#one of my favorite niche horror genres
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ginger snaps 🤝 the fly
watching your loved one slowly lose their humanity as they change into a grotesque monster and being powerless to stop their transformation
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𝐊𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐀'𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐏𝐒
a/n: Really happy to be back on tumblr! College apps have been kicking my ass but it's getting better. Don't be shy to request a matchup, a fic, or a wip for Gaza! I'm also very sorry @tinysoulmentality for not including moodboards I had no time 😭
❁ཻུ۪۪♡ word count: 2k
Keira's Fundraising Event
███▒▒▒▒▒▒ 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. . . @tinysoulmentality 's character matchup
Hi! Id like to request a matchup for jjk, bllk and aot. Im mexican and being connected to my culture is very important to me. I love reading dc comics and watching old slasher/horror movies. My favorite color is purple and my favorite holiday/time of year of Halloween. When it comes to relationships, the most important thing to me is being with someone that I know i can be myself with and that I dont have to worry about their loyalty towards me. Here are my donations and pls lmk if theres any other info you need !!!💜💜
𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐉𝐉𝐊 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: 𝐈𝐍𝐎 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐌𝐀
Ino is an interesting little guy. He’s cute, but to say he has game would be like saying that cats can fly (handsome loser :3). When he first met you, he had to do a little double take because hold on a minute. Who’s that pretty lady? He casually walks up to you and blurts out a “You’re not from around here, are you?” ft. nervous voice crack that he manages to play off somehow. The question definitely elicits a few mental eye rolls from you. Typical male-tries-to-hit-on-foreign-girl one-liner, but he makes it… work? Maybe it’s the nervous flush on his cheeks, or the hand that sheepishly rubs at the back of his neck, or the bright smile he musters up to mask the nerves.
I like to think that Ino is a very cosmopolitan person. It’s not really that he’s traveled all around the world, but more so that he has varied likes and interests spanning many different cultures. He likes to listen to old-school hip-hop and reggaeton. He’s into Italian and Turkish dramas. He sleeps well at night knowing there’s an Indian restaurant and another Mexican one down the block that can curb his cravings for butter chicken and quesadillas.
So, it’s no surprise that he’s quick to grab a throw pillow and get comfortable on the couch whenever you talk about your Mexican heritage. He doesn’t know much about Mexico apart from the fact that the food goes extremely hard, so he’s always enthusiastic to learn more about the other aspects that characterize your country and its people.
He also tries to learn some Spanish to “surprise” you but then it’s literally just a “¡Buenos días!” enunciated really badly. There’s a proud smile on his face every time he greets you good morning in your mother tongue though, and it’s very endearing, to say the least.
To add onto his culture vulture, cosmopolitan vibes, I think he’s also really into movies. The type to just drop a niche movie reference every two seconds and frown deeply when no one gets it.
Watching horror movies with him is interesting because for some reason he thinks that abruptly grabbing your shoulders mid-movie and growling menacingly would jump-scare you into oblivion, but you’re used to the genre so all it does is make you eye him narrowingly, unimpressed, ready to tell him off for interrupting a very crucial plot development.
For whatever reason, Ino gives me major horror-enjoyer vibes. He likes analog horror and you’re lucky Halloween is your favorite time of year because it’s his too! Watching The Prowler (i just really like this movie lol) under the blankets with warm, freshly-made popcorn and a pretty lady in his arms? Yeah, count him in.
One last thing, sorry to be the one to say this, but Ino is definitely the “can you draw me” person whenever he sees your sketchbook or art in general. It’s all in good nature, and he wouldn’t mind it if you say no, but if you do draw or paint him, let’s just say that that drawing will be in his wallet for the rest of his life. Sometimes he’d just randomly pull it out when someone brings you up and proudly hold it up to his company like “Uhuh, my girl drew this. Yup.”
𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐁𝐋𝐋𝐊 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐈 𝐇𝐘𝐎𝐌𝐀
I think that, unlike Ino, Chigiri used to be less “out there” in the world in his youth and kept more to himself in terms of being an experiencer of cultural diffusion; It was how he was brought up. But after going pro and meeting many people, traveling to many different places etc, he’s been exposed to the world on a greater scale. That’s how he finds himself meeting you one day at a party. He was charming. Need I say more tbh? That hair, that gentlemanliness, that whole aura surrounding him is hard to resist. He knew just how to sweet-talk but actually meant every word he said.
Chigiri is one wealthy man, let’s be honest. Pro footballer? Mbappe in another font? Yeah. I think he genuinely enjoys spoiling and lavishing you with gifts if that’s your thing.
He loves hearing you talk about your heritage and if you don’t live in Mexico, I feel like if you were to even remotely express that you’re kind of missing your country he’d immediately be like, “Then let’s book a 2 week stay and you can show me all those things you were telling me about.” No biggie.
Would also rent out the entirety of Playa Sisal in advance because you mentioned (once. 1 [one] time. ) that you were looking forward to taking a dip come the vacation.
I think that there’s this stigma surrounding footballers and how they’re a bunch of players who sleep around but don’t commit. While that may have some merit, Chigiri is different. Like, have you seen him? Not to mention that he has a sister.
I feel like he values loyalty and genuine companionship as much as you do, and should you ever feel yourself questioning where you stand within his life, or whether he’s trustworthy, he would be so quick to reassure you and make you feel heard, basically quelling the doubts before they even surface. (Communicative king).
On the note of communicative king, he’s very good at praise and voicing his appreciation. The sort to genuinely encourage your creative hobbies and praise you for any work you create. He would literally not mind building a home art studio for you to promote your love for art and writing. Like, “Oh, I saw you painting the other day and you didn’t look very comfortable at your desk. Thought I’d make you a little art corner,” he’d say as he sheepishly shows you the “art corner” in question which looks more like a state of the art professional studio.
I think Chigiri himself is a very artistic person beneath the surface. He just gives off that vibe quite a bit. Picnics where you guys sit at the park and paint the scenery together? So him.
Would post your art on social media (if you consent ofc!) to his 5 million+ followers and bring you business if you ever decide to open commissions.
In terms of entertainment, Chigiri is the type to be so clueless when it comes to media because he just doesn’t have the time. Like you were shocked when he told you he never watched Star Wars. Sir, what do you mean??
It became your job to educate him on the vast world of entertainment, namely movies. He doesn’t really care what you pick as long as you’re happy. So when he’s got some free time on his hands, he’ll binge horror or DC/Marvel movies with you and even try to analyze the plot as it’s happening (don’t kill him please he’s just trying to show he’s interested).
Would buy you merch of your favorite movies and get giddy when you wear it/decorate your room with it etc.
Lastly, I think Chigiri would sulk in the corner if you insist he let you dye his hair purple since it’s your favorite color, but he literally can’t say no to you, so eventually he yields reluctantly but shockingly, once all is said and done, he figures out he actually really like how purple looks on him.
𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐎𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: 𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈 𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍
I’m gunna be honest. I think it just makes sense for Levi to like you because black cat x orange cat trope?? Him and Hange? Him and the Eren gang in general? Yeah.
Going by your mbti, I imagine you’re not very extroverted, and I think that’s something that genuinely makes Levi let out a sigh of relief sometimes.
*glance at each other* You: “wanna leave this party?” Him: “You read my mind.”
If loyalty were a person, it would be this man. He shows it in the small things, I’d say: Leaving you short messages before he leaves for work every morning, bringing you things that remind him of you, etc. I feel like that would be his way of saying “I’ve got eyes for you only/I’m always thinking about you and you alone”.
