#oh the other two genres will be mystery and sci fi

[docholligay]

Doc's Quarterly Patreon Book Thing: Fantasy

Okay, so, I've been trying to think about how I want to do this, which is basically letting my patreons force me to read a book. I have picked three genres I would say I do not read a lot of, but I know y'all do, and then the fourth quarter will be either open season or as a children's book for children, I haven't decided.

SO. Nominations will be opened on the Patreon Feb 1st. RULES AND THINGS TO KNOW/HOW THIS WILL WORK:

It will be pitchless. You don't need to pitch me! Just Title, Author.

One nomination per person. Your first nom will be considered your nomination, all others will be ignored.

Must be available in print

For this quarter, the genre must be FANTASY. Below, I point out some fantasy novels I have enjoyed and negative-enjoyed, which'll give you both an idea of what i like and what I might consider fantasy. Just good faith effort.

Must think I would like it. You don't have to think it'll slay me and change my life, but this isn't 'let's clown on Doc'. I am doing this in good faith and I assume you will nominate in good faith.

I will RANDOMLY DRAW FIVE of the novels. These five will then be PUT TO A VOTE on patreon. I will not read the comments so if you want to pitch, the comments on that poll will be a good place to do it.

Whatever wins the vote, I'll read.

Okay, then, FANTASY BOOKS I REMEMBER TRULY ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, AS AN ADULT

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

His Dark Materials Series by Phillip Pullman

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (the first 4 or 5 anyway)

A Song of Ice and Fire Series by G.R.R. Martin (the first 4)

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

FANTASY BOOKS I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY NOT-ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD

Eragon By Chistopher Paolini

Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (This is 10000% not a solidarity thing or anything, I fucking hate these books and think they are Not Good. I would not put something I decided to hate for author's politics in a guide for recommendation)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Urusla LeGuin

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern (In full fairness, i loved this one until the fucking bullshit eyerolling ending)

See?? Despite being an insufferable hater, I do like things! This list of course doesn't include anything where I was like, "That was perfectly fine!" It's made to show the highs and lows.

Does this make sense? I'll put the nomination post on Patreon Feb 1!

[merlieve]

bibliophile :: jess mariano

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 & 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞/𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬

𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 | 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠/𝐬: 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭!

𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

Note: i wrote this while listening to “si tu m’aimes demain’ by iliona + the intro is inspired by 500 days of summer, so that’s basically the vibe of the story 😋 Ik there isn’t a market for GG fics but I just love me some Jess.

SUMMARY | Jess says something about how it’s a shame that people arent as beautiful and interesting as books, but he looks at [Name] and realizes that she could be the only person who could be compared to the books he loves.

The soft glow of Luke’s Diner’s sign casts a warm ambience onto the quiet street, the last remnants of daylight as it settles to the night sky.

Inside, the diner was practically buzzing with people, the sounds of plate clattering and a few conversations filled the air.

Ring. The sound of someone coming inside alerted Jess but he didn’t bother to stand up from the bar stool.

“The Old Man and the Sea? I love Hemingway!”

Jess was so caught up in his world that he failed to notice the girl seated next to him at the diner countertop. “Excuse me?”

“I said I love Hemingway,” She repeated, now gaining Jess’ full attention. “You have good taste in books.”

“Thanks, uhh?” — “[Name]” The girl said with a smile. ‘A pretty name for a pretty face’ thought Jess, looking at the girl beside him up and down.

“If you read Hemingway, I’d suggest Bukowski if you’re into poetry.” She recommended, looking down at her nails as she was slightly nervous by the way the boy was looking at her.

“I take it you like classics.” Said Jess, putting down his book.

“Oh, I like any genre! Mystery, historical, sci-fi… you name it.” Smiled [Name] as she rambled about her interests.

Jess found it adorable. “Quite the bibliophile, aren’t ya?”

“Guess you could say that, stranger.”

He was just about to ask for her number when someone came behind the counter.

“Jess, your break’s over.” Said Luke, glancing over the teenagers in front of him.

“Well, duty calls.” Sassed Jess, grabbing his book by the counter but not without giving the girl a wink. “Bye, stranger.”

Ever since that day, Jess couldn’t seem to get [Name] out of his mind and it didn’t help that she was everywhere; the quaint bookstore, at school, the library, even at the Walmart he works at, and that’s at Hartford!

If Jess had learned anything by being [Name]’s friend is that he knew that the way to her heart was to challenge her.

The two could make a conversation about just about anything, whether it was debating the end of The Bell Jar or trying to find the best coffee place in New Haven.

When she talked about her favourite books, Jess had the time of his life listening to the passion in her voice. And it wasn’t only him. Whenever Jess talks, [Name] sounds like she’s actually interested in whatever he’s talking about.

They’d exchange books, they’d lend each other books and return them fully annotated with their own opinions. They’d have study dates after school, which skyrocketed Jess’ grades by a ton and he even helped [Name] out with her AP classes. They’d go to each other’s houses to have movie nights, [Name] would pick some kind of chick-flick and he’d be “mad” at first and then grow on to love it.

Every time he spent time with her, his blooming crush would only grow and grow. At some point, he realised that his feelings for [Name] went beyond simple platonic attraction and not only did that scare him from having a genuine friend at Stars Hollow but it was how he couldn’t contain it.

Not to mention, Luke started to get sceptical when Jess said he was going to school. Since when did Jess actually go to school?

“I’m leaving!” Shouted Jess with a book bag slung across his shoulder as he closed the door.

Luke’s curiosity got the best of him and he followed Jess to a house. He knew it, Jess was lying, again. But right before he was about to reprimand him, a girl who seemed about Jess’ age walked out of the house, she looked a little familiar.

The two seemed to talk to each other for a bit before walking back… in Luke’s direction.

Luke had no choice but to hide in the prickly bushes to remain hidden from his nephew’s sight… ouch.

Later that Day

“Why’d you got a bandaid on your nose?” Asked Jess, referring to Luke’s earlier injury.

“It’s nothi- just shut up.” Challenged Luke as he walked over to refill a few coffee mugs.

A few hours passed until closing time and the diner was starting to get empty. Just when Luke was about to clean the countertops, the front door opened. It was the same girl Jess was with before.

She approached the counter with a friendly smile, the kind of smile Luke hadn't seen in a while.

"Hi, is Jess here?" Asked [Name], her eyes wandered around the diner.

Almost on cue, Jess walks out of the kitchen and greets the girl with a smile. ��Oh, great. Are we throwing a fiesta or organising a pity party? 'Cause, you know, I'm just on the edge of my seat here.” Babbled Jess.

"Jess, I got a 95 on AP Bio!" The girl excitedly says, holding a paper in the air. "Really? Let me see," he replies, walking over to her.

“What, you don’t believe me? Well, it’s there and it’s in a big red mark with the words ‘Fantastic’!” She eagerly hands it over, her eyes shining with pride.

“Look at that, Ms. Fantastic,” Smiled Jess as he looked over her paper. “You hungry? It’s Danish day. C’mon it’ll be my treat.”

After hearing the news, [Name] gasped, “It’s like the stars were aligned” She giggled, taking a seat at the nearby table.

Once Jess walked over to the counter to grab a freshly cooked Danish, Luke cornered the boy.

"So, what's the deal with you and that girl?” he asked, his tone more curious than accusatory.

Jess shrugged, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "Just helping her out with her AP classes. Turns out, I’ve got a brain in this pretty little head of mine."

Luke raised an eyebrow sceptically. "And since when did you become the tutor type?"

Jess rolled his eyes, “I like her, she reads Hemingway.” He said as he looked at [Name] who was still walking on cloud nine.

Luke nodded, understanding dawning in his eyes. "She’s a good influence on you, kid. Don’t screw this one up, okay?"

