#miss evangelists

[claraoswalds]

DOCTOR WHO S04E08 | EVIL S04E03

[runescapegnome]

I'm reclaiming If I Believe You from Matty Healy i experienced every emotion possible to it driving around traumatized as fuck in my fucking saturn in 2016 that shit's mine now

[reginaldqueribundus]

imagine being average federation citizen doing a wikipedia dive on Amanda Grayson for like a book report or whatever and you click on “spouse” and it links you to a guy who was thee vulcan ambassador to earth for like 200 years and publicly called the klingon ambassador a murderer once and you think huh neat and click on “children” and the first person listed is described as “career criminal, activist and religious evangelist” with a rap sheet as long as your arm ending with him taking the entire government hostage in nimbus iii and then no death date he's just listed as “missing” and the second kid is a starfleet science hero you've seen on the poster of like 7 different documentaries on space netflix and you notice his year of death is listed as 2285 but “years active” goes on like 100 years past that and also he's apparently the reason earth isn't completely underwater right now? then you read his sister's article and it's all “starfleet's first mutineer” “blamed for starting the first federation-klingon war” “lauded for ending the first federation-klingon war” but is weirdly vague on what happened to her after that and the article is edit locked and her year of death has like 6 annotations attached to it

[incomingalbatross]

Traditional feast days within the Twelve Days of Christmas:

December 25: Christmas Day, the Nativity!

December 26: St. Stephen the first martyr

December 27: St. John the Evangelist

December 28: The Holy Innocents, murdered by Herod

December 29: St. Thomas a Becket and David

December 30: The Feast of the Holy Family (traditionally celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave, but on this day if there is no such Sunday)

December 31: St. Sylvester I, pope during the reign of Constantine and the Council of Nicaea

January 1: Octave-Day of the Nativity, traditionally the Feast of the Circumcision (and now of Mary, Mother of God)

January 2: Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

January 3: Traditionally no particular saint (that I can find)

January 4: Traditionally no particular saint (now St. Elizabeth Ann Seton)

January 5: St. Telesphorus (second-century pope and martyr) and St. Edward the Confessor (King of England 1042-1066)

January 6: Epiphany! Feast of the Coming of the Magi, the Baptism of Our Lord, and the Wedding at Cana

(An eagle-eyed observer may note that there are thirteen days on this list. Opinions differ slightly as to whether the Twelve Days begin on the 26th or end on the 5th, but I don't think it matters terribly.)

(Also I probably missed some feast days.)

[fredwkong]

Virgo Season: Blaine

Blaine just wanted this long nightmare of a conference over. There were still events on the schedule, but there were only a few of Pastor Blanco’s adherents left at the Astra Hotel. The incident in the conference hall had confirmed for the few remaining normal people that ordinary men were being transformed into depraved freaks.

Blaine had known for over a week now. That was why he hadn’t been attending any events. He had watched his friend, Spencer, become infected by whatever force was changing the men in the Astra.

Blaine and Spencer had been evangelists in Houston their whole lives, managers of adjoining branches in the movement. Friends since childhood, it had just made sense that they came to a conference as important as Pastor Blanco’s together and had rooms next to each other. They shared meals and compared notes on the proceedings after the events. It was a joke between them that Blaine and Spencer were closer to each other than either of them were to their wives.

The difference between them was that Spencer was much more aggressive about evangelising. From the instant that the freaks had first appeared in the Astra Hotel, Blaine had known they were beyond help, not worth the time and effort to save. But Spencer had doggedly persisted, striking up conversations with the youngest, most impressionable-looking queers whenever he could. It had seemed harmless, so Blaine hadn’t said anything.

But one morning, Spencer walked out of his room in leather pants. He had just said they were “comfortable,” but the Spencer Blaine knew would never have worn something like that. And he’d had what looked like a tattoo peeking out from his shirtsleeves.

That night, Spencer had begged off their usual debrief of the day’s events. Blaine had noticed he’d seemed uncomfortable during a bunch of the presentations, but didn’t want to ask about it. Instead, still in those tight leather pants, Spencer had strutted out of Blaine’s hotel room and gotten in the elevator, headed God knows where.

The next morning, an unrecognisable leatherman had stepped out of Spencer’s room, and Blaine had just known, with cold certainty, that this man had been Spencer before.

Since then, Blaine had barely left his room. He had tried to move up his flight, even considered driving back to Houston, but he couldn’t bring himself to commit. What if he could still do something to save Spencer? Blaine had never put much stock in exorcisms or purification rituals, but something dark and supernatural was clearly happening here.

Surfing the internet, Blaine had stumbled on some kind of strange ritual meant to purify someone who had lost themselves to false worship. After days of little sleep and intense anxiety, Blaine was willing to try anything.

Just as he collected the items he would need and began to steel himself to leave his room and knock on Spencer’s door, a note was pushed under Blaine’s door. He went and picked it up.

