#shane the witch child

[quitealotofsodapop]

More details on "Shane the Witch Child" au;

Shane sorta takes over as the "main character" in place of the Farmer in this au cus the Junimos aren't gonna let him forget it.

Shane can't remember his birth parents. Side effect of the Shrine of Memory. He does remember that his birth name means "Gift from Yoba" - though it isn't "Shane".

Although he recovered physically from being "dove'd" as a toddler, the experience was super tramatizing to Shane. Even if he can't remember it fully.

Shane is neurodivergent. It's unconnected to his "doving" experience, he's just born that way. Being undiagnosed for so long + trauma during his early 20s stoked the fire of his alchoholism.

Jas isn't directly related to Shane, but was the daughter of his best friends. Him and said friends followed eachother from childhood to college, and Shane was declared Jas's godfather. Then within one tragic car accident; Shane found himself Jas's only living legal guardian. And because of his injuries sustained in the crash, Shane lost his college gridball scholarship. He moved back in with Marnie after the accident and fell into the bottle ever since.

Marnie isn't an active magic user but being the Witch's sister, is naturally attuned to the magical world. It's why she doesn't question the existance of Void Chickens. To her, they've always just "been there".

Their family have almost always been farmers, going back generations - the sole exception being the Witch, and her and Marnie's father.

The family has had a business-type association with "Grandpa" from the farm north of the ranch for... wait. How old was that coot when he passed?

The "Farmers" that inherit Grandpa's old Farm aren't human. Shane is one of the few people able to see this. The lazy second-born Ffion, the one in charge of morning feeds and birds, loves to tease Shane about this fact when they cross paths in the morning. Shane hates this guy especially since he spends all day lazing in the sun and shade like all other serpents.

Shane and Emily get along so well because 1: shared special interest in birds, 2: related struggles with impulse control, and 3: neurodivergent besties. As a fellow neurodivergent person - we tend to accidentally flock together (birds of a feather if you will).

Shane gets super-attached to the birds he's raised personally and can't bring himself to eat bird meat. He's pretty much sees his birds as his kids. He's even ended up raising and releasing many wild birds who's nests got disturbed during Joja Corp development projects. Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Barnacle Geese, Plovers, Gulls, etc.. After his revelation that he wants to raise birds for a living, he starts taking in rescues. (irl reference that inspired this part A Chick Called Albert). He wonders if any of those birds remember him - they do.

Charlie the Chicken isn't allowed in the house unless she's wearing bird diapers. Shane thinks she looks ridiculous. Marnie refutes saying that Shane can sleep in the coop if he so wants - something he honestly considers. Charlie puts up with it so long as she gets to sleep in the bed next to Shane.

Shane encounters Leo early on (long story). He immediately finds a kindred spirit in the little parrot-kid. Leo thinks Shane is a "big blue bird" cus of his Joja Mart uniform, and Shane doesn't correct him. Shane acquires bird-son. Marnie was very relieved/confused when Shane made it back home with a kid and a few wild birds in tow.

The conflict between Joja Mart and the Community Centre is far more drawn out. In conjunction with Shane discovering that he has magic(!!!) despite not believing in the supernatural, he struggles with the ideas of putting Luddism/farming before convenience and stability. He's not gonna drop a decent 9 to 5 to chase a pipe dream if it puts Jas's future at risk. The Junimos will not leave Shane alone though.

Shane accidentally befriends Krobus and the Dwarf. The former because he found out that the shadow spirit was protecting Jas, and the latter because Dwarf admires Shane "protecting the Smoluanu birds" (chickens). Shane is very confused.

Song that inspired this au: "Devil's Train" by The Lab Rats. I leave it up to the imagination exactly who's offering to make Shane a deal.

Let me know what y'all think ;3

[simp2537]

Question?

Would anyone be interested in any of my others docs that are on my other platforms? I have an Avatar (James Cameron) (Tsu’tey x femreader) Twilight (Jacob Black x adopted Swan!reader) The walking dead (Carl Grimes x Walsh!reader x Oc) Sofia the First (don’t hate, I’m feeding my inner child) (Future Oc’s x oldersister!reader) and a Trollhunters (Jim Lake x reader)

Some of these are a bit older and when I was a younger fic writes. But they’re not terrible and their my babies.

Avatar Fic: When our world is sucked into a black hole there are only two survivors. A baby boy with white and a young girl with white hair. For Y/n Ortiz her world ends only to be thrown into another.Y/n must care for herself the last surviving daughter of earth 2 and the last surviving son. What happens when Jake Sully comes into play and she must fight for Pandora. Will she learn to love?

Twilight Fic: When Charlie and Renee's relationship was breaking the pair thought it'd be a good idea for them to have another child. However they couldn't convince another child. So instead they chose to adopt a two year old little girl with a strange mark on his wrist. Bella was four when she met her new little sister. At first she didn't like Y/n. She was always taking her dad's attention.

