#it's not bad that they do but i wouldn't want to recommend them if horror media is not your thing. because they are scary and A Lot

[queendumpling]

a list of horror media that i've consumed over the past few months with a bit of my thoughts on them, in no particular order under the cut.

but my tldr recs, even if horror is not your thing: the haunting of hill house, nbc hannibal, my house walkthrough, crimson peak

the conjuring (movie):

it was fine. my first movie that centers around an exorcism but ultimately wasn't super compelling of a watch for me. there's a really funny scene where there's a floating gun that ends up shooting at people and it was so absurd that me and my friends all ended up bursting out laughing

the grudge (original jp ver. movie):

genuinely very spooky. had some trouble sleeping at night and taking showers for awhile (if you know, you know). but when I finished watching it I was just really sad by the end because of the bleak note it ends on and the nature of the cycle of revenge as something all consuming and destructive, sparing no one. pretty straightforward and easy to follow, especially compared to the next one -

kairo (or pulse, original jp ver. movie):

also genuinely very spooky. had trouble sleeping at night for a bit because there are some incredibly eerie and unnerving scenes that give me chills just thinking about them. but was also pretty sad by the end of it because of the bleak note it ends on and the inherent loneliness of people/impossibility of human connection. so it was in a very similar vein of flavor as the grudge, but tbh kairo is probably the movie that has stuck with me more because I have ruminated over it so many times. it's a very weird movie in the sense that a lot of the things that happen don't actually make a lot of sense, even within the irrational nature of horror. but its tone and theme comes across very strongly regardless.

her body and other stories (short story collection):

the thing about this short story collection was that I wanted to like it so badly, but in the end a lot of the stories were very much either hits or misses. it's an interesting collection that's centered around the horror of femininity and the female experience and bodies. the husband stitch is the first story and is still probably my favorite, followed by real women have bodies. especially heinous also stands out to me (imagine an AU of law and order SVU that takes all the episode titles and uses them to construct a very weird narrative with ghosts and doppelgangers)

talk to me (movie)

a really neat concept (teenagers in possession of a plaster hand that you can use to allow a ghost to inhabit your body, briefly, and used as a party game, which quickly goes wrong) that serves as an exploration into grief and how it spirals so out of control in the search of connection, finding stability and sensibility even when your world is falling apart so quickly, all because your bad decisions have snowballed so out of control. more gorey and gruesome than I expected but honestly a really good film, even if it also does end on a really depressing note

crimson peak (movie)

as weird as it may sound, I think this might be a new comfort movie to me? gothic horror romance movie where the setting is immaculate. story might be predictable but it executes it well. it's not terribly scary, imo (a jump scare or two, yes there are ghosts) but the characters, the overall mood, how you can see the way love persists and can protect and also twist. it's *chef's kiss*. also I did not notice the R rating on the movie so got really surprised at the sex scene, lol. tom hiddleston is also in this movie but I only know him for his MCU stuff, so it was pretty interesting to see him as the male lead in this movie (but he did great!)

my house walkthrough (jp short film, available on youtube)

PEAK HORROR, highly recommend. no jumpscares but is a phenomenal piece of work that is everything that I want in horror that creates an unsettling atmosphere focused around a particular setting and the sentiments left behind there. it was also made by like 1 guy and there's a great behind the scenes/making of video that is SO cool to see just how it got made. it's scary and I was definitely so tense and scared while I watched it but it was genuinely so perfect

gretel and hansel (movie)

less perfect movie. confusing in terms of what the actual point of it was supposed to be (I get that they're attempting some kind of "feminist" re-telling of the hansel and gretel fairy tale, but it's executed very poorly. can you tell that it's 'feminist' because gretel's name is first!!!!???!?) and not particularly scary either. there is a hot goth witch though and another very cool witch design that I liked!!

saw (movie):

tbh? a good movie. wouldn't really call it horror as it's more of a thriller imo, but it has such an interesting mystery and is tinged with an escape room plot that made it really fun to watch. idk how the other movies are, but I like the contained story in this movie and the twists in it

american horror story, delicate (tv series)

I'm actually 1 episode away from catching up with part 1, but so far it's been okay. like I enjoy the show enough to keep watching, but it's not exactly the most compelling thing I've watched this fall either. but fun bonus is that kim k is actually very good in her role! the opening sequence has some very cool stylistic visuals

nbc hannibal (tv series)

still have to finish s3, just wanted to take a break because I breezed through s1 and s2 in like.. less than a week I feel. also oddly another one of those comfort media kind of shows. like I felt insane watching it but it's also so compelling and emotional. so so SO good, happy to say that it holds up even after all these years

the haunting of hill house (tv series)

I just watched it in like 2 days and it's gotta be one of the best things I've seen and does absolutely everything right (except maybe landing the last 2 episodes but the gripes are minor). like ok probably obvious by now that I love a horror that revolves around a particular setting and the sentiments surrounding that. but this show is like the perfect haunted house story in which the house is not haunted by a monster per se, but the horror and the haunt is the house itself. the house itself is the monster that is hungry and needs to be fed and the way it feeds on the family is exactly what I wanted to see. the cinematography is amazing and the storytelling is masterful and the way the series eventually becomes less like horror and more like a family drama with horror elements where the story all builds towards understanding the events surrounding one very tragic and traumatizing night. the buildup, the aftermath, the resolution. the way it's about love and family and trauma and recovery. it's absolutely beautiful and honestly recommend it even if horror is not your thing :')

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! I write stories in horror genre. I've been wanting to incorporate more disabled characters in these, because I feel like they're really underrepresented in the genre except for either demonizing roles of antagonists, or a random victim who dies/is exploited for cheap shock because of their disability. One of the stories I'm working on has intellectually disabled protagonist/narrator. Are there any things you'd recommend to avoid in writing a character with ID in context of horror genre specifically?

Hi!

I have a few problems with ID characters in horror media. Two of the three biggest ones you've actually already covered in your ask, so I'll just add quick explanations for people not familiar with them.

First is the "big intellectually disabled man murders everyone", not even because he's evil or is seeking revenge or whatever, but because he "doesn't understand" that murder bad. It's absurdly insulting and writers don't seem to understand that a lot of real life cases where an ID man "committed" a brutal crime are a result of police manipulation and tricking them into "confessing", but that's a very long and frustrating topic.

Second one is the victim thing. Hardly exclusive to any minority, but with ID characters it often seems like they're the first of many victims and their death is usually ignored because who cares (granted, pretty realistic) until more people start dying and all that. Dogs tend to get more sympathy (also realistic).

Third thing that I hate is the "everything is Normal... until the character is revealed to have mental [R word]!!! (scary music)". Generally in the sense that the situation seems completely fine, the protagonist has no actual traits of ID, but then at some point they find out they have ID (usually severe or profound, which is ridiculous in this context) and suddenly the actions of those around them are pretty clearly fucked up (the character is actually held hostage, kidnapped, about to be murdered, you get it). It uses intellectual disability as a shock factor and as some worst-case scenario nightmare fuel for abled people, even though the situation makes no sense (no, a profoundly ID person isn't going to be reading their medical records and find out this way) and wouldn't happen. It's insulting nonsense.

