#oneka

[philameangrey]

[gracie-bird]

Margaret Kelly Majer at Camp Oneka in her teen years.

[omophagic-beast]

What is your Hogwarts house?

Hi! Im gonna assume this is in good faith once, and answer this by saying that im a trans man and have fully disconnected from harry potter because theyre bad books and jk rowling sucks if youd like to read something better id love to recommend some stuff! The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron is a series I like enough to put a quote from it on my arm, though I still hesitate to call it my favorite. It's about the greatest thief in the world as he tries to get his bounty as high as possible, accompanied by a swordsman wielding a mountain and a woman hosting the seed of a demon. The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nyx was recommended to me by the lovely Jay Dragon and a few others at Metatopia this year, and I ended up devouring four of the seven books on the plane ride home. A child unwillingly goes through The Horrors, fighting seven angels who have been overtaken (in a sense) by the seven deadly sins. There's so much cool and interesting symbology throughout the series that's really fun to pick out when you notice it. Delicious in Dungeon is a manga by Ryoko Kui and definitely my favorite manga of all time. It's mainly about the importance of good food, as a group of adventurers end up having to traverse a dungeon with no supplies, surviving by eating the monsters within.

The Seep by Chana Porter is fun, if you're willing to get weird with it. Trina Goldberg-Oneka, a trans woman, finds herself devastated and unmoored after her wife leaves her to become a baby again. And by "fun" I mean it's a book that left me feeling like I was more of a person than I was before.

There's also plenty of really good webcomics out there, like Sakana, Bicycle Boy, Pia and The Tiny Little Things, A Better Place, We Go Together, Barbarous, Cold Sweat, ect, that you can simply find and read for free online! And if you simply must have wizards may I suggest making your own, the blog There's a TTRPG for that has a great post listing a bunch of good ttrpgs with that theme: https://theresattrpgforthat.tumblr.com/post/718030523649376256/theme-magic-and-mystics And speaking of games I'll cap this all off, for no particular reason, by recommending the game Let's Rob RJ McElhenny and Steal Her Golden Quill by Glaive Guisarme Games. It's fun and campy and a really good time.

[transgenderswagcompetitions]

Okay! So I don't have an official bracket yet, but I finally got every character written down and determined who will be automatically going on to Round 1 and who will have to compete in preliminaries. Everyone automatically moving on to Round 1 had more than 1 submission, while everyone in the preliminaries only had 1 submission.

I will put together an official bracket tomorrow, but here's the list of competitors!

The characters automatically going on to Round 1 are:

Alex Fierro from Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (4 submissions)

Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Official's Blessing (2 submissions)

Cheery Littlebottom from Discworld (2 submissions)

Nimona from Nimona (2 submissions)

Elle Argent from Heartstopper (2 submissions)

Eolo from The Raven Tower (2 submissions)

Anthony J. Crowley from Good Omens (2 submissions)

Kade West from Wayward Children (2 submissions)

Kel Brezon from Machineries of Empire (2 submissions)

The characters that will be competing in the Preliminaries are:

