#literary agents nyc

[thesiltverses]

A very big thank you

I posted this on Patreon, but really wanted to share it here as well:

Post-show life begins

For a long while now I’ve been getting up at 4.30 or 5am, grabbing myself the first coffee of four, and then coming to sit at my desk.

I open up the assembly cut of the newest TSV episode.

I listen to it, I try and pin down which scenes I need to be going back over today. I try and push through the entire morning without a break because when the momentum stalls, that’s what kills your release schedule. (I also worry endlessly about just how much of my hair is falling out, and how spending 12 hours a day wearing headphones could be contributing to that.)

Today was different. I still woke up early - it’s a hard habit to shake off, and probably a useful one going forward. But I didn’t go to my desk, and I didn’t put my headphones on.

I went to the rocking chair we bought for our son when he comes, and I sat there - gently swaying and trying not to spill my coffee all over it, because for some reason it’s fucking beige - and looked out over the city skyline. 

I slugged back my coffee surrounded by all the stuff we’ve panic-bought for the baby, and I got to take all of it in - washcloths and the changing table and romper suits - with a sudden focus and a clarity and a rising excitement that I really hadn’t allowed myself to feel until today, because until today the work was still unfinished and there was still much left to be done.

All at once I felt very free, and fully sated, and happy and proud for everything that’s coming next.

There’s so much to feel grateful for from the past three years of working on this show. But what’s probably going to sit with me the most is being able to arrive at that moment and those feelings today, - and we have all of you incredible people to thank for that.

Not just in terms of listenership or financial support, although that’s been truly invaluable and a lifeline for us that’s enabled us to actually make the show - but also your enthusiasm, your passion, your jokes and comments and everything that’s helped to keep us motivated and working on it.

So - with as much feeling as words can convey, thank you so, so much for everything.

What’s coming next, in rough order

#1: Parentdom is going to take over our lives for a while! I also want to write the final Patreon episode commentaries in the next few days, while I have the time and the clear memories. #2: The next thing we’ll organise will be the post-season Q&A (we’d also like to do some kind of off-camera cast party if we can make schedules work, just to say thank you to our amazing VAs and celebrate with them). Please do ask us questions! #3: We have long-unfinished commitments to the Patreon which I need to complete: the last two episodes of So Long, Good Luck, and rounding off Sid Wright’s story. As ever, huge thank-yous for your patience with these; they’ve just been impossible to polish off while also working on the main show so much. #4: Something I’ve been thinking about for a long time is the possibility of going back to Season 1 and redesigning it from scratch to try and bring it closer in style to S2 and S3. We have the raw audio files - some of the mic quality will just be rough no matter what, but we can certainly try.  This is something I want to be conscientious and careful about; I very much want to respect the sound design work that’s already taken place, and ensure we’re not overriding anything. But I do know that the initial quality still sometimes puts new listeners off; we were learning a lot about direction and mastering from scratch, and our designers were working with limited budget and a total lack of plugins, so there’s simply a lot more we can achieve now. (This would also be a good opportunity for me to finally rework the transcripts, another fallen hurdle). #5: A few months back, we were contacted by a literary agent in NYC who was interested in us adapting the show into a series of novels. There’s a long road ahead to actually get published, but I'm thrilled to say that I have signed with them and I’m really excited to hopefully start work on the first book once I’ve settled into dad-dom. I’ll need to check what’s possible, but if it doesn’t interfere with any contract condition I’d obviously love to share excerpts on here as it’s written. #6: Then there’ll also be another larger audiodrama project - we’ve spoken about the different possibilities before! Excited to get started on our final choice.

Just one last word about endings

God, endings are scary. Because endings are impossible.

How many serialised stories actually end in a way that’s received unequivocally well?  People yelled at The Sopranos for its ambiguity and open-endedness. People criticised Breaking Bad for treating Walt too sympathetically at the end and relying on a generic mob of snarling Nazis to act as his final foe.

Endings are either too pat and neat, or too inconclusive to be satisfying, or too surreal and dreamlike, or they simply make what feels like the wrong choices for the characters we care about. We’re all caught in that barbed wire, creators and audience alike, weighed down by the baggage of what’s come before and we've already spent so much time anticipating the infinite possibilities of how it could all turn out - it’s like we can’t get free of the story that’s trying to end. 

And the beautiful thing about these longform, iterative works is that they insist upon becoming completely ungovernable. No matter how much of a planner the creator claims to be, how much prepwork they carry out - they were never really in control. There’s spontaneity and surprises and dead ends and beautiful distractions that come spilling out along the way (I was baffled and delighted to learn that people really - at the end of the show, with such limited time to spare - wanted to find out what had happened to Eddie*). 

So they can’t end. Not really. There’s too much wonderful mess in them to ever be reasonably disentangled.

And, of course, for every ending people remember with frustration or dissatisfaction, there’s another hundred endings that nobody remembers at all, because we lost our enthusiasm along the way and it feels better to keep going back to the start and avoiding the slow decline. (Who the fuck remembers how the umpteenth X-Files reboot ended? What increasingly tired post-modern antics was Alan Moore getting up to in the final League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books?). I really just didn’t want the show to end up in that latter category.

All of that probably sounds like I’m warding off criticism about the show's ending, but for me it’s actually been the opposite. 

For an ending which is all about narrative dissatisfaction, and failed potential and missed opportunities, and how we need to come to terms with the lack of existential fairness and certainty and narrative control in our lives and keep ploughing forward all the same for as long as we possibly can, I’m massively stunned at just how positive the reception has been on here and elsewhere, and that’s something I’m actively having to process, because I think I was fearfully anticipating much more pushback.

But, look - the Eskew finale was originally quite poorly-received and then people came back around to it over time. So I’m not going to pat myself on the back too hard, because maybe it’ll ultimately be the opposite with this show, and that’s OK. For 200 years everyone was convinced King Lear was improved by having everyone survive at the end and get married. Endings take time to settle into their final condition.

For now, I am incredibly relieved that the ending we chose seems to have landed for most people, and I’m incredibly grateful for the lovely messages we’ve got about it and for the trust in us that you’ve all shown throughout the story.

So, yeah, let’s end with another thank you, because that’s what I feel so deeply and so forcefully at this point.

Thank you so much again, and speak soon.

Jon

*My take? We’ve established that the guy is in some kind of blue-collar job and has been pushed into constant overtime due to the reduced workforce. We’ve seen that the so-called ‘national holiday’ doesn’t actually rescue workers from their commitments. So I personally imagine that Eddie was working during the parade somewhere on the city outskirts, and is alive and well.

[glitteringsunshine]

Pairing : Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader

Situation: You have liasoned a few cases with the BAU team. You kind of have a crush on Hotchner but you never expressed it.

Reader’s POV:

“  You didn’t believe you will consulting and  doing paperwork this weekend did you Y/N?” Derek asked.

“ Well suffice to say , No” I laughed.

“ So what was your plan this weekend Professor?” Spencer asked

“ I had plans .” I say.

“ Involving a guy?”  Morgan asked curious.

“ No. A friend’s bachelorette trip to NYC. New York Fashion Week plus the Literary meet . Can’t believe I had to ditch her. She understands , but I feel guilty. They have been sending me pictures though”. I sigh.

“ A Georgetown Professor of Literature and Psychology, a renowned writer , booknerd and a fashion enthusiast , quite a set of contradictions.  Never really pegged you for the wild fashionista when we first met.” Spencer mused.

