#just very much not smth I'm interested in

[ash-and-starlight]

BOOKS OF 2024

the list nobody asked for. again <3 i think this time around i read less books than the previous year?? but still 😤 we did it boys we read some fine books. reviews under the cut since i love yapping and i cant be fucked to make a goodreads account

Cromorama - Riccardo Falcinelli this book was sooo cool so engaging so interesting, its a look into the history and science of colors but its also so much more rlly one of my favorite nonfictions of all time

The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells disclaimer I only read this series up to Rogue Protocol, but I enjoyed it, I rlly liked the characters and the worldbuilding and the short novel format and most of all murderbooottt my best friend murderbot. when im in the mood for scifi again ill read the rest asw I prommyy

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong this is one of those books that as u read it you can already tell it will stay with you forever, dont be fooled by the shortness every single line will Kill You. it will kill you dead.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka probably my fav book of the year, it's beautiful it's gripping it's deep it's scathing it's irreverent it has a careful and deeply cultural magical surrealism it has sociopolitical satire it won the booker prize of 2022 and deserved it so much

Fuori le Palle! Privilegi e Trappole della Mascolinità - Victoire Tuaillon ill be hoooneestt I didn't find this uhh as groundbreaking as I was kinda expecting it to be?? but still it was a nice read and the "flipped" perspective to center the myth of """masculinity""" in a feminist text was interesting. also rlly pretty cover

Lavinia - Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula girl u did it again! constantly rising the bar for all of us!! another stunning book that sadly fell victim to the #girlboss tiktokification but DONT LET THAT STOP YOUUU its sooo good. bitches Love pre-hellenistic latin society <333 bitches love even more when the boundaries between story and characters and reality and fiction blur in such a masterful way that Lavinia can have a conversation with Vergil and it doesn't feel not even the littlest bit forced or out of place <333

Exordia - Seth Dickinson Went in for the giant snake alien/human toxic yuri stayed for the weird mystery body horror stuff almost left for the overabundance of USA military stuff that I just can't be bothered to care about. I liked it way less than the masquerade but it Does have all the classical elements that make it a Seth Dickinson book aka fucked up women. Imperialism Critique. the horrors. the trolley problem. being Very Long. etc

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao wow guys. this book fucking sucked. like I'm speechless. you'd think that with the crazy popular rep it has it would have smth worth salvaging but uhhh- anyway go stream cocoon by corrupter which is iron widow if it was actually good

Fire from Heaven - Mary Renault nothing more special than a cultured fujo and her special golden shiny perfumed blorbo that everyone wants to fuck so bad <333 finally a book that healed my tsoa related trauma, the only thing that could've made it better is if hephaestion discovered brat taming

The Spear Cuts Through Water - Simon Jimenez beautiful and with such a dreamy magical atmosphere once again I LOVEEE interwoven stories, and I feel like some of the writing's style Choices are so original. it starts a bit slow tbh but I found it impossible to put down from the second half of the book til the end

Voyage of the Damned - Frances White well. it was a cherished super pretty shiny gift from a beloved friend so that's why I finished it but uh. uhhMMMMM uhghhh whhhhfhhmmm uhhhhh hmmmmm uhhhhh. yeah. I'm iconic 💅

Bad Gays: a Homosexual History - Ben Miller, Huw Lemmey ill be honest I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did but its really nice!! its a critique and analysis of white male gayness told through the lives of some Notable Controversial Homos, and I liked how it rlly paints a full picture not only of their lives but also of the socio-political landscape that shaped them and the concept of queernes of the time. only lil gripe tho is why there was only One woman and One Japanese guy then-

[walmartbrandwhatever]

;Marbit Soulmate au

Okay so I have two soulmate aus in mind! One written within the Canon universe and one written in modern times because both are so interesting to me ngl.

";Each day on your arm is a particular event your soulmate will face today."

This one would be interesting within the canon universe like imagine both two-bit and marcia have the words "jumping." On their arms and just having this dreaded feeling. Or neither of them see it coming, both too busy trying to make sense of everything happening to even think about the words resting on their wrist. Marcia seeing it on two-bits wrist while trying to get him to some place somewhere safe. She doesn't think much of it until she is washing two-bits blood off of her hands after patching him up and freezing seeing the same words that had been on his wrist on her own.

Her heart sinking as the realization hits her. She feels sick at the thought because maybe if she had looked down, maybe, just maybe, she could've stopped it, but deep down, she knows she couldn't have done much. Not one against four guys - five if you counted bev. Anyways, following canon events blah blah blah. It clicks in two-bits head the day he gets "break-up" on his wrist and witnesses marcia break things off with trip. Unfortunately things turn south so fast neither of them really interact until the rodeo where two watches marcia barrel racing.

