her menial work, and frees Felicity from the role of lab monkey.

Now, the sexual politics were very liberal, yes. The idea of revolutionary sexuality in this movie doesn’t go further than the idea of an individual woman’s personal journey. I didn’t expect much from a male writer/director, but I still think the writing was overall very smart. Bella rejects Victorian-era mores, resists marriage and sexual domination, and asserts herself as autonomous. And although this is the bare minimum, it’s still enough to torment and emasculate the men that try to control her (which was hilarious to watch).

The brothel sequence did leave much to be desired. The madame was portrayed as exploitative, but this was kind of played off as clever for playing the male system. And Bella’s experience is not very representative of reality since she exited the industry rather easily. But! There were some good things. The johns were not romanticized; it was very clear that these are perverse, uncaring, shameful men. And the whole experience does serve a purpose - to show Bella that not everyone sees sex as she does, and that her attitude isn’t enough to change that.

And I think the best takeaway from the story, for me, is that liberal feminist sexual politics can only work in a fantasy world. The only reason Bella’s journey lands as revolutionary and subversive is because she lives in a different reality and is a completely unique creature.

Those are just my thoughts, though! I know the movie wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I’m definitely not trying to convince everyone that this is some radical feminist masterwork. And I’m also probably biased because Lanthimos is one of my favorite working directors.

[devilbeez]

I might regret asking this but

what is your thought on Snow White live action so far?

Like don’t give me “it’s gonna be bad” or “I think we could give it a chance” nononono I wanna hear a full on writing essay if possible. I am genuinely curious about this. I wanna know your thought on the casting both from mindset of the cast and from the physical appearance. I wanna know your thought on the outfit. I wanna know your maybe controversial opinion about race washing that this casting and movie lead to. I wanna know what you would’ve done differently, what story you would’ve prefer for a modernize Snow White or do you not want Snow White to be touch at all?

I am genuinely curious what everyone’s opinion is because I certainly have a few and as long as We’re respectful of other and have a civil discussion and debate I think this would be a fun and educational thing. We can see something from others pov and maybe apply that in our own work for the future in case there people out there like me who just— sometimes write story out of pure spite

Here I’ll go first:

1. In term of casts physical appearance there’s 2 point here

1.1. The dwarfs. Cutting the dwarfs out because it’s “offensive” and “stereotypical” and leaving just one singular token dwarfs in is bs. Snow White is a traditional stereotype of what a woman should be in her time and that didn’t stop Disney’s grabby hands. I think this is just straight up more disrespectful especially when this would’ve been a great opportunity for little people in the acting industry. Even if the original have the dwarfs as one dimensional character— which to be fair in this time “story” isn’t being taken that much into account, just the technical advancement and giving hope to the people, in the new live action though there could’ve been— some more characteristic of the dwarfs aside from “my name is Grumpy and I’m grumpy”

1.2 The actress who play Snow White, Rachel Zegler. This is a difficult topic because I, a 19 year old Asian that had never left her country and only face minimum to none discrimination and racism in real life outside the internet discord, feel like I don’t really have a say in “Is race washing bad?” but I’m going to say this;

in my point of view “Race washing” is equally bad no matter if it’s white washing or poc washing, one just not as offensive as the other because historical contexts. However, if drawing your favorite character in your race empowered you as a poc, I am in no place to tell you to stop. As long as it doesn’t erase other existence of other minorities in media then to each their own, I’m not gonna tell you how you choose to take back the power, if you feel empowered by it then slay.

On the other hand, if you’re doing race washing to be woke for woke sake, I feel like at that point just create a new character and call it an oc. “But the representation!”, is “representation” really what you want? Because a lot of poc and I, myself would much prefer if our representation is not just our features slapping on a certain character. We can do that ourselves in gogirlsgame dress up games we don’t need the media to do it for us. Also if representation is truly what you want to show, wouldn’t creating new story and new characters be much more effective? You would get to tell a new story, to new generations of people, that’s what Disney is doing with Snow White anyway so why not just— create a new princess? Obviously for cash but let me ask rhetorical questions