Miss u man. Can we talk? —Spence

Spencer—Spence—answered his door at Blaine’s first knock. It was midafternoon, and he seemed to be dressed down, compared to when Blaine had last seen him. Loose button-up shirt open to his toned belly, sleeves rolled up to show intricate forearm tattoos, looser leather pants. Blaine found himself cataloguing Spence as he followed the man into his hotel room. He had something of Spencer’s gait, his height and age, but Spence took up space. He was all angles and sex appeal, unlike Spencer, who women had always described as safe and cuddly. Unlike Blaine, for whom the compliment had always been that he was “conscientious.”

“What’s up?” said Spence in a deeper, louder voice than Blaine was used to, sitting down on the bed and spreading his legs. “I feel like it’s been ages since I saw you. Did getting a few days off from the convention help?”

It was now or never. Blaine flung a handful of salt in Spence’s face, opened his Bible to the marked passage, and started to read aloud. His hand shook so much that half the salt poured down his own clothes.

Spence looked down at himself, brushing salt grains off his shirt. “What the hell, dude? Is this, like, some roleplay thing?” He suddenly smirked. “Ooh, like an uptight evangelist getting seduced by a hot, hedonistic leatherman? That sounds pretty hot.”

Blaine tried to tune Spence out and keep reading. It was hard. Spence laid himself out on his mattress, as if he was bound spreadeagle. He seemed to know exactly how to pose himself to show off his thick, hairy chest through the gap in his shirt. He grinned up as Blaine kept reading.

“Father,” Spence said, “are you sure you wanna preach to me? I got a sermon you might like, too.” He thrust his hips a bit, showing off a thick bulge.

Why was Blaine’s mouth watering? He refocussed on reading. He knew these words off by heart, they were automatic. He’d missed Spence so much this last week. Instead of trying to exorcise him, he wanted to give the shorter man a hug. He wanted to let his hands run down Spence’s body, to that tight ass in his leather pants. Give that bulge a squeeze, maybe a lick…

It was so warm in this room. Still reading from his Bible, Blaine efficiently stripped off his dress shirt. He and Spence had seen each other like this back when they were roommates in college. Anyway, Spence seemed to appreciate the view, biting his lip as Blaine bared his body. It was normal, just a step in the process. Soon, Blaine would have Spence back to normal.

“Damn, Father, when’d you get those tattoos?” Spence asked. “Looking more like a Daddy than a Father.”

Confused, Blaine glanced away from the page, still speaking the words aloud. His arms holding up the Bible looked unfamiliar. Muscular, coated in hair, and covered in tattoos. As Blaine began to speak the next verse, he watched the transformation push further up his biceps. They rounded out with thick muscle, a layer of fine black hair, and an interlacing network of tattoos.

Spence was looking at Blaine like he wanted to eat him alive. Why was Blaine the one changing? Why was he still reading? Blaine tried to stop, but the words continued to flow. Horrified, he flung the Bible away, but still continued to recite the verses from memory.

The tattoos and muscle continued to spread, filling out Blaine’s shoulders as thick hair grew in his armpits, spreading a virile, masculine scent as Blaine sweat in the heat. His chest and belly bulked up with muscle and fat. His reciting voice deepened as the change rushed up his neck and over his head. His face became more masculine as piercings appeared in his brows, his hair receded, and wide gauges appeared in his ears.

His pants felt so tight. Blaine found himself unbuttoning his jeans and shoving them down his growing legs, watching in horror as the tattoos followed the muscles and hair right down to his ankles. Hadn’t he been wearing underwear before? Why was he commando? Why was his thick cock getting hard?

Blaine rested a hand at the base of his cock as he kept on reciting. He wanted to run right out of the Astra Hotel, but found his feet rooted to the spot. He couldn’t even control his face enough to cry or grimace, just continued to blankly recite the Bible at Spence.

Spence flipped around on the bed, presenting his leather-clad ass to Blaine as he watched the transformation over his shoulder. “Yes, Daddy,” he said, giving his ass a slap to try and encourage Blaine. “No need for an annoying church controlling you when all you gotta worship is this ass.”

Had Blaine somehow turned his ritual on himself? He couldn’t help but agree with Spence that the church could be pretty controlling, plus Spence did have a pretty nice ass. Blaine found himself drooling at the sight. It wasn’t that weird. He and Spence had been so close all their lives, and Spence had always been such a showoff sex fiend. It was what had gotten Blaine out from under the thumb of the church back in college…

Something about that thought didn’t feel right, but it all seemed correct in Blaine’s memories. Being Spence’s roommate had unlocked thoughts and feelings for Blaine that he’d never known he had. His sexual life, spiritual independence, their shared love for leather, it had all come from college.