“ I do like fashion. Though I don’t have much time to explore this passion much. Though at one point I did wanted to be the next Ana Wintour, but here I am helping you catch bad guys on a weekend.” I chuckled.

“ Thanks for helping us with the paperwork . The rest of the team had to attend the compulsory  Staff development  Workshop. Even when we pulled them during the case , HR wasn’t happy. But they weren’t  spared for the paperwork. So it’s  me , Derek and  Hotch.”  Spencer remarked. “ So with this load of paperwork, you volunteering is a great help”

“ Well I already missed the NYC trip , so might as well be useful. Besides leaving you two with Mr. Aaron Grumpy Hotch, I kinda felt sorry” I chuckled. “ Sorry you couldn’t  make it to the stand up comedy show you two were planning on attending.”

“ How do you know”

“Saw the tickets on the desk.”

“ Ohh there’s  a cute bartender that Morgan is trying to get laid with where the stand up comedy show is happening” Spencer joked.

“ I tell you what. We finish up this paperwork  and we go to a bar , get wasted or get laid” Morgan joked.

“ Well you guys will be laid off if you don’t finish the paperwork “ Hotch shouted from his office.

“ Does this man have superhuman hearing?” I whisper.  “ Well good thing he can’t  fire me . He’s  not my boss” I chuckle. “ Maybe he is the one who should get laid. Surely loosen him up a bit” .

“ What’s up with you and Hotch anyway? You two always end up arguing while working a case?” Spencer asked.

“ I mean come on , I mean Hotch is a great guy and agent , but him constantly barking orders at me, it gets on my nerves. I am all for professionalism , but he is too serious. He can soften up a bit you know.” I chuckle.  “ Plus I don’t know why he keeps on riding my ass.”

“ Yeah he is more tough on you. We don’t know why”. Spencer said.

“ Well I am not in your team , so perhaps that’s why. It’s  because I am an outsider.”

“ Hey you are as much as a part of this team as us” Derek said.

“ Yeah friend and Sister” Spencer chirped in.

“ Dr. Y/L/N you think I am riding your ass, well you will ride that desk of yours for the entire night if you don’t complete the paperwork and continue blabbering.”  Hotch shouted.

“ Geez Man, we are multitasking. Ever heard of multitasking? But then again you are doing it. Working and being a pain in my but. “

“ Y/L/N , in my office now.”

“ What is it Hotchner?” I say entering his office.

“ Do you enjoy being a brat Y/N?” he asked.

“ Maybe. But you certainly enjoy being a jerk. “

“ Y/N” he warned.

“ What are you gonna do huh? Tame that brat in me? Well good luck with that?”

“ Careful Y/N , you think I am a pain in the butt. But if you don’t temper down , I will smack  that belligerence right out of you. I need to put on

“ What are you gonna do smack me in on my head? ” I rolled my eyes.

“ Oh I would definitely like to smack you , though not on the head. Somewhere where you will definitely feel the sting on your butt.”

“ So what  you gonna spank me? “ I challenged.

“ You would love that won’t you?”

“ Geez Man , loosen up.”

“ By getting laid. You plan to volunteer ? “ Hotch  challenged.

“ Hotchner?” I said almost whispering, my heart beating against my chest.

“ Y/N” out now.

 

 

..

“ Well the paperwork is done. Boss let’s go to a bar. Y/N you are coming along”. Derek said

“ Guys I really don’t feel like going.” Come on Y/N please

“I will head home” Aaron said.

“ Come on boss please.”

“Alright” we agreed.

“Let’s try the new rooftop bar.” Derek suggested.

…

“ Well gotta go guys. Bye .”  I say, making my way to the elevator from the rooftop bar.

Hotch slid his hands ,stopping the elevator door from closing and entered.

“ What happened in the office Y/N” he said. Suddenly the lift came up to a halt.

Shit. I don’t do well in closed places. I felt my pulse racing. I was breathing heavily, almost on the verge of a panic attack.

“ Y/N , breathe ,Relax baby.” I heard Hotch , his hands resting on my shoulders.

 

Suddenly I felt his lips crashing on mine. I forgot everything but the sensation of his lips on mine. I gasped. As my lips parted , he shoved his tongue inside me and I eagerly responded.

As we broke for oxygen , I looked at Aaron.

“ Can’t believe it fucking worked” he mumbled.

“ Huh What?”

“ The kiss , it helped even out the carbon dioxide and the oxygen, thereby stopping the panic attack.”

“ huh . Thanks” I said, scowling.

“ Hey what’s  wrong?”

“ nothing “ I saw moving away, trying to keep my distance from him.

“ Tell me” he says.

“ Nothing. I have spent countless sleepless nights thinking how it would be like to kiss you. Now that it happened, it’s  because you wanted to even out carbon dioxide and oxygen. I have spend nights and nights lovesick and being stupidly and madly in love with you , knowing that you will never love me back. Now this. For a moment I was crazy enough to think”

I felt his lips crash against mine. He was kissing me wildly , demandingly reflecting my need.

“ Hotch oh Hotch “ I breathed.

“ As much as I love to hear that voice of yours, Shut up Y/N and listen” he said intensely looking at me and holding me up by my chin. “ I have been love with you the first moment I saw you. You Y/N have been driving me crazy. I love you. I wouldn’t  have kissed you if I had not have feelings for you.” He confessed.

I leaned in slightly. He reciprocated taking my lips into his. He pulled me up while I wrapped my legs around him.

“ Guys , we can see you. There’s a camera. The elevator is gonna be up and running in about 5 minutes.” I heard Derek

We blushed breaking  up the kiss. But Aaron held me close , holding me by the waist protectively.

As the elevator opened,  I saw Derek and Spencer grinning.

“ It’s about time guys you two realised your feelings for each other and act on it.”

“ Guys” we said

“ Can’t wait to tell the rest of the team. We have been shipping you for months.” Spencer said grinning as Aaron gently kissed my forehead.

[emmashouldbewriting]

I'm trying to find the announcement of his deal for what rights were sold, but it's buried now with this news (so if you have it, do a girl a favour)

I'm a professional googler (i.e., a research librarian) and here's what I found.

The Daily Express has an article from July 2022 about the book that included the tweet Omid posted announcing it: "I can finally share that I'm working on a BRAND NEW BOOK!! So excited to be working again with Carrie Thornton at @deystreet @harpercollins (US) and MsLisaMilton at @hqstories."

(link: https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1648213/Meghan-Markle-Prince-Harry-book-omid-scobie-biography)

Next, when I searched for Scobie and Harper Collins together specifically, I found an article that talked some about the deal: "Scobie sold world English rights to a currently untitled book, set for 2023, to Carrie Thornton at Dey Street. Albert Lee at United Talent Agency brokered the deal on behalf of Scobie." The article's source is the August 2022 Publisher's Weekly announcement (linked within).

(article link: https://meaww.com/omid-scobie-all-set-to-write-new-book-about-meghan-markle-prince-harry-released-in-the-year-202)

Next I looked up everyone these articles ID'd.

Carrie Thornton and Dey Street (which is an imprint of Harper Collins) also published Finding Freedom. Dey Street has the North American's publishing rights.

Lisa Milton is the publishing agent for the UK and Commonwealth rights. (https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/hq-snaps-up-scobies-book-on-the-monarchys-fight-for-survival)

Albert Lee is a literary agent based in NYC. Before becoming a literary agent, he was an editor and a journalist. I think he was also instrumental in publishing Finding Freedom but I haven't been able to find confirmation.

