#scifi ain't it at all

[transitcowboy]

What a year! A slow transition back to OC art from fandom work, learning new tricks, taking on VGen as a main commission source! And many pieces of art I can't yet share since they are for my job! Though I don't feel it's as impressive as last year, I'm still proud of what I could do this year!

Art Summary template by papakkapao.bsky.social !

[strawberryfairi]

Synopsis🌹: After discovering a strange yet alluring red book in a boutique bookstore, you find yourself sucked into a strange world, where all of your inner most desires exist…

Pairings: Wakasa Imaushi X Musician! Black Fem 🤎 Reader (ANYONE CAN READ🧚🏾‍♀️)  Content: Author AU, scifi, Musician! reader, reader is a talented nerd, smutty romance, tiny doses of angst, adventure, futuristic city, magic?, !!sexual tension!!, etc (just find out the rest, lol)

w.c: 1.2k💠 Released: October 2

Previous | Next | Chapters Masterlist

A/N🧚🏾‍♀️: Stop it's chapter freaking 1 on October 2nd! I'm beyond excited about this story so I really hope you guys enjoy it too! I'm getting heavy in my world building bag with this one y'all💅🏾👩🏾‍🍳

C.W:  None

𝟏 || 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤

(Red Book of Desires Theme: Victory - Lost Traveler )

It's not often you come into a bookstore, but when you do, it's usually when you're on a mission for a specific book you'd like to purchase.

Not today though.

It's a sunny day, the weekend, and everyone's out to enjoy the summer breeze during the early afternoon. You'd just taken yourself out for brunch, and it seemed like a sin to go and head straight back home when the day looks like something out of a movie.

Not a cloud in sight, the sky a vibrant blue, summer flowers are fully in bloom, and friends and families are all walking around perusing through shops or utilizing a restaurant's outside seating.

So voila, you decide to stroll through this quaint, old style looking bookstore. It's a boutique, nestled right inbetween Tony's Brick Oven Pizza Place and a vinyl record store. It's such a cute atmosphere.

The door chimes as you walk in, and the smell of books instantly greets your nose. Shiny, dark wood shelves hold a plethora of vintage stories from Dostoyevsky to Baltasar Gracián, along with newer selections as well. Each section labeled by the genre.

With a slender finger you graze it gingerly along the hard spines of each book, waltzing through the isles pretending to be a princess in her grandiose atheneaum.

"What's this...?" You whisper to yourself, pausing as your finger rests on a bright red book.

It's particularly vibrant compared to the other books on this shelf; and seemingly newer looking.

"There's no title on the spine..." You notice, your brow raising curiously.

With a low "Hmph..." and a tilt of your head, you pluck the book from its home on the shelf, and run your hand across the blank cover.

As your fingers brush the book, royal purple cursive lettering begins to appear like magic, revealing the title. But there's no author.

"The book of desires; by no one." You mumble, and for a moment you look both ways down the isle, hoping this wasn't some kind of wild sex positions book or something.

Biting your lower lip you can't help but look and see what it's about, turning over the cover and searching for a hopefully interesting synopsis.

Instantly your brows furrow. Each page is completely blank. Just pure white paper with a red cover and purple titling. "This book ain't 'bout shit. Is this a journal..?" You question out loud.

"Careful with that." A male voice says from behind, making you nearly jump out of your skin.

"Oh! You scared me." You chuckle awkwardly, abruptly closing the book as you turn to see the face that matches the voice. You figure they must mean for you to be careful since it's potentially an old book, and could probably fall apart at any moment.

"I didn't mean to touch—" You start, but the man waves you off with a knowing smile.

"No one ever does..." He steps closer, his eyes never leaving the book. "That one's been waiting a long time for someone to pick it up again. Looks like today's it's lucky day." He adds with an inviting smile.

You glance back at the book. It's strange how drawn you seem to feel towards it. "Do you know what it's about?" You ask, voice quiet, as though speaking too loudly might somehow break the connection.

The man shrugs. "It's different for everyone. It shows you exactly what you desire most; even if you don't know what that is." Then his smile widens just a fraction as he says,

"It's not always what you expect, though."

You frown, unsure if the man is messing with you or not. To be honest, wether it's true or not, this man is doing a damn good job at selling you this book though, that's for sure. You look down at the mysterious book, watching the title reappear as your fingers slide over the red cover. A strange warmth spreads through you, and you feel a sudden rush of excitement, or maybe it's more of a curiosity, and something else... It's like a deep, unspoken yearning.

"How much is it?" You ask softly.

The man chuckles softly. "For you? It's free. Consider it a friendly gift."

Your eyes widen as you hesitate, but then, before you can begin to protest, you decide to just thank him.  "Oh, that's so kind of you! You didn't have to-

You cut yourself off as a sudden, abrupt shiver runs down your spine, and for a brief second, the world around you seems to flicker. You blink reflexively, but everything is already normal again before you could even process what you actually saw. The bookstore, the red book that is now yours, the dark wood shelves. Everything's still there.