Blaine ground out the next verse, shifting his footing as he started to stroke his big cock at the sight of Spence’s hot ass presented just for him. He was almost done the recitation. Why had he decided to roleplay this again? He’d just wanted a break from the kink conference, and a chance to have his husband of twenty years all to himself.

Finally, Blaine finished reciting the Bible verses. All that time spent memorising the Bible back in his misspent youth definitely helped this kind of roleplay. Fully “corrupted” by Spence, transformed into Daddy instead of Father, Blaine threw himself onto the bed and yanked Spence’s pants down with a single motion of his strong, tattooed arms. Spence moaned as Blaine dove into his ass, eating him out with the passion of a demon.

After they’d both cum all over the sheets, Blaine and Spence lay next to each other. “You ready to head back down, babe?” Spence asked. “I think Dan’s hosting a dom/sub workshop in the conference hall.”

“That sounds fuckin’ awesome,” Blaine slurred, half asleep. “Go find our caps.”

His husband always had the best ideas. He loved Spence so much.

Click here to see all of Virgo Season.

If you feel inspired, write a story set at the Astra Hotel and post it @ me to join in. Help me celebrate my birthday by turning more conference attendees into geared up gay kinksters.

[greater-than-the-sword]

For those of you who are aware of David Wood, you know of course that he and his equally famous friend Nabeel Qureshi are no longer on YouTube, first because Nabeel passed away, and 2ndly because David Wood had become primarily interested in evangelizing to Muslims, and YouTube decided to pull down and censor a lot of his videos for being critical of Islam. David Wood's videos are now on a privately hosted website.

His former channel, however, with its massive follower count, was turned over to another colleague of his named Hatun Tash. Ms. Tash is also an evangelist to Muslims. Her channel claims she has, "in a 3-year period, brought 1,000 Muslims to Jesus Christ, including 17 imams." She has survived 2 attempts on her life by certain radical muslims who seem dedicated to trying to assassinate her.

On December 21st, the Youtube channel Hatun Tash DCCI Ministries livestreamed a video. The man on this video, as you can clearly see, is not Ms. Tash, but her friend Dr. Jay Smith who reports that Hatun Tash has been missing for over a month and has not contacted anyone, even her own team.

For some reason, the police keep shutting down missing persons reports on her.

They are now asking people, especially in the UK, to help find her since the police are of no use and also put political pressure on the authorities to investigate. She was last seen in the UK (apparently in London?) on November 19th.

See the linked video and video description for more information

[disregardcanon]

i'm thinking about a npmd the good place au and HOO BOY the ideas

it's a season 1 setup, with tinky as the architect of the neighborhood.

... good janets are petes and bad janets are teds. OUR pete is the neighborhood's pete and he's just kinda. trying to get by. shit's weird, guys. he doesn't remember how he got here and all his protocols have been messed up and the guy that took him isn't very nice. but this is- it's fine. it has to fine (there's no other choice.)

grace chastity is still adjusting to the idea that the christian god isn't real. she is not enjoying that very much, but she IS validated by the idea that her actions as a christian got her into The Place Where Good People Go. her actual exploits like mission trips and getting dances canceled and running abstinence camp are what are brought up during the Look How Cool We Are Welcome to the Neighborhood gala.

steph has been assigned to be her soulmate. she isn't supposed to be here. she's not like, an ABSURDLY bad person for anything, she just. was raised by solomon lauter. so she got the hell out of dodge after graduation and MAYBE she did some scams to get by after that. and like maybe she knows how to make a molotov cocktail and has used one once or twice. she certainly isn't The Best Person Who Did All These Things To Help the World and Support Great Liberal Causes that they keep saying she is. (she... wishes she was. though.) and these bible studies that her soulmate (soulmate???? THE FUCK) grace chastity keeps trying to force her to do so not to out her to the authorities as A Mistake Who Should Not Be Here. really aren't helping. (like come on. grace still insists that it's bad to be bisexual but look who her soulmate is? STEPH! so maybe steph knows more about how to adjust to this new world that little miss evangelist does)

ruth fleming is the first recorded case (according to tinky) of a Human Without a Soulmate in the history of humanity. just her fucking luck. she can't even get the robot guy to fuck her. ughgggghhh. you spend your life writing high quality erotic for lonely people and it gets you into heaven! but it doesn't even get you a partner. fuckin' rude

max jagerman doesn't think that he did anything wrong. he was the king of hatchetfield high, and then hatchetfield community college, and then he managed to fight his way to a backup quarterback spot on the jacksonville jaguars (this is the good place it will be the jaguars). and then! he's the REAL quarterback! if patrick ma-fucking-homes would just drop dead he'd be the most famous quarterback in the united states, thank you!

but when he dies... the guy doesn't tell him congrats on all the success. he doesn't even recognize that this is MAXWELL JAGERMAN! the quarterback who should be the most famous and well-respected in the united states. he makes some weird references to how... ambition... is... bad? and that those that hurt other people are... bad? says something about being a channel of peace or whatever? and that if this was a mix up then max is free to go to "drowsy town"? whatever the fuck that means.

so when he says "but you're not an ambitious bully that hurt others to get where you were! you're a super nice silent catholic monk who promoted peace on earth, right?" and max just.... stares.