I did try to search for Omid Scobie and Xander, limiting the date range from July 2022 to October 2023 (to exclude this week's tsnuami) but all the search results came back in Dutch, which I don't speak.

well well well, thank youuuuu my darling! let's have a lil Emma publishing lesson, shall we?! disclaimer: this applies only to selling rights for an English book to an English-speaking country, but I often sell my translation rights for my self-pubbed books so I'm used to this.

Publishers will take one of two options: World English, or World Rights. World English is what it says on the tin: English language rights, usually split between US and UK/Commonwealth. With this, you handle foreign translations yourself, although publishers will work together. World Rights is the whole shebang, including translations - when it's this, the publisher then shops around for translations and whatever the foreign publisher pays for it comes off your advance.

World English Rights means he sold just English and held on to foreign translation rights. Dey Street would have then sold the UK/Commonwealth rights to Harlequin, but Scobie's agent would have shopped the translation rights.

Which means Harlequin did not send the manuscript to Xander. Omid Scobie's agent did... and his agent would have sent the manuscript Omid Scobie provided as a final copy for translation.

[trollprincess]

Since my birthday is tomorrow, I figured I would make a short list of what I want just in case anybody is in a giving mood:

Money.

Any of the many, many, many minidollhouses on my Amazon wishlist.

For the Leverage team, and in particular Hardison, to hack into the system and wipe out our collective student debt. (And also all the medical debt while he’s at it.)

A free ticket to go back in time and watch Queen perform at Live Aid from the front row.

The ability to teleport.

A lifetime supply of red licorice laces and salted roasted pumpkin seeds.

For Pringles to start making those cinnamon sugar tortilla chips again.

To dump a truckload of elephant diarrhea on Ronald Reagan’s grave.

I said money, right?

To lose forty pounds in one night, preferably without delivering a child I didn’t even know I was pregnant with or losing at least one limb.

Five more seasons of “Sense8.”

That really fancy train ride from Paris to Istanbul that costs like 80k Euros.

The ghosts of the people in town who died of COVID to haunt the newspaper editor who added “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” to his enormous Trump sign out front of his office.

One free month at the Library Hotel in NYC where I’m not allowed to do anything but read and write.

A literary agent.

A pitch-black Victorian house decorated with 90s movie witch vibes.

A Bluetooth connection between my brain and my phone so I can just download my goddamn story ideas instead of wasting time typing them out.

For all of my WIPs to edit and polish themselves.

A free maid service that doesn’t judge about the depression mess and makes me a tea before they go.

A wallet that always has the exact amount of money I need inside it whenever I open it up and can never be stolen or lost from me.

The ability to choose to watch a show I’ve been meaning to watch instead of watching the same old show for the eleventy millionth time.

For someone to come repair the patch of cross-stitching I fucked up so I don’t have to.

My own capybara.

Yup, definitely said money. I take PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, Zelle, carrier pigeon, singing telegram, personal delivery by Janelle Monae, and the quiet but satisfying feeling of all my creditors suddenly forgetting I exist.

Chocolate chip cookie dough without the chips in a jar that never empties.

To live long enough to finish all the books in my TBR pile.

For Professor to live just as long as I do, if not forever beyond that.

For Elon Musk to eat several thousand fried dicks.

For Donald Trump to end up broke and alone with every single one of his followers having finally realized the emperor has no clothes.

World peace, free education for all, universal healthcare, high-speed rail, the end of poverty and bigotry, kindness throughout the land, and for whatever embarrassing memory pops into your head at the worst of times to vanish from existence as though it never, ever happened.

[myloveforhergoeson]

ash's june 2024 reading round up

find all the books and fics i read this month under the cut with a link to the synopsis and my reviews/ratings attached :)

this is just for fun! i'm not a professional, i just like to read <3

booklist:!

Book Lovers by Emily Henry (18+!)

• big emily henry fan here, i've read most of her other books and i just picked up her new one. this one, in comparison to the other ones i've read, was in my opinion, just kind of middle ground. it wasn't as amazing as i was expecting and it wasn't bad, i just don't think this was the book for me. about a literary agent, nora, and her rival - a brooding editor for a major company she works with, charlie - both being displaced from their big city life and finding themselves in the same small town for the summer. they keep bumping into one another in sunshine falls after a less than fortuitous business meeting in NYC a few years ago and one thing leads to another. turns out charlie isn't actually as bad as she had thought! perhaps i'm just unread in the small town romance genre, but again, this one wasn't really for me. i didn't feel like charlie and nora really had all that much chemistry. i was actually more interested in their lives separate from each other than how they meshed together oddly enough. a lot of henry's books center around family - more specifically familial grief after the death of a parent - and this book was no exception. the detailed descriptions of nora's past, dealing with the death of her mother and needing to step up to take care of her younger sister, hit really close to home for me as an older sister. learning about the course of her life come to a grinding halt and the two of them learning to pick up the pieces together was beautifully done and had major implications for the turning point of charlie and nora's story. nora and libby were the highlight of this book for me - i loved every single scene between them and i almost wish it was just about these two. charlie on the other hand, is a local of this small town and has a sordid past with many of the individuals there. i didn't like his character all that much personally, he felt kind of flat in general to me, but i did think his interactions with the other local characters was very interesting and i liked that nora had a bit of a puzzle to put together as she stayed in sunshine falls. though she accidentally went out with his cousin - yikes! overall, two very detailed stories coming together to form one that i almost wish were two separate books. romance plot in this one didn't really do it for me and that's okay! i still had a good time reading it :)

i'd recommend beach read or happy place by the same author in place of this one.

• rating 3/5 times i wondered why anyone would want to live in a small town over the city...

2. My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine (18+)

• yeah i know. guys i know. but what can i say. i'm a simple girl with simple taste and i love vampires. this book wasn't groundbreaking of course but it was soooo fucking funny. loved very moment of it! like what do you mean our fmc cassie just moves in with a random guy who has a wonderful apartment and he's super hot and sexy and he talks and dresses like he's from a different time and he tells you there's a part of your apartment you can never go and he sleeps all day and is out all night and she's just okay with it 😭 girl what if he killed you 😭 anyway. mmc fredrick j. fitzwilliam they can never make me hate you. being alive for almost 400 years is tough, especially when you need someone to teach you the modern ways of life after being asleep for the last century! every time the two of them went everywhere and did something i was like rolling in my seat with laughter. trying to pay for coffee at a hipster coffee shop where the drink names don't actually tell you what's inside? where the sizes are named after planetary phenomenons? where he pulls out a velvet sack of coins and tries to pay with dabloons? god guys it was so funny i can't even begin to put my thoughts of this down on paper. they go to a party so he studies pop culture all night and memorizes taylor swift's entire Wikipedia page???? normally i hate t swift being brought up randomly in modern romance novels (happens way too much IMO) but i'm willing to look past it this time. WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE STOPPED A KIDNAPPING USING TIKTOK LIKE???? say what you will about my sense of humor but never in a million years did i guess how this book was ending. fucking hilarious and so entertaining and cassie and fredrick are very cute together. honestly the romance was like b plot for me i just thought he was too silly and wanted to know all about what weird shit fredrick was doing that day. again, not the most enlightening or literary force of nature i've ever read but i did have a very very good time. boo me if you want but i'm right <3

•rating: 4/5 times i wished cassie and fredrick wrote more notes to each other

fic list:

i read a lot i'll try to get them all im so sorry if i missed any but i've read, rb'd, and loved them all!!!

assorted works of @partiallypearl:

just another wide-eyed girl, who's desperately in love with you

keep going to the sunrise (put the car in cruise control)

'cause i can't turn to you when it all falls apart

when you love someone that's all you can do

cargan blurb

running to your heart

no notes literally every single one of these was perfect and i'm so lucky to have the privilege of reading them :) james and elisa have been on my mind so much lately, but i also really loved your other works with rhuben and logan and macie. when you love someone that's all you can do is a work of art i wish i could frame it and put it in a museum <3

• assorted works of @icegirl2772

Take a Shot in the Dark

Better than Neil (a GIFT?? for me???)

