#like the diversity of the genres they go through and then they end on god's great dust storm

[pu-butt]

Child-me may have not gotten all of her songs, but upon further review and with the power of voortschrijdend inzicht, i must conclude that Anouk's For Bitter or Worse album consists of nothing but banger after banger after banger

[miss-conjayniality]

enhyungline as mariah carey songs 🦋🌟

genre: fluff. PURE FLUFF!

pairing: enhyungline x gn!reader

word count: 1766

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS DAAHHHLLIINGSSS!!! 🌟omfg i meant to post this over a week ago 😭 but I’ve been soooo fawking busy with life and I got sick but I’m all good now so here y’all go! as a huge engene AND lambily, I wanted to pay tribute to the queen of christmas by assigning different songs by her to our beloved enhyungline! 🩷 christmas may be almost over but mariah’s got a vast catalogue that’s classic, timeless, and sonically diverse. i’m a mimi stan all year round dahhlliinnggss 💅🏼 I’ve been meaning to do this for a while too🫣

also…can we fucking TALK about how enhypen dropped an EP called daydream, which also happens to share the same name as one of mimi’s BEST ALBUMS EVER!?!?? GOOD FUCKING GOD!!!! THEY DID THIS SHIT FOR ME ISTG!!!!

ALSO….i definitely didn’t cry or get delusional while writing this🤠🫣

P.S.: heeriah leerey IS in fact mariah’s adoptive son. I SAID WHAT I SAID! PERIODT.

HEESEUNG: MUSIC BOX.

“when i am lost, you shine a light for me and set me free. when i am low, you wash away my tears and take me through the loneliness and emptiness. through the darkest nights, somehow i survive through it all”

“your love is strong enough to lift me up. if i’m afraid, oh baby. you chase away my fears and take me to a brighter place.”

do you remember those music boxes you loved during your childhood years because they would open up to little angels dancing around in circles to melodious tunes? heeseung is exactly that - in human form. being around him evokes feelings of nostalgia and comfort because he reminds you of a simpler time when life felt magical and full of wonder. his presence is like the soft melody of a music box, enveloping you in warmth and tranquility, making you feel cherished in a way that feels timeless.

heeseung is a dreamy, delicate angel come to life. he has a calming energy that feels timeless and effortlessly comforting. the type of lover to cuddle with you underneath a weighted blanket after taking a warm soothing bath together. the type of lover to steep green tea for you, watch vintage disney films with you, and softly hum sweet melodies to you as he holds you close, making you feel cherished and at peace in his embrace.

heeseung’s love feels like a safe haven, a quiet sanctuary where time slows down, and the world outside fades away. his presence is a gentle reminder that even in life’s chaos, there’s always space for warmth, tenderness, and the beauty of simple, meaningful moments. with him, every shared glance and unspoken word feels intentional, like he’s crafting a world where love is soft, steady, and substantial. he has a way of making you feel as if you’re the only person that matters, wrapping you in a sense of security that feels both grounding and ethereal.

with heeseung, love feels like being carried through life’s storms with unwavering strength and care. when the weight of the world feels too heavy, his arms are always there to be wrapped around your shoulders. his quiet reassurance dissolves your fears like the clouds in the sky after a thunderstorm.

heeseung is an uplifting lover. when times get rough, he encourages you to overcome your fears and persevere through the madness. just his belief in you alone could move mountains. in his arms, you feel safe enough to dream again, his love lifting you from darkness and showing you the light of brighter, better days ahead.

your admiration for heeseung is never-ending. there is no one before him that could ever match his level. and there’s certainly no such thing as “after” once he appeared into your life. his warm, compassionate nature is rare in this cold, harsh and cruel world. you are his sunshine, and he is your sunshine protector. ever since you met him, he’s inspired your sense of adventure.

whether it’s buzz lightyear action figures, legos, or stuffed animal deers, heeseung serves as a powerful reminder to never neglect your inner child 🩷

JAY: VISION OF LOVE.

“treated me kind. sweet destiny. carried me through desperation. to the one that was waiting for me. it took so long. still i believed…somehow the one that i needed would find me eventually.”

“i had a vision of love. and it was all that you’ve given to me. i had a vision of love. and it was all that you turned out to be.”

you CANNOT tell me this man isn’t the personification of this song. jay HIMSELF is theee vision of love! PERIODT.

jay is the type of lover most people envision when it comes to experiencing true love. not just romantically. but on every level. eros. philia. storge. agape. in a world of fakers disguised as lovers, jay floats above the fray and proves that love is real. the lover whom you’d encounter by chance one day, only to realize he was the one your soul had been searching for all along. you had been trying to hard all these years to seek out love, yet eventually you found him…unintentionally.

jay’s embodies the type of love that’s even better than what you witness in novels and films. even in the mundane tasks such as filing taxes, doing the laundry, etc., he makes it enjoyable. and because of those enjoyable moments, he inspires you to conquer anything life throws at you. that’s how transformative his love is. he’s the reason why you’re so grateful for life, no matter how tough it gets.

jay doesn’t just love you in the extraordinary ways (i.e.: buying luxury gifts, or wooing you with lavish vacations). he loves you in the unassuming ways too - the kind of moments that go unnoticed. for example, if you’re nervous at a public gathering, he’ll recognize that feeling and hold your hand tight. sometimes, he’d look at you like you’re the only person in the room. or maybe he’ll give his jacket to you when you’re feeling cold. no matter what the situation is, his attentive love reminds you that you’re never alone. it’s the love that strengthens you, grounds you, and pushes you to believe in the beauty of life, no matter how unpredictable it may be.

sometimes you even wonder how on earth you managed to land such a generous, patient man like jay. the gratitude you hold in your heart for him is unmatched. it’s hard to even believe he’s real. but there he is. as real as can be. sometimes you cry because you’re afraid he wouldn’t love your imperfections - such as the way you manage your emotions under stress, or the moments when you doubt yourself.

but jay would assure you that no matter what, you are worth loving. and you are his vision of love too.

JAKE: YOURS.

“you brighten up the moon and stars at night. you keep me seeing rainbows in the sky. you bring new meaning to my life now. i believe in miracles. baby, i’m forever yours.”

“i keep thankin’ the lord above for blessing me with oh so much. ‘cause i know how it feels to be part of you boy. everyday my life’s so abundant with joy. and i honestly never thought love could be real until the angels guided you to me.”

jake is a living embodiment of the australian sunshine. because he HIMSELF is the australian sunshine! whenever he walks into any room, the whole place brightens up. his presence is the midas touch. he’s the rainbow to your rainy days. it’s the little things that make you fall for him even deeper. his hospitality towards other people, the way he treats animals and children, and his overall selfless nature.

jake’s love is bountiful. he knows how to make you feel cherished in ways you never thought possible. he remembers the subtle details - your favorite song, the way you order your coffee, the board games you enjoy, and the sparkle on your face whenever you see layla. he turns them into valuable moments of connection. with him, love isn’t just spoken in grand declarations, it’s the kind of love that speak louder than words ever could. ultimately, love is a verb. it is performed through daily actions.

with jake, the level of gratitude you possess has increased. he has a way of shifting your perspective, helping you notice and appreciate the little things that once went overlooked. you know…like the beauty of a sunrise, the tranquility of a quiet moment, or the comfort of simply being together. quality time is his love language. he is the living meaning of “quality time”. no matter how minuscule a moment may seem, he inspires you to see the beauty in those moments. his unwavering positivity and selflessness inspire you to find happiness in even the smallest of blessings.

jake’s positive attitude is contagious. it even influences you. he’s what it means to be a miracle. he’s a warm and nurturing lover to you. he’s the partner whom you’d be happy to share and embrace your life with.

in fact, he’s more than just your significant other. he’s your best friend and your partner-in-crime. he’s….yours.

SUNGHOON: I’LL BE LOVIN’ U LONG TIME

“there's no stopping you and me. i'll be loving you long time (as i can breathe). i'll be loving you long time (eternally).”

