#new writings in sf 5

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

John Carnell (editor) - New Writings in SF5 - Corgi - 1971

[deanmarywinchester]

best sf/f/horror I read in 2024

hello esteemed colleagues. here’s stuff I read in 2024 that I liked, in no particular order outside of the ranking tiers. find previous years of this reclist here

top 5

the bright sword by lev grossman: “lev grossman wrote a shockingly melancholy, hopeful, and expansive novel that hurts a little to read, about a young man who dreams of the age of heroes but finds that that age is over” and other unsurprising statements. this one is a take on Arthurian legend that happens after Arthur is dead, and is really interesting to me for how it portrays England as abandoned once by Rome’s great architects and then once more by the magic of Arthur’s court. with the age of legends twice dead, can anyone bring it back for real or can they only try to make it RETVRN?

the traitor baru cormorant + sequels by seth dickinson: there was a version of this post, before I went back and checked my list of what I read this year, where the top 5 was only Seth Dickinson books. these books are about how far you’ll descend into evil (ie how many war crimes you’ll commit as an imperial operative) to save your colonized home. they’re all good but the first one goes CRAZY. the author was a police bias researcher and it shows. portrays lesbian desire really really well. “hard fantasy” isn’t REALLY a thing but it’s this, they’re barely fantasy and more political drama

exordia by seth dickinson also: what if a reality-warping anomaly was hotly pursued by the US military while they were hotly pursued by aliens with planet-killing power? what if you got your whole village killed as a child and now you’re in a romcom with an alien? the Acknowledgements say, nearly word for word, “i wrote this between Barus for fun because those really take it out of me. anyway I’d like to thank the researchers who helped me with astrophysics, nuclear weapon functions, Kurdish feminism and history, and translation into five languages.” read if you like meticulously researched thrillers, Annihilation, and Challengers situations.

everything for everyone by eman adelhadi and m. e. o’brien: told with a framing device whereby the authors mention their own experiences with activism and revolution after the 2020s and compile an oral history of the future anarchist New York Commune, each chapter of this book is an interview with someone about a different aspect of how they contributed to revolution and setting up a new society. my gripe with this book is that I wish it talked more about problems that will still (or newly) exist in utopia, but I still loved it.

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson: I finished this book and immediately went to that blog that was running the literary incest tournament earlier this year because I was certain that Merricat and Constance had placed and lo and behold they had. those gothic themes are gothic themeing. read if you want jackson’s theme of small-town distrust and paranoia and isolation taken to the extreme

honorable mentions

the raven tower by ann leckie: what I love about ann leckie is her ability to write non-human protagonists without sci-fi jargon and with totally alien concerns and viewpoints that you can nonetheless buy into. this protagonist is a rock living on a hill that is a local god. read if you like folktales, loners, and twist endings.

the sapling cage by margaret killjoy: even though this is middle grade, all you had to say to me was “Margaret From Podcasts does transfem anarchist Song of the Lioness” and I was in. in a medieval fantasy world without a concept of transness, a trans girl swaps places with her friend so her friend can become a knight and she can become a witch and discover who is leaching the life from the forests for their own gain. the witch politics/interpersonal drama is done with the eye of someone who’s lived in communes most of her life and the way it straddles lingering love of knight tales and distrust of armed people with the legal right to kill you is refreshing

do you dream of terra two by temi oh: the most elite graduates of a cutthroat boarding school are selected for a mission to explore a potentially habitable planet in this character-driven meditation on what it takes to believe in something you can’t see and may have to give up your whole life for

monstrilio: a piece of flesh from a woman’s dead son grows into a person of its own, initially shaped like a monster but molded by his parents into a more-or-less normal-looking young man with a taste for human flesh. cringe moment but this is what Jack Supernatural could have been. to me. litfic with themes of monstrousness/normality, grief, and the various meanings of consuming flesh.

long live evil by sarah rees brennan: listen I know how it sounds but I’m putting this book so high up this list because I had a blast. a teenage cancer patient gets isekai’d into a book series that her sister loves but that she only half remembers, and has to use her vague memory of the plot to avoid execution long enough to obtain a magic item that’ll cure her in the real world. it has something to say about how it feels to live in a body that’s healthy after being desperately sick but it’s also just catnip for your inner teen fangirl daydreaming about getting your first kiss from a tortured prince

the terraformers by annalee newitz: in three different stories of people at different times in the planet’s political development, the story of a privately-owned planet terraformed to be habitable is told. this is for you if you like future politics about privatization and the rights of non-human persons a la Murderbot

silver under nightfall by rin chupeco: this book was selected for me by my friend and favorite bookseller @literally-irreverent because i like romance IN things but I don’t usually like when romance is the whole plot. anyway this is about solving a dangerous strain of vampirism while having a vampire/vampire/vampire-hunter romance that is. mwah. chef’s kiss. read if you like politically disastrous polyamory and The Witcher

the adventures of amina al-sirafi by s. a. chakraborty: i read the daevabad trilogy and I liked it but didn’t love it, but I liked this book a lot. mostly I think it’s really fun to have a seagoing adventurer who’s a mom, and it was done with a lot of care for her perspective.

runners up

to shape a dragon’s breath by monquill blackgoose: in an alternate history New England, an indigenous teenager finds a dragon egg and must become the first non-European to attend a school for dragon riders near her island. YA with prose that skews young and easy to read but with a good story. themes of colonialism and resistance.

things have gotten worse since we last spoke by eric larocca: I don’t love larocca’s prose but I felt like this book succeeded because it’s written in internet dialogue + therefore hid larocca’s tendency to get purple prose with it. horror about the quick rabbithole that is getting socialized/groomed mostly online.

the lion will slaughter the lamb & the barrow will send what it may by margaret killjoy: novellas where a group of wandering punk-house dwellers find out what’s raising supernatural horrors and how to stop them from killing again

running close to the wind by alex rowland: this felt like an attempt to bottle the Our Flag-type chaos and comedy pirate romance vibes without feeling like straight-up fanfiction. a pathetic meow meow of an ex-intelligence agent tries to sell state secrets without getting caught aboard his ex’s ship, while the two of them bet on who can break a hot monk’s vow of chastity first

the gone world by tom sweterlitch: this felt like christopher nolan writing a detective novel, as government agents travel to parallel realities to solve a murder

autonomous by annalee newitz: in a future society, this follows a scientist on the run from the governments and pharma companies that are out to get her for her work to make patented medications available on the black market, as she tries to fix a mistake she made in making an addictive treatment available to the public. this book is broadly about intellectual property and about the concept of property at all

the deep sky by yume kitasei: weirdly this book is a very different take on the same concept as another book on this list, do you dream of terra-two, where graduates of an elite school are sent on a generation ship to start a new colony. the twist is that all the characters are expected to bear two children to carry on the generation ship, which leads to some wild mostly-unexplored gender dynamics. this one is much more sci-fi/mystery to Terra-Two’s character-driven drama.