We Do (But Friends Don't)

my friend... i love your writing so much!! the new chapter if take a shot in the dark is just wonderful, can't wait to reread and leave my comment hehe. better than neil (along with being such a surprise!!) had so much love and care put into it, each section bouncing off of one another was just genius and reading it made me feel so giddy. james and kaelyn are like handmade to be perfect for each other and that story did so well of highlighting that. and we do (but friends don't) !! don't even have words. i love kaelyn and james so much and this fic makes it so clear how they care for each other and want to be cautious of that while still having fun together :) so much raw trust and honesty on display, it's just an incredible (and spicy!) read :) <3

• assorted works of @ceruleanmusings:

• .3

.4

.5

Mason - Band Dynamics

Big Time Confession

.6

.7

Big Time Double Date

desolation pt 1

desolation pt 2

endearment

omg i don't even have words for this incredible selection of works from this month. all of the mickames blurbs were so adorable, confession literally brought me to tears, double date was just hilarious, and endearment made me smile!!! i love how those all balanced out with the emotion and power tucked into both parts of desolation; the switch up really shows how hard relationships can be, even if they seem easy!, and how two people try and get past even the toughest of times together. loved the openness of difficult conversation and how james and mickey managed that together. it felt so true to real life and literally had my stomach wrenching at points. i was so worried for them, and i'm so happy they're working it out! <3 and i always love reading more about the mason band! i love them!! :))

• assorted works of @selangkir

• the girl time rush au

• jucy (no, not that one) story

ohhh my god again and again and again i read girl time rush. literally like twice a month but this month especially i wanted to highlight it bc it served as inspiration for my own little story hehe <3 stories from the perspective of james just kill me i love him so much and i feel like all three parts of girl time rush encapsulate that perfectly. from dealing with a job he didn't really want, to working behind the scenes, to a tumultuous situationship(? kind of. i don't really know what that word means but it feels appropriate) with dak zevon. god every time i read it i love it even more. and the jucy story... such a wonderful switch up of the real story and how it would affect the characters if things went differently! it was so cute, i loved it so much. can't wait to add it to my reread list <3333

• @cant-get-enough-btr-forever 's story Big Time Battle of the Bands

ahh!! i loved this story so much; the only bad thing was having to wait for the chapters to upload and not getting to read it all at once! i know i said this over and over but it truly read like a big time rush episode - you did such a wonderful job of taking the wackiness from the real show and molding it into something if your own. the battle of the bands was such a fun idea and i loved all of the girls and how they mirrored btr! jessica my beloved... it had it all: action, romance, comedy, i couldn't ask for more!!!!

• assorted works of @raging-violets:

• Around the World and Back

such a wonderful story (inspired by a wonderful song!) that put forth the trouble with touring, what happens when it comes to an end, and the toughness of a goodbye. kendall and riley have such a wonderful dynamic that was put on full display with this one! their promise to keep talking when they can (because talking is what they do best!!) was so adorable and i love that they managed to get through their tough time together :)

i believe that's everything but if i missed something IM SO SORRY!

<3333

[panelshowsource]

could you make a post about all the books from comedians you own/have ordered and which are your favorites I want to buy all of them but don't know where to start ++++++++ would love to know if you know of a way to order a signed copy of David's book if I don't live in the UK

you know, in a stroke of what may be relevant information, i'm actually an editorial director by day and even used to be a literary agent here in nyc — none of which is obvious on account of my billion rushed typos and...just...general existence :) (i promise i'm supremely carefully handed in my editing!!! and have a lot of resources, at my job hahahahaha oh god maybe i shouldn't have mentioned this!!!) — but i'm really no book critic and have no idea how my tastes stack up against what a lot of you are looking for. i'm happy to share some of my general, poorly articulated internet thoughts but it may be more worth checking out goodreads or talking with others who have more experience with autobiographies (which a majority of these types of books are)!

to begin with a disclaimer, one of my friends texted me recently, "why do you only watch sad movies?" i love sad films, sad music, i love to cry, catharsis, sentimentality which is always a little self-indulgent. it's a bit ironic, because this is a comedy blog and you guys know me as someone who loves to find things to laugh about and i fill my life with so much silliness through his huge, life-long hobby, but, all the same, that is only one side of me, i guess. i'm saying this now because you're about to hear me talk briefly about a few somewhat-to-incredibly sad books and be like "oh i didn't know this what i was getting into" 😅

books i do recommend:

just ignore him by alan davies — this isn't a book review but i am self-conscious about just how i describe this book, because it's so sensitive and i carry a lot of respect for alan. at the time of publication, alan actually didn't want any of the press to know and/or discuss the most tragic elements of the book, so readers wouldn't be influenced in any direction before confronting it themselves. (it's okay to talk about now of course, and anyone should know there are major trigger warnings for death, child abuse, sexual abuse, and pedophilia.) it is a sad book about his earliest years: the complexities and nuances of male power and manipulation, of unimaginable loneliness, of a lost child. alan said it wasn't cathartic to write—that is was indeed very painful—but the vulnerability, the commitment to shirking himself of the painful silence he endured for most of his life, is exceptionally moving. alan's writing can be quite thorough, even flowery, in creating vivid places and images, so so much of the heaviness feels piercing and even disturbing. if you read other comedians' books, a decent majority of them are written in the style of standup or, say, a ted talk — with performance in mind, specific structures and beats that mimic how they'd tell these stories on stage. i would argue this is quite different to that, that while the writing is in a style and structure that benefits being read aloud this is a very different alan to alan the performer. and, very honestly, i'm really not an audiobook person, not to mention listening is a wholly different experience to reading — but the audiobook for this is phenomenal: alan narrates and, while of course it's his story so he'll tell it best, he is a very gentle, thoughtful storyteller. this will be you by chapter 4:

moab is my washpot + fry chronicles by stephen fry — the first and second of his three autobiographies covering some of the most sensational times (stephen is willing to admit) of his childhood and teen years + his rise to fame through the cambridge footlights. these are good reads for 1) stephen fry fans duh and 2) people who can enjoy the inspiration of auden, waugh, wilde, wodehouse, quintessential english writers who inform the foundation of stephen's relationship with literature and appreciation. stephen is painfully honest — and often sorry for it, apologising for what he perceives to be his shortcomings — and you can't help but feel, even early on in the first book, that his view of his own world is somehow even more subjective than everyone else's views of their own worlds. maybe it's because he's so judgmental, maybe it's his oscillating mental health, maybe it's the shocking thrust with which he was confronted with the wideness of the world...i'm not sure, but stephen's life through stephen's eyes is so very stephen-y. i think that's why we love him‚ though i can see some people loathing the less admirable sides of him, which he does show, so don't read this if you want to maintain some image of him that helps you cope or keeps you perfectly entertained. if you're not british, the fry chronicles is an especially good read to scratch some of your anglophilic interests (lotsss of namedropping and backstage chat)!