Another thing that is insensitive in my opinion is the institution/SPED setting. Definitely not because nothing evil happens in there (quite the opposite) but because the way it's usually treated is completely devoid of empathy and the actual victims are portrayed as animals almost (or not so almost). I'd just stray away from the extreme real-life abuse scenarios (abusive caregivers, borderline slavery "work"places, purposeful medical malpractice) that do actually happen if you don't have a lot of experience or aren't working with someone who does.

Last thing, kinda connected to the third, is to not make any bizarre connections between the disability and the horror. ID can make someone trust others more which could lead to a situation that's potentially Scary, but it doesn't have much to do with demons or the parents doing something fucked up before the person was born.

There are of course other things that are kinda tired, but not completely made-up. ID people are victims of crime way more often, that's a statistic that's been true since the dawn of time. But it doesn't mean that they won't fight back because they're disabled. I'd love to see a character who actually wins against the antagonist at some point (even if just for a moment, considering it's horror) - whether they're physically stronger, or know the place better so they get away, or manage to keep calm because they haven't realized they're in a dangerous situation, it would be awesome to see.

Some additional notes that might or might not apply depending on what kind of horror it is;

A lot of people with ID aren't going to be reacting to the regular horror stuff the same way as your average horror character might. They might not think much when they hear a Suspicious Sound and not go investigate it, or be too scared because it's an Unfamiliar Situation. What would be more realistic in a scenario like this is the ID character actually reaching out for help (depends on the settings what that would be); most of us get it drilled into our brain to listen to authority, so they would probably be calling the cops rather than going into the Scary Basement, even if just in the fear of not doing the thing you're supposed to.

In more of an eldritch horror setting where there is an incomprehensible Thing happening, a character with a significant intellectual disability literally has an advantage over abled people. It's just one of many incomprehensible things. Many of us are simply used to ignoring things that don't make sense since the majority of people don't have the patience to explain things in a way that's actually helpful.

It'd be also cool for the ID character to actually have a goal, objective, or whatever else to drive them forward and have some development. Whether that would be the desire to find out who murdered their ex-husband, or why the sink has blood instead of water, or just to survive the voyage, basically anything other than just standing there only experiencing things when some abled savior shows up and tells them how to feel and what to do (both bad for an ID character but also just a poorly written protagonist of any kind).

Hope this helps !

mod Sasza

[howlsofbloodhounds]

why does color go after killer mainly? like what makes killer any different than dust or horror there? if i remember right, originally it wasn't the others, just killer and nightmare, but wouldn't color try to help the others too in other au's where they do exist, or am i overthinking/missing things?

I believe I answered this here, but as we all know the Bad Sanses are not canon. It’s just Killer and Nightmare, maybe Cross and XChara at some point who left/escaped either on their own or with Dream’s help, so it’s really only Killer in canon who Color is rescuing.

But if Bad Sanses were canon, or it’s an au where Dust and Horror are there, Color absolutely would offer to help them too. He’d make sure they know that they have someone in their corner if they ever want to take the option, but he wouldn’t force them—so it’s ultimately up to Dust and Horror if they want to take Color’s help, and if they do, it’d likely be based on many factors.

(And yes, he’d still offer his help even if Dust and Horror weren’t kidnapped like Killer was, but made deals with Nightmare. Because he knows what coercion is.)

For example, Horror still has his brother and AU back home. He’d want their safety from Nightmare ensured. Does Color have the means to assure him of that? There’s also the fact of: would Horror and Dust trust Color?

The bond between Color and Killer and why it’s different from others Color has helped (for example, there’s even some old abyss sans cstuff im talking about with toffee about how Color helped saved Abyss!Sans after Abyss was kidnapped by Nightmare), I’ve already talked about in many, many posts; highlighting their similarities and differences. These two are basically mirrors.

If Color grows to create a bond with Dust and Horror would probably depend on certain factors, and I would definitely recommend checking out @3idiotsandarainbow (centered all around this concept) if you haven’t already, but he’d help them too if they were there.

He wouldn’t force his help on them or encroach on their autonomy, but he’d work hard to earn and maintain their trust, and their safety—and he’d fight to protect their freedom. Even if he does call them out on a lot of shit they wouldn’t like hearing. (And they’d probably have a lot of criticisms and suspicions about him.)

[becomingthatgirl111]

10 steps to self-love according to louise hay

these principles were shared by the author louise hay in her audiobook "how to love yourself" which you can find on youtube and i recommend listening to it. they are very useful and they really work if we are committed to put them into practice, so that's why i share them with you

abandon criticism

stop criticizing yourself now and forever. you've been criticizing yourself for years, so i invited you to try another tactic. it was eye-opening for me, when i discovered that i could make changes that would support me in loving myself. everything is a process. remember everyone changes. choose nurturing thoughts.

2. don't frighten yourself

stop scaring yourself with frightening thoughts. i have observed that people create overwhelming circumstances out of a small situation. the mind is such a good movie director that it creates horror movies. forgetting the divine power.

3. be nice, kind and patient with yourself

a good example of the power of patience is when you cultivate a garden. at first, you find barren soil. then you turn it over, sow, and even though it looks like nothing is happening, great things are happening, of course, if you have sown seeds of prosperity. life is like a garden.

4. be patient with yourself

look at negative thoughts as weeds. be inspired by the beautiful. human beings when asked if they have good self-esteem, people answer, but of course. in reality, when you are critical of yourself, there is no good self-esteem, neither when you feel envy, insecurity, resentment, jealousy, anger, hatred, in short….

5. be kind to your mind.

during my talks i ask participants, "yes, would you allow a garbage bag to be thrown in your living room? they immediately respond, no! then he asked again, "why do you put garbage in your brain? you do it when you feed negative thoughts, pain, guilt, resentment, envy, insensitivity, anxiety, hatred, bitterness, bitterness, laziness, stress, anger, rage, criticism, etc.. we are human, it is true and lovingly imperfect.

we can learn to love ourselves little by little. everyone on the planet can practice the four loves: love of god, love of self, love of nature, love of neighbor.

6. praise yourself

enter the hall of praise. when you feel overwhelmed, sad or criticized by others. i like to go to the hall of praise that i have imaginary created and give myself a bath of popularity. people think that's weird, but what's weird is not doing it. why not recognize how good we are?

7. practice meditation

the only thing you should do is to become aware of your breathing. Meditating is not a big deal. everyone can meditate at least two minutes a day. you could close your eyes and breathe consciously. let your mind relax.

8. listen to your intuition

without being aware sometimes we override what our sixth sense tells us. we all have them. it's just a matter of learning to listen to it.

9. don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you

sometimes we want others to be fair, kind, loving, generous, understanding and understanding with us. but we are not aware that we have sowed in others…. we want others to change. but, we cannot change anyone. we can only change ourselves.

10. improve eating habits

balance the food. sometimes, in our eagerness to do everything, we dedicate little time to eat at the recommended time. it is important to look for nutritious food. have you observed how you eat? what thoughts do you have when you eat? in restaurants i observe people who are more concerned about their cell phones than about respecting that sacred space. others eat on the spur of the moment. neither good nor bad.