the atlas six by olivie blake: well-written dark-academia thriller that is obvious booktok fodder. with the vibes of the mortal instruments (everyone is so hot and powerful and tortured!) meets the secret history, a group of young magicians is recruited to learn the secrets of the library of alexandria

Ursula, kill this clown: dishonorable mentions

I don’t have enough dishonorable mentions for their own post this year but HOLY FUCK. THE FIVE BOOKS OF ROBERT MOSES. this book is FOURTEEN hundred pages of absolute dogshit that I should have DNFed but I liked the concept so much that I wanted to find something to like in the execution. Nope! the pitch is “a dirty bomb turns NYC into a wasteland and the city is picked up and moved wholesale, with the maps of the five boroughs remaining more or less the same, into a Nevada desert refugee camp guarded by the army, and a major character is Robert Moses’ disaffected younger brother.” on a petty level, this is the New Yorkiest pitch possible for someone who absolutely doesn’t give a shit about developing the new desert New York with any interest or fidelity. on an unpetty level, this is a slop “political” “thriller” that doesn’t develop a strong political perspective and moves at a sloth pace. skip.

[23fallencomets]

chapter 7: the one i was supposed to get done last week but didn’t

anyway, tough fp3 and qualifying huh, just really disappointed on how this session went especially since the williams looked really good and were projected to do well but i guess when one door closes another opens.

moving on, i think im gonna wrap this up around the tenth chapter or something. it’s been a real blast and im currently in a writers block (with like three/four fics on the list) so these help moving the writing juices.

enjoy 💞💞

[twitter]

user81: logan had a priv???

user82: yesss he was so unhinged on it

user83: he was so funny during fashion week of 2022

user84: brother had no media training back then

user85: bring back unhinged logan

user86: found it!!

user85: ahhh 23 year old logan you will be missed

user86: WHAT

user87: LOGAN JUST DROPPED IT AND MADE IT A COLLABED POST

user88: WHAT IS WEONG WITJ THEM

[instagram]

logansargeant made a new post!

logansargeant and oscarpiastri

liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris, lewishamilton and 10,289,378 more

logansargeant: surprise! the dynamic duo is back with the 2024 Summer Collection!! it was an absolute blast doing this campaign with Ozzie and i’m glad it’s finally out

landonorris: me next

logansargeant: i have an opening during summer break

landonorris: meet me in ibiza

oscarpiastri: hella respect for modeling because this was tiring 😓

logansargeant: i should bring you along to a fashion show

oscarpiastri: i love you but please don’t

logansargeant: 😞

user89: HELLO???

lewishamiltion: 🤫🤫

logansargeant: 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

user90: what do you know??

user91: why is no one mentioning ozzie

arthurleclerc: logan gave all of us nicknames

user91: share with the class

liamlawson30: 🙂‍↔️

liamlawson30: (im)patiently awaiting my turn

logansargeant: LIAM WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN 😫

liamlawson30: training, practicing you know the usual

logansargeant: then answer my text messages you dick

logansargeant posted a new story!

logansargeant made a new post!

liked by oscarpiastri, landonorris and lewishamilton and 11,444,812 more

logansargeant: absolutely deserved!! we have been dreaming about this moment since we were kids and im absolutely ecstatic for you!! im 100% sure i cried, love you man!! future wdc in the making!! onto the next one

[user has limited replies]

logansargeantoffical made a new tweet!

logansargeantoffical: well he can, i actually have a job to do

liamlawson30: take him along like you did that one time when i was in SF

logansargeantoffical: you complained the whole time??? and i was only in japan for three days

user92: are you guys not spending it together 😞

oscarpiastri: we are it’s just the someone 😒 has to make up all the work he missed

logansargeantoffical: you make it sound like if i work a 9-5

logansargeantoffical: and it’s only a week, you’ll survive

oscarpiastri: or i can join you

[nikachansstuff]

A fellow Elriel was rebloging old theories yesterday!

Old like before Silver Flames. I’m talking 2017 posts. And the crazier thing is that even people who didn’t like Elriel, recognized all the build up in the first trilogy. People who didn’t like the ship are mainly divided in two groups: Lucien supporters and people who simply didn’t like Elain.

Then, this comment caught my attention:

We had people shipping Azriel/Briar. A character that appeared on 5 pages in a book.

All to say, even before Silver Flames, we had a group of people who simply don’t want Azriel and Elain together. It doesn’t matter that Elriel is indicated on page, people have their personal taste and could be that the ship is simply not their cuppa.

Before Gwyn, there was Mor, Emerie, and even Briar. Mind you, the only ship that actually had text evidence is Moriel, because Az was indeed in love with her for 500 years.

So when you have a new female character appearing in SF, people just jumped on it and started shipping her with Azriel. I’m going on a limb here and say that Gwyn could have been written with total different characteristics and background story, it would not matter, this group that doesn’t like Elriel, would make it work somehow.

The main difference between before SF is that Azriel was not hated. He was a fan favorite too. You know when Azriel started to get hate? After the BC, when he clearly stated his desire for Elain and Elriel became clear as day. Because how can this group claim that their relationship was platonic now that we have a whole scene of pure romantic intention happening?

Strange, huh?

My conclusion? People just have a hard time connecting with Elain, they simply dislike her as a character. They don’t want to read her story, but they still like Azriel. They want to read about him, have more information, so the solution is just to separate the two. This way they can have Lucien in one book and Azriel in the other.

It’s hard to write a feminine gentle soul character these days. The girl boss sassy warrior stereotype is the default and if we’re presented with something a bit different, we get this sort of reaction, claiming it’s boring. Really hard times.

[acourtofthought]

I have seen an influx of people who claim they're Elucien's while simultaneously telling Elucien's they are delusional for thinking ACOTAR 5 will be Elain and Lucien's.

One of their new arguments is based on a fan-made bracket of SJM men that they had her do during the Today show (a fan-made bracket that the creator of said bracket left Lucien out of).

"Azriel is someone I'm going to be exploring more"

We know SJM was writing ACOTAR 5 in September. As we also know she re-wrote HOFAS in a month, chances are ACOTAR 5 has been written and is now in the editing process.

If Azriel is someone she's going to be exploring more.......than doesn't that mean he's 's not someone she fully explored while writing ACOTAR 5 back in September?

That Elain and Lucien's story is the one she wrote and that means Az will be a character in a book after theirs?

"But the crossover!" ...... Is a different series. And only hinted at future storylines that, as far as we know, have nothing to do with Koschei, Beron, Spring, Vassa. Future storylines that aren't a more pressing concern than the concerns we were left with after Silver Flames.