Jess scoffed, but there was a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Yeah, well, don't go spreading that around. I've got a reputation to maintain."

[mask131]

Other Odysseys: Mission Odyssey

This one is sort-of a follow-up to the "Ulysse 31" cartoon. You'll see what I mean...

Do you know Totally Spies, or Martin Mystery, or Team Galaxy? Those quite specific cartoons coming from a specific set of studios and a quite specific era, with their very distinctive style? Well, there was a fourth cartoon part of this set, so to speak... one adapting the Odyssey. A Franco-German cartoon first aired in 2002. In France we just call it "L'odyssée", The Odyssey, but in English the titled got changed to "Mission Odyssey" (probably to be more appealing to kids?).

This cartoon is another production of the company Marathon Média of the early 2000s pushing forward what has been called the "franime" - a French animation style trying to imitate Japanese anime, or rather marrying some manga visual elements with a more European animation tradition. Where Totally Spies was dealing with the "spy" genre, Martin Mystery with the "horror for kids" and Team Galaxy with "sci-fi space-travel", "Mission Odyssey" actually is meant to tackle a more "traditional" fantasy. And... that's kind of the main problem of this cartoon.

Because when you look at this cartoon... You will see how it clearly was meant to be a D&D-like fantasy show X)

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this cartoon and I have positive stuff to say about it... But let's get the bad things out of the way. And the first bad thing is that, if you are looking for a faithful adaptation of Greek mythology, turn away because its handling of the Greek myths is very very loose.

The core story is still the same as the Odyssey: Odysseus tries to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, but is pursued by the wrath of Poseidon, and must wander from island to island, monster to monster, encounter after encounter, with the final episode seeing him defeat the suitors harassing Penelope (the show is 26 episodes of 24 minutes). And don't get me wrong: unlike "Ulysses 31" which invented out of blue entire episodes completely unrelated to Greek mythology whatsoever, Mission Odyssey ALWAYS takes its elements from Greek mythology, always. But A) In order to provide some padding and extend the story, Odysseus encounters a LOT of monsters and characters NOT part of the Odyssey - Pegasus, the Minotaur, the Amazons, the Gorgons, centaurs, harpies , Lycaon and the Golden Fleece are all at the program. B) The show has an habit of... reimagining the monster and entities of Greek mythology in WILD and bizarre ways.

The Minotaur? He is actually the king of his island and much more human than planned. The Gorgons? They are now two witch-sisters instead of a trio of monsters. Charybdis and Scylla? They are cursed lovers who must be set free from the spell that trap them. The sirens? They're your typical fish-mermaid kingdom. The harpies? They are now an entire kingdom and matriarchy of bird-women, instead of random evil spirits. The Titans? Oh they're just horned-bluish humanoids living in a Norse-inspired frozen land, but very much regular mortal folks. Zephyrus? The human son of Aeolus who ran away from his father's celestial palace to live with other mortals. Etc, etc etc... This show has some of the most unfaithful and misinformative and just plain weird takes on Greek mythology I have seen in kids' cartoons.

The very crew of Odysseus' ship was entirely reinvented. Of course, it is to limit the number of protagonist and make it easier for kids to follow, but outside Odysseus, all of his companions are original characters to the show, and that's where I talked about the D&D vibe: these characters feel like a D&D party the more your think about it. Putting this under this perspective, it starts of make sense why some of the reimaginations are so strange and so unlike Greek mythology: it seems the show's project had some sort of past as a more "fantasy" show before settling for Greek mythology.

Anyway, enough of the bad stuff! What about the good? Why do I enjoy this cartoon and still advise people to go check it out despite its unfaithfulness?

Because - on the one side, it is VERY imaginative and creative in its reimagination. Sure it is not at all like the legends to have Charybdis and Scylla be doomed lover cursed into monstrous shapes to never be together... But you can't deny it still feels like something out of Ovid's Metamorphosis. Yes it is bizarre to have the Minotaur be the king who built the labyrinth instead of the monster trapped in it, but you see how they play with the legend around. And there's a lot of VERY striking visuals and concepts (like the Moirai spinning their web like creepy old-spider-ladies, or Lycaon trapped at the bottom of a well and sweet-talking people nto letting him out). And it does lead to some crazy scenarios that I quite enjoy: there's an episode about the group GOING DOWN INTO TARTARUS TO FREE POSEIDON OUT OF KRONOS CLUTCHES! How wild is that?

But here's the actual "good" point: while it is takes the "creative freedom" to the max in certain areas, when it decides to stick to the Greek myths, it sticks to it in a wonderful way. It's little details here and there, but they are very much appreciated. For example: the entire story of the Odyssey is here framed as actually some sort of contest or bet between Poseidon and Athena, who are the two main gods dealing with the story, and while the cartoon doesn't linger on the concept of the Trojan War (it's for kids after all), they do replace Odysseus' torment in the line of the Athena-Poseidon competitions, with Odysseus as Athena's champion opposed by Poseidon's own minions, monsters and servants.

There is an episode where the crew of Odysseus gets to the Underworld, and here Hades is not the bad guy, which is VERY interesting for an early 2000s cartoon: he is depicted, like in the myths, as a neutral though frightening entity who honestly will be a pleasant host to visitors as long as they don't stay, and follow his rules, but will become an absolute merciless terror if anyone break his law or tries to commit a crime in his domain. In fact, they do juxtapose him with Poseidon precisely to show how unlike Poseidon who is the bad guy here, Hades is much more benevolent than his brother.

Another little detail I particularly enjoy: Penelope and Telemachus are not forgotten, and every episode begins with a scene about them. Most beautifully: each episode's main theme, monster or MacGuffin is foreshadowed by the motif of Penelope's tapestry. Each day a new tapestry, echoing the adventures her husband will have to face...

But my favorite of this cartoon is, of course, Poseidon.

I like to say that if you want a complete idea of Poseidon in Greek mythology, through modern kid fiction, you need to look at both the Percy Jackson books and this cartoon. The Percy Jackson books did a great job at showing the good and benevolent side of Poseidon, but they lacked his evil and dangerous side - which is what this cartoon is all about.

It might just be me, as I am a big Poseidon fan, but Poseidon is here an excellent traditional villain. Of course, it is all the codes we know today - he is this over-arching villain who works only through minions, underlings and indirect attacks (because, as per the rule of the gods' games in this show, deities cannot directly attack or influence or protect the humans and have to work through side-ways), he always comes up with a new evil plot each episode, and at the end of it he goes all "I'll catch you next time!". But it works with the character and material, and its a delightful classic move.

You clearly see here Poseidon as the father and ruler of the monsters and dangers of the sea, and I adore his design which is literaly a mix of Disney's Hades and Ursula with some elements from Bai Tza from the Jackie Chan Adventures. He is this blue-skinned, blond, octopus-man whose size constantly shifts and changes from a tiny thing to a giant because he keeps manifesting himself through various bodies of water and so can appear as much out of the ocean as within a cup of water you try to drink. He is clearly shown as cruel and petty, vengeful and destructive, cunning and filled with dark magic... In fact he is even seen trying to cheat repeatedly throughout the series, only for Athena to step in and be like "Nah, not on my watch".