[musicfranchisetournament]

propaganda under the cut !!

paradox live :

ive seen my friends talk about it and also theres this really pretty girl i thibk her name is anne? i wanna kiss her mwah

The world is set in the future where the hip hop artists have these cool Phantom Metals that produce cool illusions as they perform with the downside of the performers reliving their worst trauma after using it. Every group has their own theme, aesthetic, and music style Every character has canon trauma which perfect for angst Found family It's still going on They do April Fools on the fandom every year (2024 being an ad for a cat game)

charisma house :

genuinely what the fuck. i don't think i've seen a song franchise as bonkers as charisma house and i doubt i ever will. it's so entertaining and the characters are all unhinged in the best way possible. none of them are 100% good people at the end of the day and i think this just makes the whole ordeal even funnier. are you kidding me you have some random 19 yo who invites people to go live in a random house one day and they just go. the songs are so so good (most of the time. stares at my two exceptions) and whenever it's a full group song? they're always parodies of another common popular song which is so funny to me every time i hear them. i love charisma house and will defend it to the days end

It's so silly and entertaining:) the songs are sick and super catchy . The visuals are super unique .. and the concept of these eccentric crazy guys all living in a house together with the power of charisma has some super hilarious interactions.  Also charisma is the power that can save the world.. and if these guys get too overpowered with their charisma they go through yugioh style transformations and break out into song... so there is that little detail<3

they're just ordinary guys. music part aside the story is funny until it gets serious and then it's funny AND heartwrenching. music part?? group songs are based on nursery rhymes and they fucking suck but also go so hard. their solo songs all have their own genres and they're so. Aodhajhfhdhfbd Stream viva la liberation. 

Funny gay people living in a house together and all their songs parody children's songs, and all their music videos are like Cocomelon on crack. They're funny and they have a lovely found family dynamic. Very silly guys, I'm so normal about them.

Never in my life have i seen a piece of media change me this much as a person while doing the bare minimum. Perhaps the fact that it is the bare minimum and i still fell for it regardless says more about its power than any words could ever begin to describe. So utterly ridiculous in the most perfect way possible and so weirdly deep in also the best way possible but without forgetting its still fucking ridiculous. The appeal of Charisma House is that its Charisma House, and that same thing manages to be both its strength and its weakness, but its weakness is so grand it ends up becoming a strength, and perhaps its biggest strength by far. Talking about Charisma House makes me feel insane emotions because you cant describe it as good but you still know fully well its not bad either despite that being the easiest way to describe it. Sooner than later after so many episodes you'll end up realizing you have fell in its trap. Once you start caring. Once you start analyzing the miniscule tid bits of plot. Once all of that starts occurring you will soon come to realize you have been another victim of the mystical power Charisma House has on every single person that watches it. Or perhaps you just dont fucking care after 5 episodes and you leave it at that. This is perhaps the best option for everyone in the world. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but the fact that i still do from time to time is because i want everyone else in the world to experience the unknown horrors of this media project until each and every one of them realize they have fallen down a hole they will never be able to escape. also Awwwww ohsebso cute i like ohse aaawwwww so cute 😍

[claryshifts]

Making American Horror Story DRs "Safe"

I'll update this with each season I watch! Most of this will focus on one of the "Evans" bc I know a lot of yall horny bastards wanna hop on him (real) Each section will have an "ultra safe" paragraph and a "safe as possible?" paragraph. idk -Murder House: Option One: The house isn't possessed or whatever you want to call it. Hell, you don't even have to live in it. Though Tate has problems with his mom (that adds a lot to his character, so I'd still 'keep that'), he's never had terrible thoughts of doing what he did at that school or any other gross things. I personally would still 'script out' the self-harm. Wouldn't want my partner to suffer that Option Two: If you still want that ghostly experience, then sure, by all means, live in the haunted house. but maybe cut out the satan part... Also script the ghosts don't have shitty timing (they don't bother you in the bathroom or when you're sleeping, for ex). If you want Tate as a ghost and not alive, still, don't date a ghost mass yknow what  😭  😭  BONUS: instead of tate, date violet 🥰🥰 -Asylum: Option One: You can live a nice quiet life with Kit. it's the 60s though, so if you're fem/poc/lgbt/etc, keep that in mind. whenever I go to a reality in the past I script I don't get bored without technology lol Option Two: have fun at the asylum, ig, boo. If you want some edgy lore, pls don't script you're a psycho killer or something omg 😭. Script none of the people in charge inflect punishments on you. If you really wanna get freaky in that musty place, script you don't get caught... and that its not all musty... -Coven: I got a lot to say bc I think Imma make a script for this too haha Option One: no scary demon devils or whatever. Uh, Kyle isn't treated like a sex object???? Nothing bad happens to Nan (she deserves better). If Kyle has to die (that sounds so weird to say) for your lore or whatever, don't purposely give him a traumatizing experience. this isn't a fan fic,, that's your REALITY. Honestly you could just script you're a silly little witch hanging out in New Orleans and call it a day. Madison isn't annoying af. No Axe Man. LaLaurie being Queenie's "slave" was deserved but maybe just script her 'out' altogether... Option Two: Okay, so you want the drama. Have the drama! Still no demon devils though cuz that does NOT sound fun. Script you and the people you care about are all safe from harm. If Kyle HAS to go through that terrible experience (I'm his biggest defender as you can tell), at least keep Madison and Zoe away or at bay bc seeing them fight over a guy who can't even say "food" and OBVIOUSLY can't verbally consent was so uncomfy, for me at least. -Freak Show: Option One: no scary clowns. The "freaks" aren't treated like shit. Neal Patrick Harris doesn't show up with his puppet??? No one is trying to make money off of the freaks. None of them are murdered or harmed. Option Two: Ig if you still want the plot they still have to be treated pretty shitty. Still would apply everything else though, as well as the fact nothing happens to you.

-Hotel: Option One: Ok look James March. Wonderful man. Make him NOT a serial killer omg. If you get with him I'm convinced a relationship with him would be straight up Morticia and Gomez uishfuihfjsf I want him so bad. Anyway, if he's your man keep the countess off your back, if you keep her there at all. I wouldn't recommend making yourself a ghost bc idk WTFFF that would mean for you spiritually. You could be sexy March's sexy human partner. Or the countess' partner. Anyone's partner. but alive. Um no 10 commandment killings of any sort, and no vampire children???

Option Two: ngl idk how else to put this?? idk if there should be an option 2 ;-;

Currently on Roanoke! this season is so boring I might not write anything for it

[thedrarrylibrarian]

Halloween Spooks!

I focused on creatures last year, so I wanted to give my attention to everything else horrific this year. Enjoy these scary and suspenseful recs! 👻

100 Words of Horror by @moonstruckwytch (3,100 words total, rated M)

A collection of Fear Fest Works. Each chapter is 100 words.

*I especially recommend chapters 5, 9, 10, 17, 20, 21, & 22

What is lost stays lost by @cavendishbutterfly (456 words, rated T)

Sometimes Harry leaves the castle in the middle of the night, and Draco follows him.

The Manor by @kittycargo (1,405 words, rated T)

There was something wrong with the Manor.