delicacy: a memoir about cake and death by katy wix — one of my recent faves and another book that isn't thoroughly funny. told in 21 vignettes either centered around or vaguely related to cake, katy talks about her school life, grief and loss, self-esteem and body image, misogyny — in ways that are just...matter of fact...opposed to lessons learned or things she's working on through therapy. she's accepted a lot, but she's also afflicted by a lot to this day; she's capably honest about where her reality stands. for this reason, it can be a bleak and certainly very raw read. i listened to the audiobook for this one, which was nice, but i much recommend the actual written book as the vignettes are in different formats (short story prose, letters, email exchanges) that often anchor time and place, intention, even the little peeks of light of comedy. katy's writing is very lovely, both my heart and mind were touched.

back story by david mitchell — a mildly vulnerable, moderately insightful, and quite humorous exploration of david's up-and-coming years. i really appreciate the premise — due a bad back and sciatica, he begins taking very long walks every day, and these walks trigger memories and anecdotes as he passes certain places — that really doesn't come off as a gimmick. it's a very easy read (or listen) and what i'd consider an uncomplicated, unproblematic bio, but it would be difficult to enjoy if you're only a casual fan of david mitchell or only like him in his most recent dad years, as it was written in his peep show heyday and is so much about those years of his life, his relationship with robert webb, etc. a good intro-to-the-genre book and the very first britcom book i read way back in 2010!

i also really enjoy graham norton's books — especially for the goss, but he's a great writer and his debut fiction novel got quite good reviews! — and tim key's books of poetry, though you really need to be a fan of tim key to read tim key :')

books i do not recommend:

before & laughter by jimmy carr — this book is much less of an autobiography (details are scant and anecdotes are few; it's cute when he refers to karoline as "my girl") and much more a collection of 1) jimmy's interpretation of contemporary comedy and what it means to be a comedian, and 2) how that journey, and his evolving attitudes, shaped him + became advice he would offer to others. this is why he calls the book adjacent to self help & motivational speaking. i don't think it teaches you anything new about him — literally or as a writer — so i don't recommend reading it, though the audiobook (where he's truly performing the writing like a ted talk) is an easy listen. a lot of people will not understand that jimmy is overwhelmingly sincere in regards to all of the topics and personal philosophies the jimmy nearing 50 espouses. he's someone with very studied, thorough personal philosophies (if you've seen him on podcasts talking about his life and career then you'll know just what i mean) and he explains them deftly, but they can feel a bit...how should i say this...flat to people who have heard a lot of it before, in hollywood movies or from their own parents or wherever. he didn't write this just for another stream of income — he is passionate about these conversations and that counts for something. overall i already knew a bit about the guy and didn't need this.

my shit life so far by frankie boyle — i have never read one of frankie's fiction novels (crime is really not my thing, so someone needs to let me know if richard osman's book series is a smash because i'm only going to check them out if i'm convinced to), but as a long-time fan of his, knowing how much of a wordsmith he is, and how intentional he is in everything he says, i was surprised by how dull i found this. his shit life was just that — uninteresting, meandering. his anecdotes may have worked better aloud than on paper, but they didn't grab me. you learn a bit about his young adulthood, but like jimmy he's intensely private and i could feel that distance between us even while reading an autobiography. it didn't work for me, super sad about it :(

can everyone please calm down? by mae martin — instead of criticising this book, i'd rather just make a disclaimer or two. if you are already engaged in queer discourses and dialogues, you are not going to learn very much from this book. both the descriptive writing and presentation of research is "accessible" to the point i'd call it more adjacent to YA than adult literature; if you prefer more creative, complicated, and/or signature writing styles, this book is not for you. if you are a big fan of mae martin and would appreciate an overview of their journey on the identity spectrum (going so far as to even rejecting it, in some capacities) in one place, then this may be convenient — but even then, at this point, it's somewhat outdated. imo a well-intention skip.

phil wang and tom allen are two more i think don't convince me with their writing, but i'm still making my ways through a couple of books and could probably talk more about this later!

i have never made this kind of non-fiction bio a priority on my long reading list, so i still have a lot of exploring and catching up to do, but i'm finding that i do prefer the books that explore the events of comedian's past as well as those that walk the reader through experiences in the comedy & tv industries. there are a lot of books about mental health and identity, which may be more of what many of you are looking for (sara pascoe, fern brady, jon richardson, and more).

okaY PHEW SORRY i always type too much 😒

first, as for david mitchell's new book, you can order it signed from waterstones as they ship to the usa — and it's currently half off!!!!! if you want to buy it unsigned from a usa retailer amazon is cheapest and target & bookshop are the cheapest non-amazon options :) an audiobook is coming out as well, so i do believe i will be able to add that to googledrive before too long, but no guarantees on a good time frame!

you can go here to download any of the ebooks & audiobooks i have on my googledrive!

[thelustybraavosimaid]

We have a few more stops planned after Belfast, including one in London, where I will be getting together with my British publishers from Harper Collins Voyager.

Let me say a few words about that, though. Last year, when I mentioned seeing my Voyager editor in London, the internet went nuts, throwing up all sorts of theories about how this meant that WINDS OF WINTER was done and a huge announcement was at hand. Uhhhh… sorry guys, but no. That’s not how it works. Making contacts… which often turn into friendships… is a huge part of publishing. Most of my communication with my editors and publishers is conducted via emails, phone calls, zooms, and texts (in the old days, we had letters written on paper too). There’s not a lot of face to face, especially when we’re talking about people who live across an ocean… so when I travel, if I have a day or two to catch up with one of my editors or agents, I jump on it. Every time I travel to NYC, I get together with my literary agents, and my editors at Bantam and Tor.. along with old friends, family, and the like. That’s true everywhere I go. If I fly to Germany for a con or book fair, I will see my German agents, publishers, and translators. If it’s Italy or Spain or Finland, same thing. If I ever find myself in Brazil or Japan or Egypt, I’d try and connect with my Brazilian or Japanese or Egyptian publishers. This is just the standard way of doing business, guys. It does NOT signify that some momentous announcement is at hand. It doesn’t signify anything, actually… except a desire to touch base, catch up, renew old contacts or make some new ones… and enjoy a nice meal. So calm down, please. When WINDS OF WINTER is done, the word will not trickle out, there WILL be a big announcement… where and when I cannot say.

[Source]

[olderthannetfic]

any recs for fantasy w queer characters that’s not like squeercore glurge abt a Disaster Gay(tm) whose biggest flaw is social anxiety and is too flustered to talk to their crush

--

It depends how picky you are, to be honest.

If you're fine with prose that's mid-tier AO3 level, just go wade through the indie m/m stuff.

Charlie Adhara's Big Wolf series is about a human FBI agent whose new partner is a werewolf.

Hailey Turner's Soulbound series is a former combat mage doing federal agenty stuff in NYC. It reminded me of early Anita Blake and of the Dresden Files.

I loathed The Last Sun for having a boring rape backstory straight out of 00s BL, but fluffy it was not. Some people around here have recced the series.

--

That whole sector is full of people who sound 40+ and who seem to be drawing from urban fantasy of the 90s. It doesn't mean their books are good, but they don't contain the same literary crimes as those of an author a decade or two younger.

You can always go read mine. Haha.