However there's a bonus point: we have a nuanced Poseidon here. The very episode with the Cyclop is quite interesting, as it actually explores Poseidon's relationship with his son Polyphemus - Polyphemus who is here actually more of a dumb idiot and honestly a bit goofy at times (he is still a man-eating giant, but at least he is polite and timid about it), and while Poseidon is short-tempered and get VERY annoyed by his son's idiocy... He doesn't actually lash out at him, he tries to cajole him, and he even conforts him at the end by promising him to create a new eye (in this version, kid-friendly, Polyphemus' eye is a glass-device). Which is a great contrast with how Poseidon threatens and terrifies his other underlings. In fact, many times in the show we see people who are genuinely pleased and happy to see Poseidon, see him as a benevolent and friendly guy and are more than willing to help him - only to realize too late what he asks from them is actually nefarious. It is made VERY clear that, if it wasn't for Odysseus, we could get to see more of Poseidon's good side, but since he is Poseidon's unwilling enemy, all turns against him.

Even more so: this cartoon had the genius idea of analyzing how Poseidon becoming the main villain and the persecutor of Odysseus in this story ends up ruining him. Because as the episodes pile up and Poseidon is more and more foiled by Odysseus, we see him get increasingly frustrated and mad and vengeful, becoming obsessed with this guy. He keeps telling those who think of him as a benevolent god and nice patron to go kill this guy who turns out to be just an innocent traveller or a nice person (oh yeah, Odysseus in this version is your ur-good guy, no blame whatsoever, he is just Superman without the powers, you know), and as a result he loses all the support he had gathered. It is very interesting how it works by the gods: because a few times Poseidon will use the trust and respect other gods put in him to try to turn them against Odysseus, or trick them into attacking him. It happened with Hades, and with Aeolus, and with Hephaistos, and each time, Poseidon's treachery was revealed, leading him to be banished from their realm and earning their enemity. The result is that... As the show progresses we realize how Poseidon's obsession with Odysseus, destructive grudge and desire to cheat to finally beat Athena lead him to become a hated and humiliated god among mortals and immortals, and I think it is a quite a nice twist.

They do enjoy analyzing the ambiguity and ambivalence of Poseidon - for example the Pegasus episode has Odysseus meet Bellerophon, and the hunt for the Chimera is actually put aside in favor of Odysseus trying to give therapy to poor Bellerophon who is in a sort of passive-abusive relationship with his father. In a similar way, the Cronos episode is all about how Odysseus and crew have to rescue Poseidon because, even though he is their enemy, hates them and will see them dead, he is a needed part of the world and removing him literaly kills the sea (all the sea-waters turn into a strange sand-colored crystal), for ultimately he is the sea, violent and stormy, and cunning and filled with monsters, and never making it easy on sailors.

Though my favorite part is definitively how by the end, once Odysseus gets his happy ending, we cut back to Athena and Poseidon concluding their bet... Only for Poseidon to try to convince Athena to take another bet and begin another "game", begging her like some sort of friend with dares like "Okay but what about him not returnign to the sea, not leaving Ithaca? Don't you want to bet on that, on him not resisting the call of the adventure? Please, Athena, let's just have another game. Let's just bet on anything, pleeeaasse". And... it leaves you with this very strange and still kind of happy note that ultimately Poseidon is indeed, not really a bad guy, but just a short-tempered gambling addict doubled with a very sore loser X)

[b0rtney]

you want homosexuals in every conceivable scenario?

Boy oh boy do i have the substack for u: mine!

NO PLEASE LEMME TELL U THE STORIES BEFORE U LEAVE--

Current is Cinnamon Muffins. TLDR: Six queer boys in a homophobic tiny town in Iowa are trying to survive winter break dodging awful parents, social stigma, and mental health crises.

Next up is How to Get Away with Marriage. TLDR: Guy with awful, religious parents marries guy who is living paycheck to paycheck so they can both get all their younger sisters out of their shitty situations (but they fall in love ofc).

Longer desc of these plus the stories coming in the next months are below the cut! (Genres include fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, mystery/thriller, coming-of-age)

Cinnamon Muffins centers on Taylor Macready, a homeless senior in high school holed up in a sleeping bag under a bridge after his parents kicked him out. He's fully ready to just accept death when it starts snowing on him while he's stargazing, but social outcast Wes Post is taking his nightly walk in a new direction and stumbles (literally) on his longtime crush, Taylor. Dragging Taylor home, Wes's parents prove themselves the only reasonable parents in this book by setting Taylor up on their pullout couch and nursing him back to health. Then Wes, whose closest school relationships include the kids who bully him for his anxiety-related speech impediment, has to get in touch with Taylor's friends to let them know the situation. Meanwhile, the mean girls of Swisher High School are starting a campaign to get homosexuality banned at school. Administratively, it gets nowhere, but it inspires several small-minded shitwads to take matters into their own hands. While Taylor is used to getting into fights, Wes isn't, but he'll have to sink or swim, because the teachers are not paid enough to care what happens in the hallways during lunchtime.

How to Get Away with Marriage opens with Luke Providence, son of a devoutly Baptist family in Nebraska, proposing to Patrick Demden, son of a recently-deceased alcoholic mechanic. The wealthy Providence parents have a longstanding agreement that once their children get married, they will receive a trust of $100,000 to use on the down-payment of a house and to start a life with their spouse. Patrick's younger sister tutors Luke's younger sister, but Patrick's sister is 16. This age gap doesn't matter much to the Providence parents, but it matters a lot to Luke, so he strikes a deal with Patrick: tell the parents he'll marry the sister, legally marry the brother, everyone gets to move to Colorado and escape abusive religious parents and crushing poverty. He needn't have done something so elaborate, Patrick would have married him for any reason at all. But the secret doesn't stay secret forever, and the Providence parents eventually come knocking, trying to recollect their children and their money.

Future stories I'll keep shorter, but feel free to ask about them either in the replies or my askbox and I'll elaborate!

Assassin x Demon King will be getting books 2 and 3! ADK is about an assassin and the king he was supposed to kill, both of whom have quit their jobs and started trying to save as many people as the assassin killed before he dies of a slow-acting poison in twelve months. Books 2 and 3 will have things getting awfully tragic and somewhat more horny than before! (No smut will make it into the print versions of these, that will remain on my substack alone)

How to Find Your Friends After the End of the World is a fantasy inspired by the isekai anime genre. Five friends in their 20s are on earth as it is wracked by a violent battle between the Heroine of the Gods and her Nemesis, and then, suddenly, they aren't. Earth has been destroyed and they are now on a new planet, in new (non-human) bodies, strewn across continents! On their new wrists, they have tattoos with each others' names, plus one (or two) new ones: their soulmates. Court politics and wastelands of monsters await them as they try desperately to reach each other, and their soulmates try desperately to reach them.

HtFYF will also have a prequel, focusing on the events that led to earth's destruction, and the battle between the Heroine of the Gods, a young woman, and her Nemesis, who seems to know more about the gods than she says. Why do the gods keep choosing such young heroes? What has the Nemesis done to put the world in such peril? Will the Heroine get to graduate on time despite the sleep she's been missing!?

The following do not yet have titles, but are fully fleshed out works ready to be thrown onto Substack:

A trilogy of eleven teens assisting in the fight against an agency that traffics, tortures, and then sells children with preternatural powers and abilities, and an exploration of the trauma those kids emerge with.

A murder mystery where a woman's sister dies, the police rule it suicide, and the woman enlists the help of a rumored contract killer to help her solve the murder-- but why does this rumored murderer-for-hire seem to know so much about her sister's death? And who was truly responsible?

A campy novel about a woman who graduates college, goes back to her hometown, and finds her highschool crush is still there, still single, and has since come out as gay. Of course, the only solution is to co-adopt an at-risk child from a neighbor.

This post will remain pinned on my profile, but for the next few days I'm having a sale on my substack tiers-- 20% off! That makes the cost to you just $8 per month to get a chapter every other day. 15 chapters for $8; that's a steal!

[centrally-unplanned]

Oh I had some YU-NO thoughts cache'd I never shared. Thought #1: Btw YU-NO is a 1996 eroge time travel PC-98 VN, context I guess.

