#kaaron

[quequeishere]

outfit swap!

[ourfoxgod]

before i pass out, i'd just like to say: hi, i'm currently looking for fic / one shot requests for arcane (jayvik, specifically) & aftg (andreil, primarily) !! if there's anything you want to see in writing, please lmk <3 also leave me ur ao3 user so i can dedicate a work to you <3 <3 ok ok ok ok goodnight!!!

[purpleshadow-star]

I'm trying to think of what fic I wanna write for this month, so:

[anxious-alyssia]

KAARON - Kenji x Aaron

pt.1

“Why do I have to join you in this... childish activity?” Warner asks his boyfriend as they put on their vests. “Because I won the bet you made on me and J, and also because you love me.” Kenji replies, looking up from the straps to see Warner in the opposite colour. He smiles, “Think of it as target practice, babe.” Warner huffs “With you as a target? I see no point.” Kenji’s smile becomes a smirk “Then I guess I’ll just win this game and prove who’s the better shot~” Warner rolls his eyes, picks up his blue gun.“We’ll see, Kishimoto. We’ll see.” They enter the arena and once the two groups are spread out, Castel’s voice comes through the intercom. “You may begin in 5, 4, 3…”

Kenji grips his gun.

“2…”

Warner Sighs.

“1- BEGIN”

Kenji grins and turns on his invisibility. Not bothering to crouch, he walks around the arena shooting anyone in a blue vest. “Hey! Kenji that’s not fair!” Ella stands from where she was hiding before she was caught. “No powers!” He laughs “Sorry not sorry, Jello,” and runs off before she could get someone else to shoot him.

—-----------------------

Warner shoots Ian’s vest before he hears Ella cry out “KENJI! That’s not fair! No Powers!” So, Kishimoto wants to play dirty. Well two can play at that game. Warner feels around the arena, searching. He finds Kenji not that far from him, on a lower level. A small smile spreads on his face as he borrows some of Kenji’s energy before crying out “Ella?”

He sees Kenji stop, look up, and smile. He watches as Kenji makes his way up and then goes invisible. Now he might not be able to see Kenji but he could still sense him getting closer to where he stood.

—-----------------------------------------------

Kenji stalked towards where he heard Warner calling. The guy wouldn’t know what hit him when he managed to shoot him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadow move, head down a dead-end path. Gotcha. He creeps after the shadow but finds no one there. Strange... he could’ve sworn he saw someone come this way. He’s about to turn and leave when his gun is knocked from his hand and his arms are held above his head as he’s pressed on his back against the wall.

---------------

“So, cheating now, are we?” Warner whispers next to Kenji’s ear. “It’s not cheating- Castel never said I couldn’t use my abilities” Kenji squirms in Warner's grip, trying -and failing- to get free. “So, what are you gonna do-  shoot me?” 

[nettirw]

MADNESS AND WRITERS

Previously only premiered prior to StokerCon‘s Final Frame Horror Short Film Competition, presented by the Horror Writers Association, the extended trailer for Madness and Writers: The Untold Truth. Maybe? is now available to watch worldwide. Simply click the image above. Madness and Writers: The Untold Truth. Maybe? (hosted by Lukas Hassel), will be a seven-part creative documentary series about…

[fahye]

book recs: june 2024

it's been a weird few months of swinging wildly between mood reading of new things and needing to reread old favourites. all of these were new-to-me, and * means I read an ARC so they're not out yet BUT keep your eyes peeled/preorder if you like the sound of them.

SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by john wiswell - sapphic monster romance but make it asexual rep (woo!) between a protagonist who is usually a ball of shapeshifting goo, and a woman whose awful family is trying to hunt down the shapeshifting monster. it's both delightfully gruesome and a sweet, angry story about two hurt people finding and saving one another. this book deserves to become tumblr-famous.

LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by loretta chase - an absolute platinum-level classic in regency romance history, and for good reason. jessica trent: best heroine to ever appear on the page. wild hijinks, superb feelings, jessica can we please be best friends so you can teach me all about your antiques dealership.

THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS by vajra chandrasekera - everyone describes this as 'impossible to describe' and they're right. truly original urban-ish fantasy about the oppression of underclasses, magic, identity, the inconvenience of being prophesied to kill your father, and a support group for failed messiahs. it's splendid and will stretch your mind like a muscle.

ALL THE SINNERS BLEED - by s.a. cosby - a contemporary crime thriller about a black sheriff in the american south trying to catch a serial killer in the face of systemic racism and obstruction. dark themes, wonderfully written, extremely gripping: I read it in a day.