Levi is such a meanie on the surface and I find it kind of hilarious. Like, I think you guys would complete each other's snark and sarcasm and people would not know whether you two are joking or not meanwhile yall are just trying to bite back giggles.
If I’m being honest, Levi doesn’t strike me as a very creative person. He seems more of a STEM sort of guy if we think of him in a modern au, so he doesn’t pay much mind to the arts as a field.
That’s not to say he isn’t supportive of your creative endeavors of course. You know when parents have no idea how a sport you play works but they still passionately cheer at your games regardless? Yeah, that’s Levi with your art, writing, etc. It’s all impressive to him even if you don’t think so and he’ll make sure you know that.
“I love this poem you wrote. You could be famous if you took this up professionally,” he’d say even if there was like a single sentence on the page.
Would be the type to send you anything art or writing related he gets on his fyp like “yup, she’s definitely gonna love this/find it helpful”.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think Levi is actually a film buff. There, I said it. Something about him strikes me as movie lover. He would be the type to drop a quote from some obscure movie from the 50s with a straight face in the most serious tone ever which makes it even funnier.
So, when you two have some free time, he loves to watch things with you while cuddling on the couch. he’s the type to read the captions before the characters actually say them and it just spoils the scene for him, and then he’d sulk as if it’s your fault, but it’s cute.
When you two are watching horror movies, he’s the type to tsk and mutter under his breath complaining about the costumes or about how if he were there he would’ve totally killed that demon in like two seconds.
#open requests#jjk x reader#ino takuma#chigiri x reader#fics for gaza#bllk x reader#levi ackerman#aot x reader
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A Taste of Faith
[PRINT] - [COMMISSIONS]
Ok so the concept for this piece was : historical gay nuns, and 70s lesbian vampire movies meets tes (don't ask me why- I just had a vision at 3 am)
Because I think Serana should have been meaner<3 I love women's wrongs and when vampires do the suck <3
Btw of you want to see more gay Serana art, go check out @gay-of-waterdeep, their art is wonderful, and I can't say this was not a bit inspired by what they do :))
Process (and me rambling about some of my favorite 70s lesbian vampire movies (because I have a problem)) below vvv
Additional details about this drawing ! 1) I used the same Mara design than the one from my tarot deck :)) and 2) the other woman is one of the priestess in the temple in Riften lglggigkglgl her name is *check wiki* Dinya Balu
And now......... Some movies I enjoy because my house my rules, you came this far so why not hear about niche european movies :))))))
Disclaimer for a majority of the films in this genre : the male gaze is very fucking obvious in these movies... they were made by men for men, and the message is often "lesbianism is a dangerous temptation for women". It's a glairing flaw nearly all of them share and that sucks (and frankly it's a flaw Serana's writting kinda has in my opinion, minus the lesbianism part, but let's not dwell on that)- so if you can't get past it, it's completly understandable, be on your way and have a nice day <3
- Daughters of Darkness ! A toxic man is returning to london with his newly wed wife, but they get stuck in Belgium and are forced to stay in a luxurious hotel. Don't worry about the 10/10 smokeshow countess seducing his wife :). Completely unrelated, this movie has, in my opinion, the most beautiful lesbian kiss I've ever seen- but I might not be very objective because Delphine Seyrig is there lglglflflllglm The best one in the list ! So if you want to whatch one, whatch this one <3
- The blood spattered bride ! This is more of... an aquired taste let's say- but I really like it ! A quite effective horror movie, with goofy ass scenes (shoutout to the vampire lady buried in the sand naked with only a diving mask that is not the screenshot because tits), and emasculation being a recuring theme <3 (but if you want to watch it, please check the content warnings beforehand, it has a lot of very shocking and frontal scenes, and it's the 70s so it's not done very tactfully. Also pretty intense flashing lights)
- The vampire lovers ! Ok so this one is a lot less fun compared to the other two because it's made by the Hammer BUT... 1) Ingrid Pitt hello and 2) it's such a intriging thing to see a very christian/conservative studio make a film like that. I know a lot of people don't like the Hammer movies from the 70s, because the studio had a lot less money, and were making wild decisions. But I love them, because they tend to be much more fun bloody and sexy ! I'm a simple woman mjllkklhkhlhlho case in point with the vampire lovers (although if you want a fun vampire hammer movie from the 70s, Dracula ad 1972 is way better). And Peter Cushing is there (i love this man so much-) !
And now I shall resume my quest to find Vampire Lesbos by Jésus Franco and have a probably mid experience watching it xoxo
#haha I love drawing faces in an awkward angle haha (my life is suffering x2)#serana#serana volkihar#dinya balu#mara#aedra#lesbian#dunmer#vampire#lesbian vampires#the elder scrolls#skyrim#tes#tesblr#art#my art#digital art#illustration#fanart#skyrim fanart#artist on tumblr
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Man, I think what makes me so sad about Guilty Gear is just knowing that there won't ever be anything quite like it. The cultural soup that spawned it just doesn't exist anymore. The edgy 90s counterculture boom can't really be replicated. Doom is something you run on thermostats and microwaves, Mortal Kombat is something your brother's friends played in college, spiked leather and heavy metal are things anyone might be into, arcades have been dead longer than they were alive, everyone is aware of JoJo. Everything that was shocking, transgressive, and exciting then is now pretty normal (if still beloved--nay, more beloved, even). They even made a new Matrix movie about this feeling. And the thing is, there were a lot of fighting games tapping into the same things as Guilty Gear was. They all died in obscurity, and Guilty Gear is the lone survivor, carrying the DNA of a cultural moment but unable to propagate, being the last of its species. Sol Badguy is a perfect protagonist for it, in that sense.
At the end of the day, there's just no real analogue. The genre of musclebound blood soaked anime it was drawing from like Fist of the North Star, Bastard! and Ninja Scroll don't really exist anymore. Rockstars of the hotel thrashing middle finger waving hard drinking hard partying variety don't really exist in the same way, either. Very few recent album covers would make for good stage backgrounds. There isn't really an "underground" subculture or counterculture--we're all just in different niches that are one online search away from each other. Nobody has to "introduce" you to metal, you don't have to know a guy, just look up a few whole discographies and listen on your commute. Fighting games themselves are a firmly established genre with it's own self selecting population--in the 90s it was pretty common for basically anyone to casually try a few rounds of Tekken or have some version of street fighter at home. That's not really the case anymore, and, as such, fighting games need to be designed differently and more thoughtfully than they used to be.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!None of these are bad things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But it does mean that any attempt to do something in the same vein as Guilty Gear will necessarily be a pastiche. Hell, even Guilty Gear itself was pastiche by the time of XX. This isn't a bad thing either--I'm loving Little Goody Two Shoes, for example, which is the most lavish and loving throwback to 90s shojo and 00s RPG Maker horror games. But it would still be different. Because even the most loving reference or recreation, even the ones that surpass the quality of the originals, can't replace the spirit of expressing something quintessential to your current moment, whatever that moment is.
The moment that I cherish cause I grew up in its shadow is long gone. I don't know if there's anything in the current moment that could speak to me in the same way. Most of my favorite all time games, manga, anime, etc etc all came out in the last few years, so this isn't about old shit being better. I guess most of what I love that's currently being made just didn't lend itself well to riffing on in the same way. Unfortunately, high passion rock operas screaming your feelings just lend themselves perfectly to kickass games, and those aren't in vogue like they used to be. And, ultimately, on a strictly personal level, I'll never be 15 again, being shown the sickest shit I've ever seen before a D&D game for the first time.