"But Elain was barely in SF!" She was actually, though people hate her character so much that of course they'd ignore how much we were given on her. However that's still a weak argument considering Chaol was completely absent from Empire of Storms yet got his own story in Tower of Dawn.

Elain's absence in the crossover could simply mean her journey already started shortly after Nesta's ended.

And probably the reason Az is still being pissy over not having a mate, since he knows Lucien is already on his way to ending up with his own.

"SJM hasn't talked about Elain since before Silver Flames!" False considering she is on record talking about Elain in the Eva Chen Interview, done after the release of Silver Flames, in a very major way. And in another where she spoke of Elain as a quiet dreamer. Not to mention she was excited to keep the ending of CC2 a secret as she was the Feysand reveal. Acting like her going quiet about a character means she's forgotten about them is ignoring that she enjoys surprises.

As far as I can tell, no on truly knows who is getting the next book and there is just as many counter-arguments as to why it could be Elucien's so maybe those who feel it necessary to call Elucien's delusional or lacking reading comprehension (my mother was a teacher and literacy specialist, I think I'm ok in that department thank you very much) might want to leave at least a little room for the possibility that they could be wrong.

[lilbabydilljr]

Hi I’ve been wanting to post this for a few days but I’ve got no desire to actually write a description. But it’s here if anyone wants! Description will come later, I just dropped my boyfriend off today and I’m kinda sad. Long distance. Blah.

Download (SFS)

Info is now under the cut! Look at me go.

01/18 - If you use any replacement UI built off of Clean UI, please ensure either this package loads after, or delete the turn on images that Clean UI includes. Thank you grilledcheese-aspiration for reminding me! The two turn-ons effected are ‘Musical’ and ‘Neat Freak’ which were originally ‘Hard Worker’ and ‘Unemployed.’

So I will say I probably should’ve done these differently (turn Creative into Artistic as opposed to Vampire, but whatever. They actually started out alphabetical in game which I thought was neat. They’re still fairly close!

But basically what I’ve done here is replace almost all the turn-ons with personality/trait based ones. I’m wishing we could mix and match individual turn-ons actually because as I write this list I’m already worried about people thinking there’s too many supernatural ones. But they’re used in my game so idk. They’re much more relevant than full face makeup I feel.

For badges sims require a silver level to have the turn-on. For skills I’ve increased it to 8 points, and if a turn-on mentions a hobby, a sim either needs 5 points or have it as their One True Hobby.

Fitness/Fatness - New icons, unchanged Swimwear > Adventurous - 3 Vacations, Adventurous, Daredevil, Sailor Formal > Alien - Trait, Skin, Eyes Underwear > Animal Lover - 2 Pet Friends, Animal Lover, Cat Person, Dog Person, Equestrian Vampire > Artistic - Artistic, Avant Garde, Photographer's Eye, Savvy Sculptor, Floral/Pottery/Sewing Badge, Arts & Crafts Hobby, Creativity Skill Stink > Athletic - Athletic, Disciplined, Equestrian, Loves to Swim, Sports/Fitness Hobby, Body Skill Logical > Bad Rep - Negative Reputation, Evil Great Cook > Bookish - Bookworm, Film & Literature Hobby Mechanical > Charismatic - Born Salesperson, Charismatic, Natural Born Performer, Schmoozer, Star Quality, Charisma Skill Creative > Content - Platinum, Lifetime Happiness Skill (side note this one will be the first one to go if someone can come up with something better it is my least favourite) Athletic > Dumb - Absent Minded, Less than 2 Logic Good at cleaning > Foodie - Natural Cook, Cuisine Hobby, Cooking Skill Zombiism > Gamer - Computer Whiz, Couch Potato, Loser, Games Hobby Robots > Good Rep - Good reputation, Good Plantsim > Indoorsy - Bookworm, Brooding, Couch Potato, Hates the Outdoors, Loner Werewolf > Magic - Genie, Witch, Fairy Witch > Mechanical - Servo, Bot Fan, Computer Whiz, Handy, Vehicle Enthusiast, Robotics Badge, Tinkering Hobby, Mechanical Skill Hard Worker > Musical - Natural Born Performer, Star Quality, Virtuoso, Music & Dance Hobby, Dance Skill, Creativity Skill Unemployed > Neat Freak - Neat, Cleaning Skill, Personality Cologne > Occult - Werewolf, Plantsim, Bigfoot, Genie, Witch, Fairy, Mermaid Facial Hair > Outdoorsy - Angler, Green Thumb, Loves the Outdoors, Sailor, Gardening Badge, Fishing Badge, Nature Hobby Glasses > Plant Lover - Eco-Friendly, Green Thumb, Vegetarian, Flower/Gardening Badge, Plantsim, Fairy  Makeup > Productive - Ambitious, Eccentric, Frugal, Gatherer, Perfectionist, Workaholic Full Face Makeup > Slacker - Couch Potato, Mooch, Slob, Personality Hats > Smart - Genius, Logic Skill Jewellery > Stylish - Avant Garde, Diva, Irresistible, Proper, Cosmetology Badge, Fashion Interest Custom Hair > Timid - Brooding, Coward, Loner, Shy, Socially Awkward, Unflirty, Personality Charismatic > Undead - Ghost, Zombie, Vampire

Version 2 Added, Choose one

Fixes Fitness/Fatness names. Those were meant for me only!

Creative > Baddie - Daredevil, Evil, Flirty, Great Kisser, Irresistible, Party Animal, Rebellious traits

[aliksims]

Welcome to 2025 everyone! Happy New Year! Like with previous years, this post is sort of a finishing-up-of-old-projects sort of post!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First of all, the hairs: KewaiDou 3k was one of the first hairs I recolored(1) based off of an @berrynoobooshair recolor as a base. Much later, I realized that I could also do a recolor of the hair for females, and decided that my original recolors didn't quite match the slightly darker recolors of all my other hairs. So. This is a redo for my male recolors as well as a new female recolor.

While you can have both the old and the new male recolors in your game, ONLY the folder is named differently, so you'll have to rename either the old or new files so they don't over-write each other.

(I still like my recolors for the male version of Raon 36(2), so this is just an upload of recolors for the female version.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All hairs comes in Remi’s naturals (and texture), my usual variety of unnaturals (3), and selection of naturals (4), and are sorted with the other short hairs I’ve recolored.