"do you want to keep up your vow of silence? you can just nod." and max... does. because what the fuck do you say to that? shit shit shit shit shit shit FUCK

his "soulmate" is richie lipschitz, warrior for the sanctity of other people's art. why, if his youtube channel that makes fun of other people's bad art and takes and uses his fan base to come after much smaller creators isn't a net positive in the world, then what IS? some loser who doesn't understand anything complaining about the fascist implications of attack on titan on the internet? HA! (richie is disappointed that his soulmate isn't someone better, who likes him, but it was never going to live up to rei or asuka anyway. so he'll live)

he's the only one who knows max, and they went to high school together. max was the exact sort of bully that he was in canon. and it takes a LOT of sweet talk about how richie's the one who's actually supposed to be here to get him to stay quiet about the Max Actually Being an Awful Football Player and Not That Cool Silent Monk thing.

ruth and richie become friends through a series of sitcom tomfoolery. the sitcom tomfoolery is mainly Dragging The Poor Robot Into Playing Games and then Getting Mad That He's Better At The Games Than They Are. also ruth getting frustrated that the robot does not want to fuck her. (it's not because the robot does not want to fuck she's just not his type)

steph knows that she recognizes that silent monk guy from somewhere but can't quite put her finger on it, and she knows that something is VERY wrong here.

grace is developing a crush on her soulmate and does not know how to do that. (does being a soulmate count as marriage? is it actually bad to be gay when god doesn't even properly exist? did her actions matter since she wasn't serving a real god? what do you do with an EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN THE AFTERLIFE?!?!?! ugh stomachache.)

max wants to figure out how to go back to being The Coolest Guy Ever, FUCK YEAH (he can't even shout go nighthawks or jacksonville jaguars, because he can't talk! it sucks!) but he knows that his soulmate Will Not Help. the guy, unreasonably, is still holding high school against him. and also everything else that max has legitimately messed up since then. (ha, it's almost like. consequences to your actions-) and then he meets grace chastity, biggest prude and most Sure of Herself in This Entire Place.

and he's in love <3 he prostrates himself in front of her and BEGS her to help him become "a good person" so that he can stay here. and grace is like i really don't have time for that i have to teach my own Secretly Shitty Soulmate the bible. and steph's like uh you can just. stop doing that. i'm really not interested-

and grace is like NO YOU ARE NOT LEAVING ME YOU BEAUTIFUL CHARMING SEDUCTRESS! and steph's like ugh. did i finally cure this girl's internalized homophobia in time for her to just. not leave me the fuck alone? fuck

so a max who, in theory, wants to learn grace chastity's version of Good Personhood so that he can earn his spot here and become Coolest Guy in the Good Place, King of Good Place High, and mainly just wants to spend time with her and get her to like him, grace who is having a bisexual panic attack and also fighting off existential dread, and steph, who knows that there is something very very wrong here and that grace can't help her with morality but also. has not figured out what's wrong or who can. is just stuck here while the other two flirt and grace occassionally remembers to make googly eyes HER way instead of max jagerman's. who IS the famous football player. what a fuckin' world

steph starts trying to research What the Fuck Is Wrong Here, and realizes that max's soulmate, richie, and tragically unattached ruth are befriending the Robot with Godlike Knowledge. and she's like oh wow i could probably utilize that in my Research.

more sitcom shenanigans occur. grace and max stop noticing that their third wheel isn't attending bible studies and they become more and more them just dancing towards sexual encounters.

steph uses her con artist raised by a politician (other type of con artist) skills to notice more and more strange fuckery, as things with the world start spiraling further and further out of control.

"you're pretty funny. you know, for a robot."

"not a robot."

"then what are you, exactly?"

"... a spankoffski?" and steph feels really bad for laughing.

she gets figured out as Not Who She Appears to Be and has to go through this big long contrived process to get to stay in the good place instead of getting shipped off, and it just seems... like so much. they bring up reps from the bad place and the stakes seem so contrived.

ruth and richie shenanigan together by Trying to Find The Swinger Soulmate Pairs while steph tries to figure out why, exactly, nothing feels real. and it feels less real when the walls start to enclose and she might be getting removed from the good place entirely.

the bad place representatives show up: another weird guy with another weird name and his own robot.

the bad place even has their own version of pete- a weird, horny bastard who won't answer anyone's questions and just complains the whole time. but why would that demon that they brought up be... willing? to let them cut a deal? why does their architect seem... weirdly chummy with them? they act almost the same, treating their robot right hands with the same amount of... callous contempt. perhaps the Ted "deserves" it, but-

... why isn't tinky kind to pete? pete might not be HUMAN, but he's still... sentient. he has thoughts and feelings and he's her favorite company in this godforsaken place- and tinky is supposed to be the creator of a place that's good and just.

what exactly are their numbers indicating? why is everything so confusing and bullshit and-

she runs out to the lake, just to clear her head. sit by the water and watch. she pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

"hey pete?" she asks. the well-dressed robot materializes beside her. sitting cross-legged.