Till one day Bella cut her knee on the sidewalk while playing. The first person that ran to her when she was hurt was Y/n. From that day forth Bella and Y/n were inseparable.

hen Y/n was five her parents realized their marriage wasn't working. Then they realized how nart Y/n was. Then two men from another country came and told Renee that they wanted Y/n go to a special school for extraordinary children. They paid Renee and she sent Y/n off when she was five.

What happens when Y/n turns fifteenth and goes home. Will how different Y/n is change her life. Will the new being in her home change her.

TWD Fic: Ares the god of war, the god that bathes in the blood of his enemies. In this world the dead come to life for blood. A girl whose life had tragedy all her life. Her mother died when she was young. Her father loved her dearly and always wanted what was best for her. Y/n Walsh was Shane's daughter with his first and only wife Artemis Black.

Artemis was and archer, the best in the world. She was the love of Shane's life but then she got sick. Cancer took her from her daughter and her husband.

Shane always want her daughter to have the best life. Her mother taught her archer from a young age. When the world went to shit Y/n and her father adapted quickly. Too quickly for other's liking. Y/n started to be called Ares for the way she bathed in the new world. When Rick Grimes her uncle came back from the dead her new life was destroyed in more ways than one.

Sofia the First Fic: Y/n the first, older sister to Sofia the first. When her mothers married a king her and sister become princesses. How will her journey continue as she is gifted the Crown of Avalon?

Trollhunters: She was a witch. He was the first human Trollhunter. She battled with the darkness inside of her, he bathed in light. How can such a love story unfold.

[middletone]

Introduction Post

My Perfection-run Farmer is Leander. He’s roughly in his late twenties; a latent witch, having let the forest magic he had begun to cultivate as a child staying with his grandfather fade once he moved to the city with his mother. Will he be able to reawaken his powers after returning to Aurora Fields Farm?

Well, we’re doing the Community Center route, so probably.

I’ve never really kept a game log before and I thought it would be fun; Stardew Valley lends itself to this type of thing so well imo. I’ll do weekly (in game) updates of the highlights so I’m not flooding people’s dash.

WILL CONTAIN 1.6 SPOILERS! Tagging as “Aurora Fields” if people would prefer to block; mod list under the cut.

Aurora Fields is a Meadowlands-type farm with remixed CC bundles & mining rewards; guaranteed 1st year completion set.

Initial Goals:

Fast-track Blue Chickens - I thought you had to marry Shane so I have never gotten them

Max hearts - Everyone will be our friend, so help me

Marry Sebastian - He was my first bae and continues to be my favorite; also best spouse room

Spring – Year 1: Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4

Summer – Year 1: Week 1- Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4

Mod List (Available on Nexus):

Better Butterfly Hutch

CJB Cheats Menu - Durable Fences, No Friendship Decay, Instant Catch Fish enabled

Content Patcher

Content Patcher Animations

Crafting Collection

Daily Screenshot

Deluxe Journal

Dynamic Reflections

Farm Icon on Load Screen

Fast Animations

Generic Mod Config Menu

Highlighted Jars

Horse Squeeze

Menu Cycle

Monster Slayer Anywhere

More Grass

NPC Map Locations

Part of the Community

Portraiture - Using SHIE’s Portraits (hoping for an update to include the new outfits)

PyTKLite

UI Info Suite 2

Visible Fish - Viewable Trash disabled

Babies Take After Spouse V2

Bathhouse Hot Spring

Bedroom & Kitchenette

Better Lilypads

Better Water

Clint Rewritten

Bath House Running Water

Musical Cellar

Summer Bird & Cicada Sounds

Even Better Artisan Good Icons

Fancy Artisan Good Icons EBAGI Pack

Fancy Artisan Good Icons Retexture

Elle’s Cuter Barn Animals - Edited various assets

Elle’s Cuter Cats (Edited) - Edited assets to incorporate my IRL cat, Steve

Elle's Cuter Coop Animals - Edited various assets

Elle's Dirt & Cliff Recolor

Elle's Cuter Horses

Elle's Seasonal Buildings

Elle's Town Buildings - Edited Marnie's Ranch to have original colors

Family Choices Expanded

Jealousy Responses Begone

Less Ugly Spouse Rooms

Love Letters

Night Market Cat Boat

Perma-Fluffy Sheep

Please, Remember My Marriage

Seasonal Mariner to Mermaid

Seasonal Special Orders Board

Seasonal Wedding Arch

Rustic Traveling Cart (Edited) - Edited assets to keep original cart color, but incorporate modded boar & roof shape