That's just the first thoughts I have surroundings that soulmate prompt. Things might change regarding that yk? Anyways if yall have ideas please feel free to add because I want yalls opinions on these💖.

";whatever you write on your skin appears on your soulmates skin" / ";soulmates initials on your wrist."

I can't decide which one I like better yk? I feel like it would be cute in both a Canon universe and a modern universe. It's a very basic one but I think if done right it could be cute. Modern times the initial would be cute, have it mixed with like a college au or smth. I haven't thought this one much through if I'm so honest but like picture it.

The two of them attending nearby colleges, not even the same one, and somehow always bumping into eachother. Two-bit who never really gaf when it came to soulmates seeing how easily they could fail a person because his mother was the sweetest person he knew and was left without a simple goodbye (the idea of his father having the right initials but was just the wrong person is such an idea and idk if that makes sense LMAO). Marcia believing in them so much as a kid due to her parents but her focus shifting on surviving in the real world.

Anyways I literally can't think of much more but feel free to add onto this or ask questions about my ideas that I might turn into fics who knows. If there's soulmate connections you would love to see Def lmk because these 3 are only like some that I thought of. Anyways much love Kath🫶.

[figurativepieceoftrash]

Hii, i just wanted to say that you're so right about the mischaracterization of Midoriya. I too don't like when they make him super uwu and snarky rude. I'm glad someone else understands my struggles

Yeah, I ofc know that it's not that deep. It's just fanfiction and people are allowed to enjoy whatever character portrayals they want regardless of canon accuracy, naturally. but having to wade through thirty pages of snarky/bamf/genius/uwu/sunshine child tagged works every time I go fic searching only to end up clicking a fic that leans into the the exact same mischaracterizations but untagged is,,, kinda exhausting

I'm very picky with the fic I choose to read even w/out accounting for actual content (technical aspects like grammar, prose, natural dialogue/dialogue realism, etc. matter a lot to me) which makes it even more frustrating when I find a fic that scratches that published quality itch only to be riddled with a million unignorable instances of he would not say that :')

And it's not as if I don't enjoy some intentional mischaracterization here and there! I knowingly mischaracterize on occasion, and I'm aware that I often fail to realistically justify it with altered backstory (Hope to Die, I'm looking at you). But the real issues arise for me when the alterations end up making the character less complex/realistically human rather than more. Ik flat, one-note characters do it for some people but they're unfortunately very much not what I'm interested in :/

[deadrlngers]

I'm the reticent vampire of the Ninth Arrondissement. I walk the night capturing disappointment and regret as only the reticent vampire can.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (2022-)

[silusvesuius]

my nelvas and moraak thought crumblets

[foreverxdaydreaming]

x

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

my 1 (one) stardew opinion is shane should not have won the bachelor poll

[whistlingstarlight]

Yet another reason New Starlight is way better than people give it credit for, Ashley's line of "I'm a smoker, the last one in the land" gives her character so much inferred depth.

Ashley's a victim of modernization, like Rusty, Poppa, even Greaseball. She's the only dedicated smoking car in active service in the country (usually implied to be America, but the rolling stock have a lot of British inspiration), how terrifying must that be for her? All other smoking cars have been converted, preserved, or scrapped. It's only a matter of time before the same happens to her.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[starvinginbelair]

as a criminology student, i would honestly love to read an comics arc about the role of the police in vigilantism because i just think it's under-discussed for such a nuanced and complex topic.

[goldentigerfestival]

Yuri's dialogue (JP) is so fascinating to study, like... the repetitive use of certain words/phrases that others use sparingly but he uses constantly. the way it feels like his vocabulary is more expansive than what he uses, but he defaults to a "comfort" level of speech. the way it mixes in with his sort of "street talk" words and the sheer level of informality. the way his "street talk" phrasing is contrasted by the tone of his voice (on that note, people I know who also know JP are also very endeared by these aspects of him so I KNOW IT'S NOT JUST ME!!!).

'cause the thing is, he uses phrases that yeah, other people do use, but he uses a handful over and over and over (contrast to other characters' sparing use of repetition). it's actually... really refreshing? it sounds more relatable and less "video game/anime/JRPG/RPG" writing or something, idk. like closer to how a real person would speak.