“don't care what no one has to say. they don't understand us like we do. i need you near me night and day. together, there ain't nothin' we can't do. scoop me up and we can go to that little spot where no one knows. spend a little time just us alone. you can caress my body and never let go.”

sunghoon is the kind of lover that just randomly appears in your life one day. he is someone who starts off as your friend first, and gradually becomes your lover. hoonie isn’t one to open up so easily. he’s guarded with whom he shares the fullness of his heart with because he’s someone who loves deeply. and he can’t bear the feeling of heartbreak. he craves a stable, healthy, wholesome relationship void of petty drama.

sunghoon is a loyal friend to you. he always supports your endeavors and is a shoulder to cry on during the rough times. he’s exactly everything a good friend should be - someone who listens without judgment. the type of friend who remembers subtle details like your comfort film or your favorite dish. he brings light to your life even during the darkest moments.

sunghoon eventually finds himself falling for you, his best friend. and it hurts him because he fears that you don’t love him back. when you noticed him behaving unusually and not interacting with him as much, he had no choice but to reluctantly confess his feelings for you. when he noticed the tears falling down your eyes and the smile that formed on your face, he was caught off guard from it.

finally, you admitted. someone who feels the same way about you the way you feel for them. the moment you gave him that initial hug, he too hugged you back. as your friendship evolves into courtship, you two are in it with each other for the long haul. that was the moment when both of you never looked back. you are each other’s allies and confidantes. you are each other’s lovers and friends.

you two love each other for life. your love for each other is unwavering and timeless. it’s the kind of love that feels both magnetic and enduring. sunghoon’s style of loving isn’t the kind that’s frequently communicated through histrionics commonly seen in films and literature. his loyalty for you is shown through his daily actions. ultimately, sunghoon knows that real love takes sincerity and discipline. he has a natural, effortless charm that that captivates you, not just in fleeting moments, but in ways that linger and stay with you long after.

he’s a reminder that true love is about consistency, depth, and a connection that withstands the tests of time.

[gayleviticus]

its a bit headache-inducing realising how many layers of other beliefs evangelical bs is resting on. like take Israel. on the surface of it there's no particular reason for Christians to be pro-Israel except for a very superficial reading of the Bible that went 'oh these guys named Israel were the good guys so I guess we need to support Israel forever'

but evangelical zionism stems from a belief the modern state of Israel is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy which means it must be a good thing, or at least something that is the work of God and really none of our business. (people often go straight to 'evangelicals need Israel so they can trigger the apocalypse'; true for some people, but I think there are a lot of casual evangelicals who aren't quite at that level, they just see modern Israel as an act of God)

and this interpretation of modern Israel as fulfilling biblical prophecy stems from a literal inerrantist approach that's trying to reconcile the vast and frankly contradictory diversity of perspectives on (what they understand to be) the End Times in the Bible - the OT Prophets (particularly Daniel), the apocalyptic discourses in the Gospels, bits and pieces in the Epistles, and of course, Revelation. it's thus necessary to produce a complex precise timeline for the End Times both to harmonise these sources, but also as 'proof' biblical prophecy is true and you should become Christian. and i think it's telling that Catholics don't have any of these vested interests in how they interpret Scripture and so the Pope's response has generally ranged from 'war sucks' to outright support for Palestinians.

that's also not to dismiss the very real and far more pressing material political interests that push conservative Christians to support Israel tho. but the ideology that is constructed in turn to legitimise that involves heavy use of appeal to biblical prophecy

(personally i think this approach thoroughly misunderstands the literary genre of a lot of these texts: the OT Prophets are generally not thinking about the End Times at all but using symbolic apocalyptic language to describe the massive social upheavals they were living through, with occasional looking forward to a future where all nations would be united under God without detailed specifics; the Gospels often use apocalyptic language both for the traumatic destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70AD and the Second Coming; Revelation is more a symbolic dramatised retelling of the story of the struggle of the persecuted church, to which the Second Coming is relevant but not the whole point. but i digress)

[dietcokecryptid]

YK WHAT IM MAD ABOUT TODAY

the way vld takes 21st century science fiction and absolutely RAGS ON IT.

(read more for a very longwinded and messy critique/rant about klance, modern science fiction, and my takes on vld's ability to represent queerness)

from what i know and understand and see science fiction as, i'm just sad to know that the vld team had all the resources, popularity, and drive to really embrace the values of new age science fiction with their characters in particular, and failed horribly.

one thing in particular i wanna demonstrate is with klance. yk. queerbaiting. not space operas in particular, but modern science fiction has really become a place for queer/gender non conforming/neurodivergent people to express their worldviews and experiences through a speculative lens. lgbtq+ people have found sanctuary in science fictional spaces for good reason, as it can function to elaborate on experiences from marginalized groups.

anyway, the kind of salvage-esque, 80's futurism vibe we have going on with vld, there's a lot of opportunity for characters to go against the grain in meaningful ways (we had pidge do this, keith's whole character tries this [which is why he should've been gay]).

sf in our age has a very very lucky advantage, we see the legacy of racism, colonialism, toxic masculinity, and sexism in that media, and we have found ways to move the genre out of the hypermasculine fields and into a more diverse and, by all means, productive space.

this is all my personal opinion of course, but i just think that voltron burying some gays, queerbaiting for 8 seasons, and having a cast of cis straight characters is so disappointing to see, knowing how powerful and subversive science fiction can be to represent queer stories. i stand by that if me at age 18 wrote for voltron everything would've been ok.

but, then again, it is my take that if klance had been canon it'd have been really poorly executed (like shiro's arc duh) because they couldn't have written queer characters well if they tried. (them being a group of, i'm assuming, cis straight unskilled writers).

every time i try to be critical about voltron my neck loses all strength and my head lolls to the side because ITS A KIDS SHOW RAYE OH MY GOD BE SO FR but like??? i feel like Basic media literacy tells us that every piece of media says something. it takes a stance. university radicalized me, ok, but everything IS political. but honestly i've gotten to a place in my love for this show where i can understand that, almost every way you look at it, vld is a bad show. if you're not sitting there with daisies dancing over your cerebrum the entire time it's a hard watch past season 2. of course, VA work, art, and most of seasons 1/2 are excused from this, but it's just the WRITING!! it tears everything down with it and it's a really unfortunate fate for this show.

imo it should've ended with a conclusive season 2. maybe a side series where you see what shiro's up to. idk! i remain pissed about the direction the writing took post lion swap, the damage they did to lovable characters like hunk, and lance's whole season 8 fiasco. it's miserable to be a ride or die fan of this show but hey KICK!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

“literally just reskinned from an all white One Direction fanfic about an alien invasion. Which itself borrowed liberally from Red Queen”

????????

Red Queen seems to be really influencing a lot of YA and adult romance these days but it was never that good…

Anyway, I have no basis for my prediction but books like Fourth Wing (YA style adult book with smut) will probably continue to drive the adults who were stuck reading YA to the increasing market for those types of books. So YA itself with no breakout titles and no clear trends may try to put out more experimental work. It would be nice to see that since they don’t have to pander to adults as much anymore.

Also, I think that publishers may not be open to the more “diverse” brown/black girl books because of mostly white audiences. The editors themselves are mostly white. Mafi’s new series did not do as well and she’s going back to writing in the Shatter Me world. I do think Legendborn brought something new but I mean, the two tropey white love interests obviously are a huge draw along with how Shadowhunter-y the story is. It’s familiar and self insert-y in a way that a more “diverse” book isn’t. Not sure what could be done about this because it keeps YA stale. Their goal is selling books no matter what.

Re: this post

So I was doing a deep dive through Molly Chang’s socials after I finished her book because I was so bewildered by it. Turns out she got her start writing One Direction fanfiction on Wattpad. Gaze Upon Wicked Gods started out as Harry Styles fanfiction where he’s the angsty prince of an invading alien race and the protagonist is like a contemporary human living in the U.S. or UK. I’ve forgotten but it was definitely a western environment. Her soon to be published vampire book is almost definitively her more popular Zayn Malik story which was also a very like white European fantasy setting

Anyway Red Queen was horrible when it came out! But enough worse books have come out since that I have to give it some props. It was pretty influential back in the day as well— iirc it was patient zero for the trend shift from dystopian to court fantasy. So I’m not particularly surprised that it still has impact on the genre

I’m not sure about your prediction tbh! I could see it happening, but also Romantasy rn is such a homogenous genre (it’s literally all ACOMAF carbon copies) that you still end up finding more variation in YA. And, perhaps ironically, more variety is how we got the YA boom, and the category as it exists now, in the first place.

Basically, for the longest time, genre romance was (and has been) leaving money on the table because of its adherence to very strict formula, and dated norms. Around the Twilight craze, and the slew of paranormal romance copycats, YA ended up getting the attention of adults who weren’t necessarily interested in the strictness of adult genre romance. Because it was putting out so many romance heavy books, but the plots typically had more going on, and tended to just play out in ways that genre romance did not allow.

Publishers realized that catering to these adults was way more lucrative, and also that they could apparently endlessly chase trends to keep the interest going. And that’s how we’ve ended up where we’re at.