"Enjoy." The man says from behind you. Yet as you whip around, he's nowhere to be seen.

Back in your little apartment, you sit on your cozy bed, staring at the new book. The sun has long set, and the LED lights you have lining the upper part of your ceiling glow a soft orange-yellow hue, the perfect ambience.

You flip the book open to the first page. There are no author's notes, no table of contents, no nothing. Just a single line that slowly appears, written in elegant, looping script:

"𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉?"

You furrow your brows, feeling a strange, intensely magnetic pull. It's silly, really. You don't believe in magic or anything like that, but the question the book asks you lingers deep in your mind. As if it's engraving itself there.

What do I desire most?

Success, obviously. You've been working so hard to make it in the music industry, writing songs, performing at small venues, sending out demo after demo, reaching out to producers and other artists further than you in the industry, and getting nothing but rejections in return. You want to be heard, to have people love your music, to finally feel like all your hard work has paid off. Has been worth something.

But there's something else, too. Something deeper. A part of you that's always been restless, yearning for something more since childhood. The excitement of a true adventure, probably. Or love. Things like the movies that've shaped you into the starry eyed, hopeless romantic dreamer you always have been. Peter Pan, The Goonies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit to name a few. Then with romance...

You've never really had the time for romance after graduating college. Not with everything you've been focusing on. Then honestly, when you think about it, you just aren't in the mood. Not for another mediocre experience people nowadays love to call "romance" and "a relationship". But sometimes you do dream of it—of passion, of something wild and exciting, of a life that's more than just struggling to get by and toughing and "thugging" it out one disappointment after the other. Telling yourself one day it'll all work out when in the moment you couldn't be any more lost and unsatisfied.

That's the word right there, unsatisfied.

You shake your head, letting out a small "tch" at the way this one sentence had really gone and thrown you into an abyss of depressing introspection. It's stupid, but still, you want to read more.

With a dramatic sigh, bracing yourself for the next simple yet wildly cryptic question, you flip to the next page. And then—

Darkness.

[tidalwavegames]

The ADVENTURE ANTHOLOGY for SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY...

ON KICKSTARTER NOW!

"Howdy, Bandleaders! Feeling a little lost in this big ol' Solar System of ours? Campaigns need a new direction, or just a kick of bright n' shiny inspiration? Don't worry, we gotcha covered! Inside this book are 8+ brand new Bounty Modules, all custom-made to work with the CUSC system. Use 'em to light a fire in your campaign, try the game out for a one-shot session, or take what you find and run away with it—we ain't here to tell you how to play! We'll give you that little jet boost to get your game flyin' high into the Great Beyond."

The ADVENTURE ANTHOLOGY is a 36+ page supplement for SEE YOU, SPACE COWBOY... and other space & scifi systems. The base book will contain 8 One-Shot Bounty Modules that you can drop into your ongoing CUSC game, or string together into a longer campaign. Each module fits on two 2-page spreads and are colour coordinated, so you can easily see the information you need to run the night's adventure. For each Stretch Goal we reach, we will add another Bounty Module to the book!

Features:

8+ One-Shot Bounty Modules to drop into your game

Modules from Onslaught Six, Maid of Tin, Alex Keswick, Ryan Stevens (Blank City Games) and more

Each Module fits on two 2-page spreads, or the front & back of a single 8.5"x11" page. That's 36 pages of adventure!

Absolutely dope cover art by Mitch Speck

Fantastic art from the team you know & love: Demon Dionysus, Tyler Hogerty, areyoshi, Slyllama, Dyelute, definethelimits & more

Use in CUSC or other space & scifi games

100% Human Created Content!

The ADVENTURE ANTHOLOGY will feature a bunch of great writers like Onslaught Six, Maid of Tin, Alex Keswick, Adam Kovac, Ryan Stevens (Blank City Games), and if our stretch goals are met, Farmer Gadda, Kyle Tam & Nemo (J.M.), Josh Domanski (Liminal Horror) and more.

Check it all out on the Kickstarter, LIVE NOW: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seeyouspacecowboy/the-adventure-anthology-for-see-you-space-cowboy-ttrpg

[goodboyaudios]

What inspired the PanOmniverse? Normally in world building people start off with a character then build off of that, in some cases it’s the other way around.

What inspired you and how did all these characters branch off? I mean I’d assume characters like Mahatma, Devlin, Heartburn weren’t planned immediately, how did you get to that point?

Did you create PanOmniverse to voice act or was it just a creative project that you thought “might as well share it.”

Sorry long question just like learning

Woah, this ain't no small question you asking!

Alright, where did I start?

I suppose it began with my postergirl, Solarra. I wanted her to be the idea of a blank slate character. Someone who has a seemingly useless power and a blank face. Basically someone who can literally be anything. It was supposed to be an allegory for myself at the time as I had no idea where my life was going or what I truly wanted. I felt useless and time was slipping past me, which is represented in her power of foward time momentum and never going back.