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Best of the Reptiles in Media - 01 - Godzilla (Monsterverse)
I figure that while I'm using this blog, I might as well post my ramblings on a subject dear to my heart: That being the representation of reptiles as characters in media. And not just villainous or vile ones like we're so used to. I'm talking about ones that inspire me. The ones that are legitimately compelling to me. And these posts are an excuse to espouse why.
Plus, it's just fun. You can thank the likes of @tyrantisterror and @bogleech for inspiring me to do these.
So who better to start with than with the lizard who's been an inspiration to me for almost my entire life. That being the one known as Gojira. AKA...Godzilla.
This is the one character in these posts who probably needs no introduction. Ever since his debut in 1954, the walking embodiment of the horrors of nuclear war, among other things, has been nothing less than an icon. This is the beast people think about when they hear "giant monster" or "kaiju". This is truly the King of the Monsters.
My introduction to Godzilla was a children's book called "Godzilla on Monster Island". It was a fun read full of neat monsters living together and teaming up to stop an evil plan. And it left me wanting more. I wanted more stories of these fantastic yet friendly beasts being friends and living together while having fun adventures. Little me was a bit disappointed to find that Godzilla spent more time fighting his fellow kaiju and trashing cities instead.
The truth, as I would find out, was that Godzilla is never just one thing. He is a fun defender of the Earth. He's the terrifying consequences of our tampering with both nature and science. And in recent memory, he's been a lot of other things. But most of the time, he's either hero or mankind's hubris on two legs. To me, he was a giant dinosaur that could fire thermonuclear breath, and that was all that mattered. It was after hearing about the historical significance of him that my respect doubled.
Back then, I would tell you that my favorite Godzilla from a design standpoint was the 2002 version. Personality wise, almost every Showa appearance post-1964.
But in 2014, everything changed. In came a Goji that seemed to have everything I could ask for. So, we're going to look at the one that resonates with me the most. The Monsterverse version.
That right there is perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring entrances I've ever seen in a cinema.
Before the release of Godzilla (2014), the franchise had entered something of a slump period. The last film was all the way back in 2004, and sadly, the kaiju genre was still something of a niche thing growing up. Here in America, you either liked superheroes or real-life celebrities as a kid. If you liked monsters, let alone giant monsters, you were one of the weird kids. That, or one of the kids who never lost their passion for dinosaurs. But those were rare.
Then Gareth Edwards unleashed this film, and while one could argue that Pacific Rim (2013) got the ball rolling, THIS ultimately resurrected the entire franchise of the Big G, and got him a degree of general respect from most film-goers (so long as you ignore the irritating internet drama regarding screen-time back then).
But let's get to the meat of this post. Why is this Godzilla so much better to me than the rest? A few things, really.
First off, there's Godzilla's role in the Monsterverse's narrative. For the most part, he is a guardian of the natural order, a means of bringing balance to imbalance. He is a metaphor for how nature is capable of righting itself, and how we either have to deal with it, or live with the consequences. In practice, Godzilla ends up going up against almost every monster, most of which are only a threat because we awakened them/created them. Yet despite this, he doesn't go out of his way to destroy us. He's not mindlessly destructive or particularly vengeful either. He knows we're a part of the world too. We just tend to grate a bit more on his nerves because of how much we screw up. If there's one thing this series isn't afraid to show, it's that...well, "the arrogance of man is thinking nature is within our control, and not the other way around."
Design-wise, this is one of the best Godzilla's around. He's bulky, has a killer stare, and there's something oddly endearing about how...well, meaty he is. He's like if my aforementioned previous favorite design, the 2002 one, put on both a lot of muscle and weight. It also ties into his fighting style, said to have been inspired particularly by bears. Even the sounds associated with him are amazing. From that hype-inducing charge of his thermonuclear breath to what might be the best rendition of the classic roar.
Then there is the body language. This Godzilla's usual gait is slow, almost plodding at times. He shows clear signs of exhaustion in some scenes. What he goes through is hard, and his job is even harder, but he still does it. It really helps sell his personality most of the time.
Part of why I like the Monsterverse so much is that, for the most part, the kaiju are treated as characters in their own right (that's not to say they weren't in previous iterations, far from it, but it's a bit more pronounced here than most of the post-Showa stuff). Sure, some films in this verse are better about it than others (more on that later...), but I like how you can glean what Godzilla is thinking of just by looking at his eyes. Of particular note is how they widen in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" when Ghidorah gains the upper hand during the final battle, his absolute sneer of anger in the first movie when the male MUTO approaches him, or...this.
This scene. This one right here encapsulates so much of what I love about this iteration. Where Godzilla, dazed and thoroughly battered by both the fight with the MUTOS and having a building fall right on him, locks eyes with a tiny little soldier. You see a sense of tiredness, of pain, of acknowledgement, and maybe even a little wonder. This is not just some mindless beast fighting for its turf. It's a thinking being. And he's hurt. The most powerful creature on the planet isn't invincible, neither on the outside and definitely not on the inside.
And you know what? I've been there. There are times where I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world, that there are things too heavy to bear, and its suffocating. Godzilla constantly shows throughout the Monsterverse that his job as a living balancing act is wearing on him. He gets put through so. Much. Crap. From getting buildings dropped on him to being personally dropped from a distance above the clouds to watching his symbiotic partner/mate die, it's almost unfair how we're expected to not really sympathize with him as much as...I'll get to that later.
But he never gives up. Despite all the pain and fatigue, he gets back up, and he fights. And he fights. And he continues until the deed is done. Someone has to rise to the occasion, and it might as well be him. If not him, then who?
That is the biggest reason I resonate with this Godzilla. His awe-inspiring design is one thing, but he gave me the strength to persevere. I don't give up, because he never did. Never before had the Big G been such a hero to me. Such that in 2014 I found myself silently sobbing to myself when it seemed like he was dead near the end even though that was clearly not the case. It's hardly a surprise that I based my personal Godzilla AU on him, albeit with the more sympathetic traits dialed up. Stuff like this made G14 and KOTM some of my favorite kaiju flicks...
...which made it more than a little disappointing when Wingard took the helm and basically said "screw that, this is about the monke now!" Yeah, GvK is the weakest entry in the series for me for a reason. Godzilla's more redeeming qualities are buried under a narrative that clearly is not interested in giving him the time of day or even the benefit of a doubt. Both it and it's successor, GxK, are Kong movies through and through, and that means poor Big G is put out of focus.
I cannot tell you how much I HATE this idea that the only way a monster can be relatable is if it either looks almost just like us or is really cute. Yes, I understand the universal appeal, but they had such a good thing going for Godzilla! And they throw almost all of it away just so that they can make Kong look better by comparison.
Credit where it's due, these issues are slightly improved in GxK. It's not only firmly established that Godzilla is an overall benefit to the world for keeping the other Titans in check, but we get some interesting bits with him like how he instantly responds and prepares to answer the call of the Iwi and help them. It shows that despite his tenuous relationship with humans, there are ones he clearly gives a lot of thought to. And there's also how he makes the Roman Coliseum his own personal bed. Not only is it kind of hilariously adorable, but if you remember how in KOTM he had his own man-made temple, you get the impression that he has a bit of homesickness. That's the kind of thing I like to see! More of that and less "he's only ever angry and he only ever fights, character is for primates only".