Anyway, so in visual novels you often have two goals: fuck multiple hotties and tell an engaging story. These goals are synergistic when your love interests are the story; you choose a girl, and your learn about her and date her and have relationship drama. That is one type of VN, but its not all types - every genre is present in the dating sim VN world, mystery & sci-fi/fantasy plots most commonly.

Here you start running into an issue; you want multiple romance routes, but you don't want to just repeat the story each time you date them. Most people will play multiple or even all the routes. But its not like you are going to write five different endings to your mystery plot. And you can't just...fuck all of them on the way to the ending as one cohesive story, because you are pathetic coward of a dev team and also a nation. A common answer to this dilemma (I first experienced it in G-senjou No Maou) is for you to have a "main" girl, whose romance arc is the plot arc. And then the other girls are clear side girls, who are involved in the main story, sure, and who will give you tidbits, of course, but at a certain point in your arc with them you just trail off. You forget about the murder mystery or whatever, you just date them, have sex scenes, and you will even sometimes have an epilogue where you remark "man, whatever happened with that crazy shit back then?" Its a bit of an odd genre convention but you can see how it works, its lets you have new content and date all the girls without ruining the story, you know who is the 'main' girl is after all.

YU-NO is a mystery sci-game, and it a quantum multiverse/timelines mystery game. You go through the story, and you collect objects along that story, and you also get jewels that let you anchor your spot in the worldline and teleport back to them with your inventory intact. It looks insane btw:

You get no in-game explanation of it at all, the idea of playing this without a guide seems like a cursed no-sleep streaming challenge.

But anyway, this opens up an interesting idea to you as a designer. You are intentionally supposed to hop back and forth in time, to collect items, and unlock the true ending. So why not build all the romance route storylines around that time travel? And put items at the end of each of those romance arcs? Now you can date them all! In fact, you have to! There is a perfectly logical, in-universe reason for why you have 5 different romance arcs; they are happening in different timelines. You date girl one first, then skip back in time, and start on the next - the main character only barely remembers the time skips, to him he doesn't even feel like he is cheating. Pretty sure its intentionally written that way to make that plot conceit work.

I'm sure other games have done similar tricks, but I think YU-NO is the first - it is a pioneer in VN space for using the high-concept quantum timeline stuff, that is its claim to fame. Its a cute little trick, I like it a lot.

[jessmindspace]

Parallels

Genre: Superhero, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Spy, Mystery

Synopsis: A group of ordinary people who live mundane lives all wake up together in a dreamworld/other dimension where they have superhuman abilities. This other reality is parallel to theirs, just with scifi/fantasy elements thrown in that are typical of a superhero universe. Part of the mystery is finding out how they are all brought to this other reality, and why they were “chosen” to connect as dreamers/heroes, but it becomes more difficult since the dream picks up where it left off if they go unconscious in the Superhero Reality/Mundane Reality, which leads to realities blurring.

I haven’t really explored The Mundane Reality parts all that much yet, so this is mostly the superhero aspects that I’ve been developing/posting 😅

Tags: #parallels comic project | #parallels

Knightsbridge Hollow*

Genre: A mix of mystery, comedy, fantasy, spy, and slight horror

Setting: 1961-62, British Countryside

Synopsis: Set in the Parallels universe, immortals John and Muriel Traxton move to the little English village of Knightsbridge Hollow after a disastrous attempt at living in the city outside of the pocket dimension they had been calling home since their marriage. Muriel wants to attempt a “normal” life, and John is just going along with it because he loves his wife and wants to support this endeavor. This, however, comes to bite them when it turns out that Knightsbridge is a magnet for all sorts of mana-infused people and creatures…and it seems like all of the creatures are working under someone who has it out for Muriel…

*Current comic project I’m working on | you can follow the blog for more updates too

Tags: #knightsbridge hollow

Sci Fi WIP Universe (it has a name but you have to find out on Patreon hehe)

Genre: Sci Fi

Setting: Thousands of years in the future, after humanity has colonized the known galaxy

Synopsis: I have three stories (so far) in this universe, all at different points in time!

Main Story - The one that I hope to write in the future that serves as the introduction to the universe these stories are set to take place in. Thrust into the seat of power after her father was assassinated, Empress Ariadne Fenway II has to contend with a planet of people who have been under the heel of the Fenway Dynasty for far too long and are ready to revolt as she tries to enact reforms to help make reparations. Ultimately she is forced to flee when a charismatic member from the Priest Sect who calls himself “The Demagogue” joins forces with a rival noble house on the planet and enacts a coup.

Tags: #untitled sci fi wip | #untitled sci fi story

Assassin Story - Follows two genetically-engineered assassins–Taran and Renata–as they navigate their new lives after breaking away from their masters and deciding to do things on their own terms. They have to come to rely on each other to avoid bounty hunters and other mercenaries sent after them, oh, and the Death Squad the Assassin Makers send to liquidate their AWOL assets. Set a century or two prior to the Main Story.

Tags: #assassin story

Shadow Sector - Takes place about a hundred years after the Main Story. The setting is on a massive research station in what has become known as “The Shadow Sector,” following a widower, Shaw, and his three girls as isolationist genetically-engineered human societies start reintegrating back into the Imperium. This includes Representative deGrav'aine being sent to the Station as part of an exchange program for the GEs and Baseline humans to trade their knowledge. Unknown to the Imperium at large, there are some GEs and Baselines who are opposed to the commingling of races, and will do anything they can to put a stop to it, even perhaps starting a war.

Tags: #shadow sector

Thanks for checking out my blog!

[greycappedjester]

Okay, okay, as someone who is currently replaying some of one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES, a game that I rarely ever hear talk about, I feel I have to take a sec to recomend this.

Ever heard of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim?

No? Well, let me tell ya.

Do you like mystery games? Good news! Do you like fighting games? Awesome! Compelling characters and good relationships? Yay! Distinct and cool female characters? Yep, they're here, too.

13 Sentinels is a mix of a fighting and story game. The story game is told from the perspective of the 13 main characters. For each of these characters, you walk through their story. All of their stories overlap with each other with each giving you pieces of the larger mystery narrative that you slowly piece together.

What's more is that all of the 13 stories are distinct and create a mix of different genres (largely sci-fi). For one girl, it's a fun friendship-driven ET like narrative of finding a cute little alien robot. For another, he's an amnesiac solving a murder mystery where he may be the culprit. Two are about boys quite litterally men out of time as WW2 era soldier recruits, time-traveled to the 1980s, try to find their way home. One girl has a sarcastic possibly-magic cat that's given her a secret mission. Another girl is embroiled in a government conspiracy as she tries to save her friend.

And that's only a few given in very small detail. Imagine that and now imagine all those stories are interweaving and solving a mystery that spans decades (...and possibly longer). Hopefully they can do it in time to save the world.

This game is incredible, has great characters, some touching romances, and is overall amazing.

Please oh please play it so I have someone to talk about it with.

[albatris]

Writerly Questionnaire!

thank you @davycoquette for tagging me :3

About You

When did you start writing?

I started when I was a lil kid, probably about 6 years old!

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

No, they're much the same! Horror, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery :3

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

It's just me n my laptop wherever we end up! Usually on the couch or in bed! I love writing in coffee shops but I'm often too anxious to be around other people ^^;

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Playlists, baby!! Or watching/reading something that scratches the same itch as the stuff I wanna write. Usually some good horror :3

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Oh, absolutely! My works are very Australian in nature!