Rafe from Viscera

Rafe from The House of Whispers

Ash from DIE

Ash from Girl Haven

Jerico Soberanis from The Toll

Nadir from The Thirty Names of Night

Holly from The Mellification

Petrichor from Saga

Kazuhito "Kirito" Kirigaya from Sword Art Online

Aster Vanissen from Witch Boy

Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock Holmes

Vess from Invisible Kingdom

Tonkee Innovator Dibars from The Broken Earth Trilogy

Ben Van Brunt from Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow

Shuos Zehun from Machineries of Empire

Villy from Basil and Oregano

Valentine Weis from World Running Down

Howl Pendragon from Howl's Moving Castle

Hero from Something's Not Right

Dominic Seneschal from Terra Ignota

Firestar from Warriors

Enjolras from Les Miserables

Beatrice from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni

Axolotl from Wings of Fire

Isa from Transmuted

Inspector Javert from Les Miserables

Addy from Basil and Oregano

June Egbert from Homestuck

Alto from Your Mind is a Terrible Thing

David from Dark Currents

Monique from The Worm and His Kings

Viola Carroll from A Lady for a Duke

Will Avery from Names for the Dawn

Qven-and-Reet from Translation State

Syd from The Heartbreak Bakery

Claire/Claude from Baker Thief

Cersei Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire

Will Treaty from Ranger's Apprentice

Starflight from Wings of Fire

Yadriel from Cemetery Boys

Zila from Aurora Cycle

Kaladin Stormblessed from The Stormlight Archive

AR/Lil Hal from Homestuck

Zoe from Sleepless Domain

Sera from Angela: Queen of Hel

Max Owen from Magical Boy

Jonathan Harker from Dracula

Diana Wrayburn from The Shadowhunter Chronicles

Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula

Never from Skulduggery Pleasant

Benji/Benjamin from Hell Followed With Us

Brick from Warriors

Sidra from Wayfarers

Sascha Vykos from Vampire: The Masquerade

Penfield from Future Feeling

Sallot Leon from Mask of Shadows

Ieshwi from The Stormlight Archive

Vriska Serket from Homestuck

Orlando from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Spencer Harris from The Passing Playbook

Jane Crocker from Homestuck

Lupe from Four Leaf

Trina Goldberg-Oneka from The Seep

Cassandra Igarashi from The Wicked + The Divine

Aya Burnstein from Dancing in the Devils Auditorium

Lucus from High Class Homos

Merlin from The Left Handed Booksellers of London

Nightheart from Warriors

Sol from Dead Collections

Max from Magical Boy

Artemis Fowl from Artemis Fowl

Teo from The Sunbearer Duology

Wanda from The Sandman

Tal Smithson from Time to Orbit: Unknown

Petey the Cat from Dog Man

Captain Artemisia Blastside from Piratica

Rosa from Threads That Bind

Alter Boi from House of Whispers

Wegg from Be Kind, My Neighbor

Loki from Loki: Agent of Asgard

Scorn from Emergent Properties

Alanna of Trebond from The Song of the Lionness

Marcia Overstrand from Septimus Heap

Sage from Strawberry Seafoam

Jules from The Chromatic Fantasy

Peter Parker from The Amazing Spider-Man

Razia Khan from Stealing Thunder

Dipper Pines from the Gravity Falls comics

Mel from Something's Not Right

Hero Shackleby from American Hippo

Kino from Kino's Journey

The Marquis de Carabas from Neverwhere

River Runson from The Melting Queen

Jonathan Morgan from All the White Spaces

Leigh Hunter from Grey Dawn

Xada from LoveBot

Ienaga Kano from Golden Kamuy

Viola/Cesario from Twelfth Night

Silas Bell from The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

Let me know if I accidentally have a character on this list twice! Also let me know if you see anything misspelled or under the wrong book or series. Basically, let me know if I've screwed up lol

Thank you all for your continued patience!

[angelsstranger]

Finished The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez this morning and then started and finished The Seep by Chana Porter in 4 hours. Posting about them together because they make a great pairing.

The Gilda Stories reimagines narratives of the undead and vampirism through the black lesbian perspective, positing that black women and indigenous women given the power for eternal life, could still find the humanity within themselves to invest in found family structures and find kinship through the ages in their global diasporas and through the witnessing and love of their own culture. Though it was published in 1991, I have yet to find a historical horror novel besides this one which imagines a world in which black culture and art is not only highlighted, but comprises the center of the narrarive at all times. And reading a book that visualizes the queer experience as something larger than the partners we chose or our sex lives feels so desperately needed to this day. I feel like I lived through the ages with Gilda and hopefully became a better writer from studying the work of Jewelle Gomez. I know I will reread it again and again. (I’ll add below some excerpts from the afterword by Alexis Pauline Gumbs as it would make a great pitch for anyone interested)

The Seep is a story that questions Utopia itself, the aftermath of humanities contact with a supposedly benevelent alien race called The Seep, and what the world looks like without money or the need for jobs or purportedly even feeling sadness or discomfort. The book follows a fifty-year-old butch trans woman named Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka as she mourns the loss of her wife Deeba, who decides to use alien technology to revert back to being a baby and start life anew again with a family who will raise her without the traumas of the past. Trina who is caught in a depressed stupor binge drinking and ignoring her few remaining friends, finds herself on an inevitable journey to search for her future as she realizes she wants to help a young boy who seems as lost and alone as she is.