2. In term of mindset everyone is shit here. I’m sure these actors and writers excel in other movies and work they were a part of, which is a really unfortunate thing that they did not get the messages of Snow White and feel the need to be a “feminist”

which by the way, this is not feminist. This is the same fight back of social norm as “I’m not like other girls”. It’s the mindset that shame women who actually do like to be traditional, who like cooking and cleaning which honestly if you do, please give me tips like how tf and to say that these things are not “feminist” ideal because it “give in to traditional stereotypes” is just not correct. Feminism is a movement to make women equal to men. That mean men can like pink and cooking and be a god damn princess without being call gay if he wish, and women can work mechanic, and choose to not have a child OR VICE VERSA. We often forget that being a feminist also mean woman can like traditionally feminine things and men can like traditionally masculine things, and I think what happened here is when we started feminism movement and women empowering we associate that with everything that isn’t “traditionally feminine”, so much so that any woman who actually like those things, are belittled and get accused of “not doing enough for the movement” or “making patriarchy worse” when it’s not true. No one should be shame for doing what they enjoyed, that’s the real essence of feminism, not some snarky person saying that “it’s 21st century, get with the time and stop enjoying those things. It’s a bad example for the next generation”

3. The message they intended. Oh boy— from what we know the live action story of her would be some type of coming of age where Snow White is learning to be the leader her dad knew she could be. I would’ve have no problem with this if the story isn’t about Snow White. The message of Snow White was literally don’t trust stranger, simple kid’s lesson as that. But if we want to dig deeper, it’s a message about how kindness would take you over vanity, it a message telling people to be kind to one another like Snow White. So if we change that part of her, changing the essence of the kind, gentle and sweet Snow White, it will no longer be Snow White. Hell we could’ve have a movie about kindness where it show that being kind does not mean that you’re weak, that would’ve been a modern day Snow White, that would teach people what we need to understand, especially with the false sense of feminism we’re having right now.

4. What I would’ve done differently I would honestly just create a new story tbh. Like— the reason Alice in wonderland and Maleficent live action worked is because the movie is not— a copy and paste of the original and it’s not a weak attempt to “add on” to the story like an author tweeting that a character is queer. It’s a new story with the original movies as prompts. If anything those movies are good “what if” fanfictions with budget. It work because it bring something new to the table that completely detached from the original storyline. People go to watch them for the source material THEN bring new fans in because of its story. Honestly, if we want a “girlboss” story, the evil queen is right there and if we wanted a Snow White story, a post canon what if is there for the taking. What happens to Snow White after happily ever after? What if Snow White try to understand the Queen but still get manipulated into eating the apple? What if the prince is Snow White childhood friend? There are countless possibilities from a simp,e prompt of “Snow white” and yet we chose to recreate something that already existed.

Summary of it all, I think Disney gonna crash and burn, tehy should’ve stick with animation and fantasy, and who else wanna rewrite stories out of spite with me—

[prying-pandora666]

With all due respect, the fact that racists and misogynists don’t like this show doesn’t change that the show itself is racist and misogynistic.

Let me ask you, out of all the characters they could’ve had be deceived by and have romantic tension with Sauron, why Galadriel?

In Tolkien’s canon, Galadriel was among the first to suspect Annatar. She warned others not to trust him. She is imbued with wisdom by the light of the two trees, is around 5,000 years old so she is among the older and more experienced elves (not a young elf still learning basics about the world by any means), and she is already married and soul-bonded to her husband. Why, out of all the characters, would anyone choose Galadriel for their Sauron “will they won’t they” deception? Is a female character not allowed to be the wise sage? Rather than force in Tom Bombadil, who canonically doesn’t concern himself with the world, and change him to be the wise sage who guides the wizard? Could not Galadriel have filled this role? They would rather butcher the characters rather than let the female character be the wise, revered character she actually is?

Why does Gil-Galad talk down to her? She’s his great aunt! Why does ELROND! He’s a baby compared to her!

It didn’t even forward the plot to do this. If anything, they wrote themselves into a corner by having Galadriel get ship baited with Halbrand, because then there was no good reason for her not to warn everyone except out of arrogance and selfish shame! If you get fooled by the devil, I don’t care how embarrassed you are, you have a duty to warn others. Galadriel, of all people, would know this. Why didn’t they have Celebrimbor be the one to have the “will they won’t they” romance deception with Sauron? Story-wise, it would make way more sense considering Annatar convinces him not to heed Galadriel’s warnings. Celebrimbor, canonically, has an unrequited love for Galadriel. Annatar could even play on that to manipulate Celebrimbor against her. As you said, they are too cowardly to depict anything gay, but they could’ve had Annatar shapeshift into a female form.