"everyone has... points, right? that's how they figure out if you go to the good place or the bad place?"

"that's correct."

"who has the most points here?"

"you."

steph chuckles. "good one, spankoffski. i didn't know you could joke on purpose"

he tilts his head in confusion. "it wasn't a joke."

"i- what?"

"there are only 5 sets of numbers here. yours is the highest. it's been going up steadily ever since you got here."

steph just stares. "pete, there can't- there's hundreds of people here. why would only 5 of us have numbers?"

"only humans have numbers," he says simply. and oh god, oh fuck, oh shit-

"how did you get here?" she asks softly.

he looks thoughtful for a moment. "i... don't remember."

so steph gathers up the five other humans and they break their way into tinky's office, pete in tow.

and he's like "huh. what are you all doing here together?"

the other four humans are still confused, but steph is a forceful personality and convinced them this was the only way to fix things.

"go ahead and send me to the bad place," steph says, "i thought about it, and i don't want to keep making things so HARD on all of you. i was soooo selfish in life, but i don't want to keep that up."

tinky looks anxious. "oh steph, you aren't a burden."

she smiles. "but i thought i wasn't even supposed to be here?"

"we've made it work," tinky promises.

steph laughs. "i don't think so. this show reminds me what my dad would do, when he wanted to seem like he was fighting for something politically that he already had set up. it's all a show, right?"

tinky grins tightly. "i don't know what you mean."

"you're not sending me to the bad place, because i'm ALREADY THERE!" she declares. the other humans gasp. pete looks unfazed.

tinky blinks. "i don't know what you're talking about."

"there are only 5 sets of numbers here," steph says, "and guess whose is the highest? MINE! and i'm not even supposed to be here."

"two clerical errors? really?" steph demands.

"things happen," tinky says.

"and the three that got here fair and square?" steph asks, "we have a self-righteous church girl, a bullied youtuber who started bullying people himself, and an erotic writer. of teacher/student!" steph laughs, "come on, you're telling me that THOSE are the best humanity has to offer? and that max and i both just so happpenneeddd to end up here? in error?"

tinky grits his teeth. "no one else here is even human. if they were, they'd act like it. and they'd have numbers. but they don't."

"this is our own little nightmare realm that you cooked up to torture us."

then tinky laughs, maniacal and goat-like.

"wait," grace whispers, "i'm not... a good person?"

"NO!" tinky cackles, "that was the fun! but now... someone's ruined it for all of us. we're going to have to reset everything now. are you happy, stephanie?"

she frowns. "reset?" tinky snaps his fingers, and the humans pass out on his floor.

"i'm not supposed to be here," pete says, looking with wide eyes over to the passed out humans.

"ugh," tinky says, "RESET!" and not-a-robot not-a-boy spankoffski resets too.

he has another chance at this. and another. and another. and another. and another- however many it takes to get this right. and he WILL get this right, after all. he has all the time in the world.

[thebiggerbear]

Destiel Fic Recs List

Rec list under Read More:

Desperation by @gococogo - While on a hunt, Dean gets hit with an unknown pollen that stings the throat. But after awhile of thinking everything is fine, Dean realizes he is not fine and very horny…

Love: A Retrospective by @xylodemon - Pretending Cas is just his friend has been the only thing keeping Dean's head on straight for years. He never realized how much doing that depended on him making himself scarce in the morning ─ not until Cas came back and moved into the bunker.

Ninety One Whiskey Series by komodobits - In the spring of 1944, the 104th Medical Battalion of the United States Army is disbanded, and its men reassigned to various infantry companies in preparation for their invasion of occupied France. For First Lieutenant Novak, this is less than helpful, as he has so far met his platoon’s designated medic a grand total of twice, and has both times found Sergeant Winchester to be the optimum combination of reckless, arrogant, and downright insufferable so as to make cohesive platoon function near impossible. When the time comes to move out, however, Castiel has to reconcile himself to the fact that men are going to go down and trust that Dean Winchester may well be the only person who can put them back together again. WW2 ETO infantry AU.

Evangelist by @valleydean - In Lawrence, the Novak family owns more than god. Castiel is expected to graduate with a business degree, become a community leader, meet a nice girl, and one day help run the family business, Evangelist, Inc. Then he meets Dean Winchester, who vehemently opposes everything Evangelist stands for. When Dean’s need for cash to pay the bills leads him down a risky path, both he and Castiel learn there may be more to Evangelist than philanthropy and good will.