Those who enjoyed Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, but felt it a tad grimdark and not lesbian or transgender enough for their liking would really enjoy this book. It also reminds me of A Psalm For the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers because both stories seem to posit that in a world beyond capitalism, our main conflicts as humans may be between the self and the collective, finding the line between selfishness and honoring your need to grow independently sometimes making mistakes and choosing yourself over others.

I would also like to add that The Seep is one of the only books I have read that focuses thematically on substance abuse in queer spaces which really touched me deeply. And yet, Chana Porter managed to get a laugh out loud out of me on at least four occasions.

since im back on tumblr I will be posting more regular book reviews of the books I read that I feel deserve a spotlight somewhere :) in the hopes that whoever needs these books finds them. Posts will be tagged #foxreads

[transbookoftheday]

The Seep by Chana Porter

Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka is a fifty-year-old trans woman whose life is irreversibly altered in the wake of a gentle—but nonetheless world-changing—invasion by an alien entity called The Seep. Through The Seep, everything is connected. Capitalism falls, hierarchies and barriers are broken down; if something can be imagined, it is possible.

Trina and her wife, Deeba, live blissfully under The Seep’s utopian influence—until Deeba begins to imagine what it might be like to be reborn as a baby, which will give her the chance at an even better life. Using Seeptech to make this dream a reality, Deeba moves on to a new existence, leaving Trina devastated.

Heartbroken and deep into an alcoholic binge, Trina follows a lost boy she encounters, embarking on an unexpected quest. In her attempt to save him from The Seep, she will confront not only one of its most avid devotees, but the terrifying void that Deeba has left behind. A strange new elegy of love and loss, The Seep explores grief, alienation, and the ache of moving on.

[graceandfamily]

ALS signed “Grace,” four pages on two sheets, 7 x 9.75, July 2, [1980]. Letter to “Baba,” Kelly's eldest sibling Margaret ‘Peggy’ Kelly Conlan, in full: "Don't believe the press when they try to make a thing with little Rossellini—Poor Caroline has had a couple of unhappy months. Phillip [sic] is a jerk but we all knew that except Caroline—now she knows it—I kept telling him that C was not ready for marriage but it turned out that Philippe was not ready & has behaved badly & stupidly—Caroline is young & has been hurt—He is off on business & she is taking the month to do some intensive study with an Oxford Don in creative writing—She has a talent for it & would like to pursue it—He has always discouraged it & accuses her of trying to be an intellectual—no one knows where she is except us & I will try to keep it secret as the press fortunately have not found her. Philippe would like to have people think she is having another romance to build up sympathy for himself. Robertino lives here & they have all been friends for a number of years. He has always had a slight crush on Caroline but he is not alone there—But she is not seeing him���Steph is off at camp until Aug. 20—Hope she behaves—She is pleased to be an L[eadership] C[lass] and really loves camp—She's got Onekability [a reference to Camp Oneka, a girl’s summer camp in the Poconos that Grace had also attended in her youth]—Albie is here & sweet as can be—always on the telephone—The most sought after man in town! I have a new hound under foot—Fred—the son of our Springer Spaniel from a mother of unknown origin—cute & funny—Summer weather is slow in arriving & the sea is still very Swedish & English—We will have some relative calm until the 16th when our concerts begin. I am exhausted after a busy & hectic May & June—it has been too much & trying to do up Marchais [the family estate near Paris] at the same time has aged me beyond my years—that chateau that I need like a hole-in-the-head will be the end of me. My exhibit was a success and I sold 39 out of 43 pics—Am afraid always that I will be arrested for taking money under false pretenses but my foundation has done well out of it. I will be over around the 25th of August & will be happy to look after Mama for a week if Mary wants to take off.”