So why Galadriel? An already married elf in a race that is monogamous by nature? Why must she be the naive, arrogant fool deceived when it actively harms the story?

Why doesn’t she care for her comrades she travels with? Why does she dismiss them and their concerns? This isn’t the mark of a good leader. It doesn’t make her badass. It makes her egotistical and selfish. If this didn’t bother you, that’s alright, but it sure bothered me! Especially when she’s the tolerant one in Tolkien’s world who tells her people to stop being racists to Gimli!

Why did the writers contrive an excuse for Elrond to make out with Galadriel? His future mother in law? No really, what did it add? If you’re trying to slip a lock pick to someone, a hug would do it better than a kiss, where you can’t even see what you’re doing as well and move more carefully. A kiss ATTRACTS attention, it doesn’t distract. And the way the score swells makes it clear we are meant to see romantic and sexual tension here, not just a diversion.

So… what is gained by this decision? Using Galadriel for ship bait with her son in law—already off putting and unpleasant—when they could’ve written literally anything else! What does it add other than titillation? Who does it instruct the audience to empathize with? Because it isn’t Galadriel, seeing as the score and framing don’t evoke horror, discomfort, or even shock. It evokes romance. And to remind, Galadriel is married and elves are so monogamous by nature that being forced outside of their soul bond can even kill them in extreme circumstances.

It sounds like we agree on the Elrond kiss, which appreciate, because that was egregious! Why did Elrond have to kiss Galadriel and not literally anyone else? Why not Durin, his bff? Why not Celebrimbor, who also needs saving? If it was just a ruse, then it shouldn’t matter, right?

She is the ONLY prominent female elf and the most prominent female character period. And she is reduced to ship baiting not once, but TWICE.

When you remove all of the positive qualities from a female character and exploitatively use her for ship-baiting, when none of the male characters are subjected to that treatment, that’s sexism.

And again, I don’t fault anyone for consuming problematic media. There is now way to avoid it at some point. Studios don’t care about being progressive except to give lip-service.

But I do think it’s a depressing reflection of how misogyny is rising in the world. Which it is.

Either way, thank you for the civil discussion. I hope you have a lovey day regardless.

Rings of Power is Insidiously Sexist

And I’m tired of pretending none of us can see it.

If you enjoy the show, please don’t take this as an attack on you. All media has problematic elements and we all do the best we can in a messed up world. My ire is reserved strictly for the people making these “creative” choices.

The way the show treats Galadriel is misogynistic.

Turning the kind, matronly sage imbued with divine wisdom by the light of the two trees into a naive, selfish hothead who gets ship baited with both the villain AND her son-in-law for titillation is incredibly sexist.

They wouldn’t have had Elrond kiss his father-in-law to “save” him. Everyone would’ve rightfully been disgusted. So why is it okay to do this to Galadriel?

Elrond wouldn’t kiss Gil-Galad, or Celebrimbor, or his bff Durin to “save” them. We would all recognize this as sloppy OOC writing just meant to stir up shippers. So why is it acceptable to do to Galadriel? Being a female character is not an invitation to use her as fan service ship bait. Not once but TWICE.

The way the score swells and the kiss is deep and framed as romantic (even though he’s handing her something and didn’t need to shove himself on her like that at all!), despite the fact that Galadriel is married and elves are by nature monogamous (so much so that forcing yourself on them can even KILL them). As if everything about the narrative framing is subconsciously telling you to ignore Galadriel’s POV and the discomfort she would be feeling and be moved by how “meaningful” this kiss is. But also it’s a deception so don’t get mad! So incredibly transparent.

The fact that they also made her an arrogant idiot that fell for Sauron’s manipulations, when in Tolkien’s canon she is described as one of first to see through him, is also a telling choice. Especially when it would’ve made more sense to have Celebrimbor be the one manipulated and fooled.

So why have it be Galadriel? Why not do their weird ship-teasing bullshit between Annatar and Celebrimbor? At least it might serve the story then.

It’s because she is “female elf”, and therefore she has to be mean, violent, selfish, and stupid. But she isn’t allowed to be criticized either! That’s their idea of a “strong” female character.

So yeah. Personally I find that incredibly sexist.

So for that, I rate ROP a big old “cast it into the fire”.

[shut-up-rabert]

This makes me so so soooo fucking angry I can’t be tamed. These people will fall to any level to make my religion look bad. Fucking shameless.