[spaceshipkat]

How did you get into freelance work/what do you do? Sorry if you covered this already, I'm just thinking working for other people might be out of the question for me.. I have a job currently but it's contract work and is shaky at best.

hey, happy to answer! ive talked about it a little but its been an age since im so bad at answering asks these days. so i freelance as a book editor—developmental editing and copyediting are my two mains, though i also do a lot of query reviews

really how i started was as a critique partner, and i was 18 when i first became that. i did that for years while going to uni, and then after i graduated uni w my bachelor’s i started freelancing. thankfully i’d built up a solid resume of books i’d worked on (i think nearly everyone ive CPed for has gone on to sell their books to the big 5) so when i applied to the company i currently work for they could see my track record and know i know my shit. but even then, it took me a year or two to actually get a solid base of clients and build a big enough reputation that i get consistent work.

i like freelancing bc i really enjoy helping writers with their books and querying ambitions. ive been in the tradpub industry long enough that ive seen and learned a lot and can help people figure out the unspoken parts of it (hence why there’s so many posts under my “publishing industry” tag) (and i also know who to avoid, be they literary agents or tradpub editors). plus i don’t want to be an acquisitions editor (the ones who buy books to publish) and i don’t live in nyc (nor do i want to) (despite many publishers saying they’re open to remote they’re really not, imo they just say they are to look better) so freelancing is a good middle ground to do what i love to and actually help authors directly.

but the biggest downside imo to freelancing is the lack of benefits, and the state i live in reeeally doesn’t like freelancers for things like health insurance (especially when you don’t live alone, bc they like to pool an entire household’s income even if that’s not how the household works). i am still trying to get health insurance. it’s fucked.

so there’s good and bad sides, but if you’re into freelancing i’d definitely see if there’s any companies out there that collect (for lack of a better word) freelancers in whichever field you’re in. im lucky with my company bc they do the marketing, as it were, for their editors. clients come to you, rather than the other way around, and being part of a company lends more credence to an editor than if you had your own website, bc editors have to get vetted but anyone with a vague understanding of coding can make a serious enough website to attract writers despite not being a good editor a writer should hire.

[ninasbookshelf]

Book Recs Based on Taylor Swift Albums

'Tis the damn season of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour! In celebration I have put together reading recommendations based on each of Taylor’s albums.

Some of Taylor's songs are (seemingly) inspired directly by specific books or media, so I tried to stray from those and recommend something different. Also, I aimed for books that I think capture the theme/feeling of the entire album, rather than books that follow the story of one particular song. 

...Ready for it? Here goes.

(Also I’m tired, so there may be some minor book spoilers… no promises.) 

Taylor Swift (Debut)- I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I’ll Give You the Sun captures the vibrancy of Taylor’s self-titled debut album, and delves into the challenges of youth and the journey to finding where we belong in the world. Both the album and book showcase the loneliness and betrayals that happen during adolescence. They also look at love and what it means to love someone. This isn’t just romantic love either; there are friendships, familial love… and ok, there’s romance too. 

Fearless - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Hear me out. Wuthering Heights is dark, yes, but it is mainly a story of passion; powerful, lively moments, both positive and negative. It’s a story full of life, and so is Fearless. In both there are love stories and there are fights, there are betrayals and misunderstandings, and in Wuthering Heights the characters are, mostly, physically very near each other… just on The Other Side of the Door. Both Fearless and Wuthering Heights are rollercoasters charting the ups and downs of their protagonists’ relationships. Someday I’ll write an essay dedicated to comparing the two in more detail, but for now I’ll stop here.

Speak Now - Seven Faceless Saints (SFS) by M.K. Lobb

Ok, I might be reaching here because I just read this and want to talk about it, but watch me make it work. Roz and Damian (the main characters of SFS) dated for years before Damian was drafted, and since his return to Ombrazia there has been tension between the two due to both personal vendettas and political differences. As they’re forced to work together, they begin to understand each other, they grapple with their pasts, the things that haunt them, the things that make them push for revenge… they build a relationship again, they reflect on the way their lives used to be and the tumult that caused the breakdown. The victory in SFS is a bit darker in tone than Long Live, but I think it still works. 

Red - If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha

This one is a given for me. Both Red and If I Had Your Face capture the turbulence and confusion of being a woman in your twenties (give or take). They show both the magic and madness of romantic relationships. They show the pain of being older and wiser, how we can look at other women who are still full of hope and see how everything could go wrong. Heartbreak, power, and female friendship; it’s all there.

1989 - The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Welcome to New York! The Sun Is Also a Star follows two teens, Natasha and Daniel, through an event- and emotion-filled day in NYC. It’s romantic and silly and magical, until very suddenly… the pain of reality returns. This one’s YA, but I think it fits really well with 1989. 

Reputation - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I love love this comparison. Secret relationships, crimes and getaway cars, breakups and betrayals and finally, eventually, realizing that the people we surround ourselves with are what really matters in life… yeah.

Lover - Book Lovers by Emily Henry

It’s only fitting that Lover gets a romance novel (and I promise I didn’t just pick this particular book because it has “lover” in the title). Book Lovers features a literary agent named Nora who is determined to go above and beyond for her clients. If she were a man, she’d be the man. It’s a realistic romance, complete with a cruel summer and characters who find comfort in each other after many failed relationships… but can it last?  

folklore - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott or Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

There’s a lot going on in folklore; it showcases Taylor’s storytelling skills in an achingly beautiful light. There are several different stories happening on the album, some of which are intertwined. I can’t pass up recommending Little Women, because the relationships these women share with each other, and their romances throughout the different stages of their life, are represented thoroughly in folklore’s tracklist. There are hard feelings and mistakes, heartache and the harshness of reality, and the realization that sometimes things aren’t meant to be, no matter how much we might want them to be. 

However, as someone who has spent too much not enough time watching Jo and Laurie x folklore compilations on Youtube, I feel like folklore/Little Women is a commonly made connection… (or maybe I’m way too deep into that rabbit hole). SO, to add some variety, I wanted to share a second recommendation that I think also fits with the general feeling folklore creates. 

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason particularly fits with the more mature stories on the album. It involves  characters looking back on their pasts and seeing the connections and divisions in their relationships, and grappling with how things are vs what could’ve been. The book focuses heavily on mental health and how it affects our relationships with ourselves and the people we care about. 

I’ll share one of my favorite quotes: “Martha, no marriage makes sense. Especially not to the outside world. A marriage is its own world.” Just like in folklore, Sorrow and Bliss includes a deep dive into the protagonist’s personal relationships and how those relationships can grow and change over time.

evermore - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Set in a crumbling castle in rural England, I Capture the Castle shares the mystique and pining encapsulated in Taylor Swift’s evermore. There’s unrequited love, secret devotions, and the ache left by empty promises and tainted relationships. And of course, everything is happening surrounded by overwhelming pastoral beauty. It’s the perfect matchup to evermore.

Midnights - Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

A second TJR feature! I feel like there’s a song here for every major event in DJATS. The madness of relationships; the idolization of celebrities vs what they were actually going through; parties, affairs, love and questions; loss and betrayal and reflections on the past… It’s all there. 

And that’s all ten! I got tired near the end, so I apologize if any of this is confusing. If you have questions or comments about any of these book recs, please reach out to me! I’d love to talk more about them. 

I’m thinking of doing more in-depth book recommendations for Taylor's discography, where I pick one book for each of her songs. I’d do these on an album-by-album basis. If you're interested, let me know! 

[thelonelywiz]

MY WRITING.

you are my only friend. i am undone without you.

Table for Two (2019)

Summary: Alex Winfrey, an anxious and selectively mute 16 year old boy, lives in Titusville, FL and works at his uncle’s diner called the Hotspot Diner as a busboy. After making friends with Jackson “Jax” Abrams, local jock and overachiever, the two boys grow closer and after some digging, Alex gets closer to finding out where his absent mother is and eventually runs away to NYC to find her, bringing his new friend along with him.