[nyuszimotor]

Az ozmózis szexi

[sexypinkon]

Sexypink - RITES, RITUALS, MEMORIES AND MORE CROP OVER VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION OPENS THURSDAY. Barbados Today News. “The first event produced by the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) for Crop Over 2023 starts next week and runs throughout the Season of Emancipation.On Africa Day, Thursday, May 25, 2023, the NCF will host the official opening of the Central Bank of Barbados Crop Over Visual Arts Exhibition entitled We Came on Merchant Ships.The following day, Friday, May 26, the three-part exhibition will then be open for public viewing at the Queen’s Park Gallery until Thursday, June 22.The series of exhibitions seek to visually explore the concept of the necessity of trade for growth and expansion and all the consequences, rewards and challenges that come from migration, free, forced or otherwise.The first exhibition, We Came on Merchant Ships – Movement, examines movement in its many forms. The works of 29 artists will be on show. 

The exhibition captures the reason people move, modalities for movement and the various cultural manifestations of migration - forced and free. Special emphasis will be placed on the transatlantic slave trade.NCF’s Curator Oneka Small admits that although the topic is a tough one to approach, the Foundation was excited to showcase such a serious yet sensitive project using art. “Curating this one has not been an easy task simply because it is a painful period in our history, especially the show, which focuses a lot on the transatlantic slave trade. So we are very excited though to be presenting the information through multimedia presentations such as photography,” she said.She added: “We have digital work. We also have sculptures. 

Some amazing pieces by amazing artists. We want to keep them under wraps so that you come excited on Friday, May 26, to see the show. It is a mixed medium, multimedia, all genre show. We are very happy to be presenting such a show this year.”Small is curating the exhibition alongside colleague NCF’s Visual Arts Officer Rodney Ifill, who commended the artists for stepping up and exploring the topic. “We have 29 wonderful artists. We have so many artists on the island and I am glad that they responded to the theme because the whole idea of introducing themes like this is to get people to think, to research and then you become better for it. At the end of the day, you are now collecting a pool of knowledge that you would have gone away with in terms of your own personal interrogation and presenting your sensibility to the public,” he noted.The second exhibition, We Came on Merchant Ships – Memories and Identity, which runs from Friday, June 30, to Thursday, July 27, the artists seek to interrogate the intangible aspects of trade. 

How do memories express themselves in displaced people? How is identity maintained, retained, or assimilated within the new land of settlement? The third exhibition, We Came of Merchant Ships – Rites, Ritual and Religion running from Friday, August 4 to Thursday, August 31 will see artists visually explore the continuation of rites, rituals and religion from the lands from which the present people of Barbados originated, for example, the Spiritual Baptist, Christianity and the rise of traditional African religions such as the practice of Yoruba, Hindu and other faiths.For more information on details relating to the Exhibition, please contact Oneka Small via email at oneka-small@ncf.bb and Rodney Ifill Visual Arts Officer via email at rodney-ifill@ncf. bb (PR)”

[docpiplup]

11th part of the bookscans of Al Andalus. Historical Figures, here's the previous part

The Emir Abd Allah: distrust and death

The throne of Cordoba came to Emir Abd Allah a bit of a glancing blow after his death in rather strange circumstances, from his brother, the emir al-Mundhir, who was barely in power for twenty-three months. Many historians, both Arab and Christians, contemporary or modern, they believe that Abd Allah was no stranger to this death and Dozy does not hesitate to describe this emir as a fraticide.

Both brothers were born in the same year, both to slave mothers, but physically they couldn't be more different. Al-Mundhir was black-haired and had curly hair, dark eyes, and a pockmarked face. Abd Allah, on the contrary, was of average height, blonde hair and blue eyes, like many of the princes of the Umayyad dynasty, sons of Basque women.

When he acceded to the throne he was forty-four years old, with a solid education cultural and was well versed in religious sciences. Every day he recited a part of the Koran and his rather strict religiosity meant that he always had his part to the alfaquíes, even in the hardest moments, and

that they would never reproach him for his acts, sometimes of great cruelty.