The thing is, Romantasy right now, is attempting nearly what the original New Adult category was attempting back in the early 2010s. They did try to launch New Adult! Major publishers, and a fair bit of indie ones, figured that if adults were really into YA, then doing the same thing but explicitly aimed at a more mature audience, and therefore more explicit, would be a slam dunk. But in trying to codify the tropes and shape it into its own thing, it was basically… a lot of very similar books that just had a lot of sex scenes. At the time, the main YA trends were still mostly contemporary, and the Fifty Shades craze had just happened. So NA was primarily just a lot of college set books with a ton of interchangeable CW plots, and the occasional like stalker/kidnapper/serial killer romance. And it tanked! Because it was so homogenous!

The few successful titles ended up splintering off into indie Dark Romance. But otherwise the experiment was essentially scrapped and trad publishers went back to YA and decided to just cram it full of sex scenes too lol. Which is how we got Sarah J Maas.

Fourth Wing’s boutique publisher (can’t remember the name off the top of my head) is basically singlehandedly trying to revive New Adult as an industry term and category. But I don’t think it’s going to happen tbh. Readers may use the term, but it’s really not a thing anymore if you talk to anyone involved in sales, book acquisitions, or marketing.

Romantasy is the real current attempt at a successor that actually has a chance. That being said, I’m skeptical because of several reasons. First, it already has a narrow scope by definition, you only get books with romance A plots in a fantasy setting. Second, it inadvertently ended up snuffing out several existing adult subgenres: Fantasy Romance, which, I know it’s confusing, but I promise it’s something different lol. These were Fantasy first books, that either had strong romance subplots or(!) were structured according to genre romance rules. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but it was doing well from the 80s to the mid 2000s basically. The key difference is that like. the worldbuilding and the plot mattered a lot. And it was primarily occupied by like LOTR and Mists of Avalon type copycats. The second sub genre is like the Sabriel type books. These are the “girly” Fantasy books that were frequently romance optional but about female protagonists and primarily aimed at women. So already we’ve lost variety, in search of the next big thing. And SFF trad acquisitions are alarmingly few, so it is something of a zero sum game. More worldbuilding lite SJM copycat Romantasy does directly mean there’s less of the other stuff.

But then on top of that, the only thing they’re pursuing seems to be ACOMAF rip offs, or the odd Reylo court fantasy. It’s a very narrow set of parameters. I suspect, unless there’s a pivot soonish, that they’re going to end up hitting over saturation and crash and burn like OG New Adult.

And then those readers will go back to indie and YA books

[2af-afterdark]

So I’m just casually going through my old asks that you answered and the omega verse pt. 2 reached 100 likes/notes!

Time to brew pt. 3!

The angels give bratty omega vibes but that’s just me

Ronovè will absolutely say the most horrendous yet sexy things to his omega in heat

Gusion will mathematically find a way to fuck his omega and do math work/paper work at the same time (take a break please)

Eligos will be upset that the sweet omega is taking all his head pats from Mammon away but the minute that the omega is alone he takes out his anger

Astaroth will happily read smut to the omega if they’re in heat (or not), while having the omega cockwarm him

Bimet will have the sweet omega help him count his money, what happens if they mess up, is up to the imagination

Lucifer, hmmm, I have mixed feelings, he’d help them in heat but I feel like he’d be a massive tease as well

Asmodeus, I don’t have much on him, same as Belphegor so those two will remain out

Maybe I’ll come up with some more at a later time, but have these for now

🦩

Omegaverse is a wonderful genre. I know it's not necessarily the most popular because it is rather niche, but I have always enjoyed and been fascinated by it. Granted, I only like a specific sub-genre of omegaverse, but it's so much fun. I also like Dom/sub verse~

Imagine being the first creatures ever created, and you all got the omega gene. Every single one of you. Everyone else got diversity, but God looked you you and went "omega".

I think Ronove would say the nastiest shit to his partner no matter what. He'd also say some concerning things (he already asks for your eyes) a person can think of without any shame. He would just get worse if he knew his omega was into it.

It's called sitting cowgirl and he would encourage his partner to use his cock to their heart's content while he does goes about his business. I think Bael would do this too.

DO NOT GET ON ELIGOS' BAD SIDE! DO NOT STEAL HIS FOOD OR HEAD PATS! unless you want to get wrecked later

Will he let me choose the book? I have some (fanfic) in mind. Also, instead of cockwarming... will he finger his omega or let them masturbate? That sounds more fun. ehehehe

I don't think Bimet would let anyone touch his money. Not even his omega. I think he would have lots of fun in a high end luxury hotel though. One of those ones that reeks of money.

So, like... Lucifer is a difficult one because I have thots based on the little we've seen him, but I can't say anything because I'm not 100% sure what his power is. Either he does body swapping, or he has an ability to grant people's wishes, or some third thing I can't think of. IDK. If it's body swapping, then... Actually, I may use that for a fic, so shhhh >w>

[limerental]

I'm reading the Witcher books for the first time and I just wanted to ask: did you have any difficulty enjoying your time reading them? It says in your bio that you're a Witcher books enjoyer, but have they ever been difficult to swallow at any point for you? I don't know, sometimes I feel like I'm getting through by the skin of my teeth. Like that weird shtick with Dandelion during the dragon hunt, or the way Triss was acting during her time in Kaer Morhen and in regards to Geralt in general. I'm still in Blood of Elves, but I fear more moments I'm going to dislike are coming as I go on. I really want to catch up on the events that've only been hinted at in the games, but God it's been hard, and I just want to know if other people have experienced this or if it's just me. Do you have any advice? Sorry for the long ask, thanks for your time!

Oh I don't think you're alone tbh, my initial impression of the books from others when I was freshly in the fandom was that they weren't worth reading because of those moments. The books fully are written by an old white European dude in the 90s, and I don't think the translation does it any favors at times.

But no, I personally didn't have trouble continuing the books for those reasons, because the characters and the story overall and the method of story-telling fully gripped me. You just have to discount some stuff as written by a man disease to embrace the rest frankly. Of course, there is stuff I hate and reject. And it's all down to your tolerance.

Some people find Ciri's story later on to be bleak torture porn, but I don't think that that's a fair assessment. I love Ciri's story very dearly as a story of defiance and trauma and survival. You may disagree, who knows!

A lot of my love for the books comes from the potential of rolling around in a really diverse, open-ended canon that's basically 20 different stories in a trenchcoat but the dark comedy satirical tone of the books also gives me permission to take any of it as seriously or as flippantly as I want. There's a lot of vague politics and a lot of "anachronisms" and a lot of silly fantasy tropes and a lot of characters that exist purely to tell someone else's story and a lot of commentary on the fantasy genre as a whole.

And yeah, there's nipples. There's a lot of nipples. Sorry.

[spongebobafettywap]

So I got here after accidentally finding your post about an AU that follows mutant families in a setting where mutants are more accepted as part of society and it kinda reminded me of something a few fans told on how "if the mutant and human conflict gets solved there would be no more X-Men stories". It hit me that it's not completely true

Take My Hero Academia, which is a superhero story about a world that is very close to how the X-Men's would be if their naturally gifted powers were more accepted as part of society. That story has been going for nearly 10 years now with many spinoffs and movies set in that specific world.

So you could pretty much write the X-Men in that setting and their stories would sell more than well and make for an interesting premise without leading to massive character assassinations... The final message would just be different

I'm not saying the X-Men don't have a message or hold some political undertones, far from it. I'm saying the X-Men have SO MUCH potential and carry a level of FREEDOM of genre that few franchises do. This could make any of their stories compelling while still sending a thoughtful message through them. Even in a more peaceful setting you could still have amazing X-Men stories with a message. You just need competent writers to express it

But currently, the X-Men have only been about sending a loud obnoxious message. The story that carries it ? Doesn't matter. The characters saying it ? Don't matter. Their backstory and colorful backgrounds ? Who cares. It is so insane to me that in present day where the X-Men franchise get the chance to have characters more diverse than they've ever been and accurately portray different perspectives and cultures in a world full of life and experiences winded up making characters so shallow and interchangeable with one another in a setting that is void of any value and instead filled to the brim with contradictions.

Krakoa could have genuinely been your AU idea of a peaceful world for mutants but instead it was maximum stupid conflicts and no fun with boring poorly written characters

The Marvel writers are kind of stuck in this idea that "If Mutant Oppression isn't written like the Segregation Era of Racism then how is it even actually oppressive 🤔"

Like you said there are stories with characters who have powers and its accepted like My Hero Academia, or even Avatar has the powers widely accepted by Oppression of people with certain powers still happens. Honestly they could go that latter angle and have it so whilst some powers that are seen as useful are accepted, powers that are seen as dangerous or freaky or appearing like you aren't human are things that could still be around.