The Path of Fireflies by @museaway - After his humanity is restored, Dean wakes up in bed with Castiel, a wedding ring, and no memory of the past twelve years.

Twist and Shout by gabriel, standbyme - What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.

yesterday's roses by @museaway - It was not how Castiel had envisioned their first real conversation would go, but then he’d never thought he’d trade a thriving legal career in Chicago for a job in his brother’s flower shop in Kansas, either.

Castiel Novak's Office, This is Dean by @valleydean - Dean Winchester is an executive assistant at an advertising agency. On the day his boss retires, he has an unforgettable one night stand with a new hire, Castiel Novak. The problem: turns out Cas is his new boss.

A Complete Kingdom by komodobits - The sea; it swallows me. It comes up to my knees and it swallows me. The boys owe Jody a few dozen favours, and so when her niece goes missing near an old fishing village on the coast of Maine, Dean, Sam, and a newly human Castiel agree to take the case on. They settle into an old abandoned lighthouse-keepers' cottage, and slowly the tide comes in. (post-s8)

*I will add more as I go

dividers by @firefly-graphics

[olderthannetfic]

Anon from 722398181104795649 again about YA as a G-D and it's failure(s). Your response is really interesting because it definitely aligns with the market research I've had to do over the last 3-ish months for work. Adult YA readers want YA to skew older superficially as escapism from the woes of adulthood (It's like someone who orders a pasta with broccoli in it because they appreciate the flavor it brings, but they have no interest in actually eating their vegetables). Teenagers feel alienated by the G-D that is meant for them no longer allows them to confront said woes with honesty or maturity for their age to prepare them for adulthood or discussing broader ideas. More teenagers skip over YA altogether or just reader adult genre fiction with some Middle Grade fiction mixed in because the teenagers feel in MG, there's still an honesty to the stories that they can understand, having once been young children. In short: teenagers think YA books are talking down to or patronizing them.

The result is YA authors pushing for NA, New Adult, as a G-D, which hasn't taken off within tradpub outside of romance circles. Mostly, because what they're pushing for is already an established genre for around a century: campus novels--books about characters 18+ who are entering college, establishing independence, beginning to explore sexuality and enter the workforce, etc. But, again, YA adult readers refuse to engage with adult genre fiction because there isn't the facade of protection from adult themes or topics, and there's an aggressive refusal among many agents in literary fiction (and some adult genre fiction) to encourage authors to sanitize their stories. YA authors began attempting to cross over into adult genre fiction with mixed, but overwhelmingly negative, results, as they cannot shake the stigma of writing YA. And the genre fiction crowds they want to appeal to have higher standards, typically, than the average YA writer is able to meet. YA authors then complain about the differences in publishing YA and genre adult fiction. It's like when MCU actors and directors get upset when prestige film directors don't consider MCU movies to be "cinema."

--

This is fascinating.

I pretty much missed the YA boom (slightly too old, not paying attention, etc.), so I've mostly encountered YA through its worst evangelists of the Hunger Games knockoff era, and often a good bit after their favorite books were at their height.

As I've said before, this really strikes me as that pattern where something is big when you're at a formative age, and it becomes the Normal Default to you.

I'm sure some of it is refusal to engage with adult nuance, but I'll bet a lot of it is resistance to leaving the name of YA behind. People spent so much time defending this niche that they started believing their own rhetoric about it being the only place the good queer stuff was or the feminist stuff was or whatever. They identified really strongly as A YA Fan. It's hard to let that go.

And if you don't remember much about pre-YA boom publishing, the fact that all that YA-tastic Mercedes Lackey stuff was filed under fantasy, not YA is completely obscure. The places you find stuff you'd like that aren't called "YA" are not obvious. The fact that YA in its boom era form isn't universal and eternal is not obvious.

I think people are waiting for their Cool Era of their early 20s to return and for the things they think should always be in fashion to come back... Like everyone else aging ungracefully, they may be waiting a while.

Gotta say, every New Adult book I've been shown sounds like a hideously boring contemporary romance that would probably make a good coffee shop AU against a backdrop of a canon that's dark or magical but that isn't really pulling its weight even if you like contemporaries.