KewaiDou 3k F colors packaged individually: http://simfil.es/5142368/

KewaiDou 3k F fewer files (5): http://simfil.es/5142370/

KewaiDou 3k M NEW colors packaged individually: http://simfil.es/5142371/

KewaiDou 3k M NEW fewer files (5): http://simfil.es/5142372/

Raon 36 MtF colors packaged individually: http://simfil.es/5136888/

Raon 36 MtF fewer files (5): http://simfil.es/5136892/

Both “colors packaged individually” and “fewer files” versions include all the same hairs (just packaged slightly differently) and come with base, color swatch, mesh, and preview pictures included; choose only one. I own nothing so you can’t sell it. :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Secondly, we have finally come to the end of recoloring all of Sundried's Dragon Age 3 Vallaslin costume makeup(6)! I did a few of my own touch-ups to this one to make it look a bit more cohesive (hopefully), and then flipped it so you can have it over the right eye OR over the left eye OR over both! Like with the others, I also raised the opacity a LOT so you can see colors better. This layers above blush and below everything else. It comes in all 56 “clothing colors” (7), so if you want them all I would HIGHLY recommend downloading the “fewer files” version(5). Both versions come with swatches and preview pictures.

Sylaise L colors packaged individually: http://simfil.es/5142383/

Sylaise L fewer files: http://simfil.es/5142384/

Sylaise R colors packaged individually: http://simfil.es/5142385/

Sylaise R fewer files: http://simfil.es/5142386/

Again, I own nothing so you can’t sell it. :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(1): http://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/155120619066/

(2): https://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/703382532922687488/

(3): http://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/150828128378/

(4): http://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/164266555033/

(5): http://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/157578124813/

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(6): http://sundriedsims.tumblr.com/post/116008622678/

(7): http://aliksims.tumblr.com/post/156658970243/

ALSO PSA: I had intended to upload recolors as well, but I can't get SFS to upload anything for me. I'm currently reaching out to the support team. At such time as the files upload, I will post another State of the Blog. Thank you for your patience. -____-

[scribble-dee-vee]

Writeblr Intro circa 2024

Hi writeblr!! Sooo, I've been around here since about 2014. (Yes, I am ancient.) However, I've been dormant for the past 4-5 years. Blame college and a brief stint on Twitter. Now that I'm active again, I thought I should make an updated writeblr intro so ppl know my Deal. Basically, I want to engage with other folks who write fiction (esp original SF), and that's a little easier if I have a clear post that outlines what I do. Here to make connections and hear about your blorbos :)

About me

Hi, I'm Vee! They/them, 23, 💖 🤍 🧡

I do journalism/comms in western New York

My literary jam is feminist/adult SF and gothic lit (OG or modern) 🥀 ⚔️ 🌙

Enthusiastic about gay people, body horror, and sociopolitical allegories

I cook, run, play tabletop games, and occasionally draw. Other than that, I'm mostly writing (for work and for fun)

If you were on pre-2020 writeblr, you likely know me from my eight billion daily tag games. (I still like tag games and appreciate u for tagging me. I have also gained adult responsibilities and better mental health, so I respond very slowly now. <3)

Always happy to get asks or dms, tho as I've noted: I may reply slowly.

Sometimes open to beta read! I only read one longer project at a time, but it's always super fun :)

I tag very consistently – happy to tag triggers for followers/moots

Fun fact: I love mushroom hunting and worked as a mycology TA. #cottagecoreera 🍄 🧚‍♀️ 🌱

About my creative writing

I write,,,, feminist/adult SF with gothic leanings (surprise!)

Longform and short! Trying to do more short writing this year, and I'll likely share a bit on Tumblr. It's easier to clip a short story than a 150k novel, god bless.

The Aesthetic: moral g(r)ays, Victoriana, androids/cyborgs, Women™, monstrous femininity, incessant Hamlet/Frankenstein motifs, extremely boring socioeconomic worldbuilding, evil queens and/or dilfs, psychosexual witchcraft, probably a cat. Also, an ominous, plot-relevant letter laced with anthrax from your unhinged and brilliant ex-wife. Open if you dare.

Major projects

I'm going to be writing some short work this year, but these are the longer projects that I have going in the background. If I reblog blorbo-related text posts, they probably have something to do with these.

Let me know if you want to be added to any project-specific taglists 😎

Heart of Lead – Series

The big one

Perpetually evolving

Never ceasing

Pls send help I can't stop adding shit

5-book gothic fantasy epic that I'll definitely publish one day but probably no time soon! My bastard child, my wicked firstborn, my greatest love <3

Character-oriented political drama set in a pseudo-Victorian, dystopian oligarchy where everyone's heart is made out of metal. It's about coming of age and discovering queer identity in a world that is absolutely fucked. God is an extraterrestrial lesbian who gives ppl very traumatizing magic powers. There are cyborgs, shapeshifters, and morally gray women in STEM. It's tight as fuck idk what else what to tell u.

Book 1 is about achillean monarchists, and book 2 is about sapphic anarchists. There are only two genders, I guess.

At this point, I've drafted most of the books at least once. Working to refine a lot of raw material atm!

Tag: "heart of lead tag" or "hol tag"

Lost Letters – Book

Aka the current active HoL WIP, and book one in the revised series structure

Length: 80k as of now; around 120-140k when the first draft is finished, I presume.

Genre: adult fantasy, gothic, noir detective drama?? um?? If you want me to frame it in BookTok terms (why?) it's a dark academia villain x villain tragic romantasy. Hrgh.

Summary: Cyborg soldier goes to college, joins a shady socialite frat, and falls in love with the jilted heir-apparent to the throne. Hilarity ensues.

(By "hilarity," I mean a militant revolutionary faction and a tragedy of Greek proportions.)

POV characters: Charles (the cyborg), Dale (the heir), and Cecelia (Charles' sister, a junior detective, the love of my life and potentially the Chosen One???)

This book is twisty and dark and immensely fun to write.

I'm about halfway through the first full draft! Hoping to share snippets and vaguepost about my children here.

Tag: "lost letters tag" (also "hol tag," tho that one's less specific)

The Last of Mortal Tourists – Book

The next longform project on the docket!

Length: a standalone work that will hopefully fall on the shorter novel/novella spectrum.

Genre: literary SF, cyberqueer, psychological space quest

Summary: The consciousness of a dead coding genius, trapped inside a spaceship, seeks a new planet to sustain their sister, the last surviving human, after the destruction of Earth.

If you're here to get wildly philosophical about gender and the myth of essential self, this is the story for you! That's why I'm writing it, lol. 🏳️‍⚧️ 🚀 🤖

This one started out as a short story (100% finished) which I want to expand.

POV: Archer Alto, the coder. Spaceship? Human? Soul?