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

There's themes of uhhhh.... isolation vs. connection, that's one that comes up a lot. Mental and physical illness too. The bendy nature of reality. Anti-capitalism. I'm often surprised when the same themes pop up over multiple works, since I don't often plan it that way haha

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

My favourite character currently is Alex! Alex is from "A Rental Car takes a Left Down Rake Street and Disappears". It's a vampire lawyer who preys on despicable predators human society will never hold accountable. Alex is an intensely private person who prefers to keep to itself, but it's also deeply kind and always looking to help others when it can. It enjoys gardening, sleight of hand magic and expensive wines :3 Alex has my favourite character arc in the trilogy!!

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

Ripley!! Her sense of humour is similar to my IRL best friend's. She's loud, boisterous and silly, and the fact that she talks so much means I wouldn't have to talk as much which is always a bonus c:

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Quinn. They're such a shady bastard. They'd hate me and I'd be scared of them lmao

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

Here they are!

The characters of my two main projects, drawn by me :3 A Rental Car takes a Left Down Rake Street and Disappears on the top and All the Doors are Open on the bottom!

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

It's my way of communicating with the world and connecting to others!

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

When people tell me they resonate with my stories in terms of, like, shared experiences... I love that! Some of the comments I still think about all the time have been from fellow psychosis-havers telling me they resonate with my depictions of psychosis or that my stories made them feel less alone. But I adore all comments!

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

I wanna be thought of as... spooky... >:3

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Characters and worldbuilding! By worldbuilding I don't mean Creating Worlds (I suck at that) but crafting unique premises and putting my own spin on things like vampire lore and interdimensional portals :3

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

I'm very happy with it!

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Probly. I think I'd go stircrazy without it. It's my way of understanding and processing the world and my feelings on it. Plus I'd get bored otherwise.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

Both! But I'd say I mostly focus on what I might enjoy!

[bangtiddies]

Fizzy

Pairing: Alien!Hoseok x Reader Genre: Romance, Fluff, Sci-fi Rating: PG Words: 1.4k Warnings: very very cheesy

Summary: Hoseok, the new resident living in the capsule that landed in your backyard, is now interested in giving flowers, holding hands, and going on dates.

Note: unedited because I’m a fool. It's been so long I'm so rusty I'm sorry. HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY TO MY SUNFLOWER, MY LOVE @youtifulhobi I hope you had a lovely birthday!! Hugs and kisses xx

It starts with flowers.

Fully thought out messages in carefully wrapped bouquets, bringing meanings of flowers together. Flowers for beauty, flowers for care, flowers for happiness. He would hint that there’s meaning in each bouquet he gives you and with every new bouquet, you find yourself more interested in flowers and their meanings. You didn’t think that your new resident would be teaching you new things while learning about Earth himself, but here you are.

Then, he starts giving you gifts.

Little jewellery he crafted himself in his little capsule, made with mysterious materials. He’s still yet to tell you what materials they’re made of but you don’t dwell on it, admiring each item he gives you. The jewellery sparkle under the sunlight and your heart skips a beat at the thought of how delicately he would’ve made them.

After about a week, he starts wondering out loud about holding hands.

“Why do humans do it?” Hoseok asks, a cute pout on his lips as he stares at one of his human hands. It goes transparent for a split second, as if he’s about to compare it to his other form. He sighs and wills it back to human.

To be completely honest, you can’t answer his question because you also have no idea why. “Skinship, I guess?” you stutter out instead and give him an awkward smile.

He narrows his eyes. “You are uncertain.”

“I mean, that’s why I’m guessing,” you laugh nervously.

Without saying a word, Hoseok grabs your hand. You let out a weird squeak at the sudden touch, heat rushing to your cheeks. He picks up on your flustered emotions easily and smiles.

“Y/N, go on a date with me tomorrow.”

The following morning, Hoseok greets you with a bouquet of flowers and a heart shaped smile. The scene is somewhat nostalgic, reminding you of the first time you saw him like this — back when he asked you to start his experience in romance. You didn’t think he’d be serious about it back then, but the past couple of weeks have proved otherwise.

You can’t take your eyes off of him, his styled hair, his outfit stylish but casual. There’s an air of the elegance he wore when he stood there a little over a week ago but without the outdated getup. His smile widens when he notices your eyes on him, and you quickly shift your gaze away in embarrassment.

“Um,” you let out, tossing up between feeling embarrassed or exasperated. “I just woke up.”

Hoseok blinks. “Yes, I can see that. You look like you had a rejuvenating sleep.”

“We’re not… doing the date thing now, right?”

“It is today, is it not?”

You want to throw your hands against your face. “It’s 8am, Hobi.”

“Yes,” Hoseok says with a frown, not understanding why you’re talking about the time. You sigh heavily. You toss through some words in your mind, wondering how to explain why it’s too early to go on a date. How to tell him that you’re literally standing in your living area in your pyjama shorts and singlet - clothing that’s certainly not appropriate for a first date.

“A date needs a little more planning than deciding the day,” you say slowly, making sure you have your words right. “Say we have a coffee date at 10am, at the café down the road.”

“Oh,” Hoseok lights up. “Yes! A date consists of an outing!”

“Yes, and getting ready.”

He looks at your attire, possibly finally realising where you’re coming from. “Okay, we can meet at the café down the road in two hours.”

“Great,” you smile.

“I will give you time to prepare,” Hoseok says, giving you a smile and a little wave, before turning to leave the room.

“Wait,” you call out. Hoseok stops, turns back to you with a puzzled expression, and you start to feel a little embarrassed about what you were going to say next. “Leave the flowers here.”

“I had them prepared for the da-”

“Please,” you say, not wanting admit that you’re afraid of the stares you’re bound to get at the café when Hoseok, handsome as he is, arrives with the bouquet. “I want to decorate them here now.”

Hoseok pouts a little. He probably intended the flowers to be present throughout your date. But he hands you the bouquet without complaint, and promises to see you later before leaving the room.

You feel a little bad but when you look down at the flowers in your hands, warmth spreads across your chest. You feel a little bit of joy when you think about how others won’t be able to see Hoseok with flowers. Realising your thoughts, you shake them away.

Time to get ready for the date.

When you arrive at the café at five minutes before 10am, you notice that Hoseok is already there, waiting at a table with two glasses of sparkling water on it. He’s slowly sipping on one, curious eyes wide and amused.

You frown at the sight. Hoseok is usually literal with his words and you expected him to be there at exactly 10am. You thought you had a little bit of time to sit down and collect yourself.

“Y/N!” Hoseok’s eyes light up when you notices you walking toward him and waves with excitement.

“Hi,” you smile, sitting down at the other seat on the table.

“Y/N,” he says, eyes on you, taking you in. “You are beautiful.”

Your face heats up at the compliment, not wanting to think about the effort you made for this date. This is for Hoseok’s research, you tell yourself. It’s not a real date.

The last bit strikes a little nerve in you, and before your thoughts end up putting you down, you blurt out, “Thanks, you look beautiful too.”

He smiles wide, it’s a heart shaped smile, and it’s so bright that you wonder if you’ll go blind. Your previous thoughts melt away from the warmth of his smile and you can’t help but smile too.

Then, you finally question your thoughts from earlier. “You’re early,” you tell him, a little curious.

“Oh, yes,” Hoseok nods. “My research tells me that it is best to be about fifteen minutes early for a meeting.”

“This is a date.”

“We are meeting as well, are we not?” He looks puzzled. You decide not to go further.

“Uh, yeah, we are, I guess.”

“Y/N!” Hoseok exclaims, changing the subject, eyes sparkling like the water in front of him as he pushes a glass to you. “The waiting lady put these here when I asked for a table. I gather that it is something to drink. It is very interesting. It feels like stars on my tongue.”

“You know what stars taste like?” You don’t hear much of Hoseok’s life before Earth. You’ve always wanted to know more about him, about his species, and what led to him crash-landing in your backyard.