Also, while the Evolved design has nice details, I WANT THAT GUT BACK! it just looks weird otherwise with that disproportionately skinny waist.
But thankfully, our prayers might be answered:
With GxK's roaring success (ha!), it's more than likely that the next Monsterverse entry will finally give Godzilla an overdue character arc that doesn't begin and end with "destroy everyone and act big and scary and nothing else". Just please make sure that he doesn't have to die to get that. There are plenty of ways you can make us invest in the guy's story without having to kill him. I WANT to see more of that emotional vulnerability teased across the movies. I want to see him come to terms with how he's been going about his job. And more importantly...I want to see a more explicit Mothzilla scene. A nuzzle and everything. But that's just me.
Whatever the quality of his current status, nothing is taking away how much I love this version of Godzilla. He's taken me out of some very dark places, and for that, I say long live the king.
Also, he brought Mothzilla into the public sphere and every Mothzilla pic made since is the cutest thing ever, so I just love him even more.
#best of the reptiles in media#ramblings#godzilla#gojira#monsterverse#godzilla 2014#g14#godzilla king of the monsters#godzilla vs kong#godzilla x kong: the new empire
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PGR Writing Game!
Pick a prompt and character of your choice and write it! There's no competing or any requirements to join, just write something!
Tag me, or use the #PGR writing game to participate! Time period is Aug 5th - November 1st
Further details and prompts (if you need them) below...
Info:
There is no specific trope or genre that you need to follow.
You can write whatever you want! Fluff, smut, action, horror, romance, whatever inspires you to write!
You can either post your work yourself, or submit a post!
Just make sure you give a pen name of some sort so I can credit you, otherwise I won't post it
Time frame is Aug 5th - November 1st
There is no word limit or requirement.
It can be 100 words, or 100,000. It's whatever you wanna write
You can post your work even if you're late
Struggling to write, or nervous about participating?
It can be hard to post your own work in fandom, maybe you don't feel like your work is "good enough" (there is no such thing, fandoms are community spaces, not corporate ones), or maybe you don't think anyone will like it.
Well, I've been there too! In fact, I think that all the time. Some things that have helped me keep posting my work despite that are...
Writing what you want to read
If you ever thought "I wish there was more X type fanfic", this is your sign! Writing what you want to read means you're passionate about it, and if you're passionate about what you're working on, it shows in your writing and other people will notice it too!
If you don't like what you've written, change it up!
Re-read what you've written and ask yourself "Would I read this?", "Would I enjoy it?", "Why, or why not?"
Identifying what's missing in your story will help you write with better direction. It could be as simple as adding more interesting and unique vocabulary, taking more time to describe scenarios or places to capture whatever vibes or feelings you want, or maybe adding something to the plot point.
Of course, these can be difficult to identify so you could try asking for help through the event tag, asking a friend, or asking me for help
What if people don't like it?
They can suck a dick. Okay, seriously though, most people won't do or say anything and if they do, I will eat them. You go post that lovely piece of art
My work isn't getting as much attention as X persons/Why aren't I getting a lot of notes?
Well, there can be a lot of reasons behind that. First and foremost, tags. Are you using all the tags that you could be? The PGR fandom is pretty niche in and of itself, so chances are that there a lot of people who would love to read some PGR fanfic, but they think the scene is dead and aren't looking for it, or they're only looking in the #pgr, #punishing gray raven, or #punishing: gray raven tags
Secondly, your font. Other fonts like
This
Or this
can be busy on the eyes which can make it both difficult to read and unappealing to look at it. Using the default font at a normal, or smaller size is generally your best bet.
Lastly, why is X person's work getting more attention than mine?
Like how writing is a hobby, so is reading. Some people may not have been interested at the time, or you just have to wait. Writing has the benefit of being pretty timeless, so that means people will come to read your work months or years after it's been posted.
It's also important to remember that PGR isn't a large fandom, so unlike other fan works on Tumblr, notes won't accumulate as quickly
Focus on your enjoyment of what you're making
Remember, fandom is a community space and this is a community event. You should be having fun, first and foremost
Everyone is scared
Everyone from a random blog who just posted their first writing ever, to your favorite author of several years with hundreds of works is scared of posting sometimes. It can be easy to fall into the pitfalls of thinking you're somehow annoying everyone in the fandom by posting a bunch of words, or being scared that a post won't do well. You're not alone in your paranoia, so try to be nice and encourage both yourself and others you see who might be struggling. You've got this!
Prompts:
You can write with any perspective or character(s) you want, I only have the "you" here to help you get immersed in the prompt. You may change the prompts as you like to fit your story telling.
The artificial sun of Babylonia's sky warms your skin. It's lively today, with children playing, couples shopping, and individuals heading for their morning coffee. You were no different, briskly walking towards a cafe you had agreed to meet someone.
You push the cafe door open and a bell chimes above you as you walk into the establishment. The golden rays of sunlight stream through the large, glass windows, cascading down on the patrons inside and giving the cafe a new sense of warmth. The aroma of freshly made coffee fills the air, pastries sit tantalizingly in the display cabinets, and a barista is busy making a drink behind the counter.
Just as you're about to step forward to the counter, the bell chimes behind you and you turn to see a familiar figure.
The Science Council is busy today, well- they're busy everyday, but today feels especially important. Scientists frantically type on their terminals, constructs and officers going in and out. Even Celica stopped by for a moment, hurriedly exchanging words and documents with Asimov before leaving just as fast. You tried asking what was going on, but everyone seemed too busy to talk to you. At that moment, Asimov walks up to you.
The scent of salt and water fills your lungs, sand shifting beneath your feet. You wander along the shoreline, various hopes and worries aimlessly run through your mind, coming and going as quickly as they came to you. You're so lost in thought that you didn't hear the soft crunches of sand coming up behind you.
The stars twinkled above you, cold wind rustling the trees and biting at your skin. You did your best to ignore the cold, after all, it was part of why you could travel without running into too many enemies on the way. Even still, the air held a strange tension, as if even the trees were holding their breaths, waiting for something, or someone.
The lounge felt uniquely quiet. That shouldn't be surprising, it was just you here right now, the other members of your squad were busy with their own duties at the moment. Even so, you couldn't help but feel a tinge of loneliness. Sighing, you stood up and wondered what you should do to occupy yourself. Should you clean and organize equipment? Maybe clean the lounge? Or...do something less productive? Look at old photos and logs, indulge in a private hobby? It has been a while since you found yourself with so much free time.
"Ah, there you are." Vonnegut's voice reverberates throughout the room, he speaks evenly, calmly, but you still feel the tension rise in your shoulders. A heavy gaze of displeasure and expectation weighing down your soul and keeping you from moving an inch.
Vonnegut sits on his throne, hands folded, legs crossed, golden mask and eyes glinting in the limited light.
"You've kept me waiting for quite a while."
You exhaled shakily, nervously readjusting your formal wear for the upteenth time. You could hear the cacophony of chattering voices, and clinking silver wear, occasionally cut through with the chime of a glass knocking against a plate through the other side of the door. You knew the moment you opened it, the sounds would become overwhelming, drowning out all personal thoughts and suffocating you.
Nevertheless, you couldn't linger in this dark, isolated hallway any longer than you already have.
The library was quiet as always, but it was even quieter now that the nighttime hours on Babylonia had begun. It was a perfect place to hide in solitude and wander in your thoughts, or even go through old memories of your life.