Supporting Cast: Pandora, the last human, and Abby, a holographic impression of Archer's childhood consciousness

Tag: "the last of mortal tourists tag" or "tlomt tag"

If you read all this way, you get a whole bouquet of flowers that are certainly NOT poisonous: 🌸 🌹 💐 🥀 🌺

<3

[elinorasims]

Sim | 'Fred Bulsara' (Freddie Mercury)

DOWNLOAD (SFS) >> [cc included]

Lookbook etc. under the cut :3

Full Name | Fred Bulsara Gender | M Age | Young Adult Traits | Perfectionist ; Romantic ; Art Lover ; Overachiever ; Muser Aspiration | Musical Genius Career | Concert Virtuoso - Musician Skills | Acting ; Charisma ; Comedy ; Cooking ; DJ Mixing ; Fitness ; Gourmet Cooking ; Guitar ; Media Production ; Painting ; Piano ; Singing ; Writing Recommended Lot | The Sovereign ~ San Myshuno

LOOKBOOK

HAIR

Julian Hair | SIMANDY

FACE/BODY

Waterdrop Eyes - Default | PralineSims

Adonis Skin Overlay | AdelarSims Skin Tint | Crilender Spotlight v2 | SIMANDY Adam's Apple | MakeSims Lips - Sisters Pack: Part II | Northern Siberia Winds Nosemask | Sammi_xox Misc Skin Details | Okruee

Vanilla Teeth | Saruin Teeth Mask - Sisters Pack: Part II | Northern Siberia Winds

Brows - Slated | TwistedCat Eyelash V3+6 | MMSIMS Facial Hair - Sunset | WistfulCastle Slightly Subtle Body Hair | Bobnewbie

1 ; Tank Top - Beat the Heat Collection | CeeProductions Belt Accessory | sforzinda Socks - Toasty Toes | Solistair Samba Sneakers | Caio 2 ; Amnesia Pants | xiuminuwu 3 ; Vince Top | Belaloallure Low Top Sneakers [Asics] - Sneakers Collection 05 | Jius 4 ; Poppin Windbreaker - First Love Collection | xiuminuwu Chinos - Ibid | sforz 5 ; Loose Sweatshirt - Yuhwa's Wardrobe | Casteru

1 ; Pintuck Slacks II | Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla Leather Brogues - Men's Collection Part 1 | Jius 2 ; Leather Loafers - Men's Collection 04 | Jius 3 ; Tank Top - Beat the Heat Collection | CeeProductions Samba Sneakers | Caio 4 ; Resilient Tank | Nucrests Socks - Toasty Toes | Solistair Low Top Sneakers [Asics] - Sneakers Collection 05 5 ; Amnesia Pants | xiuminuwu

1 ; I Like Short Shorts | peacemaker-ic 4 ; Aster Tee Acc - The Last Plank | Sforzcc Socks - Toasty Toes | Solistair Samba Sneakers | Caio 5 ; Low Top Sneakers [Asics] - Sneakers Collection 05

1 ; Loose Sweatshirt - Yuhwa's Wardrobe | Casteru Socks - Toasty Toes | Solistair Samba Sneakers | Caio 2 ; Varsity Jacket - First Love Collection | xiuminuwu 3 ; Basic Sweater [Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla] 4 ; Scarf - Pistachio Set | Serenity

happy holidays you gorgeous things - Fred apparently adored the christmas season and honestly we all just love fred so. aw. i hope i did him some justice. sending love and warmth and joy and all that to you guys and have a fantastic new year, too.

[submissivefeminist]

✨🌿 4/20 ASK GAME 🌿✨

Happy 420! I wanted to celebrate the occasion with a little tumblr game to keep busy today while I get baked out of my mind in honor of Weed Day™ so let's do it!

MAIN RULE

I will take [X-amount of vape hits] per ask I receive, starting at 1:1. The amount of hits per ask will increase as I get more asks. There are also several "reward" levels with bonus activities for celebrating the holidaze and fueling my own intox kink. 🥴

CHECKPOINTS/REWARDS

✅ 5 Asks: I will wear nothing but lingerie all day. ✅ 10 Asks: Hit to ask ratio raised to 2:1. ✅ 15 Asks: I will write and post a photo of the words "stoned slut" on my tits. ✅ 20 Asks: I will edge non-stop for 4 minutes and 20 seconds. ✅ 25 Asks: Hit to ask ratio raised to 3:1. ✅ 30 Asks: I will fill my ass with a plug covered in THC lube (oops it expired) and smoke a joint outside ✅ 35 Asks: I will purchase new weed-themed kink toys for my collection. ✅ 40 Asks: I'll post a video of a topless blinker hit. ✅ 45 Asks: Hit to ask ratio raised to 4:1. ✅ 50 Asks: TBD? (I am open to requests)

Send as many asks as you'd like, let's have fun with it! Happy smoking & toking y'all! 💨✌💚

SEND ASKS

xx SF

[remembertheplunge]

12/31/2011 5:57pm Saturday

Beginning of a new year’s journal. Andrew’s Hotel. SF CA

MAC showers.

The mood is different than last week. Arm bands required. Don’t drive. No guests. No room partys..

Hard to find a place to eat.

I’m a bit beat up—He’s been a bit grumpy.

But, we’re here. Not drinking. Away from Modesto.I got the letter yesterday from”my neighbor” who said that our car port is “a disgrace”.

I talked with Linda, Jeff and the guy who moved into Alvin’s house. 

They all said “what’s he gonna do?”

“Alvin” said “You’ve been working on your house”.

Jeff said “must have been someone from your side” (of the court we lived on)

All supportive.

__________________-

MAC’s shower ends—should perk him up. He missed his dosing today.

Hotel man trys to find us a place to eat. Really helpful. Friendly. So is Mary, his fellow desk person. So, the City New Years Eve. Clean and clear.

End of entry

Margin note to the above entry December 31, 2013 Tuesday 8:50pm

Now it (the car port) is graced by a pink chandelier

Time Square Live is on  the computer in the computer room. MAC TV’s in the living room.  2 full calendar years clean have now passed.

End of entry

Notes: 9/28/2024

After my partner Jim died in November 2009, I decided to do some rearranging of the massive amount of things thatt we had collected through Nour lives. I’d movesd things ourt into the car port which was visible from the stern. The anonymous neighbor complaint eventually  resulted in in a fine by the City. I assumed that the complaint was anti gay more than messy carport motivated. So, after the car port was cleaned my friend installed a pink very gay chandelier in the car port. Later, much later, I learned that the actual complainer was gay! But, the Chandelier glows on and my neighbor who has a view of it out of her living room window says that she loves it!

More tales from suburbia.

MAC lived with me off and on from August of 2010 to December of 2014. He has been homeless since 2018. I write about him now in then in my blog. He still says hi now and then.

I quit drinking 2/21/2011. New Years 2011-2012 was my first sober new Years in decades. I have been sober now over 13 years. 

MAC was going to a clinic to take methadone . He missed his dosing to go on our new Year's trip.

Linda, Jeff and "Alvin" were my neighbors on the Court that MAC and I lived on .

[loftec]

Last week's Weekly Tag Wednesday!