THE UNDERHISTORY by kaaron warren - an elderly woman running tours of her infamously 'haunted' family home is confronted with a group of dangerous escaped killers looking for somewhere to hide. half slowburn crime horror and half a fantastic, meandering exploration of one person's history. you all know I love a vaguely fucked-up house, and this one comes with an older protagonist hiding secrets of her own.

THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI by akwaeke emezi - there's a new emezi book coming out soon so I finally let myself read this one! a brief, bittersweet slap of a novel about gender and sexuality and family and longing, told in emezi's uniquely electrifying prose style. I wish I could write like this.

THE FRIEND ZONE EXPERIMENT* by zen cho - zen's first contemporary romance! inspired by kdrama tropes! a hardworking singaporean entrepreneur heroine in london! I enjoyed the romance itself but even more I enjoyed watching renee fight to prove herself in the face of various terrible men.

THE FORMIDABLE MISS CASSIDY* by meihan boey - if susan sto helit is your favourite discworld character, you will love the hell out of this. no-nonsense magical governess deals with folklore monsters and social drama in 19th century singapore. lively and heaps of fun. I wish it was an episodic buffy-esque tv show.

THE PAIRING* by casey mcquiston - two exes accidentally reunite on a food & wine tour of europe for the sluttiest and most self-indulgent bisexual summer ever. food porn, drinks porn, european scenery porn, feelings porn, porn-porn: this is a book that is 95% Various Vibes and Porn and if that sounds like your kind of thing, you'll love it. warning: will make you very hungry.

[all-for-the-game-confessions]

The ship names are shit

This might be just me, but most of the ship names are just kinda shit. Ok it’s definitely me I just kinda hate the use of names that obviously sound like two individual names inelegantly mushed together

Like, Andreil, Kandreil, Renison and Jeanee are good.

Jerejean and keremy are maybeeeeee just barely okay but we could have had Jeanemy and kevemy

Then you get the absolute horrendous ones. No creativity has gone into these and most of them are with Kevin: Kevjean, kevthea, sethallison, kevseth, kevriko, kevaaron, Kateaaron, like………

No creativity.

Of course with critique you must also give ways to improve so I present to you:

Kevean (Kevin Jean), theavin or Mulday (Thea Kevin), alliseth (Allison Seth), Sethin or Gorday (Seth Kevin), Keko (Kevin Riko) (I really like this one bc it’s so stupid) katon or Aarlyn or Aatelyn (last one bc it sounds stupid)(Katelyn Aaron) Datt or Man (Dan Matt) (the former is better imo) Caila (Cat Laila) and last but not least my absolute favourite Kaaron.

KAARON. WE COULD HAVE HAD KAARON. THATD BE SUCH AN APPROPRIATE NAME FOR THEM

Ok tbh I’m open for suggestions on any of those names except for kaaron bc my names r probs shit too but at least I try more than just the full names directly attached to each other.

We can even do things like the marauders fandom does with the association game! Like Rabbitqueen or runnerqueen for KevinxNeil. And sunqueen for Jeremy x Kevin, historic bitchfight for Neil and Jean, maybe rabbitmonster for Andreil but idk Andreil’s fine and I don’t like the association with monster with Andrew

But yeah some of them are passable at best

.

[profound-mystery]

all i think when i see kevaaron is a missed opportunity for kaaron

[haveyoureadthispoll]

The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world—yet the long nights also conjure a darker tradition of ghouls, hauntings, and visitations. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse. From the eerie Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the festive season. Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry... Featuring stories   Nadia Bulkin Terry Dowling Tananarive Due Jeffrey Ford Christopher Golden Stephen Graham Jones Glen Hirshberg Richard Kadrey Alma Katsu Cassandra Khaw John Langan Josh Malerman Nick Mamatas Garth Nix Benjamin Percy M. Rickert Kaaron Warren

[osoanimation]

Don John Oliver Interviews RFQ Jr, KAaron"I Demand To Talk To Your Manag...

[anxious-alyssia]

Ok I love Warnett and it's beautiful but...

what about Kaaron

Kenji x Aaron

please

i can't be the only one

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb: Hugo Award winning editor, and horror legend, Ellen Datlow presents this chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu and many more.

The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world—yet the long nights also conjure a darker tradition of ghouls, hauntings, and visitations. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse.

From the eerie Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the festive season.

Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry...

Featuring stories from: 

Nadia Bulkin Terry Dowling Tananarive Due Jeffrey Ford Christopher Golden Stephen Graham Jones Glen Hirshberg Richard Kadrey Alma Katsu Cassandra Khaw John Langan Josh Malerman Nick Mamatas Garth Nix Benjamin Percy M. Rickert Kaaron Warren

Review:

Come one come all for some holiday horrors! This is a really fun anthology filled with holiday horror stories based on winter solstice traditions around the world. These are short and sweet and perfect for little horrors for the winter time.