I'll never forget how Joe Quesada undid Morrison's modernisation of the X-Men by making more mutants and having Mutant subcultures and clothing lines and being influential all because he couldn't understand how people could be oppressed whilst having that level of cultural influence and that many of them around the world. And it was like Joe you live in America do you think things like Anti Black Racism is no longer a thing? So out of touch.

I don't see how anti Mutant groups wouldn't still be a thing, or how there wouldn't be liberal types who try to be "allies" and end up being too comfortable or doing cringey things about Mutants, why would there not be Conservative types that think Mutants are some kind of affront to God? They wouldn't necessarily be part of the Anti Mutant groups like Friends of Humanity etc but they could still spew that rhetoric and say stuff like "We need to fund the Sentinel Program to keep our streets safe and crack down on Mutant crime" and "If Mutants have nothing to hide they have nothing to worry about".

They could easily do that type of writing where Liberal and Conservative types both claim they don't harbour anti Mutant prejudice and how Liberals think they're cool but then sometimes they don't budge on removing the Sentinel program and Conservatives seeming to think supporting a Sentinel Program doesn't make them Anti Mutant.

[thwackamabob]

a 3am rant you should probably skip

the thing is: i can never seriously believe that me being trans is an issue when i'm trying to do this whole music thing, or else i will blame everything on that instead of trying to work through it. but it sucks. idk, i've just been thinking that maybe you can find success if you're trans, but only if you're the acceptable kind. if you're transfem you better never let anyone know, you stay in the background, or you cover your voice in so many layers of pitch-shifting and distortion that no one can tell that testosterone touched you. the inverse is also true i think, but you can come out of the other side. you can pass as a cis man when singing after long enough on t. whereas i'm just here forever. and then ethel fucking cain comes along and sounds like *that* despite everything and then i can't blame my transness anymore. but god do i want to be normal. i don't want to have to be a fucking genius with interconnected worlds and concept albums who produces and records fucking everything, and then does the art and the video and is entirely self-sufficient and manages to look like they have an entire label behind them, because that's the only way anyone will take a tranny seriously, but a label won't sign someone they can't promote. i just want to make music from my perspective, about the world i live in without any lore or characters or cinematic fucking universe. not because that's bad, but because it's just not what interests me. most gigs we get are because i'm trans, ran by activists having a go at organisation. i don't want to slag any of them off, but i'd really like to do a gig ran by someone who's ran gigs before. where it isn't a bunch of randomly slapped together queer acts who sound nothing alike. we've done 3 gigs like this now, and out of the 7 acts we played with across the 3 gigs, maybe 1 of them sounded anything like us, even in the same ballpark. it's all sad lesbian singer-songwriters who's audiences go for a smoke the instant they realise what we are. i'm always the only trans woman there. i'm always the only dropped voice heard all night. peak frustration at *all of this* however, was a gig we applied for and didn't get. in feb, we applied for a gig with our uni's lgbt society they were doing for lgbt history month. we hadn't played a gig for 3 months at that point, had none in the pipeline, and were getting antsy. one of my flatmates is playing in one of the other bands so i go down anyway, and one of my favourite bands end up being a last minute replacement, so extra points. i get there, and just: 2 of the 5 artists are MT students who've been playing guitar for about 5 seconds and, to be brutally honest, probably aren't a point where they're good enough to play live yet. out of the other 3, one is "lesbian singer-songwriter" as mentioned earlier. she's extremely good, and for some reason she keeps being the support at gigs i go to, so no complaints there. then, band i both adore and am friends with, who i find out are a last second replacement *after having been rejected.* the person they're replacing is, to again use stereotypes, that kind of "gay boy pop." think troye sivan? the kind that is still pretty marketable to straight girls. the final band tho. oh god the final band. said flatmate is the only queer person on the band. she is on keys and barely visible. the songwriter/vocalist/lyricist/face of the band is extremely straight. across the entire original lineup, there was not a single trans person. 2 of the 5 were quite frankly not ready to perform live, and yet got it over multiple bands i know were rejected. all of whom contained visibly trans members, and were in genres other than "sad slow music." even in events designed to try and slightly tip the balance, we are unpalatable. and that's only when it's "lgbt events." when it's merely "diverse", it's all bands full of cis straight men, with one cis straight woman at the front with a mic. nice. on a course where i am, to reiterate, the only dropped voice/amab person doing vocals as my specialist instrument, it's diverse to have the vocalist be a cishet woman. idk it kinda just seems like it's impossible to get anywhere outside of trans circles if you're visibly trans (which, to reiterate, includes basically all transfem singers). i am the only trans woman fronting a band in this city as far as i am aware. i know of a few solo acts, but from what i've heard they all fit into the "distort and bury all vocals" category from earlier. it just sucks and there's no productive thing here. is posting this a good idea? no. will it piss some people off if they find it? yes. does this feel terribly arrogant? like i'm blaming being trans for my complete failure to actually get anywhere in the first 3/4s of "doing a music degree wherein i barely have to worry about supporting myself?" and completely wasting it? yes, yes it does.

[bluesstorycorner]

Writeblr intro 💙⭐️💜

Flies into open window through helicopter wire and front rolls across room.

Wait, wrong window.

Repeats everything but into the correct window where you’re standing and magnificently introduces myself for the first time.

Hey~🕺🪩

A bit of backstory for this account. (Feel free to skip this and go straight into the intro below):

I made this blog ages ago to try and connect more with self shippers, but I ended up not doing anything with it because I became inactive in the self ship community (at least until now. I might make a separate blog for that later, but right now I’m focusing on some more important things in my life).

So I tried reforming this place into a “I’ll put whatever I want here” sorta thing, but once again became inactive. And now that Instagram (my main platform) has basically been rendered useless because of the tags not working anymore, I need to find a new “main” to talk about my writing and shit. So I’m trying for a third and hopefully final time to reform this blog, and turning it into a writing/oc blog. :b

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About me:

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🛸 My name is Rosalind B. Sterling, but you can call me Ross or Ros.

🛸 My age is—slowly looks up at the number twenty looming over me. Dear god. It’s coming.

🛸 I’m a college student. Or at least I’m supposed to be. If my school would just make the transfer process a bit easier, I’ll hopefully be able to make it this semester.

🛸 I’m a demibiromantic asexual, and genderfluid. My pronouns are she/he/they 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

🛸 I’m Puerto Rican, German, and Scottish.

🛸 I’m also neurodivergent.

I mention all this because I want everyone to know that this is this is a safe space for LGBTQ+, POC, disabled people etc, and I love using my experiences as a person from these groups to write diverse casts of characters into my books.

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About my writing/what to expect from this blog:

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💜 I'm an author/writer, editor (mostly developmental), artist (mostly cartoonist), and reader who posts illustrations, writing content, book reviews, discussions, thirst traps of sexy characters 💅, and more. See? You get an enjoyable variety of content here ✨

💜 I primarily write adult oriented stories in the genres: crime, comedy, and sci-fi, while mixing in vintage/nostalgic elements from different time eras ranging from the 1920’s to the 2000’s. I also love playing Cupid and slipping in different romantic subplots with varying levels of spice.

💜 You’ll probably see a lot of morally gray characters, cartoon-style humor, a chaotic/meta writing style with 4th wall breaks, and lots of parody/spoofing in my stories.

💜 I’m a planster, and often don’t know what the hell I’m doing when I write. I just shit something out and shape it into something readable with the help of my many betas and editors who still somehow put up with me to this day (I love you guys).

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What do I read?

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I like to read what I like write, except not everything I like to write is available in the book world. So at this point, I’ll read anything as long as it holds my attention for more than a few chapters.

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Can I read anything of yours right now?

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⭐️ Yep!

My debut novel: "Villain vs. Villain and the Revitalization of the Transtemporal Case" is the first book in my illustrated, crime/comedy/sci-fi trilogy. It's currently on Amazon in ebook format, and on Goodreads. But I’m also in the works of getting the paperback out this month as well as the animated-ish book trailer.

It’s a story about a time travel scandal taking place in 2005. Jonathan, a black market salesman, is on a journey to clear his name and stop his brother from messing with the timeline. Along the way, he teams up with an undercover agent and go on wacky adventures together as they attempt to reach their goals and hopefully put a stop to their dimension’s demise.