Because I was festival prepping last week and had zero time for anything else but now I'm back and ready for some tags! Thank you @wehangout @mmmichyyy @michellemisfit for the tag (and also @deedala & @jrooc for the picrew tags!) <3

Name and A03 handle: lofty / loftec

Current Location: Sofa, living room.

Favorite picrew (don't have one? you can skip this or do this one)? I can't remember if I have a favourite one, so I'll just do this one!

The "SF" probably stands for something, but I immediately thought of Svensk Filmindustri and thought that was fun.

What's one thing you want in a picrew?

MORE GLASSES OPTIONS omg please. Colour and shape. I also really love it when I can build the hair in sections so I can colour my roots differently than the rest of the hair. Also, worse hair options. Come on, normalise 'I've got no hair texture or interest or time to do anything about it'. I feel like an imposter whenever I pick one of these perfectly swooshy dos.

Favourite thing you’ve created (or seen created) for the fandom?

None the wiser

Why is it your favourite? It's mad to think about but it was the first thing I decided to make for this fandom, and I'm still working on it (very very slowly) I don't know if I've ever spent this much time and effort on anything else. It's very special to me.

Did it come easily or was it hard to create? Both, right now it's very hard, but it usually comes back around.

Last ao3 fic you commented on? A Dead Boy Detectives fic, I'm pretty sure.

Biggest WIP heartache you’ve ever experienced? I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't usually read WIPs, not really because they're unfinished but because I don't often read long fic lol. My ideal fic for reading is a concise 5k oneshot, I am a terrible hypocrite.

Favorite trope or head cannon you like included in a fanfic? I do love a good outside perspective on Ian and Mickey's relationship not fully getting their dynamic and misunderstanding their special flavour of love. Also really like different canon-divergent stories where they get separated in different moments and then reunited in the future in various ways.

Least favourite? For most ships / fandoms I read fic of, I usually develop a set of icks that cause me to click out more or less immediately, often it's to do with a certain nickname or expression or act that I can't physically stand, or, you know, which signal a fundamental mismatch between mine and the author's focus/interests/views. Unfortunately, any mention of anything happening after season 5 has become a bit of an ick for me, which is deeply unfair to writers who embrace the later half of the show.

Secret or surprising kink or trope? No, I'm extremely basic tbh. My favourite time to read fic for a new fandom is always at the very start when everybody is writing the same super basic story over and over again.

Describe how you feel after you’ve created something new? The best feeling is when I know I've written the last sentence of a story or a chapter, it's always so clear that this, this is it, that's where it ends. I feel really accomplished and complete in that moment and it's great. Then there's still hours and hours of editing after that and it's usually 4 in the morning and I'm feeling slightly unhinged when I actually post.

Top hype man you have that always helps you get across the finish line: I tend to keep to myself when I'm working on something, but I can always rely on @mittimellan @wideblueskies & @the-rat-wins if I ever need to ramble about anything.

It's been a bad day, you turn to the fandom and you _____? Lurk and enjoy the good vibes and crafts. I probably also find something in my bookmarks that I've already read a thousand times and read it again.

[hananoami]

[ Directional Orbit ] Ice - Stage 120 Clear VOD

This post is very late but I've finally cleared Zayne's Directional Orbit: Ice - Stage 120 on June 9th! He is the second love interest to have successfully clear all the Deepspace Trials currently available. If I were to be honest, his last stage really gave me a lot of trouble in spite of him having the most high leveled memories out of the three in my collection. I'll go into more details about that below. For now I want to give attention to what you should expect from this particular stage. At this time Stage 120 is the final stage available for Zayne's Directional Orbit: Ice. Like all x0 stages with red hues around its orbit this stage will require you to use two separate teams. Team 01's Protofield Stellactrum is 6-Ruby memories and Team 02's Protofield Stellactrum is 6-Sapphire memories. Matching the Protofield Stellactrum will grant you additional bonuses to your team. By matching the colors completely you will have a 'perfect match' which allows you to break 2 protofield shields in a single strike. This will ultimately save you some time by quickly bringing those wanderers into a weakened state. You also get an Attribute Bonus (up to 30.0%) for every color you match - increase DMG boost 5.0% and DMG reduction 5.0%. Of course, you could opt to go off color and try to brute force it. That's what I ended up doing for these fights. I don't mean to sound repetitive when I say this, but I still want to reiterate that there is no right or wrong way to play the game. Game play will vary from player to player. You have to take into consideration the memories you have in your collection, protocores used, their stat attributes, levels, etc. So I hope you wont be discouraged as you work on your own trials. If it's any consolation know that I am cheering for you, and am always willing to help~! Fighting!! ଘ(੭˃ᴗ˂)੭♡

Okay, let's rewind to when I first unlocked this orbit. Zayne was actually the first love interest to reach Stage 120, much thanks to the sheer amount of love and dedication I put into his Sapphire build. Low key I was pretty confident that he would also be the first one to clear stage 120... that is until then I saw the all ruby Protofield Stellactrum for Team 01-- I knew i was gonna be in trouble. (｡>﹏<) If you've been following along with my Deepspace Trials journey, ever since I've been playing this game and blogging about it, it's well known that his Ruby sets always give me so much grief. [Neon Night] was the last memory I was missing, but after 79 days it made is first appearance on 04/06 after roughly ~2k pulls since I started playing on day one. This memory eluding me became a meme amongst my friends so of course I had to write about it coming home. Originally, during my first attempt on 05/14, I had his 4-star NT solar pair equipped but historically for some reason I was never able clear any of his orbits that used all ruby. I opted to brute force those stages by going off color, however, that isn't possible to do here. Which is why I mentioned in my prog notes for this stage I was going to take a hiatus from any attempts until I was able to obtain his new ruby solar myth pair on 06/07 -- but that's a whole different story. After I got those SF memories and leveled them up it was time to go back in and see what I could do in order to finally clear this stage. During my early attempts my teams looked like this: Team 01 with 6-Ruby memories (Master of Fate build) and Team 02 with 6-Sapphire memories (Foreseer build). I chose to match the Protofield Stellactrum for now to see how things would play out. Real talk the damage output difference between a 4-star solar pair and a 5-star solar pair is kinda ridiculous. I had previously struggled to clear the first half, but with Master of Fate it was a breeze. I was finally able to see and prog the second half of the fight with Foreseer on 06/08, but wasn't able to clear the fight in the end. I thought maybe it was a protocore difference, as most of the memories I had for that half were max level (minus the 4-star memories, those were at 70). During the hiatus I focused on leveling up his sapphire protocores, yet it still wasn't enough. My mind was thinking of what else I could do in order to close the final gap between my prog and a clear. So I decided to do a different strat taken from a different playbook that I used in my previous 120 clears (open orbit / Xavier's Directional Orbit: Light) which was to swap my solar memories, but keep the respective lunar memories for team. Now here is where things got spicy.