I do my best in my translations not to make things sound too stiff across the board, but Yuri makes it so easy. it's why I'm so interested in translating all his lines in Vesperia, like... the actual, original tone for him with his original wording because it's smth Eng only players don't get to experience ('cause even if you listen with JP audio, if you don't know the language, ofc you're gonna miss out on context. it's nobody's fault for not knowing, just... they unfortunately miss out). the thing is, there are a lot of times when the lines in and of themselves are not contextually incorrect in the English ver (usually the situation for smaller scenes, because they altered the text outright for more important stuff which was the stuff that originally set me off, but there were also plenty of cases of just vocal tone shifting with the correct context that still gave off the wrong impression), but Yuri's tone is shifted away from the original in Eng even though it's completely and perfectly translatable.

I am by no means about to translate the entire game because let's face it, I really don't care that much for Vesperia on the whole. I'm kinda stuck with it because Yuri's there lo and behold I actually am WAY more engaged in his stories in Rays, Link and Asteria because it's an amazing character put into circumstances where he actually gets to shine and feels more alive, which Vesperia did not provide nearly as well with its very disjointed story. also, Tales gachas have banger stories that are arguably better than the mainline games, and they regularly make Yuri a very central character to the gachas. Crestoria was also about to do it until they pulled the plug on that game and I'm pretty confident something interesting has been lost to the world. also I just generally don't have the energy or motivation to do that, so... I'll only be focusing on Yuri's lines, especially because his stuff is where the bulk of the messing around was. he's just insanely fun to translate for and I love burying myself head first into his speech.

will I actually finish this project? dunno. will I get around to posting it? whatever I get done (so all of it if I complete it), and if I decide to call it quits then I'll post what I have at the time I decide that. will it take a long time? probably, but I can always mention stuff along the way...

[phagodyke]

sometimes I wish I was a more interesting + charismatic person just so I could keep conversations going bc I like sharing space with other ppl but they routinely lose all interest and leave once I run out of things to say/start talking abt things that don't concern them :-(

[byanyan]

thinkin 'bout byan eventually getting tattoos to cover their self harm scars...

[derangedthots]

bored and should be sleeping but i'm gonna be irresponsible and go into fmf/ctf author annotations mode instead

i adore reliable unreliable narrator jace for a lot of reasons but something that i have fun with is how his near-perfect-but-not-quite competence+awareness interplays with good parent(but not necessarily good person) daemon. there's a lot of conflicting views abt daemon as a person within the fandom and within show/book canon, and as someone who hasn't read f&b but who tries to lead with george's characterizations, i very much fall back on the description of daemon as that deliciously gray "wonder and terror of his age..not a man so admired, so beloved, and so reviled in all Westeros...made of light and darkness in equal parts." (honestly is it any wonder why he's george's fav with a description like that? valid) and to me, both book and show - though the show+showriters can be somewhat inconsistent - agree that daemon is very deeply a family man who is unfailingly loyal to the people he cares abt.

i especially love the bit that says "to some he was a hero, to others the blackest of villains" bc it implies that the identity of his observer matters and influences which parts of himself daemon shows or leans more into.

it's why his relationship with jace - and specifically how jace perceives daemon - is so interesting in the CTF universe bc he def understands that daemon is capable of monstrous acts (and that he even occassionally delights in them) but daemon's also raised him? been good to him and his mother and his siblings as long as he's ever known him? jace doesn't view daemon as perfect by any means, logically he knows there are parts of his stepfather that are terrifying, but he's also aptly positioned to think daemon's best/kindest/noblest parts are more easily accessible to him and their family.

for example, the section in CTF ch2 abt jace thinking he can ask daemon to spare jaehaerys and maelor when nyra becomes queen and daemon will just agree...how true really is this? (the original circumstances of blood and cheese aside) i'd say it depends on how secure daemon views rhaenyra's reign, his mood that day, and/or how good jace+nyra+rhaena are at convincing him. i don't have any clear answers myself bc the man is just that mercurial but jace? jace certainly believes he does

anyway, food for thought going forward in the fic lol just wanted to share a little bit of my process behind writing but idk i'll probably delete this in the morning🤷🏻‍♀️🤡

[galahdborn]

|| i need to sleep, but i'm still thinking about polyships aklfjerg

[daz4i]

yknow while my demons/angels au is more like, me trying to figure out how to translate the characters' existing story into the au's rules. here with the blands one i really am just going feral trying to figure out what is the most likely role/origin for each character and let me tell you. i am coming up with some bullshit here. but I'm having fun (even if trying to find a way for ranpo to fit into a world of wasteland and violence was one of the hardest thinking I've done for an au. i figured it out 🫡)