She was a backburner idea who I had never really come up with any cohesive story for. So that was her.

Then in college I came up with the Alpha draft for Landstar in the form of a screenplay I wrote for college called Space Echoes, a big scifi universe that gets together regardless of political agenda to celebrate a big race across the galaxy. There's tons of references and backstories, but it was a little unfocused and the references might've gotten me in trouble if I'd gone legit with it lol!

When I made the channel, I had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to do something non-sexual, but it felt like there was no escaping it, when LITERALLY EVERYONE I KNEW was doing exactly that. Space Pirates was, in all honesty, a freak accident haha! I never expected it to do that well. I'd seen other VAs do story based stuff before, but nothing really took off. I then decided to connect Space Pirates and TQS as well eventually to my greater expanded universe of Landstar, which at the time was a backburner masterfile of 100 pages inspired by Warhammer and Trigun.

So, tl;dr, my current universe is a lot of things that were inspired by a lot more things all conglomerating into one happy accident!

[maliciousalice]

They didn't give Kes enough of the cute little scarves with earholes that the Ocampans on the 5th planet had.

I guess the explination is that their fashion signifies the devoutness to The Caretaker, as some of the colony people working have more colourful, scarf-less costumes like Kes, but idk it would have been fun to incorporate it. I like how varied they are in the sihouette and kinda-retro futuristic. They could have coordinated well with her fun little dresses, and been peak scifi with her little blonde bob poking out. (maybe being the same colour as something in her outfit)

BUT I GUESS WE'LL NEVER KNOW BECAUSE THIS SHIT AIN'T DOCUMENTED AT ALL LOL. Sidenote those boots that one bloke gave Harry and B'Elanna were very expensive looking lmao.

[night-dark-woods]

GOTTA hear about horsegirl robot story

ok so some context since you dont destiny. i tried to keep this as brief as possible but. theres a lot happening here and it got kinda long sorry:

destiny world is broadly a pretty standard far-future scifi world, there was a Golden Age, then a Collapse, and the game takes place post-post-apocalypse.

elsie bray is the grandchild of clovis bray, the head of a massive megacorp from the golden age who was obsessed with legacy&immortality, to the point he modified his descendants's genetics and created exos, immortal robots with human consciousnesses uploaded.

(sidenote: theres some very very cool body horror lore pieces about that process i can link you if youre interested, destiny lore has some of the best short scifi/horror writing ive Ever read, but its trapped in an fps looter-shooter mmo)

elsie was deeply complicit in this process and was clovis's "test drive" for the exo project before he was willing to upload his own consciousness, including a custom frame. oh she can also time-travel and got stuck for hundreds-to-thousands of repetitions in a multi-year loop that always ends with everyone she cares about dying including her sister at her own hands, and also the death of all of humanity <3 she feels responsible for all of this.

amanda holliday is was (in my heart shes still alive) the city's shipwright, and was close friends with one of the main exo characters in the game.

oh also they are both trans women. to me.

okay. context out of the way. amanda is the horsegirl and elsie is the flighty and traumatized and stand-offish horse who Only She Can Tame. premise for the fic is elsie needs to do repairs on herself in a hard to reach spot and has to a) ask amanda to use her tools and b) then ask for HELP, which she Does Not Do, due to the aforementioned hundreds of years of betrayal and timeloops. it will feature elsie being deeply touch-starved and weird about it, amanda being appreciative and impressed by her custom frame in a way that elsie isn't sure what to do with bc of how much she hates it as a reminder of her involvement in the exo project, but loves it as its something she got to choose, and the intimacy of trusting someone you barely know to put their hands inside your body and mess around in there bc you dont really have any other choice.

snippet:

She taps her knee with the wrench in her hand, then lays back on the creeper to kick herself back under the Sparrow. "It's set up back at my place, if y' wanna swing by later tonight?" The invitation rolls out of Holliday's mouth as easily as if she's just suggested you come over for coffee; torso under the vehicle, she doesn't notice the way you freeze, not human-still but exo-still, an object for a long, long moment. Long enough for her to notice your silence. The rolling click of the ratchet stops and she slides back out, hands braced on the undercarriage of the Sparrow. She takes in your startled-animal expression, brow furrowed. "...Or not?" "Sorry. I don't usually... do repairs with an audience." The confusion in her eyes warms into something alarmingly soft. "Oh! That's fine. No trouble if you want me to make myself scarce after I show y' the ropes. Ain't nothin' I haven't seen before though, if you do need help. I've helped Cayde plenty over the years." You nod jerkily, eager to escape the weight of whatever she thinks she's understood about you. "Thank you, I'll... see you tonight then." You beat a hasty retreat, barely remembering to bob your head at Niik in farewell, and make it all the way out of the Hanger before you realize you didn't agree on any time more specific than *tonight,* or get her address. The clang of your foot against the wall is lost in the general commotion, and you head off to see what security is like for the personal information of Tower employees.