“Oh no, I have not had real stars on my tongue. But I do not know how to explain the feeling from this drink.”

You’re a little disappointed that you didn’t spark a conversation about his past, but his amusement for new things keeps your spirits up.

“It’s called sparkling water. It’s carbonated so the water’s fizzy.”

“Fizzy…” Hoseok repeats. “Fizzy, fizzy, fizzy.”

The new word flows off his lips as he repeats it. He looks so excited. Your heart warms.

The waitress arrives shortly after, asking if you’re ready to order. You spend the next hour or so at the café, chatting with excitement for new things over coffee and cakes. The world is yours and Hoseok’s, the stares you were concerned about earlier no longer a problem.

On the way home, Hoseok asks if he could hold your hand.

“This is a date,” he says with his bright smile.

If he asked a few hours earlier, in the morning when he gifted you the bouquet of flowers, you may have been too embarrassed. You probably would’ve refused to hold his hand, spouting the first excuse that would appear in your mind.

But now, tummy filled with coffee and cake, heart filled with the warmth of his smiles, mind filled with the scenes of excitement over his discoveries, you let his hand intertwine with yours.

And if you spend the night thinking about how well your hands fit together, that’s something you’ll keep to yourself for now.

[ladypepperofdavenshire]

Stories Masterpost

Parallels

Genre: Superhero, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Spy, Mystery

Synopsis: A group of ordinary people who live mundane lives all wake up together in a dreamworld/other dimension where they have superhuman abilities. This other reality is parallel to theirs, just with scifi/fantasy elements thrown in that are typical of a superhero universe. Part of the mystery is finding out how they are all brought to this other reality, and why they were “chosen” to connect as dreamers/heroes, but it becomes more difficult since the dream picks up where it left off if they go unconscious in the Superhero Reality/Mundane Reality, which leads to realities blurring.

I haven't really explored The Mundane Reality parts all that much yet, so this is mostly the superhero aspects that I've been developing/posting 😅

Tags: #parallels comic project | #parallels

Knightsbridge Hollow*

Genre: A mix of mystery, comedy, fantasy, spy, and slight horror

Setting: 1961-62, British Countryside

Synopsis: Set in the Parallels universe, immortals John and Muriel Traxton move to the little English village of Knightsbridge Hollow after a disastrous attempt at living in the city outside of the pocket dimension they had been calling home since their marriage. Muriel wants to attempt a "normal" life, and John is just going along with it because he loves his wife and wants to support this endeavor. This, however, comes to bite them when it turns out that Knightsbridge is a magnet for all sorts of mana-infused people and creatures...and it seems like all of the creatures are working under someone who has it out for Muriel...

*Current comic project I'm working on | you can follow the blog for more updates too

Tags: #knightsbridge hollow

Sci Fi WIP Universe (it has a name but you have to find out on Patreon hehe)

Genre: Sci Fi

Setting: Thousands of years in the future, after humanity has colonized the known galaxy

Synopsis: I have three stories (so far) in this universe, all at different points in time!

Main Story - The one that I hope to write in the future that serves as the introduction to the universe these stories are set to take place in. Thrust into the seat of power after her father was assassinated, Empress Ariadne Fenway II has to contend with a planet of people who have been under the heel of the Fenway Dynasty for far too long and are ready to revolt as she tries to enact reforms to help make reparations. Ultimately she is forced to flee when a charismatic member from the Priest Sect who calls himself “The Demagogue” joins forces with a rival noble house on the planet and enacts a coup.

Tags: #untitled sci fi wip | #untitled sci fi story

Assassin Story - Follows two genetically-engineered assassins--Taran and Renata--as they navigate their new lives after breaking away from their masters and deciding to do things on their own terms. They have to come to rely on each other to avoid bounty hunters and other mercenaries sent after them, oh, and the Death Squad the Assassin Makers send to liquidate their AWOL assets. Set a century or two prior to the Main Story.

Tags: #assassin story

Shadow Sector - Takes place about a hundred years after the Main Story. The setting is on a massive research station in what has become known as "The Shadow Sector," following a widower, Shaw, and his three girls as isolationist genetically-engineered human societies start reintegrating back into the Imperium. This includes Representative deGrav'aine being sent to the Station as part of an exchange program for the GEs and Baseline humans to trade their knowledge. Unknown to the Imperium at large, there are some GEs and Baselines who are opposed to the commingling of races, and will do anything they can to put a stop to it, even perhaps starting a war.

Tags: #shadow sector

Okay. That's it. THERE YOU GO

[aceofstars16]

1-5, 7, 9-11, & 16-20 for Forever, please?

1. what got you into this story?

I think I just saw trailers for it when it first started airing? I’m going to guess I saw something while watching Elementary cause they were both on TV at the same time haha. I really don’t watch a lot of TV, but I guess the premise intrigued me and then I really liked it 🥲

2. describe it in one or two sentences

An immortal is (by his son’s urging) learning how to live/let people in again (albeit *very slowly*) while also helping solve crime with a detective who he has an immense amount of care and chemistry with. Oh and there is another immortal who is kind of insane but that’s not the draw (for me 😂)

3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!

Found family (or just family in general), amazing slow burn, complex characters you want to hug

4. assign this story a hyper-specific genre name, e.g. "inspirational religious semi-horror sci-fi western"

Uhhhh hmmm…I’m bad at genres lol…detective/mystery/heart-tugging/kind of dark sometimes 😂

5. do you have a favorite character? who?

This is hardddd….probably Henry, like, I love him, I literally wrote a whole post about why I love him he has such a caring heart despite everything 😭 But also Abe! And Jo! And Lucas always makes me laugh too 😂

7. how does the story compare to your initial impressions of it? has it surprised you yet? how?

Hmmm, it’s been so long since my initial impressions, but I feel like it does the immortal character very well, just…the emotions and trauma and depth, but also that he’s still human. I’m not sure about surprises, I think I forgot about some great moments, so maybe those are surprising haha

9. give the most UNHELPFUL and/or SILLY summary possible.

Immortal man runs into things without thinking, leaving his detective partner to run after him and get him out of trouble

10. if you made an amv about this, what song would you set it to?

Probably “Feel Again” by OneRepublic, it’s so good for Henry and Jo 😭

11. if you were put in the main character's position, how well would that go for you on a scale of 1-5?

0??? Bro, not only do I not want to be immortal but like…I *hate* medical things and he’s a doctor and a medical examiner…I would literally run the other way 😂

16. do you think this story has broad appeal, or is it meant for a very specific audience? if it's more "niche", what kind of person would most enjoy this story?

Hmmm, I’m not really sure tbh? I don’t think it’s super niche but it could be, I think if you like found family and like…an MC that is very human but also like…not…I don’t know man it’s hard to describe it’s just…emotional but like…in a good way, it feels real but that means the happy stuff is real too 🥲

17. compare this story to your usual tastes. how does it differ from what you've already enjoyed?

Hmmm I mean, like I stated, I’m not a huge fan of medical things, so…that’s different but as long as I can look away I’m okay 😂 There is something dark stuff with death in a sense, but like…that’s not why I like it, I like it for the characters lol

18. compare this story to your usual tastes. what parts of it are exactly the kind of thing you've always loved?

I think I’ve already kind of touched on it, but found family (mostly Abe and Henry), a very real but gentle and caring MC, actually one of the best slow burns, and it does have some mystery in terms of Henry’s past too (I do like kind of detective/mystery elements in shows and movies)

19. pitch an idea for a sequel or spinoff novel for this story!