It felt eerie. The stained wallpaper, scattered furniture, broken windows with beams of moonlight streaming through. You had received a comms signal in this abandoned mansion, but now that you had stepped foot inside, it was gone. You walked quietly, keeping an eye out for any potential traps as you stepped through the halls. A creak of floorboards sounds above you, a door opens, footsteps...and silence. You froze, should you retreat? Call out? Try sending out a comms signal? Investigate? You chewed your bottom lip and as you're still deciding what to do, you hear another creak.
Right down the hallway.
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I’m really inspired by haunted game creepypastas/series and I have been reading/watching/playing anything I can get my hands on in that genre for a long time. I just thought I’d make a brief list of some favorites for fun/to recommend them to anyone who might be interested! I might add more to the list later but for now I have six recommendations people might like.
Petscop
Probably the most well known on this list, one of my absolute favorites as I was always so excited for a new update and I followed it since the beginning (same for a lot of these series haha) I think it does commentary on the cyclical nature of trauma very well, as well as being at peace with not knowing everything. A puzzle you can never fully solve.
Link :
youtube
Invisible Games (A brief exhibition)
Killswitch is definitely the most well known story from this website (and a popular creepypasta in its own right) but, the website Invisible Games as a whole is a wonderful and strange place for haunted game stories/weird artifacts with a certain level of dedication and surrealism mixed with documentation that I love. My favorite story is “what happened to agent small” but all are worth reading. The website is also very fun to explore!
Link:
Summon House
While the first video in Summon House is 3 years old, the series is still updating and the creator has taken it in a direction I love! Part haunted game and part satire of pure summary analysis vids, summon house straddles the line between funny and creepy very well. I also recommend their older work AI builds!
Link:
youtube
Basilisk 2000
This is one of my favorite horror indies I’ve played in the past 2 years and I play a lot so that’s saying something haha. Explore an unfinished rpg game through its level editor and uncover the inner turmoil of the developers and possibly something much, much worse. This game is so fun to explore and play! Don’t be afraid to look at everything! I also think it’s fantastically creepy at parts and deserves more love and attention. It’s only $2 to play! I also recommend playing Basilisk SNES which is the equally cool (but smaller and free) predecessor of this game, both in universe and real life. The creator is also the dev of both Spookys Jumpscare Mansion and Lost in Vivo!
Link:
Valle Verde
Valle Verde has been around for a while and while it updates sporadically it makes sense as the visual design, animations, and general 3D modeling is some of the best I’ve seen. I love some of the brutality at play in it as well as it’s historical angle and references. I would say this is one of the more explicit ones but I think it’s done very well. It often emulates older games in impressive detail as well!
Link:
youtube
Vermis Malum
A newer series I’ve been keeping up to date with that just wrapped up disc one! I’ve been watching it with my partner as it overlaps into the more technical side of a digital worm that takes advantage of the weak and lonely. Really awesome 3D assets/voice work and lots of niche references to send you down the rabbit hole (possibly what the worm wants?) The text portions also have wonderful writing!
Link:
youtube
#Youtube#youtube horror#gaming#Deerhalou recs#youtube arg#creepypasta#petscop#summon house#valle verde#vermis malum#basilisk 2000#invisible games#I hope this isn’t weird I just like sharing cool work!
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What’s the best movie you’ve ever seen?
That's kind of an impossible question to answer, really, because after a certain point of quality you're comparing movies that are equally good but aim to be very different experiences, and depending on your mood, which experience appeals to you more may change.
Like, do I go with my time-tested favorites - Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, Little Shop of Horrors, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jurassic Park, and Dawn of the Dead? Do I try to ignore my personal biases and genre obsessions and pick more agreed upon classics that I also love, like Seven Samurai or The Third Man? Do I go with my more recent comfort films like Birds of Prey or Lupin III the First?
There's too many extremely good movies that are so, so good to watch for me to really pick a single one, because good movies make sure to carve a niche and fill it really well, and because they're so specialized, you're not really going to be fulfilled by just one. You gotta contain multitudes of best movies you've seen.
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how do you feel about them leaning into the horror genre in the future of watcher? i've been chatting to people who still support them after that podcast episode came out, and mostly people are disappointed with that decision, as am i. idk, i feel like i'm too old to enjoy paranormal horror and what attracts me to watcher most are their other shows, i'm less interested in seeing more horror content from them (the podcast also seems to be going in that direction)
Very good question, I hope you don't mind the answer being very long and going into details that not many people care about.
The TLDR version would be to tell Watcher that you feel like this. Tell them that you're here for your favorite shows that aren't the files. They seem to listen to the feedback, and I noticed in the comments of that podcast ep that many people feel like you. (Top 5 beatdown being the dark horse of a favorite show for some, Many Puppet History fans wanting to keep the professor on watcher despite the spooky pivot. I think they will listen to that because this episode opened up the discussion of what people really want, so we'll see.)
Also important thing is that if you're on the streamer then nothing will change. Steven's shows will be uploaded there, and Puppet History will air in January. My guess is that they want to see how it preforms to decide what to do with it later, but now that they started to even upload podcast eps ad-free I think everything will still be on the streamer. So if you're the subscriber to that then not much will change.
If you also want my personal feelings then they are that WWW is their best show, along with Travel season, and I still think those are the best shows that watcher has. Besides Ghost Files which I also really like so if I'm getting more ghost files in 2025 and it will be as good as season 3 then I have more positive feelings towards the change into spooky content.
But I'm a dedicated fan who signed up for the streamer, and I still think that goodbye youtube video is not that bad and is a fun making watcher finale. My opinion doesn't allign with majority of watcherinas, and I don't have all the facts. This is pure speculation based on what happened before but I'm also sometimes wrong so don't take this too seriously I just love being analytical about how people think.
And the facts are that Mystery files and Ghost files are their best preforming shows.
And also that the content they're makng is content that they want to make. I think that is a detail that flew over people's head, they are listening to the audience but they also lean into their little niches of interests. If there are videos that they don't want to make then they simply will not. (Rip MF debrief)
You can see that many casual fans are there for Ghost Files with the criticism for the streamer being "They only make 6 eps a year I'm not paying for that". For most people watcher is synonymous with the files and it's those people who bring in views and therefore money. (I'm not a youtube expert but I believe if you have sponsors in an episode then you're like "This video will get x many views, and thus a precentage of that are potential clients"). I think this is why some sponsored videos are pinned in the channel, and this is why travel season spicy ep has more views than the rest of the season, it was pinned there for some weeks, before their next sponsored video appeared. The fact that people are there for GF also shows by some people saying "I subscribed just for that", or most telling when the trailer dropped suddenly many people were in the comments on watcher tv sharing their enthusiasm.
Also if we look at the channel in 2023 compared to 2022, we can already see a very slow shift towards the spooky content.
(In bold are what counts as spooky shows, in italics shows that got over 1M views as of writing this post)
In 2022 their slate was:
Top 5 Beatdown -> Worth A Shot -> Eat like Me -> Berry Boy's one off -> Are you scared -> Too Many Spirits -> Pretty Historic -> Dish Granted -> Ghost Files + Debrief -> Puppet History -> Making Watcher
Out of these shows, only Ghost files, Are you Scared and Puppet History got more than 1M views (as of writing this post) and some episodes of top 5 betadown depending on the topic I suppose.