[theliterarywolf]

I both hate and love how right I was about Wish being not well received amongst everyone, especially on the internet

It was either late last year or earlier this year that I had found this Disney magazine that was promoting the latest movies, shows etc. Well they had a large spread dedicated to advertising Wish with promos, behind the scenes so on and so forth

Upon looking thru the spread, first thought that popped into my mind was "this ain't gonna be good considering how much of a flop Strange World was" and dear God did they really phone the villian song end jfc

And dammit I was right i didnt wanna be right but i was, they don't care enough about their animated films anymore they just wanna rush this out to catch the 100th anniversary and focus on making the snow white remake even shittier

Okay, but to be fair: a good chunk of why Strange World flopped is because Disney refused to promote it properly because of their whole 'we refuse to have any scifi/action movies that aren't tied to Star Wars or the MCU' schtick.

Like, don't get me wrong, the writing of Strange World was still dumb and the big twist was both obvious and made no sense at the same time, but the lack of promotion was the real killer there.

My God, the fucking villain song. I remember, even when my doubts about Wish were first starting to build up, I was desperately clinging on because I kept hearing 'this is going to be a return to form; this is going to be the first Disney movie in YEARS to give us a traditional villain song'

And then they showed it and I was like

And, the thing of it is... I wasn't out here thinking that Disney wouldn't have some callbacks and references to it's legacy in this movie. After all, it is supposed to celebrate their centennial.

However, remember when the references and callbacks were more easter eggs and fun hunts for the audience? Like how, as insidious as it is, the Hidden Mickeys are for the parks?

They could have returned to form with a magnificent story stemmed in the quality of writing from the Disney Renaissance; the period of Disney that people are still celebrating all these years later.

Instead we ended up with a movie that is as shameless in its 'Hey! Remember thing?! We made thing!!' as Space Jam: A New Legacy.

[itstimewehavesomesoliddick]

Wasn't the one Call of Duty game in Space main story about how Mars wanted to be independent or something too?

Apparently in the background lore the whole thing starts because space miners went on strike, and everyone knows that when you don't immediately put down strikes with military force they form into a totalitarian secessionist state, then after the Martians secede and they sign a treaty or whatever, Earth has the genius idea of trading weapons and tech for resources with a newly formed hostile power, imagine selling cruise missiles to rebellious miners in exchange for a jerrycan, what a genius move, I'm sure they won't use it to start a war or anything

Why the fuck do the Martians even bother with a big war at all? Just embargo Earth, if the resource drought gets bad enough it'll make war suicide for Earth, all Mars had to do is bide their time, why do they have to want to invade and explode Earth so badly when they're holding all the cards? Also what the fuck are they supposed to do once they win and take over? Congratulations, you just inherited the biggest resource drain the whole solar system, enjoy having to feed like ten billion mouths because you won

Ngl it's one of the dumbest scifi plots I've heard, and that's coming from me, a "fuck Martians, fuck belters" Earther to the core, it ain't no Heinlein that's for sure

[phoenix]

I'll probably get into this a bit in the Trisking of it, but felt like writing it all down, since it's a bit much of a diversion from my usual review...

I came across this movie late one night in the 90s, I think on Scifi, or USA, but whomever...it was almost done, only got a few bits of it and something else I wanted to see was on anyways, but it always stuck with me, mostly because "cheesy schlocky movie" but memories fade, and I never caught the name, or it never stuck.

Every so often I'd remember that cheesy movie, try and find it, but stuff like "80s/90s movie with witches at college" has quite a few hits. Or I'd think of it when I couldn't really search it up, and I'd forget when I was back at the computer.

A year or two ago, I finally got the right combo of words, and got the right movie, Witch Academy, obvs, and it was JUST before this Blu Ray was announced, so it was a nice conglomeration of events.

Took me awhile to be able to GET the movie (and having a Blu Ray drive in the PC finally helped too), and yeeeah. This movie ain't great.

It tries a bit TOO hard to be sleazy, a bit too on the nose, but there is some campy fun once it gets going. BUT!!

HOLY SHIT is Robert Vaughn giving an almost amazing performance as the devil??

I love when top tier actors show up in POS movies, and they treat it exactly the same as a big budget movie paycheck, a job is a job, give it exactly the same amount of effort, and don't phone it in. He is having a BLAST, and that alone made this worth revisiting.

Definitely glad to have gotten this out of the memory banks, and any movie I can turn into a Trisk post is always good.

[blsci-nerd]

Rebel Moon rambling thoughts...

Sweet, it's a new scifi movie! And with Bae Doona! This is going to be GREAT!

Ok, ok, starting out strong with muscle arms and hammerhead horses. (Note to self: look up behind the scenes to see how they did this).

Starting to notice an angle trend on our FL. Why is she only shot from the left? What the hell, now this is going to bother me for the rest of the show.

Seriously, ALL. LEFT. SIDE. We could make a drinking game about the times Kora's shot from the right and you would still be sober by the end. Anyways, moving on...