*Thanks Netgalley and Titan Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[lex1nat0r]

Grimdark Magazine #41

I’ve been subscribed to Grimdark Magazine for years but my actual reading has been spotty at best. As someone with Opinions on “grimdark” I want to fix that, and so I’ll try keeping up with the new issues by putting down my thoughts here. This is my fifth time doing this on tumblr.

To be clear: this is mainly quibbling about genre(/aesthetics?). And also: not weighing in on whether any given story should be included in a “grimdark” magazine. I’m hammering out what counts as ‘grimdark’ for me, feel free to come along for the ride.

Just looking at the short stories themselves unless I come across a review for a book I’ve actually read or an interview with an author I already know.

"Bastards and Baguettes" by Justin Lee Anderson

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: Underproved.

This issue's introduction called Bastards and Baguettes "a grimdark twist on cozy fantasy," which had me bracing for something unbearably mean-spirited. Fortunately that's not what we got. Instead this is a comfortably grubby tale about a bakery that sells more than just bread. Certainly dark, but not what I'd call grim. Good though, it got me interested in Anderson's other works.

"The First of many Shudders" by Kaaron Warren

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: Looming.

A security guard and his collection of friends hanging around a demolished apartment building. It's good, I like it. The security guard is a terrible person and there's hints (and more than hints) of something supernatural happening so it hits both my criteria. The doom isn't spelled out, but the whole atmosphere is oppressive enough it works.

Break for an interview with Marjorie Liu, which means I get to mention that Monstress is one of my favorite comics of all time, hands down. Seriously, Monstress kicks ass. Is it grimdark? Yeah, sure, I'm not going to go over it here right now, please check it out.

"The Imbibing of Inggid Sel" by Moses Ose Utomi

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: Mistrial.

A husband and wife consume the memories of her uncle's suspected killers. An excellent short story, and arguably dark fantasy, but there isn't really anything grim about this one. Yes a society that pulls the memories from crime suspects is fucked up, but there's no sense that this society is undergoing a collapse of any kind. Plenty of bastards, no doom.

"Red Hell" by Renee Stern

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: False identity.

Another one about a criminal in a city that sucks and also has magic. It's a fine story on its own, it just feels like this basic setup happens a lot in "grimdark". There's mention of a war but it doesn't feel very pressing (compare with Under Furious Skies in the previous issue, which makes the war sound horrific and hopeless even though we don't see it). I need more pzazz to call something properly grimdark, you know?

"The Reeds of Torin's Field" by Andrea Stewart

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: Dead or Alive.

A mercenary hunts a sorceress. This one, I think, gets it. It's close! The grimness isn't as grandiose as I'd like but the story definitely wallows in how gritty it is, which I think makes up for it. Very morally-ambiguous-protagonist type. Pretty good!

"Black Goat Parade" by Josh Rountree

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: Run over by a reindeer

A father witnesses a Christmas ritual. Not grimdark, to me. We've been over this: if the darkness is localized that's horror, not grimdark. The fact that the story makes explicit that this event only affects the one town means the doom isn't pervasive enough for me. The story itself is pretty good though, decent body horror. Reads a bit like a Clive Barker short story and I mean that as a compliment. A bit absurd, but straight to the point.

"Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent Part 2" by Scott Lynch

GRIMDARKNESS RATING: Night on the town.

Part 1 did not look promising. I did not go into part 2 expecting it to deliver the grimness I crave. There's a good description of a religious ritual to try and calm a storm god, which made me aware that religion is so often not a factor in these grubby-bastards-in-grimy-cities stories. And then it goes into some detail on how miserable having the sea invade the city made it. The story got close to being grim, I suppose, if there had been more of that. And then, right at the end, Locke Lamora does the right thing. It's well done, that. That, to me, is what really elevates grimdark. When everything sucks and everyone's a bastard, but sometimes, rarely, someone does the right thing, and it becomes beautiful. There was some of that in The Reeds of Torin's Field, but it felt more pronounced here. Not grimdark, but close enough.

GRIMDARK MAGAZINE #41 OVERALL GRIMDARKNESS RATING:

GRIM: NAH

DARK: YEAH

[morbidloren]

Strong Women, Strange Worlds

I am very excited to do my first reading of the year online on June 15. I’ll be joining Hadeer Elsbai (The Alamaxa duology), Kaaron Warren (Into Bones like Oil), Kristi McManus (Our Vengeful Souls), Branwen OShea (The Calling), and Tori Eldridge (Dance Among the Flames and The Ninja’s Daughter). This is a dream lineup! I’ll be reading a complete Alondra story, so it’s going to be spooky. The…