⭐️ I also have a few random short stories on my website blog which can be found here, however, I’m highly considering re-working them as they are all unedited, probably full of errors, and I also wrote these anywhere from months to years ago, so I don’t think they properly represent my current writing all that well.

⭐️ Honorable mention to my Webtoon which you can find here. I haven’t posted anything yet, but have plans to do mini comics with the characters of my Villain vs. Villain trilogy as a way to explore ideas and backstories I couldn’t explore in the books themselves.

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Do you have any WIP's?

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Distant screaming.

Too many my friend...too many. But my main WIP right now is book 2 of my Villain vs. Villain trilogy. I also have a 1920's crime/comedy/sapphic romance short story thingamajig I've got in development that I hope to publish next year. I simply don't have the time, money, or energy to publish book 2 next year as I originally planned, so hopefully this short story will fill in that publishing gap until I get my trilogy figured out.

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Some random facts about me:

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💙 I love anything Y2K, scene, noir, neon, synthwave, cyberpunk, etc. You name the aesthetic, I probably like it. (I have waaaay too many eclectic interests and styles so I’ll probably look different in every photo, and I’m putting my bets on it that this account won’t have a concise theme either).

💙 I have a shih tzu/writing partner named Dakota who will sometimes appear on my account. (He loves contributing to my drafts by jumping onto my lap and slamming his paws and ass on my keyboard). Also ignore the half destroyed chair he’s sitting on. He’s responsible for said destruction and is proud of it.

💙 I currently live in Ohio, and yes, I can confirm first hand that it’s an entrance to the backrooms. The screams from outside keep getting louder too…

💙 Horror is my comfort/self indulgent genre. I would say the same about erotica but I really can’t seem to get into most books I find in that genre for some reason. So I mostly read shitty X reader fics online involving the characters I crush on (who totally aren’t cartoon men in their middle ages).

💙 Music is one of my biggest inspirations for writing. My favorite genres are 2000’s-2010’s pop music, and electro swing. My favorite artists are: Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Pitbull, Wolfgang Lohr, Swing’it, and more.

💙 I talk…a lot…as you can tell by the length of this blog 🌝

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Welp, that’s all I got for now. I’m still working on reforming this blog, as I said earlier, so there might be a mess of random posts here here as well as an unfinished theme until I figure how the actual hell to use this platform. I sorta wanna post both orginal and fan content like I was doing before, but whenever I dedicate an account to my writing, I feel odd posting anything that’s not OC related. We’ll see what happens.

In the mean time, check my link tree for my other socials, website, and my editing services. If you follow this blog, I’ll most likely follow back because I need friends lmao. No matter your age, the genre you write, where you love etc, come say hi. I really don’t have restrictions on what kind of audience I want since I love everyone and wanna connect with as many writers/artists as I can. Hit up my DM’s too if you wanna chat. I’m always open to have a nice convo.

And with all that being said, welcome to my blog raaahhhh 🦅

Jumps out of window and dies.

[nofuturecomic]

Chapter 15 behind the scenes!!

As usual there will be spoilers for chapter 15 of No Future.

I kind of can't believe I managed to do 48 chapters of this (so far) that's almost 2300 pages x.x with an average of 4 - 5 panels a page, do you know how many times I have had to draw Andrew and company?? And I'm not even close to finished ._.

Anyway for this cover we got Lorelei, Lorelei is unfortunately a character that took a long time for me to be able to draw consistently x.x I'm really not sure why she gave me so much trouble but it was a problem for a while. Though I think I've got the hang of drawing them by now 40 chapters later (at least I hope)

Era explaining how gods can just casually erase themselves from photos while harassing Osiris.

I really need to go back and make Osiris's hair poofier in this scene, it was much more everywhere in the sketch but for whatever reason I toned it down in the finished version? I'm not sure why actually?? But I remember not really liking the end result of that panel and feeling like I could have done better after posting it. I was really feeling that 'erasing the image from existence' energy Osiris was feeling I guess.

Abaddon jump scaring Andrew again.

Andrew is truly a wordsmith.

This scene was a lot of fun to do, despite how tedious that balcony was to draw in every panel. At this point I was defiantly used to Era and Aeon's characters so they became far easier for me to work with both in concerns to writing and drawing. Working with them was very natural at this point so I think a lot of their scenes where they are together turn out better now than they did in earlier chapters.

I messed up on Lorelei's height trying to get the door frame in the panel so the visuals for the gag would work better. I tend to focus on one detail at a time instead of the whole picture x.x so I run into a lot of mistakes like this when going through pages. The consequences of being the only person working on a project I suppose.

"Andrew is smart" was a plot twist for readers just as much as it was for Era and Aeon.

Also this scene made a few readers think that Lorelei was into Osiris, she isn't, at least, not like that. She just got focused enough on what he wrote on the board to inquire about it, she's just like that. Unfortunately this does not apply very often for things that pop up in school so she some subjects she's in the below average version of the classes. She has learning disabilities, she mentions so later in the comic, but that doesn't make her incapable of learning, just things have to specifically interest her for her to want to learn about it.

This was kinda of a thing for me too, a lot of people I know think I'm smart, or must have done well in school because I just... remember the most random facts and can bring them up in a conversation, but then they are always really shocked to learn that actually, I did not do well in school and was often in the below average classes. There's a very specific stereotype of kids that are in those classes that is really unfair, and I generally wanted to give a more accurate example of some of the kids that do end up in classes like that.

I enjoy how completely unbothered Lorelei is with Era's comments and just works with them.

Era please.

Aeon please.

This chapter was fairly straight forward compared to other recent chapters, from beginning to end we remained in the same location despite the topics of conversation jumping from one things to another.

Sometimes comic chapters will jump around to all kinds of different scenes, and sometimes it'll just stick to one, both a great as long as your readers are still engaged I think. Just do whatever your story needs for you to tell it.

[mosthomoeroticenemies]

Discworld has a bit of everything, all over the place, and its all good? The style changes a bit from earlier books to later ones, and some people prefer the later ones, but theyre all still very good.

(When you hear that its usually like i liked the earlier books but the later/middle ones were a spiritual experience for me)

Theres a lot of semi-niche topics explored by individual books, and a few sort of sub series with particular reoccuring protagonists and sort of genres, so you can go and start with either characters you think you'll like, or topics you think you'll like, (and either way get sucked in to a portion of the discworld youll probably enjoy branching out of eventually, but are loathe to leave behind, and then again and again with the next chunk you find a friend in)

One way of choosing is to look up those flowcharts people have made to help decide which discworld book to read/try

Another is to start with a sub series (eg, death, the watch, the witches, whatever moist von lipwig or the times have going on, whatever the gods have going on, whatever tiffany aching the practical witch child with the tiny blue scottsmen has going on...etc. oh also rincewind, fail wizard extraordinaire)

(With that one youd probably go death, i assume, the earliest being mort, which is good but some people dont jive with it immediately like they do with the rest of them, so just fair warning its usually that folks like the rest if they like mort, but the opposite isnt true. They sometimes dont like mort but do like the rest.)

You could also read some of the descriptions and just try out one you vibe with

Uh the most reliable way ive found is you find a discworld person and ask them to recommend you a book and then they ask you like 5 increasingly confusing, specific, and "deep" questions and then go 'ok these two changed my life so i have to recommend them, but i think this one will change /your/ life, and if that doesn't work try this one? I really hope you like them and get something out of them but if not oh well. Good luck!!!!'

And then you have like 4 books to work with and if you end up liking them you sort of find your way naturally around the Discworld

Theres also podcasts that go through all the books so if you dont mind spoilers you could always look up specific eps/books to get a feel for whether a particular book is for you

Uhhh sorry i ran off into my own world and wasn't particularly succinct. Anyway uh i do hope if you decide to read them you enjoy it!! And if you tell us a bit about what you like we can all probably give consensus on top discworld book recs For You, Specifically, if thats something that would improve your life as opposed to the opposite

Sort of like check all that apply, likes: silly, existential, serious, strangely understandable and poetically succinct explanations of comlex and important topics, the follys of man, the virtues of man, women who are actual characters, interesting but a bit zany worldbuilding, making fun of genre or trope but in a way that eventually subverts or improves it, personal responsibility,

Uh these aren't really helpful sorry. I tried to come up with normal things that would be helpful in distinguishing what one might like out of the books but immediately went off the rails.

I should probably quit while im only marginally behind, as opposed to hopelessly.

Anyways good luck, sorry for whatever this just was, and thanks for running this bracket, its real fun.