I see we have Space Nazis. And the lead dude has red guards.

Ah, now father figure is handing Kora a weapon he has saved for her this whole time! It's your father's lightsaber.

And now to Mos Eisley Providence! Hey, it's a saloon. Who would've thought? You know, you're going to need a pilot.

But first! My friend doesn't like you...I don't like you, either! Pew pew pew.

Ah, they made it to the ship. Would've lost money betting on a "piece of junk" quip.

Oh...I see Noble gets hooked up to tubes and stuff and is all scarred up underneath his clothes.

Aaaaand now they are on a desert planet and need to free a slave by making a bet involving riding a podracer bennu. Nice.

Alright, they've got space Tarzan! On to the next hero (side note: isn't it chilly in space? Give the man a sweater)

OMG BAE DOONA!!!!!! The reason I am here!!!!! She's using her light sabers light sabers to take down the Borg Queen and I'm not even mad about it. Her gat is *chef's kiss*

Methinks magic Princess Leia Rey Issa is not dead.

What, Djimon Hounsou? Yes, please! For a man hell-bent on drinking himself to death, he seems to have kept up with his gym routine. Well, hose him down and get him on the ship!

Alright, on to King Levitica. Ooooh, cute wordplay 'cause, you know, everything on the planet is levitating. Also nice to see that he has left the Trade Federation for more honorable pursuits.

Oh my gosh, it's the space Kravitz's! NGL, they look pretty badass. Digging the blue forehead makeup they have going on. Glad to see Mad Max extras getting new gigs.

Oooops, bye King Levitica. How did Sharaan last 10,000 years?

Surprise! Blondie is a traitor.

Oof, was NOT expecting that last minute head dodge/gut blast from bad-guy gunman! It's around the 1:48 mark. Awarding "Best Clip of the Movie" (after the slo-mo). And is that it for Cyborg Kravitz? We really aren't seeing him again? Say it ain't so.

Enough about them. Back to Vader and Luke Kora and Noble fighting on a gantry floating buoy.

Yay, Noble is dead! Oh, wait...SHUT UP, they've sent a ship to look for him? And there he is? NOT dead, but almost dead? NO WAY!!!! And now they're hooking him up to hoses and stuff? And he has a MASTER???

*sigh*

I'm done. Will I watch Part II? Of course. Because Bae Doona.

[skeletondanceparty]

I got tagged by @mechamagica

barbie or oppenheimer -Barbie, I have little interest in learning more about the Bomb, I LOVE Nuclear stuff but that applies strictly to energy and reactors. (Molten Salt nuclear reactors are AMAZING) ketchup or mustard -Ketchup, gimme that Tomato crinkled fries or curly fries -Crinkled, especially if they got that seasoning salt, love a good THICC fry robots or dinosaurs-When I was young dinosaurs, but Im more into robotic stuff anymore silly hats or silly socks - Hats, easier to show off spring or autumn -Autumn, Fall, Halloween, Harvest, Pumpkin harry potter or lord of the rings -Lord of the rings lmao, even before all the shit with terf queen (and the whole I'm trans thing now) I had such a passing interest in potter vacation or staycation -I ain't gone anywhere in YEARS so. . . staycation I guess? ? ? day or night -NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME TO BE WITH THE ONE YOU LOVE board games or video games - Board games, the tactile feel and pieces, easy house rules just give you something video games don't books or movies -I *wish* I could read books anymore my brain doesnt wanna focus on them and is spoiled by audiobooks but we'll technically say movies money or love - Love, anyone who knows me knows my stances on money as a thing. plus just. . . ITS LOVE BAYBEE!!!! milkshake or iced coffee - Milkshake, not a coffee person waffles or pancakes -Pancakes, flat fluffy fellas that soak up dat syrup and stack good chocolate or candy -Chocolate, easy beach or pool -Pool given I have one, and who wants to put the sand meme in here laundry or dishes - uhhhh dishes? I guess laundry always takes so long and I dont dirty enough dishes for it to really matter take-out or dine-out -uhhh take out, I havent eaten in a place in ages (assuming thats what you mean by dine out) fantasy or sci-fi - uhhhhh hard one. . . . right *now* Imma say Scifi cause Im more in that sort of realm of things. lays or pringles -Ruffles are technically Lays, and Ruffles *FUCK* but if we're just going on the chips themselves, Pringles for the flavors.

I'll tag @flingpossecule @velsim @kawaiidesuswag @pengwynevere @kalza @jamisunne aaaannnnddddd uhhhh @seeyouguyslater

[enigmakiwi]

I'm not sure how to feel about this tbh. Like yeah I love weird shit but... this also doesn't quite feel right. Might be in part because the books recommended includes the road, a book which I had to read in high school and absolutely fucking hated not because it was bad but because it was gut wrenchingly depressing and I could not finish it (in part because I was already going through a rough time, but still). It also didn't teach me anything radical or different with its themes, so I felt I got nothing out of it besides tears and worsened depression. (Absolutely no offense to anyone who loves the book, it was very well written and got its point across, it's just REALLY not for me.)