In 2023 the shows that premiered were:
Top 5 beatdown -> Are you scared + Survival Mode (same week) -> Too Many Spirits + Worth a Shot (aired wednesdays) -> Mystery Files -> GF one off -> Puppet History -> Ghost files + debrief (alternating weeks) -> top 5 specials -> Santa TMS -> Making Watcher.
Versus in 2024:
Survival Mode+ Top 5 beatdown (same week) -> Mystery Files -> Streamer announcement -> Survival Mode s3 -> Travel Season + Are you scared 3 eps in -> WWW + TMS one off -> Jokerfied TMS -> Are you scared one off -> Ghost files + Debrief (alternating weeks) + Are you Scared x Rusty quill collab (the lost tapes).
I marked the shows considered spooky in bold to show you that the slow increase of them happened over the last three years, and that even if they premiere their "variety" shows that are not considered spooky they still need a spooky show to equal out the views. The simple truth is that shows without Ryan and Shane doing spooky stuff don't get the views even if they are beloved by some watcherinas.
Now what is the spooky content they're leaning towards? Let's see what they're saying.
"More Ghost files, More Mystery Files, more episodes of those and Are you scared, and also Ghost Files Alone which is not a series yet but one-off for now."
They're "doubling down" on making them which is also something they wanted to do, but perhaps didn't know how. I think this is an opportunity for them to see what works (And as Katie Leblanc said, it's also easier for their crew to not go from editing one show and then a whole different show. We know how much effort ghost files required so I think if they focus their energies into making the files verse then they're gonna be better for that. It is better to have one good show instead of many cheaper ones. My hope is that they know what they're doing in that regard, because if they're going to lower the quality of Ghost files to make more of the episodes then that's not something I'm interested in. But I don't think they will go that far)
As for the food shows going for another channel, this is sadly the reality of youtube. Just like the thumbnails for ghost files s3 on Youtube are Very Clickbaity, so is the almighty algorythm, not liking the variety that watcher produces. What do you mean one week you can have long hour video and the other only half hour? Why only one month is there food stuff, and the other some spooky stuff? This might be confusing to new audiences but also to youtube algho which is like "Produce more of the same thing, always". This is a thing that every youtuber talks about sooner or later, and why every youtuber has a second channel for more experimental stuff. Food and Spooky content doesn't mix well, so if watcher wants to make a second channel for food I do think it's for the best. Steven's shows deserve to be watched by people who like them, not hatebombed (and we can all agree that Travel Season got the short end of the stick this year. As much as I love that show, it wasn't fun to go into comments and see people disliking what they're seeing.)
I think also this is the basis on which they're making that pivot, and in the end this decision doesn't surprise me. They already made a separate travel season instagram account, to give a chance for fans to have something more fun, so I think this was a decision they came to quickly. Perhaps they wanted to see how everything performs, and had to wait half a year to see how things are. I think the reason they waited with announcing this change is because they had to have a plan and see what would work. As much as I think they should make a separate more concise way to announce the changes (I doubt many fans even know of the podcast ep, or were listening to the end), aside from their own feelings about it they had to come up with a plan on how to go from here. I also think that they haven't decided what to do until the end. Shane mentions that Puppet History MIGHT go somewhere else IF it doesn't fit. Those are hypotheticals, and nothing is set in stone. This is why I think it's important to let them know what you feel about their content going forward.
I also think the strategy of them going into more spooky content is underway in small ways we don't notice. Besides the slow increase in shows, this explains the bfu collab (follow us on watcher for more of the ghost hunts), even if Ryan admitted that they wanted to do this for a long time, and the crossover with a tv show that focuses on ghost files. So they are doing this but in the end it is more content for us.
As for Pod Watcher leaning into the spooky things.... well this is pod watcher and it's about what's airing on watcher. Their last episodes are themed like this because ghost files is airing, so they keep with the theme. I'm very interested to see how they will change the content once something else will be airing. Also they are film buffs and like scary movies. So no wonder they talk about horror films, that is their interest and they talk about "whatever is on our mind every week".
Lastly I also think that it's fine to not like or vibe with the change if you feel like that. People change, content changes, our interest comes and goes. Just because you were a fan of watcher in 2020 doesn't mean you have to like everything they do in 2025. I'm myself not sure how much this will remain my main interest, if I will be here for the next five years or maybe decide that the changes are bad and I've outgrown their content in the next half year. (I highly doubt it because it doesn't feel like it for now and I am excited to see where they go from here.) If it's a good idea or not, remains to be seen, but none of us have a crystal ball and can now in December 2024 say that this is good idea or ultimately bad. There are some people who think that the pivot is a great idea, and the nature of creators is that they want to evolve and grow and change. It seems that their goal is to make what people want to see and reach new audiences by making their most popular shows, and at the end of the day they are a business and need to make money from this. If they feel like this is what's gonna work then I can only believe that they know what they're doing.
I hope this makes sense and that it explains some things for you, thanks for asking :D
#replies#watcher#sorry for a long post clouding the tag I just think it deserved a bit longer explanation
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Sub-Genres Included in Each Genre (Below the Cut)
Action includes Platformers, Shooters, Fighting, Beat 'Em Ups, Stealth, Survival, Rhythm, Battle Royale
Action-Adventure includes Survival Horror and Metroidvanias
Adventure includes Text Adventures, Graphic Adventures, Visual Novels, Interactive Movies, FMV Games, Real-Time 3D Adventure Games
Puzzle includes Breakout Clones, Logical Games, Trial-and-Error Games, Exploration Games, Hidden Object Games, Reveal the Picture Games, Tile-Matching Games, Puzzle Platformers
Role-Playing includes Action RPGs, MMORPGs, Roguelikes, Tactical, Sandbox RPGs, First-Person Party-Based RPGs, Monster Tamer Games
Simulation includes Construction and Management Simulation, Life Simulation, Vehicle Simulation
Strategy includes 4X Games, Artillery Games, Auto Battler/Auto Chess, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Games, Real-Time Strategy (RTS), Real-Time Tactics (RTT), Tower Defense, Turn-Based Strategy (TBS), Turn-Based Tactics (TBT), Wargames, Grand Strategy Wargames
Sports includes Racing, Competitive Games (i.e. Rocket League), Sports-Based Fighting Games
[I read the sub-genre info but no genre listed here includes my favorite games.] The above sub-genre information does not fully encompass all of the smaller or more niche sub-genres that could reasonably fit into the core genres. I encourage you to think deeply about the gameplay mechanics and artistic influences of the games you enjoy the most to determine if they may be close enough to one of the listed core genres such that you can decide it's representative enough to say your tastes fall in that genre, or fall into two or more of the listed genres. Ultimately, it is up to your own analysis of your preferences to find a core genre you feel adequately encompasses your tastes and decide whether or not you need to click this 'other' option.
(Core Genres and Sub-Genres are lifted from the list of core genres on Wikipedia. If you need additional assistance picking a core genre you feel is your favorite, the hyperlinked Wikipedia article has a lot of good information explaining these sub-genres and what sorts of games fall under them. None of this is my opinion.)
(This post was inspired by a favorite video game genre poll that listed several action, adventure, and RPG sub-genres but omitted mainstay genres like puzzle games, sports games, or strategy games.)
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Magnus Archives Relisten 5, MAG 5 Thrown Away
Trash apple teeth! Is this anything
Spoilers ahead!
Facts: Statement of Kieran Woodward, regarding items discovered in the refuse of 93 Lancaster Road, Walthamstow. Given February 23rd, 2009.