Format: novel

Genre: young adult, contemporary, coming of age

Themes: friendship, love, family

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: WIP, turning it into a live action tv show :)

The Poet Virgil (2022)

Summary: In a world where monsters and humans coexist, anything can happen. Especially in the brownstones of Brooklyn, New York City. 

The famous vampire poet, Virgil, lives with his roommate, Bea, a werewolf and former rock star drummer of BLUDHOUNDS turned grade school teacher. With his very last chapbook in the works and an award ceremony to attend, Virgil has a speech to write. But when his literary agent and best friend (and Bea’s on and off girlfriend), Calypso is found dead, he and Bea are spun into the world of murder mysteries and conspiracy. The threat of succumbing to their monstrosity increases as tensions and risks run higher, and Virgil and Bea must learn to face their grief together despite their differences. With the help of Bea’s brother, Seven; a fairy from the Bronx, Juno; an unlikely ally, and an eager human barista, a team of monsters (and Aaron) is just what the five boroughs need to defeat The Hunters once and for all. 

In this romantic comedy turned murder mystery, The Poet Virgil tells a story of death, love, and what it means to be seen as a monster.

Format: screenplay

Genre: urban fantasy

Themes: grief, justice, friendship, family, generational trauma, love, hope

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: COMPLETED, available to read, turning it into an animated tv show :)

What Her Name Wasn’t (2022)

Summary: A college student who can see ghosts befriends a ghost girl from the 50s after renting an apartment off campus, and they team up to figure out who killed her and her family (and she helps them get with their crush, wing woman style).

Format: novella in five parts

Genre: new adult, contemporary, mystery

Themes: friendship, death

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: COMPLETED, available to read

Drastic Times (2022)

Summary: Set in the late 90s that’s split into three perspectives. One story is of a pair of twins running from the law and their past, another is a housewife making the best of a bad situation, and the last is a “rookie” detective trying to get his friend back.

Detective KASPER MONTE makes a mad dash out of Los Angeles after pulling his sister out of the muck. Again. BLAIR MONTE, an infamous criminal, unfortunately can’t talk her way out of this one. The twins must drive across the country to a safe haven in the American Southwest, confront the dynamic they share, face their own identities, and find their place in the world.

States away in a holy rolling town in Missouri, DELIA WRIGHT struggles to break out of her shell and make the hardest decision of her life: run away for her and her daughter’s safety and threaten her tense relationship with God, or appease her abusive husband and keep up her good Christian lifestyle for everyone’s sake. 

Right on Kasper’s trail, Detective REX slowly unravels the twists and turns that is his friend’s past. Along the way, Rex encounters an orphan girl who’s seen more than she should, and as she tags along he must figure out what it means to have a family of his own, and if his mission is really worth it.

In this nonlinear NEO-NOIR film, one must either live with the consequences or learn to take some drastic measures.

Format: screenplay

Genre: neo-noir, crime drama

Themes: identity, family, morality, the cycle of violence, love, hope

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: COMPLETED, available to read (though i still need to edit it)

Into the Dead of Night (2023)

Summary: It’s the summer of 1877, the ending years of the American Frontier, and three lives are changed forever. A former slave turned poor cowpoke struggles to reconcile with his past mistakes, an immigrant with the voice of an angel finds love atop a horse and comradery among cowboys, and a seasoned cowgirl from an endangered tribe ventures out to take back what belongs to her. With manifest destiny on the rise and the string of murders leading back to the man who started it all, Bellamy has a choice to make: keep running or stop the trail of bodies in his wake.

Format: podcast

Genre: western, historical fiction, audio drama

Themes: magical realism, hope, family, love, friendship, identity, community, justice

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: WIP, written the first few episodes of season one

Deadwood (2023)

Summary: Eldritch horrors, ghosts, immortal entities, losing the ones you love, and the inherent humanity in survival.

Format: podcast

Genre: horror anthology

Themes: grief, hope, survival, death, love

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: WIP, written the first seven episodes of season one (1 story out of 9)

Let’s Live Anyway (2023)

Summary: After going to the surface to their war-torn world on their 18th birthday and experiencing the side effects of radiation poisoning, Claudia and Lex seriously contemplate taking their lives and grapple with what lead them into their suicide pact

Format: graphic novel

Genre: coming of age

Themes: hope, friendship, grief

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: WIP, brainstorming

Eve, Undone (2023)

Summary: *coming soon*

Format: novella trilogy

Genre: high fantasy

Themes: corruption, environmentalism, freedom, friendship, love, family, grief, hope, war

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: WIP, outlining + worldbuilding

The End of All Things (2023)

Summary: On the last day of senior year before summer vacation, the world ends. But that doesn’t matter because Veronica is in love with her best friend Ace, and no space meteors are gonna stop her from telling her how she feels

Format: short film

Genre: young adult, contemporary, apocalypse 

Themes: friendship

Inspo: playlist & pinterest board

Status: WIP, brainstorming

[nona-gay-simus]

Romcoms with butches?! Heart eyes

Oh yes!

I am an nb femme myself (even tho I don't really use that label), but I'm very saddened and frustrated about the lack of butch rep in sapphic fiction. Fem4fem stuff just doesn't really... speak to me, especially since a lot of those characters are written without any meaningful interaction with their identities.

(That's actually a big problem I have with a lot of "no homophobia" SFF, where the authors seem to think that removing homophobia also means removing any queerness from the text. So much of our rep is "the queer guy for the straight eye" 🥲🥲 That's definitely something that drew me to TLT - there's no homophobia and transphobia but there's still so much Gender and Queerness baked into the world. It really made me feel seen.)

ETA: (since I always forget about this when I am not in writing circles. MC stands for main character, LI - love interest. All my projects are single pov so the LI doesn't usually have their own pov chapters.)

Anyways my current projects are as follows:

Fully finished book I'm currently querying literary agents with: THE LOVE CAMPAIGN basically "sapphic Red, White and Royal Blue"

It's about the President's Daughter who is a nerdy femme lesbian who goes to NYC to do her Master's and makes some trans friends including a butch/androgynous/transmasc bi genderqueer activist and they have a bit of a hate-to-love.

Book I'm currently writing (about 30% in):

JUST ROLL WITH IT: fake dating roller derby lesbians.

This one actually started as Griddlehark fanfic 😅😆 but it has a butch MC in college who saves the life of her nemesis (a very mean goth femme) in a fire and then the story blows up and everyone assumes they are girlfriends, so they have to pretend to date to help out her roller derby team. So we have hate to love AND fake dating AND sports romance.

Most recent wips (only working titles for these:)

Political romcom the sequel: it's a about this very bratty bisexual fem girl who has to help her father's presidential campaign after they have their separate scandals and she has to fake an engagement to a woman. The LI is a butch latinae lesbian in a PhD and the MC's ex. She agrees to be fake engaged for her own reasons, shenanigans happen.

And finally I also have a sapphic Snow White retelling about this butch girl who thinks she can wake up Snow White with the power of true love's kiss (she's a bit of a himbo ok 😂) but then she meets the Evil Queen and the two form an alliance and maybe fall in love ? 👀 There's a twist and necromancy and swords lesbians I'm going for Gideon kind of voice.

If anyone wants to read any of that, HMU!

[theqed]

The HarperCollins Union has been on strike since November 10th, and is still on strike as of today, November 30th.