Remember when I said I was confident with Foreseer? That notion quickly faded as I was struggling to clear the first half (2x lv 80-FS, 4x lv 70 ruby lunars). By this point all of the lunar protocores were maxed out at +15, yet I still wasn't doing enough damage to clear the first half of the stage before the timer ran out.

Okay then, since I can't level up protocores anymore and don't want to farm protocores with hopes to find better ones I decided to level up one of the lunar memories to max. The pattern was level up a ruby memory to 80 > run an attempt > fail > repeat until all of the ruby memories I had equipped were level 80.

AND EVEN AFTER ALL THAT EFFORT I STILL HAD TROUBLE... HAHAHA 💀

૮₍ ˃ ⤙ ˂ ₎ა

Like damn, Foreseer what happened to you?! It wasn't an easy fight to clear and I struggled to do enough damage before the timer ran out since I wasn't able to shatter the protofield shields in a single strike. That's the down side of going off color and trying to brute force it. Yet I was stubborn. I was so determined to clear this fight with Foreseer... and for one of my attempts I was super duper close! I had 1% left on my last wanderer's HP, but due to my mistake of trying to multitask / stream the fight for my friends mid combat, I wasn't able to finish the job and failed that run. Out of all of my defeats this one hurt me the most. Needless to say I WAS SO TILTED I ACTUALLY CRIED OUT OF FRUSTRATION. Hard lesson learned: don't turn on a stream until after you cleared the fight. I thought Foreseer would be able to finish the job, but the timer got the best of him. I was so upsetti.

For the next hour I kept going at it. Miserably might I add. There were countless defeats, but none of them even came close that one run that tilted me off this astral plane. Eventually I got lucky and had the wanderers group up at the end so I completely shatter their shields to AoE them down with my < ARDENT OATH >.

My advice to anyone attempting this fight is to try and stick close / focus on the CARMINE TALON first. Auto target is shit, but at least by sticking close to those the THUNDEROAR will jump to you instead of you trying to chase them down... Of course, if you're going off color you'll need to press your abilities on cooldown in order to bring them into a weakened state as fast as you can. Having Duo Rank 1 for Foreseer meant I didn't need to have a Oath Recovery Boost beta protocore equipped, but if you don't have that then you'll definitely need to use one here.

FINALLY, after all that pain and suffering I was able to get back to my prog point.

Because this was my first day using Master of Fate's kit in an actual timed battle my runs with him were very sloppy... I've mentioned in an earlier post using the demo they provided in the events page that his kit felt very quick and spammy. Even after doing some research on the Love and Deepspace community groups, every one also agreed that his blade play style using [Sacred Rainfall] was very fast...

For this build I had two +9 Ruby Expedited Energy Boost beta protocores on the SF memory pair. Because I didn't have much practice with this blade I just spammed all of my abilities with hopes I didn't accidentally overwrite / cancel any of them. It'll take some time to get the timing down with patience and more practice, but at this point of the night I was so down bad for a clear I just wanted to get this fight done and over with since I was still upset from that 1% defeat in the first half of the stage. It took me a while to bring the final boss into a weakened state because I did not have a perfect match. So it was crucial to use resonance skill on cooldown as soon as it came back up. The three charges you get after using it is an interesting kit, but slightly confusing cause we never had something like this before. Still, I made an effort to press everything on CD anyway so my timer wasn't off. If possibly I would also highly suggest you try to get perfect dodges for the extra support damage. I want to say a lot of time and resources went into obtaining this clear. And when I say a LOT I seriously mean it. The diamonds and irl currency used to obtain R3 Master of Fate. The amount of stamina that was dedicated into farming protocores, bottle of wishes, and ascension materials. This clear was not something I was able to do in one go, but took me almost a month to do. I understand that not many can replicate what I've done and I'm not saying you need to do what I did in order to clear. The purpose of this post/blog is for me to reflect on my journey and to share my experience. The happy moments, the sad moments, and even the ones that were upsetting-- I'm glad I found a way to use this space as a positive outlet. Thank you all for taking the time to read all of this, and for following along my deepspace trials progression. As always if anyone has any questions or wants additional tips/advice with their own battles I would be more than happy to help to the best of my ability.

ADDITIONAL SCREENSHOTS

Companion: Zayne's Foreseer [ Defend | DMG | AoE ] Weapon: Everlasting Song [ Support | AoE | Heal ] Attribute Bonus For each matched stellactrum, increases DMG Boost 5.0% (currently increased: 20.0%) and DMG Reduction 5.0% (currently increased 20.0%). ♡ Affinity Bonus: 97 (Zayne’s Protective Skill) When you take a fatal blow, Zayne teleports to you, blocks a hit, and counter attacks. Enemies will be knocked back. [ HP 3xxx || DEF xx || ATK xxx ] Pair Bonus [ FS ] - Starting Effect: increases team DMG by 8%, and reduces team DMG taken by 8%. When fighting together with Foreseer, your Active Skill DMG is increased by 25%. - Duo Rank 1: boosts Ardent Oath charge by 20%. When you and Foreseer are granted with Wards of Curses, team DMG will be increased by 12%.

5☆ FOREVER SEALED (sapphire/solar) Lv 80/ awakened rank 2 using +9 and +14 SSR protocores

5☆ PROMISE EVERLASTING (sapphire/solar) Lv 80/ awakened rank 1 using +9 and +15 SSR protocores

5☆ COZY AFTERNOON (ruby/lunar) Lv 80 rank 3 using +12 SSR protocores

5☆ DRUNKEN INTIMACY (ruby/lunar) Lv 80 using +9 and +12 SSR protocores

5☆ MEDICAL RESCUE (ruby/lunar) Lv 80 using +9 and +12 SSR protocores

5☆ EXCLUSIVE TUTORIAL (ruby/lunar) Lv 80 using +9 and +12 SSR protocores

Companion: Zayne's Master of Fate [ DPS | Burst | Sustained ] Weapon: Sacred Rainfall [ DPS | Burst | Single-target ] Attribute Bonus For each matched stellactrum, increases DMG Boost 5.0% (currently increased: 20.0%) and DMG Reduction 5.0% (currently increased 20.0%). ♡ Affinity Bonus: 97 (Zayne’s Protective Skill) When you take a fatal blow, Zayne teleports to you, blocks a hit, and counter attacks. Enemies will be knocked back. [ HP 38xx || DEF xx || ATK xxx ] Pair Bonus [ SF ] - Starting Effect: increases team DMG by 8%, and reduces DMG taken by 8%. When the enemy is in [Shattered Jade] state, reduces its DEF by 10%. - Duo Rank 1: boosts Ardent Oath charge by 20%. When fighting alongside Master of Fate, the enemy's weakened state is extended by 2 seconds. Each time an enemy in weakened state is hit, the damage it sustains increases by 0.5%, up to a maximum of 10%. - Duo Rank 2: increases Energy Charge cap by 1. When [Jadesunder] is triggered, restores a small amount of Energy Charge. - Duo Rank 3: increase team DMG by 8%. Increases DMG of [Jadesunder] by 100%. When [Orchid Metamorphosis] is replaced by [Piercing Rain], there's one more attempt of using [Piercing Rain] hitting an enemy. The cooldown reduction can be triggered once when unleashing [Piercing Rain].