Might also be because the person being described sounds kind of pretentious. "Traditional plot arcs don't impress you as much as originality, voice, and sheer creative risk" wrong. These things aren't mutually exclusive and even if they were either can be good or bad depending on execution.

It's funny because I've at least heard of every book it mentioned, and the things I hear about most of them are "it's really depressing," something I would actively avoid in most cases because my emotional state is so easily affected by what I'm reading/watching. It's close... it's so close, but this ain't it. The metamorphosis is spot on though I do wanna read that, just haven't found the time. Also, yknow, I also like other stuff, like comedy, but that's to be expected in any classification system like this. Ain't gonna be perfect. (I could go off on a tangent about how comedy and surrealism and horror (and scifi tbh) all blend together very easily and are interconnected and when mixed make incredible stories with great potential for big or complex themes but I won't do that here.)

But yeah. Mostly it just kills me to see this thing say "you would LOVE The Road by Cormac McCarthy :)" because I very distinctly did Not.

have you guys done that “what kind of reader are you” quiz and if so what did you get

[archivalofsins]

✨and 💔 for ask game

media hyperfixation ask game!

✨ what draws you towards your hyperfixation? what is interesting about it?

💔 tell us about one of your LEAST favorite characters and why you dislike them.

Oooo what draws me to my hyperfixation I really enjoy realistic scenarios. I love a work that let's the characterizations speak for itself. Mostly if the characters can carry it and act honestly I have a lot of fun. Though I tend to enjoy darker themes and things that force the observer to reflect. I've been enjoying the tabletop I was invited to for this reason. It is very fun to be forced to introspect or given permission to through a work.

Mostly because I have some difficulties reflecting on myself otherwise. I do love series with a bit of scifi and fantasy elements. Yet my biggest one long term has been mystery genres. I like stories that really make me feel engaged in the environment so mysteries where I have to think really do that. I'd be deep into visual novels if not for the three d's fucking me over. Dyslexia and dyscalculia make reading a struggle dysgraphia just fucks up completely unrelated things.

I think what draws me towards it initially are the premises or if a friend recommends them. I can get really into something if it's recommended by someone but I am slow to get really hooked on anything. I think a good example is I'm obsessed with Kingdom Hearts Days, Birth By Sleep, and three but despite having other games in the series I didn't get invested outside of the mechanics. With Days and BBS I got invested due to certain characters in it and the characterizations.

Which is funny considering the connections between those two games. It was easy to get obsessed with BBS because Star was like I think you're like Terra then I went no and I'll show you I'm not then it was like never seen a character do everything right that hard. Would have made the same mistakes actually my low confidence ass hearing this is a test of heart so if I fail I'm not only a failure but a bad person Terra's entire fucking arc I'm a bad person and must prove I am not a bad person by getting this completely arbitrary title. Master Eraqus I'd pass you immediately if it were up to me my low confidence ass, "I had nepotism on my side and still failed?! I won't fail you again." This dude I won't fail you again.

Me: *injured greatly*

Kingdom Hearts BBS Terra Section: Want me to just reflect all your worse tendencies and self doubts at you for hours.

Me: Just kill me you evil son of a bitch.

Kingdom Hearts BBS Terra Section: That would be a mercy learn how your self-hatred and doubt will destroy all your relationships.

Me: AGHH- *surviving that* Wow luckily Star won't ever recommend anything that does that again,

Milgram

Kazui: Want to see your worst self?

Me: Ah shit here we go again; ten times in a row this time- Milgram another beat <- (Actual representation of me when Milgram drops a song like you can't keep doing this to a bitch let me breath)

Me with every piece of media I have no ego my family has broken it down over the course of my life and I have no confidence in myself. Boon of this is I can see myself as the villain more than the hero which makes it incredibly easy for me to go ya know yeah be evil fuck it life ain't gone be kind. We might as well start fucking things up in fiction. Like what does this say about you if you think they did this not a damn thing other than I'm tired as hell and know this world is cruel and merciless- So, I want to see characters be cruel merciless and self-serving back.

Me in Milgram be terrible someone deserves to be me outside of it man I love Terra's commitment to doing the right thing and characters who are committed to just being able to thrive in life after immense suffering like Denji. Man I just love having the hope to stand up again as the world pisses in your grave plot before you're even the ground. There is something about being set up to be a failure from day one due to something completely out of your control. I definitely won't fuck over a milgram oc with this.

You know what I may just like seeing characters struggle because it reminds me that like life is difficult for everyone. Because this is like the same reason I like the omniscient reader viewpoint webtoon. Also like my first hyperfixation was literally Batman and Harley Quinn from the batman animated series simply because of that one abuse episode. Well no Courage the Cowardly Dog was up there too and Codename Kids Next Door. You know what I think I have something that will explain this watch Ed, Edd, n Eddy big picture show and you tell me how I got here. Can't even rewatch that now the several uninterrupted minutes getting they asses kicked by a character hyped up in the show from episode one was wild.