First of all I wanna say thank u anon for all of this I am being 100% truthful when I say I woke up, read this, and immediately thought "I love u buddy"

From all the replies and such I've seen, there are definitely a lot of places to start up Discworld and a lot of them seem very interesting and fun to me (there's so many things! its so diverse! i want to eat all of it!)

I've also gone through a few flowcharts (at least two people sent me here so thank you!) and have gotten Mort and Wyrd Sisters on a few of them

Thanks for the warning about Mort sometimes not jiving with people, I'm notorious amongst my friends for finishing reading books even if I dislike them (I usually do this with Stephen King once a year bcuz I like his ideas and inherited a bunch of his books but rarely enjoy the way he writes) so I'm sure I could through Mort if I don't jive with it at first

I'm also absolutely down to hear your (and others) Life Changing Discworld books to look into (I'm a huge book nerd and I love hearing from other book nerds!) It also makes sense to give more specific recs with better info, when I originally posted that last night I had No Idea how diverse the content in Discworld is, I've learned since then it's much broader than I thought tbh. Pretty much everything you listed there sounds very interesting (we do love the follies of man and subverting tropes tho)

I think you're fabulously ahead rather than marginally behind, but it's all well friend. Thank you for your wonderful explanations and I hope you continue to enjoy the bracket 😊

[smytherines]

(I wrote an essay oh god I'm so sorry)

Exactly! It operates in such a weird little niche, especially for 2016- before Good Omens, before OFMD, before this little bubble of queer shows (that still get gutted before their time).

I mean so often, even to this day, queer representation is:

1. Flawless PR Good Representation Gays- who are so fucking boring that nobody on Earth can get invested in them and the media never takes off/can't sustain interest. They don't exist as characters so much as diversity points to tick off and dispose of.

2. Hate crime/discrimination/AIDS Gays- they're usually also portrayed pretty blandly (although not always, there are good compelling characters here too) and the emotional punch of the story is them suffering and/or dying horribly

3. It's for the Gays- shows that are openly queer and marketed specifically towards queer audiences as if nobody else could possibly be interested in queer stories. Often, like you said, still sorta othered by default

But Spies kind of defies the categories for a lot of typical offerings for queer media. Yes, one of them dies, but it has nothing to do with him being gay, and isn't done to give a straight character development (arguably it doesn't even give the other gay character any development because Curt is never shown reacting or changing due to Owen's real, post gay reveal death).

I think you could have a conversation about the "bury your gays" trope, because it is still noteworthy that gay characters die so often, but I would come down on the side of "giving gay characters plot armor removes any narrative drive or tension, making gay characters inherently less valuable- some people have to die and sometimes they are gay"

It's a queer romance, but the most physical affection you see is a 1 second hug. But the show is also heavy with intimacy and longing. It also isn't the god-awful trope of sexless gay romance, because holy shit Torture Tango and One Step Ahead are packed to the gills with sexual tension and homoeroticism.

It's like reverse queerbait, played as queerbait? Fans absolutely love analyzing shows to death to find the queer subtext. Its fun, its often the only queer content we get, its something a lot of queer fans do with any media, and it leads to very passionate fan communities. I think the Spies fandom is still so active because they give us very little to go on, so it's a wide open space to project our own queer (and disabled and neurodivergent and whatever else) stories onto.

But instead of giving you all this subtext and then saying "lol the joke is on you, sickos, these characters are straight!" Its almost like two shows: one an elaborate hoax using genre tropes to trick straight people into thinking this is not queer media until about 75% through the show, and the other a very earnest examination of queer intimacy and grief and compulsory heterosexuality that is shown instead of told for 90% of the show, but is then explicitly confirmed, like an affirmation to the queer audience that this is for us. That we are not unhinged sickos for seeing gay subtext- because it was actually text all along.

Actually, arguably it is three shows: the straight-until-the-end version straight audiences see the first time around, the "Okay wow this show feels very gay but probably won't be" show that queer audiences see the first time around, and then an entirely different show on the rewatch, with the context of who DMA is and who Owen and Curt were to each other.

I mean obviously it is not a perfect show in terms of ~representation~. There are some parts that land quite poorly, particularly with The Informant. But the Tin Can Bros are also extremely open to hearing those concerns. They don't get offended and try to argue that it's actually a problem with the audience, they truly give a shit about doing things well.

They've already rewritten an entire song because it was ableist (and the new version is 200% funnier in my opinion). There is no doubt in my mind that if they ever did a remount for Spies they would make adjustments with imput from the actually affected parties. From what I understand, Esther Fallick had a lot of input for her character in This Could Be On Broadway.

I'd also say, queer issues aside, it isn't a perfect show just as a show. There is, to me at least, a tone issue at the end. It's sort of a clunky finish after such an incredible climax. But that's okay! It doesn't have to be perfect. I just respect it so much for its commitment to weird messy queer people, to queer characters that feel real without feeling staged for public approval.

I respect how much effort and care Brian, Corey, and Joey put into writing it, how Curt and Joey always bring new dimensions to each performance and genuinely seem to love these characters. I love that Lauren and Mary Kate and Tessa adore the show and always give stellar performances. Esther hasn't been involved since the original production for very understandable reasons, but she does a phenomenal job in that. I love that Joe Walker does an incredible amount of background acting to portray Owen-as-DMA, a lot of which I didn't even notice until several watches in. It's unreal that they did all this with an eight person cast, a bare bones crew, and a laughably small budget.

And I'm especially grateful for Corey Lubowich directing it. I've been the queer creative among the straights- typically your voice doesn't get heard. You get outvoted, or your queer themes/characters get pushed to the margins. You certainly don't get to run the show. But Corey quite literally runs the show. A show he co-wrote. And from all the commentary and BTS footage, his direction is instrumental in any of this working as a story at all, but especially as a queer story.

Okay, shit, I have to stop, this is a ridiculous amount to write about the gay comedy spy parody musical. But that's how well this show hooks you. It has some kind of fucking magical gay alchemy that just takes over your brain and you cannot help but marvel at it.

There is something so weird about scrolling through my tumblr page and seeing it be populated by SaF posts and SPN posts at the same time.

Just, "Hm yes, do you want the tragic toxic gays that are canon but couldn't escape the narrative and ended up killing each other? Or do you want the tragic toxic gays that are canon in the worst way possible and that despite their numerous attempts to escape the narrative, ended up following it to the T anyways because the writers hate us?"

I did this to myself but I'm still gonna sob in a hole over them anyways-

[virginiaoflykos]

Consumer Advice: if you like Red Rising, try these books!

Red Rising is my favorite series of all time, and since I first read it, I have always being searching for something similar. However, due to the contained scale of its cult fandom, it’s really hard to find anything useful. After 2.5 years of digging, I have now gathered a bunch of books which - for one thing or another - my be of your tastes, my fellow Howlers!

The First Law World by Joe Abercrombie

Read this if you like: Dark Age; Sevro & the Howlers; nasty, morally grey characters; people with hygiene problems; slow burn plot; hyper focus on characters and their personal journey.

The First Law is a grim dark fantasy series set in a 18th century inspired world with Norsemen, Flesh Eaters, demons and thousand years old magicians. Abercrombie is a master in writing complex, three dimensional characters, be them hideous, pompous or actually good people (but, in reality, you will not find many of those). If you don’t like people with... questionable hygiene, steer clear.

The series is composed of a trilogy (the OG books), 3 stand-alone novels and a sequel trilogy (the last book is hitting shelves in September 2021). The recommended starting point is ‘The Blade Itself’.

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Read this if you like: Golden Son; Darrow-type characters; brooding; crazy world building; mish-mash of cultures/settings; knights with cool armors and cooler swords; character development; plot twists.

High fantasy set in a continent ravaged by storms, it follows the story of multiple characters as they try to survive and win a war between that has been going on for more than 10 years. Filled with astounding descriptions, fantastic characters - from both factions - and an extremely sophisticated magic system, if you like originality and brooding characters this is what you want to read. If you don’t like long books, this might not be your cup of tea; each is well over a thousand pages!

The series is currently on going, with a total of ten books planned.

Dune series by Frank Herbert

Read this if you like: Iron Gold; The Raa’s plot line; The Rim; Virginia; Diomedes; Playing with human psyche; desert/arid setting; cool character design.

Dune a very big name in the sci-fi genre, and Pierce himself has admitted this series was a huge inspiration for his works. Paul Atreides is the heir to the mighty House Atreides, prophesied since his childhood to be destined to great deeds. When he is sent on a remote planet to gather the melange - a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities - he confronts with the burden of power and fear. If you don’t like old school books, beware: the cast is super white and super straight.