While the "publishing industry" may seem monolithic to those outside of it, it's powered by bucketloads of junior editors and employees, whose starting salary for junior employees at HC is $45,000 a year -- which, for the record, is over double where I started, and about ¾ of what I made after over 15 years in the industry.

Average rent in NYC is $2,000 right now, or $2400/year.

As Lauren Harshberger says in this Guardian article:

"When her partner left the industry, she immediately made double the salary. “I can keep working in publishing right now because of her,” Harshberger said. “That doesn’t feel great. That’s the privilege side of it: it shouldn’t only be the people who have wealthy partners or parents who can stay in the industry. When you’re not paying people fairly, that narrows the perspective of who’s making decisions about what books we publish. Readers lose out in that, and so does the company.”"

HarperCollins is owned by NewsCorp, aka Rupert Murdoch.

A coalition of literary agents is now joining the striking workers and not submitting manuscripts to HarperCollins until the strike ends. Support the strike!

let me explain why i’m flooding your dash with posts about the harpercollins strike

As a bookseller, I want you to know that one of the worst things about our industry is the unsettlingly pervasive idea that we should financially suffer for working in it. There is a powerful idea in creative fields (as in many, many fields under late capitalism) that one should be willing to forego necessities of life – namely, an adequate wage – in order to have work that one resonates with emotionally.

In bookworld, I’d say that this is frequently aided and abetted by two factors. First, we often feel a strong sense of community with our coworkers and the book creation/promotion world at large and feel we should sacrifice personally for them; that to do so is right. Second, we have a sense that, due to a confluence of factors  from Amazon monopolization to the rise of the Internet to the pandemic’s financial tolls, we work in a permanently struggling industry – that we should be willing to take the hit, as it were, to help keep our business afloat.

Neither of those feelings is accurate in an independent bookstore. It doesn’t matter how narrow the profit margins are or how close you are with your coworkers. Your labor is labor, and it must be compensated. They are even less true in the context of a multi-billion-dollar publishing corporation, where the people at the top (including the parent company’s owner, who is literally Rupert Murdoch) benefit from growing monopolization while employees are unable to afford basic cost-of-living expenses. May I remind you that of HarperCollins’ thousands of employees, many are required to live in New York City – one of the most expensive metropolitan areas in the world. While working long hours, HarperCollins staff making a starting salary (45,000/year) make $18,600 less than the average annual cost of living in New York City for a single person.

This is unacceptable. As one sign carried on the picket line read– PASSION DOESN’T PAY THE RENT.

Fair wages do.

[wingedshoes]

15, 25, 29? <3

15: talk about a stuffie

I'll take this opportunity to talk about Felix :) my little (almost) spherical snowman but my other plushie Booze should know I love him very much as well. Felix was named by the friend who gifted him to me i thought we'd decide on a name together but she just said nooo he's felix way too many times and i ended up agreeing (we were publicly drunk). He's named after Lee Felix, the Stray Kids member and while felix's not my bias in skz, I adore him (HIS LATEST SMILING PIC. I DIED) I also always pack him in my carry on luggage (not the luggage i check because what if i lose him forever) when i visit home every couple months (the plushie, not the kpop idol) and i literally never sleep without him next to me 🎐

25: what's on your mind

uhhh I screwed up the aptitude for the JPMorgan operations analyst role and now I hate myself. I also need to start studying but mental inertia is kicking my ass right now. I did set up a call with an assistant editor of a literary agency and I haven't talked to my mom about it. I'm not sure if i want to be in the literary space in india either, because 1. the industry is underdeveloped here 2. the pay is really, really low and consequently 3. I'm not sure I can survive without the lifestyle I've been accustomed to since I was born 😔 The only high paying jobs are in nyc, london.. and i honestly didn't even see other cities on there that support high salaries for agents and editors. i need a lobotomy.

29: A dream you wish to make true

Couple nights ago i was really stressed about my meeting with my research mentor and nothing would calm me down so for some reason I put on a donna tartt interview from the 90s and her voice calmed me down (??) Now my hyperfixation on tsh is coming back and i just think that if I met her most of my problems would be solved instantly.

[virtualmemoriespodcast]

Episode 532 - Priscilla Gilman

With her new memoir, The Critic's Daughter (Norton), Priscilla Gilman explores her relationship with her father, Theater Critic and Yale Drama professor Richard Gilman (as well as with her mom, literary agent Lynn Nesbit). We get into the perils of literary-kid memoir, the NYC book-scene she grew up in, her parents' divorce and how it led to her learning way too much about her dad's sexuality at 10 years old, and the challenges of capturing her early selves without jarring the reader. We also talk about how much she enjoyed recording her own audiobook, the role of the critic and the golden age of literary reviewing, what she'd ask her dad if he were around now, the disconnect between her parents' public & private personae, and the lessons she had to learn for herself about love, marriage, and parenthood. Plus, we share a literary lightning round, some football talk, and our Thurman Munson memories! Follow Priscilla on Twitter and Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal and via our Substack

Check out the new episode of The Virtual Memories Show

[gaydryad]

tag game from @sourb0i :0 probably the first I’ve done since... 2015

1. Are you named after anyone?

lmao nope! and I like that for me just fine

2. When was the last time you cried?

hrm. last week I think. sometimes you just need to do exegesis on your own feelings and have an ugly cry. it happens

3. Do you have kids?

not on the physical plane

4. Do you use sarcasm?

what kind of person would do something like that? gosh. what a scandal. using sarcasm so publicly on the No Reading Comprehension site

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

assuming this means irl, I think it’s hair or clothes, depending on which is more neat. I put way too much thought into Outfits so if someone has an Outfit then I Will stare. I’m sorry. your fit looks cool and I want to memorize it

6. What's your eye color?

brown, babey

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

I can’t stand most “scary movies”, personally -- I’m absolutely terrible with jump scares and visceral gore (gore itself is fine, but the point where you have to See someone getting tortured / bleed is Eughhh... I just end up feeling it on my own body like a shitty version of Parable of the Sower and it’s just not fun). 

that said I DO love a good tragedy or thriller, and psychological horror is like candy to me. maybe even more so than I enjoy a good happy ending. though mr jordan peele has spoiled my tastes in this with his movies that are both Scary As Hell but also have “happy” endings, which is to say, my preference is when a movie is Both. but I also just enjoy a good happy ending, so. yeah.

8. Any special talents?

my joke answer here is “how incredibly bad my memory is”, but my slightly better answer, based on how other people react, is my ability to steer / bike without using handlebars and balancing stuff. I have proprioception 100

9. Where were you born?

alexandria, va. almost a capitol baby but not quite

10. What are your hobbies?

currently, mostly drawing and reading, but I also like snorkeling, biking, and cooking. also enjoy video & board games a lot

11. Do you have any pets?

not at the moment. I wish.

12. What sports do you/have you played?

Uhhhhh well if I were still in high school I would jokingly say “marching band” here but in all honesty none. I love volleyball casually though

13. How tall are you?

5′7

14. Favorite subject in school?

Middle/high school: history class! I would hyperfixate so hard

Uni/college: religious studies! I!! love!! gloria anzaldua!! also religious studies let me engage in my favorite hobby: thinking about Death

15. Dream job?

Literary publishing editor or small press editor (not as a literary agent or “editor” in that sense, but as an in-house copyeditor and proofreader for a publishing house). sadly I do not live in nyc, the one city where those jobs are offered, so instead I am simply. a freelance editor. hmu. I can do varying types of editing and can give input as an ex-reader for literary magazines. this is not a joke.

thanks for tagging me! will likewise tag @captain-lovelace and @necrokris if you would like to join in