People will be like you gotta watch old anime watch an old cartoon. Like got damn they will be on some shit take this from someone who grew up on mostly older cartoon dvds (old looney tunes, betty boop, little audrey those dvds you get from a dollar store that come in volumes) before having cable then went back to said dvds when bored they were on some shit. If I had a dvd player I'd watch them right now I kept that shit.

My least favorite characters.

Okay so I have a lot of fixations. Pulls a Shidou you'll have to be more specific which one. I'm kidding-

Despite having many fixations I am happy to say I don't have many least favorite characters. My least favorites tend to be the characters I don't have much of an interest in positive or negative. I'm a critical person by nature so when I have many negative things to say about a fictional character or a work I usually do appreciate that character or work greatly. I tend to say I simply don't like this thing on a subjective level or this isn't what I wanted to experience at this point in time.

I think it comes from not really being able to choose what media I engaged with when younger or having limited access to it. I ultimately just got really used to liking what was there. (I.E dollar store cartoon dvds. The really old cartoons.)

If I had to say right now I like all the Milgram characters but the characters I was interested in the least before writing so much about them were Haruka and Mu. It was really a situation of their cases being so open and shut. They aren't to good at hiding themselves so there wasn't much intrigue or excitement for me to investigate. But that's not the same as disliking them. Character wise they give a lot to work with. I just feel like out of the cast of Milgram the mysteries of their crimes are more on easy mode than the others.

Simply because of the sort of people they are. Which made it difficult for them to hold my interest because I like to be able to tear into something and thoroughly investigate it. So, I wind up talking a lot less about their crimes which and more about their characterizations and personalities. Since their crimes are such an integral part of Milgram I have to kind of put them on the lower end since half of what they're here for doesn't interest me.

They interest me though. Their crimes don't because I feel like I have all the information I need on them and I'm honestly not expecting that many surprises from Mu.

Then there's Pandora Hearts

Man, me at PH each time I read it-

I know he's well liked amongst the readers but I simply have no patience for Jack Vessalius. It's very funny because he's not even a bad guy. He's rather average. He does a lot of shit but his character motivations are solid. He's a part of the group who's story is a tragedy caused by a series of poor communication choices. Mostly caused by him and Lacie. But another character tends to get shafted with all the blame despite giving perfectly reasonable alternatives to each party that they fucking refused to take.

That's the point of a tragedy though it's meant to be unavoidable not because of the plot but who the characters naturally are. In that sense Jack Vessalius is quite the compelling character. As out of that group he is the most straightforward and emboldened. He's just the stupidest man to exist on top of that. Just so unfathomably stupid. Lacie too while I'm on the topic.

They are both incredibly emotionally repressed, unaware of or downright dismissive of themselves. They're very troubling people for those who care about them. Simply because they're more likely to hurt themselves than anyone else. This ultimately ends up making their relationship incredibly compelling. This devolved into complementing Jun Mochizuki's writhing again.

The character work it too good. Maybe I can't dislike Jack but he is annoying.

I got into Reverse 1999 and I really like X. So- I really hate Medicine Pocket and to add insult to injury they just had an event where you could get a random six star and guess who fucking showed up-

I know they're like voiced by Mikoto's va in the Japanese version so I should be happy like it's kind of fate that Mikoto keeps finding me like this but fuck this guy. I know nothing about them but literally anytime I want to see art of X they're fucking there. I just wanted to see the rube goldberg machine making guy who kills capitalists go away.

I'm sorry I just went to go look into their character because I know that little about them and found out their information seems to be referencing pavlov conditioning? Which is really fun is neat but not played into much with the moves. Yeah I just disliked this character because I kind of always have to see them and they're kind of mean to Lucy.

I don't like seeing guys I didn't look for but I'm cursed because all my faves are shippable. Sad tragic.

[readtilyoudie]

JANUARY 2024 READS

I wanted to do something different this year with the wrap-ups. I'm not great at getting reviews out, but like, what if I picked five books each month that I felt strongly about and comment on them? So let's see if I stick with it.

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer. Are you allowed to like a series when you have also been confused by said series the entire time? I mean, it's a fascinating one for sure. And this book was supposed to be the end but apparently he's writing a fourth book even though this was a great wrap-up and had answers (answers being a loose term here cause wtf did i just read). I liked my little grumpy gay lighthouse keeper. Sad to lose him. Also? I never see this book or series mentioned as queer but here we are. I would rec this book to those who like biology horror and scifi, but if you ain't down with the plant and body horror then it's gonna get cringey.