The original ‘series’ is composed of the books above. Herbert‘s son has been publishing, in recent years, other works set in the same world his father created.

The Expanse by James S. A. Corey

Read this if you like: aliens; action packed plot; multiple plot lines; deep space exploration; giant starships; long book series; lgbtq+ being a norm.

Of this massive book series - nine by the current count - The Expanse is a very influent and well loved series; there’s even a very good series based on the books on Amazon prime! Men has expanded through the stars, but everything changed when a sentient alien virus attacks humanity and threatens its very survival. If you love deep space and high tension, go for this one! If you don’t like long book series with a several long time skips, maybe don’t!

Night’s Dawn by Peter F. Hamilton

Read this if you like: Morning Star; hallucinating drugs; extremely big interplanetary empires; Carved animals; that very sense of decadence permeating from Golds; mind twisting plot twists; Tactus&Roque I guess?

Another oldish sci-fi, this time coming from 1997. Night’s Dawn is truly a tale of how humanity can cause its own downfall. Does that ring any bell to you? Men has spread through the galaxy, but an ancient enemy believed extinct makes a pact with a human to destroy the rest the Society. Once again, if you don’t like long books, Night’s Dawn is not your ideal choices, as each book is over one thousand pages.

The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone

Read this if you like: terrorist warlords; chaotic neutral alignment chart; Ephraim; Lyra; Volga; corrupted society; detective story; cool lesbian ladies; murder mysteries.

A fantasy detective story (at least the first book) in a world with living gods and powerful sects of priests. If like chaotic, funny characters with dark humor undertones, Craft Sequence has finally manifested for your delight. If you are a fanatic of chronological order, you are going to get mad at this series, as the inner-chronology is completely different from the publication order!

Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee

Read this if you like: Roque; Darrow; Orion; Fleet battles; action; segmented society; unlikely allies; cool space ships; diverse cast; mathematics (not joking).

A fallen-out-of-grace Captain has to regain her honor by winning over one the most impenetrable fortresses in the whole galaxy. Space battles, strategy and calculations are the key to winning. But can she really, when she implants in her nervous system the conscience of a long dead murderous General? Tension is what you get. If you don’t like heavy handed strategy planning, you might find Lee’s series a bit too much.

This is the end of my list! If you have any more additions, please share them!

[elysianslove]

Hiii! I loved your Iwa fluff headcanons and was wondering if you could do one with Suna? thanks <3

yesyesyes i would love to!!! iwaizumi’s version. 

↬ when suna was younger, he really, really wanted a pet bunny. like he really, really loved bunnies, and would beg his parents day and night for one. he even made a really badly edited powerpoint on bunnies and why he deserves one (aside the editing, it was a very persuasive powerpoint. they filmed him while he presented it and the video haunts him to this day). his parents were relentless, though, and didn’t get him his bunny. instead, though, they surprised him with a cat. a cat isn’t as high maintenance since they’re very independent creatures, but can also be very fun. they figured any pet would make him happy. they were wrong. suna hated her so much and would never interact with her. like to the point where he nicknamed her “bitch” and now she mainly answers to that instead of her name. but all that only worked against him, and the cat just kept getting more and more attached to him.

↬ suna now loves her so much, and she’s just as attached to him. like he would kill for her, honestly. it’s his cat >>> everyone else. he has an album on his phone dedicated to pictures and videos of only her, and her bed is in his room because she always ends up sleeping there anyways. he realized later on when he grew older that a cat was the perfect animal for him, and he’s not sure if it’s a parents thing and they really knew or they were just winging it and hoping for the best, but she’s his favorite ever and he would risk it all for her.

↬ his favorite sleeping position with her would be when he’s casually laying on his back scrolling through his phone and she comes and crawls along him to lay on his chest. the warmth he feels within his chest like he just gets so giddy.

↬ suna is crazy obsessed with serial killer documentaries, horror movies, unsolved mysteries, everything like that. his favorite pastime is watching and reading these things, but honestly, it’s not even a like, “wow that’s so cool,” and more of a, “suna what is wrong with you???” type of thing, because he’s the type to have like insidious 2 in the background as he does his homework or gets ready or something. it’s kind of scary how unfazed he is with things like that.

↬ but! yeah he’s extremely brave when it comes to horror movies, borderline unhinged, but his biggest fear? his phobia, if you will? spiders. insects in general, really. he will scream like a sixth grader that’s yet to hit puberty if he sees a spider crawling near him. once he was peeing in the miya twins’ bathroom and some kind of cockroach crawling on the wall and nearly fainted. thank god he was already peeing because he would’ve pissed his pants either way. it’s so embarrassing for him, so he’s so good at hiding it. he just freezes impossibly when he notices an insect and doesn’t take his eye off of it until someone else notices it and kills it. there was this instance when they were at a training camp and he kept feeling as if something was crawling on him, but assumed it was just really hot and his skin was tingling from that. something was crawling on him, though, and it was not just really hot. Top 10 Most Traumatic Moments of his life, especially because atsumu’s first instinct was to record the whole thing.

↬ suna is extremely, and i mean extremely, touch-starved. physical touch has always made him uncomfortable for a reason unknown to him, so he never really accepted hugs or kisses from his family, and would feel so icky if he was roped into a group hug b by his teammates. so when he met you, he thought you’d be so against the fact that he’s uncomfortable with it, because who would want a partner that doesn’t wanna touch or be touched? turns out he actually craves it, and needs it badly, he just needed to take his own time and pace approaching it, and with how understanding you were, he doubted he could ever figure this out without you. he just took it slow, you know? but the more he touched you — held your hand, pinched your cheek, rested his head on your shoulder, pecked your lips for a few seconds longer than last time — the more he wanted you.

↬ when suna became comfortable with the thought and idea that yeah, he actually craves physical touch so damn bad, he wouldn’t stop touching you every second he could. he became insanely clingy, no matter if you were in public or alone. just always has a hand on you at all times. when he’s alone with you, he’s always trying to cuddle with you. you wanna sit and chill on your phone and not really talk? sure, just come do it with your head on his chest. you wanna watch a movie and munch on some popcorn and possibly share a drink? of course he’d love to! just come sit between his legs with your popcorn on your lap so he can steal some and also offer you some sips from the drink. you don’t wanna hug him after a game cause he’s too sweaty? that’s too bad, he wasn’t asking for permission. so you see, suna is a clingy mf. like latches onto you like a koala clingy <3

↬ suna’s music taste is very diverse. his favorite genre is alternative and rock, like the neighborhood, arctic monkeys, etc, but he also loves, loves loves glitchcore music, but also will un-ironically listen to kpop, and rap, and hannah montana’s old music too because why not. he just doesn’t care. if a song is good, it’s good. so what if it caters to a bunch of 12 year olds and not him? who decides that anyways?

↬ suna is very good at hair. like so good. as his sister started to get older, and her hair grew longer, she would sometimes ask him to do it for her before school. at first he was terrible at it, except maybe ponytails cause his hair was long enough at some point to push back into a ponytail, but everything else like parting her hair for pigtails or doing braids or a bun… he was just awful. so, in response, he’d just practice. he’d watch videos as he’s doing his little sister’s hair and be so focused, with his tongue sticking out a little and his eyes squinting as he tries to get it accurate. eventually, he becomes a master at it! you find this out when one day, as you’re just over at his house, his sister comes into his room with a hair tie and a brush and he just carries her up onto his lap and braids her hair as he chats with you and it was so endearing and so impressive and you genuinely believe that was the moment you realized you were in love with him.

↬ he offers to do your hair for you all the time now!! especially if you’ve just showered and are too lazy to brush it and tie it in some way, so he does it for you. he’s actually so, very gentle when brushing your hair, you don’t even feel a thing. if anything, it makes you really sleepy.

↬ when he joined the national team and started to become more and more of a public figure, he’d send you really explicit fan art of him and other teammates he was shipped with just to piss you off. if he was feeling really bold, he’d send you smut written about him. he says he wants to make you jealous. he just wants to provoke you in every way possible, really. one time someone made an edit plot twisting you and him to him and like atsumu so he downloaded video star and made such a bad edit of you and him and posted it on his twitter and instagram and it went viral. like it was one of those edits of just pictures flipping and hearts flashing and lights spasming all over the screen it was so bad it made you cry with laughter. that was his way of telling the world, no one but this person for me, right here <3

↬ i think he’d be very good at doing chores and cleaning and all that, despite how lazy he is. i just think it’s a habit kind of thing, where he grew up doing laundry and making his bed and cleaning his room and washing the dishes that he genuinely doesn’t mind doing it cause it’s natural for him. and he’s learnt to enjoy it.