The mimic by @steampunkserpent27 (797 words, rated T)

Harry hears Draco (who he presumes dead) calling for help outside of his cabin one night. Only, something isn't quite right.

iterum by @moonstruckwytch (2,127 words, rated M)

dark magic keeps draco malfoy alive, even when he shouldn't be. unfortunately, to stay that way he's going to have to give something up—something important.

the tedious work of soothing grief with love by luminae (2,363 words, rated M)

Ginny doesn't like working as a medium. Never has, probably never will. The grief-stricken make for bad company and Harry, while handsome and kind, is no exception.

Cruel Blade by @wheezykat (2,572 words, rated E)

Drowning in his grief after the murder of his husband, Draco will do anything to bring him back.

But this is not Harry. This is something else entirely.

The Willing Flesh by @corvuscrowned (2,763 words, rated E)

Draco shows Harry how to do blood magic. Harry shows Draco just how powerful The Chosen One can become.

at the end of his tether by @helle-bored (4,280 words, rated M)

There's a worn page folded in an inner pocket of Harry's robes with a single underlined paragraph.

Discrete magical signatures have been observed after the destruction of a Dementor. Some scholars believe this implies that the souls of its victims persist as captives within its form, as opposed to undergoing immediate obliteration, and therefore serve the purpose of providing the creature with sustenance over a prolonged period of time.

Harry has carried it for nearly two years.

when god closes a door by luminae (4,400 words, rated T)

Harry usually cares far less about so-called haunted houses and ghosts. They aren't real, after all. Except when they ruin his evening.

Saltwater Stain by @the-starryknight (9,000 words, rated E)

Seven days stuck on a boat investigating a rogue ghost wouldn't be so bad if Harry didn't want Draco so much. Draco has his rules and Harry's content to follow them, but the air feels different away from the shore. Is it possible that the sea could offer Harry something impossible on land?

*be sure to check out last week’s Happy Hour Rec of this fic by @wolfpants as well!

Time and Time Again by @rainbees (16,316 words, rated T)

Draco doesn't know why he keeps stepping into his own future, nor why it involves a hallway covered in Harry Potter's blood.

it is not a house by luminae (43,388 words, rated E)

There are many stories that can happen in a forgotten house, in the middle of the Arctic. Heart-warming tales about human connection and finding the essence of the self. Epic love stories that defy reason. Warnings about the hubris of human explorations. This is both none of the above and a bit of all. This is a horror story.

Vis-à-Vis-à-Vis by @vukovich (49,999 words, rated E)

Harry's assignment was simple. Close out Draco Malfoy's missing persons case so he can be declared dead.

But who's making withdrawals from Malfoy's vaults? How is a death omen-turned-Unspeakable involved? Is an organization known as the Moirai to blame?

Harry brushes it off until he can't. Until The Prophet is flooded with sightings of dead people. Until Robards throws himself on his sword. Until Ron turns on his own family. Until Harry scarcely trusts his own reflection in the mirror and trusts the stranger in his bed even less.

Until all that stands between war and peace is Harry, a name plate, a stadium of murderers, and Draco Malfoy.

God save the Ministry.

Yours is the Earth (Hold On, Hold On) by chickenlivesinpumpkin (127,167 words, rated E)

After a serious accident in the Forbidden Forest, Draco's personality begins to undergo subtle changes. At first, Harry credits this to a new enthusiasm for life. But as the days pass and Draco's behavior becomes more and more mysterious, Harry begins to suspect that something bigger--and darker--is at work.

If you are looking for more Halloween thrills, please check out my Card Catalog! There I have Vampires, Werewolves, Darker Themes, and previous years rec lists for Halloween!

Trick or Treat!

❤️ As always, if you find a fic you enjoy, please remember to leave the author a kudos or a comment! ❤️

[wizardsvslesbians]

Isaac here. I have been remiss, allowing recommendations to pile up in our inbox! I'll put them in one big post here. I think these have evolved to be at least partially intended for our audience rather than for us, so I'll include each whole pitch as a public service.

i would be curious to what yall think about Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane, which is about lesbian Achilles in a T4T relationship, and then things get Weird. if nothing else it’s the most creative of the recent wave of myth retellings

This has now been rec'd twice! I'll put the requisite little star by it.

finally got around to watching love lies bleeding and while it doesn't qualify as wizlez by virtue of not being sff, it absolutely is in the zeitgeist as it hits many, many of the main beats of the wizlez subgenre. wizlez might really hit the mainstream at some point

If the wizlez movie escapes A24 and replaces the my dead wife is a 9/11 metaphor movie at the top of the cinematic heap I'll be surprised but not shocked

i'd like to request Vinbre the Novel by Opacifica! While it is technically a fanfiction, it uses a totally original setting and cast and doesn't require any prior knowledge. It veeery much qualifies for the podcast

Clever, clever. "Technically a fanfiction." You thought I wouldn't notice how many letters these characters' names have? How many sweeps do you want us to spend on this, exactly?

hi! been binge-listening and really enjoy your analysis :) I have a few recommendations -- first, leech by hieron ennes, which may not fit the brief precisely but definitely plays with a lot of the themes that you seem interested in (power, empire, hive minds, immortality, child abuse, body horror). I loved this one and I think it may be to your taste. also, star eater by kerstin hall and the scorpion rules by erin bow -- two dystopian novels with prominent wlw characters and definite wiz vs lez vibes. I can't vouch that these two are Good per se, but I definitely think they're interesting and bring a lot to discuss.

The Scorpion Rules is in fact on our to-cover list, and is only waiting for us to get some different murder at the boarding school books out of the way first.

it's been a hot minute but i have a book rec! It doesn't have lesbians per se but it is very Gender so it may make a good Special Episode (or at least y'all would enjoy it i think!) it's The West Passage by Jared Pechacek. Little scrungly babies scurry around a castle the size of a city. Decay! Casual cannibalism! gorgeous illustrations by the author! medieval steven universe worldbuilding! it was very weird and very beautiful

I do like books that take place in One Giant Building.... I'll give it a shot...

Wanted to drop a rec for you guys! Author is hiyodori and the book is The lowest healer and the highest mage!

This has also been recommended twice and we will probably, maybe get to it.

Look I'm aware that due to the time commitment which is on par with reading Homestuck and the audio format it's basically impossible to cover all of it. But fellow wizards vs lesbians listeners should know that the magnus archives probably counts as wizards vs lesbians. There are a million wizards, women fall in love, and lesbians definitely attack the wizards. plus there's an assortment of bad mothers and monstrous children. It somehow has a coherent plot and themes by the end as well, if you can stick with the motw format long enough. However it's mostly wizard pov

It is in fact possible to read the Magnus Archives as an ebook, thanks largely to the efforts of my friend Snarp. I mean, we won't be doing it, at all, ever. But it is possible.

whenever the two of you feel like reading young adult: these feathered flames by alexandra overy has an interesting lesbian (who is also a wizard? or at least has a wizard within her?), and the sequel has an evil wizard who comes the closest to “actual wizard, with the hat and beard and everything” i’ve ever seen

Yeah, why not.

[mitsua]

On a scale from 1 to 100%, how difficult is it to wake them up?