Statement Notes: There are so many posts out there comparing The Magnus Archives to the Twilight Zone because of Jon's narration and the serial creepy story format, but this episode really stands out in mind as Twilight Zone-esque. Like the Twilight Zone, some Magnus Archive episodes deal with things like childhood guilt and cult-behavior, like MAG 4. But other episodes just kind of say "Damn, isn't that fucked up? Anyway," like this one.
I do love Kieran as a character. He's just so weirdly chill and realistic about everything. There's are some statement givers who are still being tormented by the fears, some who cause fear, some who are reporting on things that happened to people they know, but there's also this interesting category of people who survived because they played the game right. When the audience says "don't go in the basement" or "call the cops," they listen. Woodward gets through this statement unscathed because he moves on from the creepy dolls heads and reports the teeth, then destroys the "gift" left for him and tries to move on. Alan can't let go, Alan doesn't know the rules of the genre, that's why he doesn't make it out.
My two new favorite characters in the series are "Matt, who was raised Catholic and never shut up about it," because he is me, and David who "broke the silence by vomiting loudly into a nearby drain," because he is the most realistic horror character of all time.
Entity Alignment: Whenever I think of this episode, I think of it as the "teeth in a bag" episode. I actually 100% forgot about the metal heart. Now, when you think of those things, it kind of sounds like a Flesh episode.
But, let's all remember our favorite bio majors and their special gift to their professor. The Stranger has a history with teeth. The description of the dolls heads is very "uncanny valley," which is the Stranger's real niche. The thing that really sells me though is Jon's last line in the statement, "All two thousand seven hundred and eighty of them were the exact same tooth." The exact same tooth, apparently from the exact same person, repeated over and over again to the point that the examiner can date them because of their differing stages of decay. You know what that sounds like to me? Someone has been practicing.
The metal heart also says Stranger to me. I know it has a little Flesh energy, but it really reminded me of the hospital episode from season 5. The way the character describes feeling like her body was not her own, that parts of her had been replaced, substituted. The metal heart as the only remanent of Alan feels like that same kind of fear. It's not his, it's not him, but it's all he's got.
Speaking of Alan, does his obsession with watching the house to the point he goes without sleep for days, isolates his friends, and is presumed dead remind you of anyone? He must be influenced by the Eye at least a little bit.
But ignoring entity alignment for a second, Jonny does consistently uses obsessive characters really well. There's a lot of horror media where, in real life, it would make more sense for the characters to give up on their investigations of the supernatural or to ignore it in entirely in the first place. The audience is usually (and rightfully) able to suspend reality for the sake of the story in these situations. But what's so interesting about Jonny's writing is that he explicitly states characters like Alan, like Amy Patel, like Jon, can't stop themselves. It's obsession, it's all consuming, they know it's bad for them, but they just can't stop. It really adds to the audience fear because you're not the only one telling them turn back, their mind is screaming it too, but they still won't listen.
Character Notes: The post-statement in this episode is just 90% Martin hate. Absolutely unhinged behavior. What if you worked at a restaurant at the end of receipts your boss just wrote "This waiter is a goddamn loser and I hate him." Wild man Jonathan Sims everybody.
#podcasts#rusty quill#jonny sims#the magnus archives relisten#tma#tma relisten#audio drama#media analysis#jonathan sims#analysis#the magnus archives#horror#horror podcasts#martin blackwood#the flesh#tma fears#the stranger#the eye#the twilight zone#mag 5#Thrown Away#bone apple teeth#the anatomy students#anatomy students#magnus archives
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reading roundup: February 2024
I literally completely forgot I needed to do this oopsie poopsie
WHAT DID I READ IN FEBRUARY!!! LET'S TALK ABOUT IT!!!!
Rouge (Mona Awad, 2023) - listen. there are some very cool ideas in this book, and it's definitely big creepy in places. some of the childhood flashbacks, in particular, had me shrieking with pure dread. but ultimately my issue with this book is the same as my issue with Awad's most well-known novel, Bunny: I would just... kind of like to understand what's going on? like even a little bit? at literally any time? you don't need to explain everything, but man, give me something. vibes alone do not make a meal, and I left this book not really feeling fed.
Our Share of Night (Mariana Enríquez, trans. Megan McDowell 2023) - god, this book makes you WORK FOR IT, but I'm glad I stuck it out. Enríquez has written a fucking doorstopper of intergenerational drama, about an Argentinian family deeply embroiled in a cult that worships something otherworldly and... hungry. perpetually sickly Juan is the Order's prized prophet, but after his wife's death is orchestrated by her own mother he becomes determined to get their young son, Gaspar, away from the Order's control by any means necessary. a wrenching read that swings through every kind of horror, swinging from the supernatural to Argentina's military dictatorship in the 70s to the AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s to an absolutely brutal ending.
Red String Theory (Lauren Kung Jessen, 2024) - some of you may recall that Lauren Kung Jessen wrote Lunar Love, one of my favorite romance novels of last year thanks to a zodiac-obsessed protagonist who's (unintentionally) giving major Rebecca Bunch pre-diagnosis in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend vibes. Red String Theory also has a female lead obsessed with mythological matchmaking, so I was really hoping for another unhinged queen, but please don't make my mistake: everyone in this book is devastatingly hinged, and the only real conflict is two characters who like each other from the jump repeatedly coming up with unsatisfying excuses for why they can't date each other. my least favorite was "we'll only in the same city for A YEAR," which is absolutely hogshit wild. "only a year." get out of here. I hate you guys.
Drinking from Graveyard Wells (Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, 2023) - a tiny short story debut by Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean sarungano. one of my very favorite genre of short story collections is "women having a bad time taken up to 11," and god does this deliver. Ndlovu writes about the many indignities heaped upon Zimbabwean women at home and abroad, weaving together tight stories about misogyny, war, poverty, and immigration with restless spirits, bored gods, ignored wise women, and unsatisfactory afterlives. there's a story about a near future in which diamond miners are purposefully set up and sacrificed to an angry underground god to create more diamonds that was so fucking clever, and the final story - the titular Drinking from Graveyard Wells - was just... an absolutely perfect short story. suspenseful and eerie and just enough of a hint of explanation to really chill you. chef's kiss.
It Happened One Summer (Tessa Bailey, 2021) - shout out to all of my patreon supporters who voted to make me read another Tessa Bailey book; you truly wish darkness and despair upon me. here's the insane thing about this book: if you just completely ignore the actual central romance, it's just a sweet book about an infinitely likeable young woman unplugging from her shallow socialite life and finding a new niche reviving her deceased father's bar in a tiny fishing town in Washington. it's like, you know, the plot of a pretty okay disney channel original movie? it's no Minute Men or High School Musical, but it's cute. it's a solid Dairy Girls or Princess Protection Program. but then there's the love interest, who's just a fucking tool all the way down. reader, I kept wishing he would get swept over the rigging of his own crab boat and die ingloriously at sea. this guy sucks so bad. also the sex scenes were identical to the ones in Unfortunately Yours and they did not taste any better reheated. fascinating treatise on cishetero gender norms, rancid romance. I wrote a whole thing about it on my patreon if you're into that kind of nastiness.
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3, 19 and 28
3. your favorite piece(s)?
The easiest question of these three! It would be this 2 part set I did of Vanquish and Aywin based on Renaissance paintings. The Fallen Angel has always been a favorite of mine so I always had wanted to recapture it on my own!