5☆ SNOWFALL ENCOUNTER (ruby/solar) Lv 80/ awakened rank 3 using +9 and +12 SSR protocores

5☆ SNOWFALL EMBRACE (ruby/solar) Lv 80/ awakened rank 3 using +9 and +12 SSR protocores

5☆ HEARTS WITHIN REACH (sapphire/lunar) Lv 80 rank 1 using +15 SSR protocores

5☆ BUSINESS TRIP (sapphire/lunar) Lv 80/ awakened rank 3 using +15 SSR protocores

4☆ FRAGMENTED DREAMS (sapphire/lunar) Lv 70 rank 3 using +12 SSR protocores

4☆ EVERLASTING SNOWDROP (sapphire/lunar) Lv 70 rank 3 using +12 and +15 SSR protocores

[anotheruserwithnoname]

All of You, a science fiction film in which Jenna Coleman plays a supporting role, has been announced for streaming on Apple+ in 2025. I don't know if this is just North America or not.

Jenna's role would appear to be small as no reviews I've seen mention her, but better than nothing!

As of this writing a release timeline has yet to be announced for the SF action film Control, which Jenna filmed another supporting role for just before her pregnancy was announced. Presumably it too will be in 2025. With its star James McAvoy being a pretty big name that one has a chance to get theatrical distribution rather than just film festivals and streaming which has been the case for Jenna's recent films (none of which I personally have been able to see yet, including her nearly-5-year-old Klolkkenluider). One of these days maybe she'll take a role in another Marvel movie or something.

[acourtofthought]

How would you feel if ACOTAR 5 is gwynriel instead of elucien? In one of SJM interviews she stated that after finishing acotar5 she will be working on the 1st book of a different series. So that means acotar6 will come out 2027.

Disappointed. I think there gets to be a point where an author drags out a particular storyline too long (the Blood and Ash series come to mind) and the writing suffers as a result.

Vassa was taken in ACOMAF, we found out by who in ACOWAR and that she as well as the other girls at the lake have been cursed / kidnapped by Koschei. In ACOFAS we're told her freedom will come to an end and reminded of that in ACOSF.

Spring was destroyed in ACOWAR and in ACOFAS, we're told Tamlin is severely depressed but that they'll still need Spring as an ally. SF shows it's been awhile and Tamlin isn't getting better, that they know they need a strong ally in Springs army.

Elucien's bond snapped in ACOMAF, Elain was turned fae and in ACOWAR she lost her father, stabbed a man, was rejected by Graysen, fought with her sister in SF and was rejected by Az yet we've not once been given her inner thoughts of all she's experienced. We don't even see any of the main characters trying to talk to her about any of those things.

And Lucien, the list is too long to include on all his unresolved plots.

Having Nesta's story told first made sense to me because there was never going to be Elucien progress until Nesta began letting go of her protectiveness over Elain, to accept the idea of Lucien (and technically, Nessian's bond was hinted at before Elucien's bond snapped).

Her healing arc was important to Feyre and Elain's stories too (along with herself of course) however it wasn't very plot heavy. But there was no moving forward for anyone until Nesta's anger wasn't destroying everything in Nesta's path. The series, since book 2, has been as much about the sisters relationship to one another as plot and romance and closing that out before moving into a new era makes sense to me.

But Az having his story before Elain and Lucien doesn't seem to fit especially when a Gwynriel romance would probably need at least 6 - 9 months (meaning that almost another year would go by before we even start getting resolution to the above).

I'm not sure that I see anything in his story that is necessary to lead us into the Koschei storyline.

He wasn't in Feyre's "Let's help one sister before helping the other" speech, he wasn't part of Feyre's "I want them all to be happy" speech in ACOFAS.

To me the Illyrians aren't a bigger concern to their entire world than Vallahan setting their sights on the humans or Beron trying to ally with Koschei or how an entire court is now being neglected by its High Lord.

Dragging out Vassa, Koschei, Lucien's father reveal, the Elucien bond, the girls who were kidnapped, Spring, Elain healing from her trauma while she continues to remain in a court she doesn't truly belong just so Az can have his story which doesn't fit in to any of those things does not make any sense to me and honestly, I think it sends a weird message.

"I think Lucien will never be good enough for her"

"I'll defeat him with little effort"

"I know, I helped rescue Elain after all"

"There is a darkness to the Dread Trove that Elain should not be exposed to"

"She has no interest in him anyway"

Az (no offense) is kind of a dick at times outside of the priestesses.

He makes Mor so uneasy with his behavior that she feels like she needs to lie about what she's doing so he doesn't brood.

He is jealous and bitter towards Lucien and speaks for Elain without ever acknowledging her bravery and strength.

He gives off Tamlin vibes at times and to me that means he needs to be on a time out for a bit. Where he has to really sit and think on why his behaviors were wrong, why he tried to keep Mor and Elain small so he could be the hero, why he had such issues with a guy who is a very decent person.

Giving him a HEA after he treated them like that while Mor still remains unlucky in love, Lucien is struggling, Elain has no found family, it feels like jumping over an important lesson for Az to learn so he can become worthy of Gwyn. Not just in who he is when around her but who he is on his own.

I think Az seeing them happy and actually being happy for them is an important arc for his character.

But, in the end that's just my perception of the situation.

I don't know how SJM thinks, what her plan is, and if Elucien is not next than there's not much I can do but wait!

[mylittleponyoh]

Zara Men Editorial Pose Pack by MylittleponyOh

Hey simmers ! I've been digging the world wide web for inspiration for "male" editorial pics for a new Zara editorial pose pack obviously centered around male sims so no one is left out. So here I come with 6 new offbeat poses.

What you’ll need for this pose pack to work properly :

💜 The Teleport Any Sim Mod

💜 The Pose Player

Disclaimer : Knowing how clothes works in the sims 4, some clipping/weird shadows may occur.

Download here (SFS)

Download here (Google Drive)

Do not reupload and claim as your own.

Base Game Compatible

Thumbnails in the Pose Player for all the poses

If you use my poses and you post it on your socials, I’ll be pleased to see what it looks like with your sims, so tag me 🫰🏽

This pose pack has 5 solo poses and 1 duo pose.

I've made a template of the Zara writings if you want them it's here !

Click here to check out all my previous Pose Packs !

Thanks 💜 ✨