Warnings: bad grammar & spelling mistakes and SPOILERS from lesson 16

Genre: sleepy fluff Series: Obey me! SWD?

MC 's . . . GN! Words' count: 1.08k

Depends, but most of the times it's 1% since he's a light sleeper, he has to, so his brothers wouldn't burn the house down with any of their antics or so...

Depends on the long working nights he pulls out for Diavolo's paperwork pushed on him. In this occasions he may become a 10% difficult to wake up.

His reaction may vary, since he's the one supposed to wake you and the rest of the brothers up, he'd be at first embarrased and surprised.

Still, when he recognizes you, he relaxes for a brief moment and mutters a sleepy "Thank you MC."

May be different from time to time.

The morning next to a horror special sleepover may lead to the both of your getting scared, so it's then a 3% difficult fully wake him up and a 10000% scary. Why ? Mammon would scream from your light touch on his shoulder to wake him and you'd scream because he did. It would go on like this for at least 2 more times in the same morning.

But when it had been a normal night or a casino one, he'd just whine at your attempts and he may have or have not tried more than once to pull you to bed and sleep again as if you were his sleeping pillow... so does it count as a 90% mostly?

Also depends as you can imagine.

When he, for some reason, does not watch anime or plays videogames 'till the alarm goes off, he may be a 1% difficult to wake. Unlike Mammon, he'd get scared almost everytime. That you wake him. Squeaking a little, he thanks and tells you he'll be ready in a moment.

Although when he does sleep late, you'll find one of two sceneries; the most common of these being him still glued to the screen, headphones on, then you'll just have to take them off and he'll make a little sound surprised but won't budge further. The other one is him being fast asleep on his desk and the computer on, a bit of saliva on the corner of his lips threatening to fall.

Those occasions it is recommendable to poke or shake just a little his shoulder and still you'll get a big reaction from him and that's it.

I think he's kind of a heavy sleeper when he gets through the night reading. Getting so engrossed on the story he even dreams with it and him being an active participant. Then it'd be a 30% difficult to wake him.

Your best shot to get him to open his eyes without being scared to dear life ? Scream from affar something that'd normally pick his interest. Here are some examples : " Oh, Luficer ! Did you just fall for that ? I saw Satan make it ! So his plan finally succeeded ?!". Now that it's a great one but you may have a more difficult time calming him down when you tell him that was a lie.

"Aww a little stray cat ? Sir what can I bring to you? Oh? You want Satan to feed you? But he's asleep—" well he's not anymore and if it's true that a cat it's at the house's door expect to have a happy Satan for the rest of the day.

When he has a good night sleep, it's 1% difficult, normally he wouldn't miss any of their brothers or your shaking on his shoulder so that'd be enough.

To begin with, being the only one who has a more decent and planned sleep schedule, it's impressive how difficult it can be than his brothers. He's a 50% when sleeping 8 hours straight in the comfiest bed of the Devildom. This is because when he sees you, he starts whining and doing grabby hands to go to sleep with you now. Oh, but if it is any of his brothers? "Asmo, you have to wake up, we have school—" "Ok, going..."

But if he had a party night, it's a different story.

If he was not drunk and did a night routine at 5 a.m. to be awake at 6 or 7 a.m. it'd be a 20% difficult to get him, because he'd not be able to sleep quickly. So you'll end up hugging him to recharge him for the day.

If he in fact, came drunk, it's a 60%, you'd find a semi-naked Asmo barely resting on the bed with make up all over the pastel-pink sheets. You better know if he had one of these night because Lucifer will not allow to bring him smelling like Demonus.

He normally has a good sleep because his work outs exhaust him after a big dinner plate he's a sleeping like a baby. For this he's 15% difficult to wake. Light touches do nothing to him so you'd have to fully shake him to stir a reaction from him.

In the nights he has to go for a snack at 3 a.m. it decreases to a 7% because he could not stop thinking about going for another round of food.

When he has a nightmare he's most likely to keep thinking about it for a complete day, so those days you'll find him awake by himself. Ask him why has he been pacing out and looking really down with a snack on your hands.

🪼 : Are you seriously reading this (ーー;) ?

Ok no, but if he had a nightmare about his family in any way, from them dying, from him being trapped in the attic and fighting with Lucifer through the bars, to the day he killed you... he wouldn't be able to sleep again, so then it'll be a 2% difficult to wake. Maybe he'd pout a little but it's his way to bring himself back to reality and see everyone's still alive and he's on his bed in his and Beel's room, so when you're not seeing, he sighs relaxed.

However, when he's having a good dream, it'd be 100% and might have to bring Beel to help you, wether it'd be waking him with his twins trust and playful tactics or carrying him around the house to get him to do something.

𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒

The first time you're tasked to wake up Beelzebub, as you may have or not screamed when he turned to face you but still he did not open his eyes, you ran to get any other brother to help you.

All writings' rights reserved © 2023 Mitsua. (Credit to the respective owners of the picture and tagged anime characters.) ⌇ my navigation!

[maleyanderecafe]

The Stranger from the Bus Stop (Visual Novel)

Created: puresouldef

Genre: Romance/Horror

I think to be honest, there's only really one "yandere" ending for this game, and that's because the yandere in question kind of gives up if you tell him to go away. Normally I wouldn't really write a recommendation on these types of games, but I do find the idea of him writing on the door pretty intriguing, and the placeholder MC's expressions are pretty funny, so I'm just gonna write about it.

The story starts out with the MC recalling an old coworker called Mari and how she committed suicide. Due to this, the MC feels guilty of not being able to do more to prevent it and promises to themselves to help someone if they ever find someone in need. After work, the MC goes to the bus stop to go home, however finds a strange man waiting at the bus stop. They have the option to talk to him or simply walk home.

Talking to the man leads to them giving him their scarf because they seem cold, before walking home when the bus doesn't arrive. As the next couple of days continue, the MC feels as if someone is watching them, and finds strange numbers being carved into their door, causing them to be stressed. They even call the cops, however, they seem unhelpful and get phone calls from a strange person. They eventually meet the strange man at the bus stop again, whom they talk about the strange occurrences, and he asks if we would want him to walk us home.

Accepting it leads to him following the MC home, where he reveals that he has been stalking them and writing the numbers on their door, pinning them down in the process.

Being a bit more shy, the MC instead finds the man carving numbers on the door. He reveals that the numbers are the dates and times that they have met. The MC, scared, tells them to leave and they promise to never come back. This makes the MC calm down, but wistfully thinking about how the numbers should have been finished on the door.

Similarly, being more bold has the MC call the cops on the man, however, they come too late. They find a ID card in their room, revealing that the man's name is Reis.

Walking home and not interacting with the man leads to a bad ending where the next day, the MC finds out that they committed suicide by running in front of the bus, leaving the MC feeling extremely guilty.

Like I said, there's only really one ending where Reis reveals himself as the yandere, and it is kind of unfortunate he sort of just peace's out when the MC tells him to leave (though, who knows, maybe he's still stalking them and the MC just doesn't notice). Still I think it's a good instance of seeing how exactly the obsession of Reis grows from a simple kind act- which to me is always fun to explore. Reis himself seems more or less harmless, considering he doesn't really do anything very forceful except stalk the MC and carving the dates on the door. Unfortunately we don't get too much else on him other that he must have been really suicidal before the MC showed him some kindness, but it still does show how such a small act really can make someone extremely obsessed over someone.