[fiercynn]

palestinian poets: tariq luthun

tariq luthun is a detroit-born, dearborn-raised community organizer, data consultant, and emmy award-winning poet. the son of palestinian muslim immigrants from gaza, he is a kresge arts in detroit fellow that earned his MFA from the program for writers at warren wilson college. he has been recognized as a best of the net poet and has earned fellowships from kundiman, the watering hole, and the kresge foundation. his work has appeared in vinyl poetry, lit hub, mizna, winter tangerine, and button poetry, among others. luthun currently serves as a board member of the offing literary magazine. his first collection of poetry, How the Water Holds Me, was published by bull city press in 2020. the press named the book an editors' selection.

luthun spends most of his time hosting events, working with youth, and facilitating marginalized communities for growth through expression and action. he is a deep dish pizza evangelist, and can best be described as the end-result of a less problematic drake falsetto-rapping edward said's orientalism.

luthun was also recently interviewed by national public radio about the current escalation in genocidal violence by israel against palestine. as of ten days ago, his family in gaza was all okay.

IF YOU READ JUST ONE POEM BY TARIQ LUTHUN, MAKE IT THIS ONE

OTHER POEMS ONLINE THAT I LOVE BY TARIQ LUTHUN

We Already Know This at literary hub

Al-Bahr at tariq's website

Portrait of My Father Drowning, originally published at crab orchard review

Fruit at up the staircase

Dance at winter tangerine

The Summer My Cousin Went Missing (read aloud) at tariq's website

Whisp at the offing

Mismarked (live performance) recorded by button poetry

Museums at voicemail poems

New Rule at the offing

[eesirachs]

Hello Sister, have you heard of Mary Magdalene being called the Apostles of Apostles? If so, can you please expand more on this, I love it so much! God bless you!

the evangelists denote only twelve bodies as ἀποστόλων/apostles. the letters will make this category muddy (that is: paul and pseudo-paul will try to huddle into the term). it has been said that an apostle is chosen by name by god, in his life, to follow him, whereas disciples are the non-named-by-god followers. but matthias was never named by god, in his life, and he is an apostle still. and don't ask me what happened on the road to damascus. what we have, then, are bodies pulled toward jesus, loving him, missing him, mourning him. a group of women, widows mainly, made up this group (and bank-rolled jesus and his boy friends): mary of magdala is one of these women. church fathers have hesitated to call her an apostle, despite the fact that she was always there. despite the fact that she, with her girls, stayed at the tomb. despite the fact that for the first, maybe, fifteen minutes of its existence, the post-resurrection-jesus-movement consisted of only one person: her. mary has been called the apostle to the apostles as an analgesic to the sin of it all, to the refusal to name her. mary of magdala is an apostle, though. and those of us who would have also followed jesus, but who would have been forced to eat separately, to walk behind him, to not be named—we have known this all along

[dotthings]

So over this. Arrogant and officious, narrow minded and phobic entitled stans thinking they have rights to boss anyone else around (while they deny being phobic of course! Couldn’t be them! They’re never the problem! It’s only those evil hellers!)

The idea that to be a good fan you must ignore queer coding and deny the canon intimations when it comes to bi Dean, queer Cas, and Destiel, to be a good fan you can only see it as platonic and straight, needs to DIAF.

So…if we don’t lie about what we see in canon we’re bad fans.

If we don’t comply with fandom fascists telling us we didn’t see what we watched, if we don’t discard our own media literacy, we’re evil and ruining the fandom.

If we don’t go to our knees trying to placate antis then we’re “bullying” and “divisive” and “disrespectful.”

What absolute absurdist dreck fandom theater nonsense.

What an inane media illiterate hateful tire fire.

Every time some twit makes a post screeching that Dean is straight and if you don’t agree you’re violating a fictional character, or that the love of Dean and Cas can only be platonic because spnstan1000 or jaredluvr2brosonly or Jensen4everDeanstan said so they’re stoking the flames on purpose. While they virtue signal about being sane and good fans.

And blaming spn itself misses the point, especially when we know how much work the creatives did to get around the corporate owned entertainment system.

Blame for lack of openness falls on the corporate system. Because the board and the shareholders of entertainment corporations are mostly a bunch of old, white, straight, conservatives who fear change and cling to status quo due to their own biases, where even the CEOs who want change have to tread carefully.

We need to stop trampling over the spn writers on this and also acknowledge antis aren’t reasonable and they will not stop. Sometimes antis happen to benefit from a crummy system.

But even for a show that was queer coded we have every right to our reading and we should own our reading.

Waiting around for open acknowledgment of the kind that has magazine spreads and declarative official PR statements before we’ll do it is just leaving the patio doors open for the fandom wolves who don’t deserve to be given the time of day.

SPN IS MY HOUSE. And I will not be told what to do by destielh8terbrolove3000, or straight Dean evangelists, destielsucks80 or the downright media illiterate gatekeeping, othering culture, and denialism games of arrogant stans.

[transbookoftheday]

The Heretic Prince by Theo J. Malloy

The first Mychal Halwood died ten years ago, and no one can ever find out.

A transmasculine prince, running from his destiny.

A princess with forbidden magic, days away from being promised to the enemy.