At this point it’s been over for 10 years….honestly just like one episode 10 years after the last one as a kind of flashback of Henry telling Jo he’s immortal and them still solving crime together (and obviously married cause I need this okay). If it was actually like…further in the future, maybe something with Henry and his relationship with his kids with Jo (whether adopted or not), like them as adults or even grandkids (though I personally want him to like…start aging and actually experience all of life and not keep living forever but 🤷‍♀️)

20. what's the WORST thing about this story, in your opinion? (feel free to be positive, e.g. "it's not longer", if you want!)

It was canceled…I want more…also the creepy stuff I could do without, but like…yeah it being canceled after one season 😭

[song-writer-melo-wrath]

Silly Game Time: Are you a fan of the mystery/detective genre? If so, what's a story of that genre (movie, show, book, game, etc.) you really like, and why?

It could be a more dramatic one, a more comedic one, a cross-genre one (fantasy or sci-fi or romance or western, etc.) so long as the main focus of the plot is the mystery to unravel!

AM I.

Hercule Poirot my BELOVED.

So in terms of the books, the books are amazing. Some of what Hercule Poirot is has been seen before — he's very sure of himself to the point one might call him arrogant, and perfectionistic enough to pick up many little details other people would not. However, he also has a lot that is entirely his own. He has an obsession with symmetry. Unlike a lot of detectives, his arrogance doesn't keep him from feeling human. Hercule Poirot is able to acknowledge the skills of others in their professions, and doesn't usually look down on people. Oh, and he's Belgian, that's pretty neat.

The movies are amazing. Except the second one. We don't talk about the second one. But both Murder on the Orient Express and a Hauntng in Venice are FANTASTIC, with mysteries that recontextualize when rewatched, very well put together sets, atmosphere in spades, very creative use of camera angles, it's just, [chef's kiss]

Haunting in Venice is probably my favourite of the two, as it's both quite spooky (tis the season) and goes into some of Hercule's background.

[veronicaphoenix]

hello hello hello random ass question but you're an English major and I want to know what your favourite books are and why thank you very much 🥰

Dear Laura,

hi hi hi!! You just asked what's probably my favorite question ever and of course, I got carried away. I'm sorry if this is too long!

Surprisingly enough, none of the books I had to read at uni are my favorite 😅 Obviously, I had to read the classics (Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights...) and I'm not a very big fan of those. They also forced Shakespeare down my throat for a couple of years and I ended up having a love/hate relationship with his works and his persona lol (I love the town where he was born, tho, it's my favorite town in England). 🤍

I read a lot, and I read a lot of everything. If you ever see my bookshelf you will see stuff ranging from Nicholas Sparks' novels to Stephen King's works (he's one of my fav authors) to some really fucked up stories like We Need to Talk about Kevin or My Absolute Darling (I actually loved these last two).

If you ever want to know, I have a favorite book for every genre. But my absolute all time favorite books are The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (I literaly cry for days every time I read this one).

The Thirteenth Tale is, most of all, a Gothic novel, and I love all things Gothic. This is definitely my go-to comfort read at any time. It has many classic Gothic elements and it can be somewhat predictable at times, but I was not expecting the plot twist toward the end. I love it for its setting in an abandoned manor and a main character with a quiet nature, who adores books and stories, and is emotionally scarred from childhood trauma.

I would define The Time Traveler's Wife as a romance novel with magical realism, and totally heartbreaking. It's got a touch of sci-fi with the time traveling thing, but it's not exactly what you would expect. I really don't like sci-fi stories and I think one of the reasons why I fell in love with this one is because of the way the author deals with that in the book. To summarize, the story follows Henry and Clare as they navigate life while coping with Henry's genetic condition, which causes him to randomly time travel. The curious thing about his condition is that, when he time travels, he often finds himself meeting Clare at different stages of her life; when she's a little girl, then a teenager, and then when she's an adult and they're married. The first time I read this book, I was a teenager and I found it really beautiful, innovating, and sad. The second time, I had already experienced being in love, so I felt everything between Henry & Clare's relationship on a deeper level, and towards the end, the story gets so heartbreaking that I was crying for days on train journeys, at work, and at home (I have to say that I'm a very sensible person and a crybaby lol).

However, there's also one other book that I read when I was 14 or so called The Wishing Game by Patrick Redmond that I've loved ever since, but its somewhat controversial for me because I fell in love with the 'villain' and was supportive of all his crimes 🫣 I think the reason why I empathized with him was because I read the story while I was in my teenage years, in my glorious high school days, and as most of us, I didn't really fit it, and sometimes I felt really neglected and angry, so I guess it was sort of comforting to read about a boarding school where the bullies start mysteriously dying 😶‍🌫️

What about you? Any favorite books? Oh, I love talking about books! This message put a big smile on my face sfsadfnsdsdfasjn 💞

[theaistired]

Blog introduction

Hello, my name is Thea (she/they), I’m acespec, arospec, and autistic. I speak German and English and I am trying to learn Italian, Swedish and Arabic (learning three different languages at once is complicated, so trying instead of actual learning). I’m a big fan of the fantasy genre and like to read, write, draw, play the piano, and occasionally play video games. I also love birds and science.

Now, this is my main blog where I post about my writing, my art and also stuff in general. I might also post about some of my own music in the future. You can find a short introduction to my WIPs under the cut.

Hope you enjoy and I'll see you around on tumblr!

Galidean: A fantasy series that was supposed to be a trilogy but has grown into a much longer series. But I guess that is what happens when you look a three different projects and think to yourself "wouldn't it be hilarious if the took place in the same setting". So, the series can be divided into three different "eras" with their own little "main plot", but there is also a plotline running through all of them mostly in the background.

A hundred years after the joined victory over the Dark Sun, the human nations gather together in celebration. Future leaders attend a journey through each other's home, during which it becomes clear that scorching raids have left their marks over all the territories. With no apparent culprit, a prince, an orphan, a lord, and a sorcerer band together to find the power that turns banishment into death. With the help of a friend and a sibling, they start chasing mysteries and legends across the world, unaware that they all take root from the wounds of the world itself.

Old Gods: A fantasy series consisting of 3 – 4 books, while I also wanted it to be horror, that part has gotten somewhat lost while developing it. Oh well.

Cyr was young when the war started, he was young when he joined it and he was not so young anymore when the enemy captured him. After four years of imprisonment, he comes to terms with his inevitable fate. Surrounded by enemies, hated by his allies, stripped of his magic and will, there is no escape for him. While the voices and visions invade both day and night, Cyr prepares for his final day. His only true solace is the new courtesan who has endless stories of hope and rebirth to tell him.

The Human in Us: An urban fantasy series, that really is just two characters and my investment in their relationship in a trench coat. All started by me looking at different supernatural YA stories and going “wonder how I would do that”.

Students, alcohol and an abandoned house should have been the set-up for a fun, maybe spooky anecdote in their future. It should not twist and turn and talk, it should not turn nightmares real, it should not make Josephine’s hallucinations even more vivid and grotesque. Yet it does, and one month later, a burning girl appears to give her an envelope containing an address and a promise of answers.

There Are Voices In the Void: A sci-fi horror story, set in the same setting as a different sci-fi project of mine, but story-wise not connected to it.

While investigating a nebula, the scientists of the crew gather samples of cosmic dust, finding an unknown organism on it. The head biologists determines it to be deceased and proceeds with further testing. The death of two of his colleagues soon afterwards is just the beginning of the nightmare.

Little Remains: A bit of crime fiction/thriller, that happened by me looking at YA mystery series and going “wonder how I would do that”.

Detective Morgan has worked on many gruesome cases in the past, most of them took place in bigger cities with an anonymous population. When a teenage girl is found dead in the fields of a small town nearby, Morgan first assumes an outsider to be the murderer of the unidentified victim. However, with the murder of a local student a few days later, even the tight-knit community quickly realises that one of them is far more familiar with the gruesome case than the rest of them. Unwilling to sit back, the student’s friends start their own investigation, while Morgan begins to struggle with old ghosts.  