Normally I'm not the biggest fan of having a black blob of an MC, but I do appreciate the different expressions this MC has. It makes it a lot more entertaining to play and some of the expressions are really funny to look at. Still considering that you're making a game that has the MC emote this much, you'd think you would have a more interesting design for a character. I think it's also nice that the MC has a motivation for being nice to Reis instead of the MC just being standardly nice with very little characterization.

Overall, a good short game. It is a complete game as well, which is pretty rare these days. I think for what it's worth, it was pretty fun. If you are interested in it, please give it a try. The translation is a little wonky at times, but I think it adds to the charm.

[cipheramnesia]

hi :) i know youve already answered recs for queer horror movies, but do you know of any more trans horror movies, specifically?

Trans horror films by and staring trans people is pretty thin. I'm not versed enough in the small and indie short film world where I think most of these are likely to be found. The closest I know to a mainstream horror movie with a trans protagonist played by a trans actor is Bit, which is a movie so bad I would have not finished it otherwise. Not recommended.

My most controversial pick is probably going to be Sleepaway Camp 2+3. I've talked about this series at length and it's probably going to in the trans movie discussion for as long as humanity exists. That said, I find trans woman slasher Angela Baker delightful fun. The first movie is a different animal and it's um something.

The Wild Boys is honestly amazing. I don't know if there's a right way to go describing this, but the basic premise is a group of murderous juvenile delinquent boys are shipwrecked on an island which slowly transforms them into women. Women all play the roles of the delinquent boys, creating a strong sense of realism. It's a strange, violent, queer, surreal French film and I would call it a queer horror essential.

Titane wasn't intended as a trans movie by its director, but its also hard not to interpret trans elements in a movie where a woman disguises herself as a man including breaking her own nose to radically alter her face, eventually is sort of taken on as an adoptive son, and never really wholly returns to any feminine roles. Much like The Wild Boys, it's a glorious and surreal movie and another movie I'd consider required viewing.

Boarding School is a whole lot. I'd say it needs some trigger warnings for child abuse, child death, and nazi / holocaust trauma at least. Boarding School is a strange and highly distressing mixture of revenge, ghost story, and child abandonment, all wrapped around a young trans child exploring gender. It's a stunning, gorgeous and dreamlike movie. Not precisely surreal, but paralogical in places.

We're All Going To The World's Fair is by a trans filmmaker! Fuck yes! I wouldn't call it mainstream, and it's clearly on the experimental end of the film spectrum, but it's widely critically acclaimed and has a lot of trans feeling put into. I'd also recommend it for atmosphere and a sort of quiet sense of emotional unrest. Filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun's next film, I Saw The TV Glow has been picked up by A24, so keep an eye out for it.

Bad Things is sort of the inverse of World's Fair, a queer movie staring queer and trans actors, it's, well, fine. For a film with a banger of an idea (The Shining but all queer) and so much queerness in the production, it's shockingly flat, listless even, as if no one wants to be on the set. But, well it exists I guess.

Der Samurai is hard to say if it's intentionally trans, but features a strange gender ambiguous figure in a gorgeous flowing dress who terrorizes a small German town with a samurai sword and seems to be seducing a young, lone policeman through the night. Ultimately tragic in its conclusion, still a beautiful film and dear to my heart.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to the Chucky movie series. Starting with Seed Of Chucky and going through at least season two, it gets very weird with gender and is very queer.

[scary-flag]

People being all "Ed is just an emo babygirl after a breakup, like, who wouldn't act like that???" and yeah I LOVE emo babygirl Ed, but I do not think cutting off someone's toe and feeding it to them is really a sad babygirl action (although you go girlies, he did deserve that)

Jokes aside, though: We are NOT being told anything in specific, and his actions can be interpreted in various ways. Did he go fucking feral, all kraken and shit? Sure, but he also cried when looking at the lighthouse painting later, which tells us he did not really, like, vow to not give in to his emotions again or something.

On the other hand, we ARE explicitly told in canon that Ed is *not* mentally well, and I do not mean it in a bad way. Maybe we, as a fandom, should stop acting like Ed's PTSD and his trauma responses are something bad that we can't work with? Ed has every right to be sad. Ed has every right to be angry. He has every right to be fucking traumatised. And by making him feel those feelings the fanfic writers or fan artists are not necessarily being racist, homophobic or mental-illness-hating. Ed is just human and he has human feelings. People react in all kinds of ways to heartbreak and trauma.

I know we all love babygirl Ed, but keep in mind that woobifying his reaction to Stede leaving him, we are kind of writing off the whole mental health aspect of the character, which, I think, is super important in the show? Going as far as removing this aspect of Ed (and I have seen people who really believe Ed has absolutely zero issues) is kind of building the stupid "we shouldn't talk about mental illness" ableist taboo agenda.

(to read more about masculinity and rage in the context of POC experience, I recommend to dig into what @uselessheretic posts who is definitely better at writing in English than I am and likely more educated on the subject)

There is nothing wrong in wanting a character to be flawed. Flaws make us human

Another point: He is a PIRATE. Most people are not making him violent and angry because he's gay, nor because he's a POC. Most do it because he is a pirate, and if anything, the legendary pirates were generally known to be unhinged. Pirates stabbed people, keelhauled them, burnt whole villages down, traded slaves and r*ped. I know we all love OFMD and our blorbos, but let's not forget who the inspiration behind those characters were. No one does anything wrong by just by saying a pirate character HAS issues with his mental health, anger management or attitude. Some people just give Ed (or Izzy, or Stede, or any character honestly) more of the real-world pirate characteristics.

Yes, it is a comedy show, but in fan works it can become anything - a drama, a horror, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi slasher, whatever the author wants. So I think that people who do not interpret Ed's reaction to the breakup as basically a cutesy american teenager eating ice cream in bed listening to Evanescence are not necessarily wrong and neither do they have bad intentions.

[all-souls-matinee]

Quick-bite reviews: V/H/S/Beyond (2024) dir. Jay Cheel, Jordan Downey, Virat Patel, Justin Martinez, Christian & Justin Long, Kate Seigel

I finally decided to stop covering this franchise (last year's '/85' remains unwatched) when '/Beyond' had to go ahead and be pitched as an alien-centric V/H/S with a segment written by my horror enemy Mike Flanagan. I've seen a fair chunk of alien horror movies and never have much to say about them because... they're bad... but I'm always rooting for a good one to come into existence. They're like my now-horrible home baseball team; I KNOW the storytelling optics aren't there, it wouldn't be a problem if we could assemble the perfect cast and crew and have infinite time and infinite money. The original V/H/S actually had a memorable piece of alien horror so that's encouraging? It wasn't good but it was memorable! It was there! My feelings on Flanagan only made for extra incentive; if I couldn't have a good alien horror movie at least I could have another alien horror movie to be performatively mad at.

Mike Flanagan has been forgiven; alien horror has made it to first base.