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. THIS BOOK. I knew I was going to like it because I like Oscar Wilde, but WOW. I was truly just not prepared for the level of queer energy I received. "He is all of my art to me now." How has tumblr not just gone RABID over this quote? Like, I want this on my wall, on my body, it has embedded itself in my soul, I have never read anything more romantic in my life. But the actual book itself? Kinda ... anticlimactic. Like we hear a lot about what's going on but it doesn't show and it skips time a lot so we don't really get to see much of people around him aging. I would've liked a much more drawn out version better. Also? Dorian Grey is the WORLD'S WORST CRIMINAL and I don't mean from a devious standpoint, but like, from a brain standpoint. All this time you've been young and yet you're keeping up with the stupidity of youth. Okay. Overall I loved it but it could've been better. But this is also coming from someone in a time the book wasn't written for so take it how you will.

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk. This was a reread for me. Part of my goal is to read the books I own this year and clear up some shelf space and while I enjoyed this book in my youth, my older self said Um No. It's just Too Much for me too handle. Then again, this was never one I was overly in love with.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I knew I wasn't getting rid of this one but I got to listen to it as an audiobook for the first time, which was fun. This remains one of my all-time favorite books, fucked-up-ness and all. It's a shame the rest of the series didn't carry the same energy for me but this one is my ride-or-die. I want to get a bunch of copies of it like I did for Howl's Moving Castle.

Jujutsu Kaisen V17 by Gege Akutami. I'm so lost at this point. This is why I don't read much shonen. What is even happening anymore, who are these people. But also, Mai's new look? Let's go, Lesbians! Hot damn!

[theliterarywolf]

Was bitching to a friend about how often beast races get shafted in fantasy. BOTW/TOTK: We only see TWO zonai, the rito's town and population are TINY, the zora /are/ better off tho sadly totk fucked up the story there. Elder Scrolls: No main series beastman game yet (online doesnt count), you cant even marry any khajit in Skyrim. Been watching a friend play Sun Haven and the "monster" bachelors are just a dude with wolf ears/tail and a dude with horns. Feel like most beast races are just furries or humans with beast parts. Female beasts are always humanized the fuck out of. It's just so tiring and boring!! I'm sick of humans and elves and dwarves and shit!! "Humans are interesting bc they're resilient despite their short lives and brave and blahblah--" do not care!! I am a furry I wanna see interesting new races!! The guy in my icon is a shrimp man!!

It's like 'my goodness, you have a fantasy setting and you prioritize the humans. Sure, alright'

And this isn't like a recurring conversation that I see in online D&D spaces (i.e.: 'Really? All the creative power in tabletop gaming and you choose to be a human? Fuck out of here')

But more 'if you are presenting a piece of media in a fantasy or scifi setting and you establish that there are many different races and worlds/cities in that setting... Just to force the player/viewer/reader to spend 85% of their time with humans... Why did you even bother adding in the other races/worlds/cities?'

And everyone already knows my feelings on 'Instagram Cosplay Thot #93'-style monster/nonhuman design, so we don't have to retread that.

...Yeah, you bringing up the Rito reminded me: I may not have cared for Kass back in BotW (I didn't outright dislike him like I did Revali, I just didn't care for him), but damn did I miss him in TotK! This new pelican motherfucker ain't shit!

[rogerclarkaudiobooks]

"Bones in Blackbird"

Author: J. R. Frontera Narrated by: Roger Clark Book Series: "The Legacy of Lucky Logan", Book #3 Release Date: December 13, 2022 Length: 16 hours, 47 minutes

Overview:

Bullets and brawlin’ he can handle… Prophetic old witches and living statues, maybe not so much…. Caught in a bidding war for his sister’s freedom he can hardly hope to win, Van Delano embarks on his most challenging quest yet: to locate previously undiscovered Old World ruins for the outlaw queen Nine-Fingered Nan. Except he ain’t the only one looking for such treasure. And the creatures that protect such ancient things defy all understanding. Amid a boomtown suddenly teeming with prospectors, academics, curiosity seekers, religious zealots, cutthroats and thieves, Van struggles to sort truth from legend even as he scrambles to stay one step ahead of the law. But navigating this strange new territory comes at a price, and Van soon realizes his sister ain't the only thing he has left to lose… For fans of The Coilhunter Chronicles series, Indiana Jones, and the Red Dead Redemption games…saddle up for another gritty, gunslingin', action-packed adventure in this third installment of The Legacy of Lucky Logan series and grab your copy today!

┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✰ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ ⚠️ NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! ⚠️ This series contains ADULT themes, situations, and language. Additionally, each installment of this series will end on a SOFT cliffhanger, with the final events of one book setting up the events of the next book. And lastly, the scifi elements are a semi-slow build, appearing in a "lost civilization is rediscovered" kind of way. ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✰ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

"I confess I really want to know what happens next." -- Roger Clark, Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption II)

©2021 J. R. Frontera (P)2022 J. R. Frontera

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Bones in Blackbird is available from:

Audible ✰ Audiobooks.com ✰ AudiobooksNow.com ✰ AudiobookStore.com ✰ Barnes & Noble ✰ Binge Books ✰ Chirp Books ✰ Downpour ✰ Google Play ✰ Hoopla ✰ Libro.fm ✰ Overdrive + Libby ✰ Rakuten Kobo ✰ Scribd