And the heir to the evangelist northern kingdom, starting to doubt…

Seventeen-year-old Mychal is a squire in the Holy Army, serving the officers by day and giving their secrets to the Resistance by night. It's risky work, but he's used to that; the Army would kill him if they ever found his greatest secret, that he and the missing princess are one and the same. Mychal ran away to become his true self years ago, but his kingdom is still occupied by the Holy forces, ten years after they executed his mother and brother.

Meanwhile, Samira, his best friend from childhood, is harboring a secret of her own- she is a mage, with forbidden powers, only weeks away from being promised to the mysterious Godhead. Never mind that the only one she ever wanted to be with rode away in the night with a new name, leaving her behind. And Edris, the crown prince of the evangelist kingdom to the North, is still haunted by the night he helped Mychal escape. But when he meets a handsome knight from an enemy kingdom, he starts to doubt his commitment to the Faith.

Mychal never meant to overthrow an empire. But when Samira asks him for his help and his first battle ends in disaster, he finds that he has to go home- and take his brother's name and place as heir to the throne.

The Heretic Prince is the first book in the Heretic Prince series from new author Theo J. Malloy.

[makima-s-most-smile]

I've now read more than once that Pomni is made out to be a Jesus figure, which... I guess? Maybe? I need more episodes for that comparison. But I see the reasons why people have that theory.

But then I stumbled over the takes that Jax is meant to be the Judas and...

No? (That said, no hate towards the people saying that. I just have an opinion about what is needed for a Judas)

Specifically, they said, due to Jax' animosity and him missing during the funeral scene (since Judas wasn't at Jesus' cruxification because he hanged himself)

First of all, there are different endings for Judas, depending on the evangelist. One is, yes, he was so haunted by his betrayal that he killed himself. Another one is that he was smitten by God and left to rot in a field. Or he isn't mentioned after the betrayal at all. So the connection to any funeral or him missing from it is pretty weak to me.

Secondly, Judas has to be an important person to Jesus, too. Some scholars argued, rightfully so, that without Judas' betrayal there would be no Christianity, because Jesus needed to die and come back for this to happen. It's bittersweet, to say in the least drastic words.

But even if we take the first end for Judas. Judas killed himself because he couldn't live with the regret of having betrayed Jesus. For that you need to care for a person. Jax has no closer relationship to Pomni as of now. Jax doesn't seem to have ANY close relationship to anyone. He seems to actively avoid them. That may be due to apathy for being trapped for how much time in the circus and witnessing people abstract or just because he is a jerk or both. Both is always good.

This is not the face of someone NOT caring about anyone. I am sure we will get more to that. But this face is about Kaufmo and not about Pomni.

For me this reads more like Pomni is very aware that she cannot trust Jax. It is just a consequence of his behaviour towards her and everyone really. Him mocking her in her first dream and his absence of a helping hand in the second dream is showing her disposition towards him, at least to me. I mean everyone else is helping her in her second dream, they reach out to her, Kinger's hand, Gangle's, Zooble's and Ragatha's. Caine and Jax are missing there.

Added to that, if any character as of now could have the position of a possible Judas, I would say it is Ragatha. While Pomni and Ragatha get closer to each other in episode 2, Ragatha has been incredibly disappointed by Pomni leaving her in pain and danger for the exit. And due to her conflict avoiding tendencies and Pomni being in constant overwhelmed mode (understandable), they never really talked about it. That may fester.

And from the other side... Ragatha may have known what will happen to Gummigoo, but she didn't say it to Pomni and stop her from bringing him with them to the circus (again, to avoid confrontation). If that is true, Pomni could be hurt by this.

[god-has-entered-my-body]

hey girl did you know that im a lesbian kiss i'm an evangelist and if you dont wanna go to hell then, miss, you better start selling this DUHDUhDUH AND IF I BELIEVE YOU WILL THATS MAKE IT STOP? IF I TELL YOU I NEEEEEDDD YOU IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT??????

[what-even-is-thiss]

I don’t really think that Ready Player One is the best movie or premise. It’s a bit too obsessed with the past, in my opinion. However, I do think that a lot of the tech bros looking to turn virtual reality into the ready player one universe kind of missed the point of that movie.

And I’m only gonna talk about it as a movie here because the book was essentially written to be turned into a movie.

A lot of virtual reality and meta verse evangelists point to the world of ready player one with everybody escaping the real world and living in virtual reality and are like. That. I want a world like that.

But as much as I find a lot of stuff in that movie to be annoying, it’s not advocating for everyone to be living in the meta verse. The movie ends with the main characters taking collective control of the virtual world together and shutting it down for one day a week because one of the themes the movie explores is how the virtual world and the real world aren’t actually fundamentally separate and how human connection both virtual and in person is an important thing to have in your life.

It doesn’t advocate for the real world to be replaced with the virtual or for the virtual world to be eliminated. If it advocates for anything at all it’s the power of friendship and copious amounts of pop culture references.