Beyond is still very much a V/H/S movie so was never going to be my thing, but I think it's successful(!) because every segment understands that the job of a V/H/S movie is to feel like a theme park haunted house. The usual buckets of gore and barf and what have you are coordinated this time around, showman-like. The frame story, notoriously the worst part of even the best anthology horror, re-grounds the aliens when segments stray and is a great example of how to lovingly and effectively mock cable-cum-YouTube documentaries. The creature design and bad acting of the first segment are fun enough, while the second segment is a commentary on Mumbai's Film City that feels like homage to and improvement upon the original V/H/S. The third segment goes crazy; UFO attack on a skydiving plane?? and then aliens with interesting designs chase everyone in broad daylight and rip them apart into Halloween decorations??? That's what we've been waiting for! The momentum is building! Then there's Justin Long's abysmal segment. Most unfunny comedy torture-horror I've ever seen, made me think I was going to have to rate this even lower than past panned V/H/Ses, Saw 18 directed by Doug Walker, etc., etc., until, finally, we lose the haunted house angle and Flanagan takes center stage.

His alien story is so good I didn't want to believe it was him writing it, and so painfully UNBEARABLY Stephen King I knew it couldn't be anyone else. Clever sci-fi concept that does my favorite thing in the world by focusing on the UFO itself, eye-rollingly maudlin over American family values, intentionally funny in places, and scary!!! I said 'no way' out loud when I realized how it was going to end; timed just right, not too early but still well before the protagonist. I'm giving Flanagan so much credit because it's the kind of short story I would've been completely enraptured by as a kid, but on film its function is really thanks to director Kate Seigel and near-solo actress Alanah Pearce. They use their medium (infrared camera!) and place in the framework to full advantage, which is why I'm glad it's a little treat within a schlocky horror anthology instead of a short film in its own right.

Buy a ticket? With these V/H/S reviews I always say 'no it's bad don't watch it unless you already like the franchise,' and THIS time... still no lmao. It isn't quite good enough to merit a recommendation, but that's on high highs and low lows rather than the kind of mediocre stickiness of past entries. If you're interested in going through a haunted house (these things continue to hit right at my limit for gore and body horror) to include one gnarly alien story and one interesting one? You could do worse. Not a home run, but first base. They hit the ball <3

[openworldadventurer]

I'm really sorry if this is rude or something, it's really not intended to be, but do you have any proof of your work at Bethesda? I'm writing something for school about how casual a lot of the abuse/mismanagment in the games industry is and want to include some of the things you've talked about in the past, but I can't seem to find anything that actually validates your accounts. Even just an article from a credible source in which your mentioned or smth would be fine, genuinely.

Sorry again if this rude, thank you in advance if you decide to respons!

That's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask, so no offense taken.

But first things first: there are larger and more egregious abuses out there with much more proof than some tales from the trenches on Tumblr. I recommend Jason Schreier's Press Reset (not just because I was interviewed for it about two separate studio closures, Big Huge Games and 2K Marin), but there's no shortage of good reporting on a variety of abuses. (And as for "mismanagement", I wouldn't call any of the cut stuff from Skyrim a sign of mismanagement at all -- that's just what happens in any big open-world game. Every developer plans about twice as much stuff for a game as actually sees the final version -- there are always cuts when we see what we'll have the time and devpower to achieve.)

So please, don't quote "some guy on Tumblr said his name was struck from the game" for your school article -- it'll look like gossip reporting, and it won't even be very exciting. There's real horrors out there with solid sourcing that you can draw from, instead. As for my own credentials: I'm listed in the credits for Fallout 3 as "Fred Zeleny" (you can see me listed in this video of the credits at 2:51), and the various Fallout fan wikis have archives of my "Inside the Vault" internal blog interview I did while working on it.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm not listed in the credits for Skyrim, because they stripped my name along with a few other developers for going to work at different game studios before the project was done. I'm not sure what I can do to offer proof that I was there for that time period, short of sharing my design notebooks or pictures from the company parties, all of which might well be legally-actionable breaches of my NDA. I suppose I could point out which characters are named after friends of mine, but that wouldn't prove much if you don't know them. (Although it's a sweet story: they had just married at the time, and I added them as a little surprise wedding gift. Now their two kids play Skyrim on the Switch and are delighted to see their parents immortalized in Darkwater Crossing.) Now, that sort of professional erasure might not fly nowadays (particularly with a union there!), but that was 15 years ago. And sure, that was frustrating back when I was a young dev. But in the decade and a half since, it's never been a professional impediment, because everyone else in the industry knows that sort of pettiness was/is done all the time. And it doesn't hold a candle to some of the real abuses and horrors I've seen in the industry since leaving Bethesda.

So... yeah. I am who I say I am, but I really hope I haven't given the impression that Bethesda is a uniquely bad place in the game industry. If anything, it was fine in hindsight, albeit a little frustrating how things ended. But I tell tales of what almost happened in those games because those are the games people are familiar with, and because those tales are amusing rather than just horrifying.

Trust me, "here's a funny thing I almost did with Sheogorath!" or "the Bard's College quest was almost way more complex!" are much more enjoyable stories from game development than the real horrors I've seen. You probably wouldn't enjoy reading "that season I slept in the office multiple nights a week to meet deadlines and then the parent company failed to make payroll and laid us all off with no severance and we all cried and my coworker wrote a sad note to the movers who came to take everything away", or "the guy who made us completely retool our game to be more mainstream just stepped down after being arrested for a longstanding pattern of sexual harassment and abuse of employees." Trust me, those are real bummers. So it'd probably be better for your article if you focus on the sort of actual abuse and mismanagement I've shared links for here, rather than the minor stuff from my posts.

Gotta keep a proper perspective, y'know?

[wutheringmights]

hi! i’ve read in the dream house and speak bc of your reviews and Loved them. i find your analyses to be really insightful, i trust that when you recommend something theres Something of value i’ll get out of reading it. are there any books you’ve loved that you haven’t posted abt here yet? and how do you find new books to read? thanks for being so thoughtful abt your own writing and the books you read that it inspires me to study and improve my own work 🫡💞

Aw thank you! I always feel like I am yelling into the void whenever I make posts about the things I'm reading, so I'm glad you enjoy reading my thoughts <3

For books I haven't posted about yet... I just finished Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid (and will make a post about it soon). It's not a perfect read, but if you like horror and fairytale tropes, you'll get something about this.

Besides that, I recommend The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath, and the works of Robert Cormier (I Am the Cheese and The Chocolate Wars are two of my favorites). If you like war stories, All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is required reading.

I really enjoy the works of Octavia Butler. Kindred is my absolute favorite, but Parable of the Sower is very relevant to the current political moment. Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich also scarred the fuck out of me, but is a great work on reproductive rights.

I did an entire seminar on Virginia Woolf. Besides Mrs. Dalloway, I think Into the Lighthouse and Orlando are very good.

For the classics, I love Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. One of the first classics I ever fell in love with was Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, though Great Expectations is also exceptional.