Now that some of my anger is out, lets get into this:

Shree Laxmi wasn’t given to gods, she isn’t a goddamn cattle animal like Kamdhenu, and the demons and gods respected her wishes as a supposed human being to choose either side. She chose devas, not because she was partial against the asuras, but because a) she’s the universal mother, she knows everything that goes on, including which side has bad intentions and which one will use her powers for the good, and b) she chose to be with her eternal Lover/Husband Shree Narayan, and since he was on the deva’s side (aka the good side), she was with them by default.

The fact that literal demons had more respect for her than our secular writer over here, *sigh*

The elixer was given to gods because it was to restore their powers? Like, you know, the ones that were taken away from them? Why the frick would the lord allow Demons to have elixir when he knows they don’t have any good intents? They are literally evil, and protecting against evil is like god’s whole job ffs🤦🏻‍♀️

Literally no one in Mahabharata except Shree Krishna is purely good, get that through your fucking thick skulls. That’s the entire point, you learn what you do from Ramayan and what not to do from Mahabharat. And the Hidamba Mata’s (aka the Danvi whose name you didn’t bother researching, great work 👍🏼) backstory is never discussed in detail, neither is Ghatotkach. For all you know, the pregnancy could have been hidden from him, atleast that’s what their first meeting shows. So if you plan on demonising sex, you proved no motive here.

“Ohh, Ravan never did anything wrong, bas kidnap hi to kiya tha akeli nari ka.” Is such a sad argument tbh, y’all literally see no issue with kidnapping and terrifying a women over your own sister’s lose character? What a shame. “He never touched her.” Social distancing se kidnap kiya tha kya bhenchod? He never touched her sexually you mean, not because he was a saint of a man, but because he was a verified rapist with a blue check. He had raped his own to be niece in law and was cursed by his nephew that raping another woman would lead to his death. He literally threatened to cook Devi Sita and eat her up if she didn’t submit. Another reason he didn’t touch her was because if he had touched her, It would be Jankiayan instead of Ramayan because she would fucking kill him before you all can blink.

“He humiliated her on more than one occasion” is a very sneaky way to say two occasions so that the number can be inflated, eh?

The first occasion: Calling her names so that she will submit herself to agni out of spite and emerge unharmed, which literally everyone condemned, including the loyal brother Lakshman who rebelled against his own brother (for whose wake he would pick up a sword against everyone , mind you) because he dared disrespect a woman like Maa Sita, and even Hanumanji who’s Shri Ram’s biggest, and I mean biggest devotee. Literally no one stood by Sita’s humiliation, and it was later revealed by Shri Ram that the act was staged by the him so that she can have an excuse to perform agni pravesh so that no lecherous person would dare point a finger at her in future. Even the shlokas say he did it so that no one would suspect his wife’s character. And before you say Shri Ram was “saving face”, one of his plus points as mentioned is that he doesn’t lie throughout the entire story, so think again. Y’all really think he spent the entire story worrying for her safety only to insult her in the end?

You think Seeta would have anyone humiliate her once and give them a chance for a second humiliation? Ohhh you dead wrong!

Second occasion: Shree Raghuvar sending Maa Sita to exile, which is a very infamously known interpolation denounced by many. So he only “insulted” her once and that too in a staged act. One of the shlokas he uses to coax his peers after agni pariksha is that a woman like her can never be denounced by him, and like I said, he never lies, sooo…… :P

Shree Ram decietfully killed Bali because Bali was a foe who could not be fought face to face? Do you even Know the story of Bali? Do you know he was such a bad guy he literally took his brother’s wife like she was property? Ugh, I can’t.

Guru Drona didn’t accept Eklavya not because he was “Tribal”, but because he had promised his loyalty to the Bharatvansh Clan. Had even Shree Krishna gone to him asking for training, he would have refused. Eklavya’s tribal background was never discussed in this context.

(Also sidenote to my followers but isn’t it funny how despite Eklavya having to lose his thumb Guru Drona’s boon to Arjun wasn’t fulfilled because he still couldn’t surpass Bhagwaan Ramchandra as the greatest bowman? Khaya piya kuchh nahi, paap sar chadhaya barah aana XD)

I mean, God really out to set a limit to hypocrisy now because the more I see these people the more I disagree with Modiji ki Hypocrisy ki seema hai. Agar hai bhi to ye namune kaise long jump krke laanhg rhe h unhe, oof.