↬ suna’s favorite color was deep, deep purple at some point, but now it’s between green and black.

↬ he’s caught up with all seasons of keeping up with the kardashians. please don’t ask him why, he doesn’t even know.

↬ once when you were out with him you just gave him a rock that was on the floor and he’s kept that rock with him ever since. like it’s in the drawer next to his bed and sometimes he just takes it out and holds it in his hand while he’s doing homework or scrolling through his phone.

↬ he spams you a lot. like at any time time of the day he just sends you a million videos of him doing the most mundane things; he sends you a video of him eating some almonds and at the end it’s just him going, “i’s good,” or him lip-syncing a song you sent him to listen to, or him trying to do eyeliner because why not. or maybe it’s pictures of him and it’s always ridiculous: him exaggerating him thinking, and then captioning it “thinking,” or just a picture of him on the roof with a peace sign and a pretty smile, or a close up photo of his face saying, “miss u.”

↬ he also spams you with memes all the time. and there’s no set type, it’s just all kinds. really corny memes and really cursed memes, wholesome memes and also memes that bully you. it’s all about the versatility.

↬ suna loves to sleep, he really does, but before meeting you, the only place where he could properly fall into a deep sleep was his bed. after meeting you, anywhere where you were next to him was the perfect place to sleep. if he had your presence near him he could sleep, it didn’t matter, especially if he was resting on your lap or shoulder or gripping onto your hand or resting his legs on your lap. he just wants you close to him, you know? like he feels so safe and comfortable when you’re around, it kind of scares him if he’s honest.

[death2normalcy]

Curious about the K-pop boy group that I never shut up about? Want to know more about them? Well, here you go!

This is Stray Kids!

They are an 8-member self-produced Kpop group that debuted in 2018 and have been pushing tons of quality content since then (trust me, there is a lot). Their sound is a mix of genres. Wikipedia refers to it as kpop/ hip hop / electronica. Many fans refer to their sound as being very unique and critics say their music is just noise music. I personally say they have 3 specific styles they do when it comes to songs / music videos. There’s chaotic and upbeat (God’s Menu, Maniac, All In), chill and laidback (The View, Time Out) or soft and sentimental (Your Eyes, Sorry, I Love You, Waiting for Us). There’s other stuff, but these are the three we tend to see the most, I’d say. But even within those, there is always that distinct sound they have. They’ve written songs about a diverse range of topics from unrequited love to mental health to finding your own place in the world, etc. And they work hard to keep their music pretty much gender neutral and inclusive, so more people can relate!

They originally debuted as a 9-member group, the ninth member being Woojin, but I’ve mentioned in the past that I won’t talk about him much on here, so if you want to know more about him, I’d recommend looking him up. I’ve heard he has his own solo career now, if that interests you. He was mainly a vocalist in the group and he left in late 2019.

The current members are (in order of age): Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. Bang Chan actually chose the members himself (which, from what I understand, is very unusual in the industry they’re in) and that extra special touch from the beginning has clearly given these boys a special bond!

As of now (August 2022), the group has 2 full studio albums, three compilation albums, one reissued album, 10 EPs, 2 single albums, and 24 singles (according to Wikipedia). That doesn’t even include all the covers, collabs, etc that they’ve done with other artists or put out on their Youtube channel! They’ve put out a lot of music and content since their debut in March 2018 (and even some before that!), so there is a lot of content to experience. Their most recent release was their Japanese EP, Circus, which consists of 6 songs, as well the single ‘Mixtape: Time Out’, which was a gift to their fans (called Stays) on the anniversary of the naming of the fandom. There’s also currently nearing the end of there Maniac ‘World’ Tour and there’s rumor of another comeback in September!

The majority of Stray Kids songs are written and/or produced by 3Racha, which is a rap sub-unit that was created pre-debut and consists of Bang Chan (a.k.a. CB97), Changbin (a.k.a. SPEARB), and Han (a.k.a. J.ONE). They’ve had a hand in writing pretty much every single Stray Kids song, and they also have a ton of songs of their own on their Youtube channel! They’ve also done a lot of the composition of the songs, and Chan has helped with a lot of the arrangements. They’re all multi-skilled and could be considered the backbone of the group.

Another sub-unit within the group is danceracha, which consists of Lee Know, Hyunjin, and Felix. They are all extremely skilled dancers and have a big helping hand in the choreography for a lot of their performances. They’ve also written a unit song together, which was featured on their ‘In Life’ album. Much like everyone in this group, these boys are multi-talented at many different things, not just dancing!

And the final sub-unit within the group is Vocalracha! Although 2 other members are classified as vocalists within the group (and honestly, all 8 members are very skilled at singing), Vocalracha just consists of Seungmin and I.N. They’ve done a couple unit songs together (one which also features Changbin and another which features Han). And of course, these two are skilled at other things, not just singing.

The group was formed through the survival reality show by the same name as the group, Stray Kids. I, personally, have never watched it, because the clips I have seen have made me emotional as hell. But it looked like a very stressful and difficult time for the boys, so I’m glad they were all able to debut together and truly become successes!

As I mentioned above, the boys have a wide variety of music to experience out there. I would recommend starting with the more popular stuff (it’s popular for a reason!) and than, if you like it, delving deeper into their discography. (On a side note, from what I understand, there is ongoing lore behind their music videos? Like, there’s a whole story line at play throughout all of them. I have very little knowledge about this, but I believe some people have made videos or posts about it, if you’re interested in that!)

Songs that seems to be really popular (or ones people tend to flock to first): Hellevator (a pre-debut song and an extremely impressive one at that); District 9 (actual debut song); Miroh; God’s Menu; Back Door; Thunderous (my personal favorite video, but not song); Maniac

Songs I personally love that aren’t mentioned above: Beware (Grrr) (another pre-debut song); Side Effects; Easy; Wow; All In; Cheese; Red Lights; Sorry, I Love You; Domino (okay, I wouldn’t normally link a dance practice, but the choreography for this one is amazing, and it never got a music video); Scars; Charmer; Venom; Circus

So, I think that’s most of the basics. I’ll get in to more stuff with the individual posts and recommend more songs/videos, etc.

As I mentioned above, the boys have a ton of content out there. A ton. Like, so much. My recommendation is just googling for it, or when you see a clip you like, asking about it. I haven’t seen everything, probably not even half, so I’m only going to recommend what I have seen. Pretty much everything I’ve watched is on Youtube!

SKZ Code, which is like a reality type show that they post on Vlive and Youtube. It always has subtitles on first upload and it’s hilarious. The boys are usually given a theme/scenario/mission for the episode/s and they’ve ranged from scary (finding stuff in the dark) to funny (playing a life-sized board game) to chill (their current 5-episode run of them on Jeju Island). Each episode is full of fun and hilarious moments/lines and it really helps showcase the boys individual personalities.

2 Kids Room. There’s been a few different versions of this over the years, at least...3? 4? I’ve only ever seen full episodes of the most recent ones though. Each video is basically 2 of the boys talking about their dynamic and the other boys discussing it behind the scenes.  They’re full of sweet and funny moments and really showcases how each friendship works in the group. Also helps you learn a lot of stuff about the boys that you may not have known!

There’s also ♡ Kids Room. It’s a little older (from last year, I think), but it’s a cute game show style thing. You can find it on Youtube.

There’s their SKZ TALKER episodes. It’s an ongoing series on their Youtube channel of behind the scenes moments with the boys. There’s lots of cute and funny moments on there too, however, a lot of the times, these get uploaded without subtitles at first. They usually get subtitles eventually though! They also post behind the scenes of a lot (if not all?) of their music videos, those are always interesting. AND. I recommend their dance practice videos, if you want to see or really enjoy their choreography.

There’s a ton more, so much more. Variety shows, interviews (both in English and Korean!), lives, so much. I’d recommend checking out compilation videos on Youtube (I watched so many in the beginning, and still enjoy going back to rewatch them!) if you’re really curious, and if you like a clip, kind of doing your research from there. That’s what I did, lmao. Also, there’s a lot of older stuff I’m missing, like Finding Skz, I know. I haven’t personally seen any of it, so I don’t want to speak on it too much, but I’ve heard good things!

So, that’s my first post! I don’t know if anyone will actually read these or find them useful, but I like doing this kind of thing, so I’m going to make one of these for all the boys!