Abd Allah was a man of simple tastes and an austere life, to whom the opinion of his subjects mattered, especially those of Cordoba, and thus, he ordered a door to be opened in the Alcázar area where, once a week, he sat down to listen to the citizens' complaints. But the great defect, or the This emir's big problem was an unhealthy distrust of everything and towards everyone, which would mark his life... and that of many of his family members in a fatal way.

Every Friday he attended prayer punctually at the main mosque, but to move from the palace to the sacred precinct, he had a covered passage built that led to an outbuilding of the mosque. This precaution, which none of his predecessors had taken, kept him safe from possible attack of some discontent, which already gives us an idea of the fear and the insecurity that Abd Allah suffered about those around him.

His pity and distrust of men, when he deeply felt the solitude and fear made him write verses as beautiful and sad as these: “All things in this world are transitory; nothing down here lasts. Make haste, then, sinner, to bid farewell to all worldly vanities and convert. Soon you will be in the coffin and they will throw wet earth on your face was so beautiful before. Dedicate yourself solely to your religious duties, give yourself over to devotion and see that the Lord of heaven is favorable to you."

Given what his life was like, we do not know if Abd Allah had these reflections, overwhelmed, perhaps, by the blood shed.

Arab historians, like Christians, rarely spoke ill of the powerful on duty. Only, in this case, the historian Ibn al-Qutiyya and the incorruptible Ibn Hazm, they will say, clearly, that Abd Allah got rid of al-Mundhir to make himself with power, and how he had no mercy towards his own when the slightest shadow of uspicion could tarnish what he considered loyalty should be.

This emir had eleven children: seven before acceding to the emirate and another four after. The eldest of them, Muhammad, was designated heir, as was customary. The prince's mother was not just any princess-mother. She was a princess Basque woman named Oneka, great-granddaughter of Eneko Aritza who, in a second marriage, married Abd Allah. But this son, at twenty-seven years old, would pay with his life for a possible plot against his father that could never be proven. The chroniclers of the time, wanting to exonerate the emir, they present the event to us in the following way.

Al-Mutarrif, five years younger than Muhammad, desired to be the heir, and began to intrigue against his brother, until Abd Allah, under suspicion, that he was plotting against him, he ordered him imprisoned. But this plot could not be try, and when the heir was about to be released, al-Mutarrif, blind with anger, he entered where his brother was imprisoned in the Alcazar and stabbed him to death. It was January 29, 891. Was it like that, or was it

rather an act carried out under the authorization of the emir? All seems to indicate that the emir was aware of what was going to happen, since when Abd Allah wanted to punish the guilty, there were the dignitaries of the court ready to dissuade him so that the murderer would not suffer any harm. And how ferocious Abd Allah's response used to be, he listened to them and the fraticicide did not suffered some harm!

But al-Mutarrif's life was not going to be very long either. This prince had repeatedly shown his contempt for the alfaquis and this was something that the religious leaders were not going to forgive him. He must have been a man of violent character because, in addition to the death of his brother, he was attributed also that of the emir's favorite vizier and general, whom it was easy to convince to that his son was conspiring against him in the lands of Seville. It seems that it was true and this along with the advice of the alfaquíes to get rid of him, they convinced Abd Allah to have al-Mutarrif beheaded in his presence. He already had two dead children under his belt.

The pathological distrust, which must have made him suffer a lot, it also wreaked havoc on their families. No one was safe from the revenge of the emir, not even those closest to him. Every time a complain reached their ears, no matter how absurd or slanderous it was, whoever it was, even if it was a family member. On September 23, 897, only two years after the death of al-Mutarrif, Hisham, a son of Muhammad I, accused, of course, of a conspiracy that was totally false. A cadi could have saved his life, but, undoubtedly intimidated by the summary actions of the emir, he did not dare to say anything.

Al-Qasim, brother of Abd Allah, died poisoned by order of the emir under the same accusation of conspiring against the crown... It could be said that this emir had shed more of his own blood than that of others.