A close runner up is probably this piece I did while fixating on Spiderverse
19. where do you find inspiration?
Oh a lot of places! But I do think Digimon probably has the biggest style and design inspiration.
I just like the way they design and articulate creatures and clothing. Both so fantastical but they never felt so impractical to me. Somethings a design was just to look cool, yes, but it never felt out of place.
If we're talking more so everyday I spoke, a lot of inspiration comes from music. A lot of my overall story or scene ideas come from listening to music and imagining something going with it. And my music can vary a lot ao there's no way I could narrow it down to just a few genres haha.
Another thing is weirdly enough is types of animated or indie/internet horror, whether it be video games, shows, or films. I'm always fascinated about how different people choose to take what most see as simple slasher films and turn it into such a niche thing. Movies such as Corpse Bride or the Secrwt of NIMH. Series such as Outlast, Fnaf, or point and click indie games like Franbow have shown a lot a different ways to play with horror and gore elements. Theres also analog horror, args, and creepypastas. All of which inspire me. Despite my want for happy endings and colorful palettes, I have a deep fascination on how a character can be scared or hurt and it's fun to play with that.
28. whats a piece you would like to redraw at some point?
Just about anything 2 years old at this point haha. But more real talk, I'll leave it more focused on my digital rt, despite it not being quite as old as a majority of my sketchbooks... it's when I got the most ambitious with full pieces.
It would be one of these two pieces. The one on the left was the first full drawing of Eddie Gluskin from Outlast that I drew, and despite everyone reblogging it at this point I can see all the things I would want to update and show my advancement of skills.
The second was when I was deep in my Biker!Eddie au and while I do still enjoy it, I would love to tackle more profile shots with better detail. And either just do a direct redraw or redraw it as Vanquish.
But woo! These were fun questions! Thank you 😊
#vanquish#aywin#my art#foxie thoughts#eddie gluskin#outlast whistleblower#thank you for the ask!!!#ask game
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Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors
thanks for the tag @mosylufanfic <3
1. How did you get into writing fanfiction?
I started reading fanfiction when I was very young, maybe 10-11? and it pretty much immediately made me want to write my own stories. early attempts were... unsuccessful, but I always had a lot of ideas and I just wanted to get them out there... so I did
2. How many fandoms have you written in?
in reverse chronological order: Rogue One/Andor, GoT/ASOIAF, She-Ra, Grisha-verse/Nikolai Series, The Raven Cycle, American Horror Story, Reign, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Twilight
and some I have never published but did write for: The Witcher, Dishonored, Magnificent Century: Kösem
so that's 14 fandoms total
3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?
well, my first attempt was at 14 but I pretty much immediately abandoned that story after posting. I tried again at 16 and have been writing pretty consistently ever since. so it's been more than ten years, almost fifteen
4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?
lately I'm writing more than I'm reading, however in general over the years, it's definitely read. I've consumed so many!
5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?
I think my action has gotten better recently? it's still far from my strength but being forced to write some action scenes in recent stories definitely improved that area... who would have thought?
6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?
I've researched many weird stuff over the years but idk, I'm blanking on specifics
7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?
I love it when people yell and curse at me <33
8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?
idk if I've ever written something truly fringe... actually maybe the dildo fic?
9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?
smut! which is funny because I've spent the last month writing nothing but that. but smut is hardddddd
10. What is the easiest type?
I'm seconding modern AUs, that's my comfort genre, and I'm also very well-versed in anything paranormal
11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?
I switched from Word to Scrivener a few years ago, and I haven't looked back. Word would probably still work, but Scrivener is just very convenient, I can have all the things in one place, and it makes things so easy
12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?
well, sex pollen belonged to this category, but I've just gotten over that! other than that, I've been going back and forth about this apocalypse/zombie exes to lovers longfic for months now, because it's intimidating as hell for many reasons, and it would be a lot of work which I may not have the time for currently, but there's so many parts of it that I love and want to write. mainly this very specific scene that will not leave my brain, but absolutely would not work without the proper background and build-up.... sigh
13. What made you choose your username?
here or on ao3? on ao3, it's wintersend (winter's end) and like. I can't even remember why I picked it. it's so random, I've never used it before and never since. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I'm a winter child, and I was also into GoT at the time... I genuinely don't know
and here.... hmmm idk if I should tell you guys.... it's very niche, you wouldn't get it
tagging @frostbitepandaaaaa @quarantineddreamer @fulcrumstardust @flythesail @luciechat
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7-12 for Space Boy and 3-6, 16, & 19 for The Silver Eye, please?
Space Boy
7. how does the story compare to your initial impressions of it? has it surprised you yet? how?
Gosh I…I feel like it just constantly tackles subjects that are so hard, like grief and even conspiracies and what-not. It’s so…real in that sense and I don’t know if I expected all of that at the beginning haha
8. what questions are or were you most excited to learn the answers to while experiencing the story for the first time?
Bro I want to know what the Artifact is, and what’s up with the Wanderer…and like HOW IS OLVER GONNA GET BACK TO EARTH CAUSE HE HAS TO OKAY?!?
9. give the most UNHELPFUL and/or SILLY summary possible.
Girl just trying to catch up to a world she’s 30 years behind on, but ends up figuring out a huge coverup while getting to know the boy everyone tells her is creepy
10. if you made an amv about this, what song would you set it to?
I had to look through my music then I remembered “Broken Boy” by Flannel Graph and I feel like it would be a good Oliver/Amy song…
11. if you were put in the main character's position, how well would that go for you on a scale of 1-5?
Oh gosh…I…I don’t know if I could handle that…either Amy *or* Oliver…0…I’m saying 0 😂
12. assuming your loved ones would be there, would you want to live in the world of the story?
Hmmm…kind of but also…I don’t like how like…prevalent VR is…so I’m torn…😂
The Silver Eye
3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!
Mystery, beautiful art, such a complex story and world but so engaging too with all of the characters!
4. assign this story a hyper-specific genre name, e.g. "inspirational religious semi-horror sci-fi western"
Fantasy/mystery/I genuinely am blanking help me 😂
5. do you have a favorite character? who?
…Avidan…I mean, I love so many characters but Avidan just…became my favorite forever ago and it has not changed since 😂
6. do you have a LEAST favorite character? who?
Aetius, I mean he makes me laugh but he’s also legitimately insane so…
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 mean, I think it has broad appeal but you have to be okay with like…a bunch of mystery and things slowly revealed, to the point that you usually have to reread the story every once in a while to remember all of the little tidbits and build up/foreshadowing
19. pitch an idea for a sequel or spinoff novel for this story!
I know Laura mentioned a whole idea about Blue and her backstory…not sure if that’s something I’m super interested in or not…we might get more of this too but having a little spin off of Bhatair and Marcus meeting and their adventures when they were younger would be fun!
#lowkey aetius reminds me of bill because me makes me laugh but…*gestures to both of them being 100% insane and fine with being insane*#a message from fulcrum#the silver eye#space boy webtoon#nerdarians#space boy#tse
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My favorite type of media is that niche genre that's basically Slice of Life + The Horrors, in which the characters consist of Just Some Guy™ and a bunch of people just trying to live their lives and one or more of them just happen to be some weird supernatural creature. Hijinks ensue.
#durarara#seemingly dark#the raven cycle#finding fiends#clinic of horrors#mil liminal#how to be eaten#the heartbreak bakery#booklr#anime#webtoon#comics#slice of life#the horrors
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