[ameliedoree]

Mysteries of the Sith is Peak Niche Bullshit and I Kinda Love it

Fun fact about me: I play boomer shooters when I'm not doing well. This entire last week has been miserable for me, so I decided, "why don't I *finally* try and play through Dark Forces 2 and it's expansion?" It's a title I've had a love/hate relationship with, primarily because I've tried to play it on Hard mode and that SUCKS. DF2 is a miserable experience on that difficulty for a myriad reasons I will not dive into here because I don't have the mental capacity to talk in great detail about it.

But anyways, I've finally played Dark Forces 2, and it's pretty cool. Not great, but as the second entry in the first Star Wars FPS series, and probably the first 3D Star Wars game to let you wield a lightsaber, it's a fun pulpy ride that I feel is enjoyable by anyone who likes older FPS titles and doesn't mind a little bit of archaic design.

Mysteries of the Sith is not this.

Mysteries of the Sith is some bullshit.

MOTS is very clearly made for people who are completely deranged boomer shooter fans like I am; people like me who have been playing this genre since they were a wee lad or lass (I played FPS games when I was 3!) and know the genre in and out; people like me who can probably play multiple DOOM maps blindfolded, finds anything below Hard or Very Hard to be annoying and tedious in most FPS games, has twitch reflexes, and somehow enjoys maniacal puzzle solving and level design that has no human logic or reason behind it.

And I think I love it.

It's about as indulgent in 90s FPS design tropes as you can get. Levels are often sprawling but there doesn't seem to be any real world rhyme or reason to parts of their design; it's often weird and winding explicitly for the purpose of testing the players ability to apply made up powers for problem solving.

Dark Forces 1 was clearly meant to be a game with 'real' locations. Many levels make a pretty remarkable amount of sense, only confusing because cities and industrial landscapes can be confusing to outsiders, and any level obfuscation can be blamed on sci-fi bullshit.

Dark Forces 2 steered away from this, but it still made SOME sense; locations generally felt like they could be real, even if individual areas were kinda nonsensical for the sake of having goofy FPS platforming and shoehorned in traps. None of it ever takes advantage of the fact that you are A Jedi though; you're not gonna be Force Jumping or Speeding or Pulling around for anything other than a few secrets and mucking about with the enemies.

MOTS does not give two shits about this and has levels that feel vaguely real enough to make sense but are generally a bunch of wacky things chained together because it's entertaining. Said wacky things often expect that you're completely willing to use every bit of kit at your arsenal; it wants you to be zooming around at nauseating paces, hopping around like a jackrabbit, throwing switches with the Force, and persuading ancient statues in a forgotten forest.

Also, the game has some absolute fucking bullshit everywhere. Like, completely impossible to know ahead of time traps, secrets that requires absurd intuition to locate, enemies that can kill you in seconds... it ALMOST gets out of hand at points. But I feel like I was smiling along with the developers, thinking, "oh man that was wild, now why'd you put THAT there you silly gooses? Hehe~"

I think it's a pretty cool study in designing a game for people who are as In The Know as the hypothetical you, The Designer, are. I don't think anyone designing MOTS was a newbie to FPS game design; these were people who loved the genre and had probably had tons of experience working on it, assuming they weren't all rehires from the base DF2 team. I haven't checked, sorry.

But the game was absolutely not meant to be played by people who don't have the same level of brain worms that I do; so much of the level design I feel would be utterly alien to people used to Real Game Environments the same way I struggle to navigate games with Real Game Environments like The Last of Us.

I think it's also super cool how all of this does work into the game. Like I said, it expects you to be doing goofy force bullshit in the way DF2 didn't and DF1 most certainly did not because the latter doesn't even have Jedi and Sith shit going on. It's also rather different from DF3/4 (Jedi Outcast/Academy) because the game design feels much more *retro* than those two. It really does make you feel like a wild mystical super power user just by virtue of using those powers to solve things.

MOTS is a very goofy, self-indulgent game besides this anyways. The whole story references characters that NO ONE except massive extended universe lore nerds would care about, the protagonist is the apprentice of the protag from the first game, who you then FIGHT IN AN EPIC SUPER COOL DUEL AT THE END to save him from turning to the EVIL DARK SIDE.

This game was made for the small handful of people who love boomer shooters in all of their bullshit, and additionally, people who are like that AND love crazy fanfiction shit. That's me, I'm both of those; I don't really care deeply about Star Wars but I do love me some self-indulgent fanfiction.

This is a big rambly post, but the point is, MOTS is pretty awesome and I recommend it to people deep in the boomer shooter mines. It's a far better paced game than the kind of sloggish DF2, it's a more enjoyable FPS experience than the lightsaber-focused DF3 and 4, and it's a self-indulgent good time in every other way.

[lotushiddenintheclouds]

So... I wanna talk about MDZS and SW

This is me whenever I, as a Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) and Star Wars (SW) fan, find similarities between two franchises I absolutely adore.

Tbf, there aren't a lot of main similarities between the two (and there's a change a couple might flat-out ignore their individual genres, messages, and cultural contexts).

But there's one thing that keeps me up at night... Star Wars prequels have that brothers-turned-enemies duel which MDZS hugely lacks.

(DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS AHEAD)

First, some context (i'll try to make it quick):

Mo Dao Zu Shi (魔道祖师, acronym MDZS): a Chinese fantasy (xianxia) danmei novel (with animated, live, graphic visual, and audio adaptations), written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (acronym: MXTX)

Star Wars (acronym SW): a sci-fi fantasy, soap opera, franchise that spawned out of George Lucas' movie trilogies (the first trilogy from the 80s - OG, the second trilogy from the 00s - prequels; a third trilogy by Disney from the late 2010s - sequels)

MDZS is about a necromancer teaming up *ahem* with another cultivator to solve a mystery. Both men end up together romantically, since danmei = boy's love/BL. Cue political intrigue, subverted common xianxia tropes (e.g. necromancer/demonic cultivator = evil-coded), morality and justice questioned, family drama, and commentary on cancel culture.

Star Wars, as a whole, is about the legacy of the Skywalker family, the downfall of fighting monks with magic powers (Jedi), and their evil counterpart (Sith) taking over the galaxy, and the restoration of peace and justice. It spawns over counts on fingers around seven decades. Oh, and a prophecy is thrown in there too.

NOW TO THE POINT: The particular scene I had in mind was the famous, big duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars Episode 3 (Revenge of the Sith).

A Jedi master (Obi-Wan) and his past apprentice (Anakin), close as brothers, have to face each other. The apprentice has turned to the dark side (Sith) and committed genocide, with his master/close friend/brother assigned to kill him.

In my honest opinion, this duel mirrors Wei Wuxian's and Jiang Cheng's final showdown in the novel.

A necromancer (Wei Wuxian) and a sect leader (Jiang Cheng) growing up as martial siblings, close as blood brothers. Wei Wuxian diverges from the orthodox path of cultivation and takes up ghost cultivation/gui dao. This paints him in a negative light, resulting him and his martial brother separating. But they truly turn against each other when the necromancer was responsible for the sect leader's sister's and her husband's deaths.

The drift between the martial brothers is clearly and poetically written in the novel. There's one thing missing... Wei Wuxian's death is not shown and we can only rely on rumours that Jiang Cheng fought and defeated Wei Wuxian.

And this drives me so crazy. Had MXTX been so kind and written that scene out (if the rumours are even true!!) then would have had a version played out like this:

sobs in a corner I love brothers turning against each other and engaged in one of the most significant duels in the story.

(edited to add clarification)