He had a turbulent reign, plagued by rebellions in all the lands of Al-Andalus. Political unity was broken and the Umayyad dynasty was about to falter in Spain. However, in the most pressing moments, Abd Allah, like to his faith:

“Let others put their trust in the great number of their soldiers, in their war machines, in their value; I put mine only in God, the only one eternal!".

We do not know if the emir frequently thought about all those “crimes of state” that touched him so closely, and he considered that the innumerable incidents that occurred during his reign were a punishment for his arbitrariness. If so, distrust and insecurity, the endless struggles within Al-Andalus itself and an innumerable series of problems, should not have undermined his health, because Abd Allah died, already an old man, in Córdoba on the night of October 15 to 16, 912.

None of his children would inherit the throne, such was the mistrust that the emir felt towards all of them. His successor would be his grandson, the son of Muhammad, who died alone twenty days after this child, Abd al-Rahman, came into the world.

All the love that Abd Allah was capable of feeling was placed in that child, who gathered the blood of the Umayyads and the

Basque princes, since we must not forget that his mother was one and his grandmother, Oneka, daughter of kings, from Fortún the One-Eyed, too. Good for remorse, for having deprived that child of his father, possibly unjustly, either because he had a brilliant intuition, Abd al-Rahman III would re-establish the Umayyad power and would give al-Andalus its days of greatest splendor.

None of his relatives showed any opposition to this enthronement. The brothers and sons of Abd Allah swore submission to the new emir without a hint of ill will and there was never any attempt at rebellion against him. After what they had seen in grandfather, it was not unreasonable to think that the grandson could act in the same way. Just in case, everyone was quiet and Abd al-Rahman III will be tolerant and the least fanatic of all the Umayyads, and will never allow anyone to question the cruel actions of his grandfather to whom, after all, he owed the throne.

[siglamancy]

my dnd character oneka, from different realities

[transgenderswagcompetitions]

The Preliminaries start Wednesday, June 5!

Here are your match-ups (links under the cut):

Alter Boi from The House of Whispers vs. Rafe from The House of Whispers

June Egbert from Homestuck vs. AR/Lil Hal from Homestuck

Vriska Serket from Homestuck vs. Jane Crocker from Homestuck

Firestar from Warrior Cats vs. Brick from Warrior Cats

Nightheart from Warrior Cats vs. Rowanstar from Warrior Cats

Loki from Loki: Agent of Asgard vs. Sera from Angela: Queen of Hel

Peter Parker from The Amazing Spider-Man vs. Rafe from Viscera

Hero from Something's Not Right vs. Mel from Something's Not Right

Villy from Basil and Oregano vs. Addy from Basil and Oregano

Enjolras from Les Miserables vs. Inspector Javert from Les Miserables

Axolotl from Wings of Fire vs. Starflight from Wings of Fire

---

Kaladin Stormblessed from The Stormlight Archive vs. Ieshwi from The Stormlight Archive

Jonathan Harker from Dracula vs. Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula

The Marquis de Carabas from Neverwhere vs. River Runson from The Melting Queen

Jonathan Morgan from All the White Spaces vs. Leigh Hunter from Grey Dawn

Xada from LoveBot vs. Ienaga Kano from Golden Kamuy

Shuos Zehun from Machineries of Empire vs. Viola/Cesario from Twelfth Night

Silas Bell from The Spirit Bares Its Teeth vs. Ash from DIE

Ash from Girl Haven vs. Jerico Soberanis from The Toll

Nadir from The Thirty Names of Night vs. Holly from The Mellification

Petrichor from Saga vs. Kazuhito "Kirito" Kirigaya from Sword Art Online

Aster Vanissen from Witch Boy vs. Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock Holmes

---

Vess from Invisible Kingdom vs. Tonkee Innovator Dibars from The Broken Earth Trilogy

Ben Van Brunt from Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow vs. Valentine Weis from World Running Down

Howl Pendragon from Howl's Moving Castle vs. Dominic Seneschal from Terra Ignota

Beatrice from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni vs. Isa from Transmuted