One of my favorite books of all time that I never discuss with anyone anywhere is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, for obvious reasons. Read this book for two reasons. One, it will fuck you up. Nabokov's work with perspective and unreliable narrators is fucking insane. Second, Nabokov does something with the English language that I have never seen before and will probably never see again. If anyone has a command of the English language, it's him.

How do I find books to read? Some of the books I read before they are recommended to me by friends or by someone online. As long as you avoid romance/romantasy, BookTok/BookTube/Bookblr is a great place to get recs. I watch a lot of CariCanRead on Youtube because she reads a massive amount of books I have never heard of and is generally really honest about what books she liked/hated and why. I also windowshop at bookstores and libraries and just check out what is available on the shelves.

Honestly, the best advice I can give you is to let go of the idea of every book being impeccable art. You do not have to always be reading the Great American Novel. You can read books that are silly and outright trash. Once you shed the idea that books are some higher form of art, you remember that they are made to be entertainment. Like movies, there are going to be days where you want to watch post-modern French films or Oscar-winning movies about the turn of the century. There are also going to be days where you want to watch a silly comedy, or a trashy reality TV show, or you just go to the movies for something to do.

It's healthier for you if not every book is life changing. I have read some really bad books (some on purpose), and I have read some books that were just aggressively mediocre. Even if they didn't transform me into a better writer/reader/person, they were still worth reading. And when you give yourself permission to read books you might not necessarily like, it gets easier to try new genres and take risks on unfamiliar works. That's where you get new experiences. That's where a book sneaks up on you and smacks you on the back of the head with something that will absolutely make you change the way you see the world.

If anything, just try reading things you normally wouldn't read, be it sci-fi, memoir, historical epic, classic romance, etc.

[pluckyredhead]

"Barry is a character who was consciously designed to fit the zeitgeist of America and specifically the comics industry of the mid-1950s in the immediate aftermath of the Comics Code Authority (ask me about my theory on this!)" - here I am, asking (for real, I know next to nothing about Barry so I would be interested to hear more if you want to elaborate)

Yessss I would love to elaborate!

So apologies if this is stuff you already know, but the first Flash was Jay Garrick, who debuted in 1940, during what's called the Golden Age of Comics. There's no universal agreement on what the exact date range is for the Golden Age (or Silver, Bronze, etc.), but a range you'll often see is 1938 (the debut of Superman) to 1955.

However, with superhero comics, when we say Golden Age, we're really mostly talking about World War II, because after the war, superheroes became much less popular. At the time, monthly comics included lots of genres, like crime, horror, romance, humor, war, Westerns, sci-fi, etc., and crime and horror in particular became increasingly popular in the postwar years. Some of them also became increasingly violent, sexy, and edgy, in part to retain the audience of returning GIs from overseas, who had read comics to remind them of home during the war.

However, the primary audience for comics was children. Children who could easily buy a comic for a dime and read it without parental supervision. Children who could be turned into juvenile delinquents by reading comic books!

There was a massive backlash against comics in the late 40s and early 50s, led by parents and other "moral authorities" (teachers, librarians, churches) who thought comics were bad for kids. Most of you reading this will have seen similar parental backlash against whatever the target of the moment is: gangster movies, crooners, rock 'n' roll, rap, heavy metal, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, Harry Potter. (I'm not talking about JKR's wretched transphobia here but the fear in the late 90s that Harry Potter would turn kids into Satanists or whatever.)

There were boycotts. There were bonfires where all the kids in town would have to bring all their comics to be burned. There was Seduction of the Innocent, a book by psychologist Frederic Wertham where he claimed to have proven that comics turned kids into juvenile delinquents (he hadn't). Many people left the industry for good, and a lot of them later talked about those days with genuine trauma. I highly recommend the book The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America for more on this, but it's fascinating, and necessary reading for those of y'all on this webbed site who think we need to bring back the Hays Code and its ilk.

This all culminated in Senate hearings in 1954 to determine whether comics were harmful to children. (Fun fact: these hearings began on the same day as the McCarthy hearings. Political repression and artistic repression always go hand in hand.) In the aftermath of these hearings, the comic book industry created the Comics Code Authority, because that way they could self-regulate instead of being regulated by the government.

The Comics Code was a list of what could and could not be in comics. It was mostly what you'd expect - no sex or violence - but also a lot of conservative 1950s censorship. Like: "Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority." That's...pretty totalitarian.

Comic book publishers would submit comics for approval to the CCA. If they passed, the comic would be published with a seal on the cover saying "Approved by the CCA." They didn't need the seal to publish, but if they didn't have the seal, most vendors wouldn't sell the comic. So most of them pretty much had to comply.

So what does this all have to do with Barry Allen?

As I said earlier, superheroes fell in popularity after WWII, and many books were canceled. Jay Garrick's last Golden Age appearance was in 1951, and he hung on longer than most. But after the CCA, the landscape of comics had changed, and DC decided to see if they couldn't make the superhero work in this brave new world.

So in 1956 they took the idea of the Flash - guy who runs fast - and changed everything else about him. The new Flash was named Barry Allen, and he was a police scientist with a snazzy new costume. He was an immediate hit, DC went on to revamp a number of other characters in similar fashion, and a new era was born. Literally: many scholars date the start of the Silver Age of Comics to Barry's debut.

It's worth noting, I think, that DC was staunchly behind the creation of the CCA. Their stock in trade was superheroes, who were mostly considered harmless. But the backlash against comics and the creation of the CCA seriously harmed a lot of their competitors, and eventually put the ultra-popular EC Comics, who specialized in horror and crime, out of business.

I'm not saying DC had Barry in mind already when they supported the formation of the CCA. But they saw that the field had been cleared and there was an opportunity to bring their main genre back to the forefront. And then they created a squeaky clean, incredibly white guy from the Midwest. Who is a scientist, because 1950s kids need to be inspired to go into science so that we can beat those Ruskies to the moon! But who is also a cop, because kids need to respect law and order, or else. (This was also an era in which former vigilantes Superman and Batman were officially deputized by their respective local police forces.)

None of this means that Barry is a bad character, or that his Silver Age comics aren't good, because they are actually extremely innovative and very fun. But it does mean that he was created as essentially copaganda for children during an era of intense political conservatism in the US and deep fear in the comic book industry. He worked well in the 50s and 60s (DC in the 60s was basically still living in the 50s, which is why everyone older than 10 switched to Marvel) but increasingly less well as the world around him changed, and DC's attempts to modernize him in the 70s and early 80s (killing off Iris so that he could be a swingin' bachelor living in...wait for it...an apartment building!!!) were just kind of embarrassing. Barry's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths is the most noble death I've ever read in comics, but it was also a mercy killing.

I think Barry could be updated for the 21st century in a way that is true to his roots but doesn't make him feel like a relic or a jerk. But so far, DC hasn't really bothered? Instead we get moments like Barry declaring that Hal is the only JLAer who really gets him because "we're both cops" or arresting a Black 12-year-old for graffiti-ing an already destroyed building. Oof, friends. Oof.

In conclusion, Barry was designed for major cultural and industry-wide changes of the mid-1950s but that was 70 years ago and the man desperately needs a makeover that is not putting on his nephew's personality like an ill-fitting suit and saying "How do you do, fellow kids?" The end.