Alto from Your Mind is a Terrible Thing vs. David from Dark Currents

Monique from The Worm and his Kings vs. Viola Carroll from A Lady for a Duke

Will Avery from Names for the Dawn vs. Qven-and-Reet from Translation State

Syd from The Heartbreak Bakery vs. Claire/Claude from Baker Thief

Cersei Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire vs. Will Treaty from Ranger’s Apprentice

Yadriel from Cemetery Boys vs. Zila from Aurora Cycle

Zoe from Sleepless Domain vs. Diana Wrayburn from The Shadowhunter Chronicles

---

Never from Skulduggery Pleasant vs. Benji/Benjamin from Hell Followed With Us

Sidra from Wayfarers vs. Sascha Vykos from Vampire: The Masquerade novel series

Orlando from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vs. Spencer Harris from The Passing Playbook

Lupe from Four Leaf vs. Trina Goldberg-Oneka from The Seep

Cassandra Igarashi from The Wicked + the Divine vs. Aya Burnstein from Dancing In The Devils Auditorium

Lucus from High Class Homos vs. Merlin from The Left Handed Booksellers of London

Sol from Dead Collections vs. Artemis Fowl from Artemis Fowl

Teo from The Sunbearer Duology vs. Wanda from The Sandman

Tal Smithson from Time to Orbit: Unknown vs. Petey the Cat from Dog Man

Captain Artemisia Blastside from Piratica vs. Rosa from Threads That Bind

Wegg from Be Kind, My Neighbor vs. Scorn from Emergent Properties

[liainettofficial]

I'm back with my Typical language, I kinda like it.

(this is description of my friend Oneka's OC, btw)

[zehub]

La start-up Oneka conçoit une machine capable de désaliniser l'eau de mer grâce à l'énergie des vagues

Une entreprise canadienne a récemment annoncé la création d'une technologie de désalinisation alimentée par l'énergie des vagues. Un procédé

[tigger8900]

The Seep, by Chana Porter

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

When the alien invasion comes, it's not with threats or a show of force. Rather, the Seep infiltrates with a simple promise: to make us, and everything else, better. And it keeps its promise, guiding humanity to a state of blissful co-existence and unprecedented peace. And yet, Trina is unhappy. Her wife has chosen to be reborn through the power of the Seep, ending their marriage and leaving Trina behind. As she spirals into grief, Trina will have to confront the Seep's potential — and danger — if she has any hope of finding a place for herself in this new world.

This book was incredible. I can't think of any other piece of media I've consumed that has featured a middle-aged trans women who isn't particularly femme as the protagonist, so that alone was unique. I also enjoyed the take on a utopia, where you can see how much better things are while at the same time spotting the cracks where maybe there's something less-than-perfect under the surface. Yet there isn't some grand conspiracy to uncover. This isn't the story of how the alien invaders were unmasked and repelled. The utopia is presented as a good thing, probably(though, like all good speculative fiction, it does leave you wondering a little).

Rather, this is a story that deals primarily with grief, as we follow Trina mourning not just the loss of her wife but also that of the world she remembers. She rejects the Seep, choosing to do things the old way whenever possible, a perspective that leaves her unable to cope when confronted with new views on death and rebirth. Her devotion to the old ways is ultimately so destructive that it puts her own health at risk, an apt metaphor for what humanity is doing to our planet and each other with the way we live. It's a sad story, but beautiful as well.

The one thing I thought was a little odd was how Trina's heritage was handled. She's half Jewish and half Native American. My apologies, if the nation was specified I've forgotten it and can't locate it now. While her Jewishness is reflected upon somewhat in the narrative, her Native American heritage didn't seem to be explored to any degree beyond her name: Trina FastHorse Goldberg-Oneka. Now, I'm not trying to say that a character's heritage has to be important to the plot. Of course they can just be Jewish, or Chinese, or Ojibwe, or whatever. What stood out to me here was the lopsidedness of it, where one half of her identity was recognized in the story while the other was kind of just…there. Perhaps this is a fault of the reader, that I didn't know enough to recognize the moments when it was made relevant. It's very possible. Feel free to @ me, if so.