Simple Foliage

Simple Resources

Spam Mail

Squid-like Squid Kids

Uniform Rings

Animated Junicrows

Animated Mining Pack

Auto Animal Doors

Automate

Better Train Loot - Set to max 1 train per day, otherwise too chaotic/OP

Change Farm Caves

Custom Fixed Dialogue

Destroyable Bushes

Fall 28 Snow Day

Fall 28 Snow Dialouge

Greenhouse Sprinklers

Like a Duck to Water

Placement Plus

Ring Overhaul

Stardew Hack

Supply Crates on Beach

Tree Transplant

Waterproof Items

Wear More Rings

Bachelors/ettes Stay Friends

Better Beach Farms

Blue Eggs & Golden Mayo - Edited to match EBAGI

Elle's Grass Replacement

Immersive Spouses

Natural Paths - Gravel Path changed to Dark Grass path, Wood Path changed to Light Grass path

Please, Remember My Birthday

Demetrius Visits Farm Cave Redux - Set to Saturdays as Demetrius doesn't so anything special on Saturdays/there are no Saturday Festivals

More Grass – Set to 50% coverage; using Ali’s Flower Grass, Lumisteria More Flowery Grass, & Lumisteria Short Flowery Grass

Platonic Partners & Friendships

Platonic Relationships

[esotericconsultingdetective]

my forever fixations (changes will be added.)

sitcoms (b99, modern family, bbt, himym, the office, friends, HOUSE MD)

benedict cucumberpatch and martin freeman (sherlock bbc, lord of the rings, the hobbit etc.)

ghosts&vampires&blood&sadists&gore&darkacademia&haunted places (frankenstein, jekyll and hyde)

english schoolgirls in the not creepy way (wild child, enid blyton boarding school books)

Harry Potter

Dead poet’s society

neil gaiman (coraline)

true crime

granada holmes

LOCKWOOD AND CO. MY BABIES

star trek and star wars in no particular order

spock

taylor swift and old washed up rock bands

pheobe effing bridgers

GRACIE ABRAMS est. 2020 (and the 2021 london show which i attended- my first concert 🥹)

kill her, freak out - samia

therese dreaming and maya hawke

art

raft of medusa

travelling

nerdinators

nerf guns

spy kids

peppa pig and ben and holly and gaston and nanny plum

emma chamberlain's fashion choices

the grisly origins of fairy tales

101 dalmations' original cruella deville.

horrid henry, captain underpants and phineas and ferb

LEGOOOO

evermore and folklore

lore by aaron manke

neurosurgery

fashun

crime podcasts

the history of mad hatters

interesting things to research about

indian royalty history

transylvania

Elizabeth Báthory (the blood countess)

agatha christie and miss marple

puzzle solving but i'm terrible at it (i’m awesome, i’m trying to be humble)

a deepening disgust at mortal fascination with each other.

aliens

d&d

mathematics

Lockwood and Co.

The sisters grimm

Land of stories

middle grade horror and fantasy books

my instagram threads account

tumblr shitposts

tumblr in general

pjo (ex induced)

scarlet and ivy

THE WELLS AND WONG DETECTIVE SOCIETY (robin stevens ily)

young adult dark fantasy without romance (check point 46)

my goodreads account

ada lovelace

franz kafka, virginia woolf.

my spotify playlists (ethel cain i love u)

joan of arc

rosalind franklin

ted ed videos

witch hunts in scotland and salem.

zoroastrian burials

sherlock and watson

my pinterest

amrita shergill

CRISPR

old disney shows

cricket and india's victory in WC in '83

jhansi ki rani

my childhood tv shows

my yt history

video essays

shane and ryan (watcher or buzzfeed unsolved)

chronically online

jude bellingham

Carlos sainz

a dreaded feeling of separation.

Elsa Schiaparelli

the kelly

monaco

f1

aux en provence

ireland

my artemis fowl phase

harry potter

wales

ryan reynolds and john krasinski

adam sandler movies and similar genres of shitty comedy

cobra kai and the karate kid

superheroes

spiderman variants

bucky and the falcon

charlize theron

vintage watches

conde nast traveller

delhi

benedict cucumberpatch

kristy thompson from the bsc

anne with an e

mr brightside

mitski

podcasts

the sixties, thirties and twentys

maggie smith (downtown abbey and loewe campaigns)

jane birkin

youtube fan edits

stranger things

the irregulars and haunting of hill house

gossip girl (fallacies and legacies)

meryl streep (mammia mia and the devil wears prada)

julie andrews (the sound of music, the princess diaries)

vintage movies

youtube short films and billy joel

the prisoner of azkaban

fred and george weasley and kili and fili

gandalf > dumbledore

margaret - ldr and jack antanoff

alicia and janet (the enid blyton cinematic universe)

sharon tate

my halloween blog 'gore'

arch digest house tours

new york because i'm just a girl

BBC SHERLOCK

Star Trek

the matrix

kill bill, fight club, dr. evil, ocean’s 11

The KJO cinematic universe

Nepo babies

Tim Burton

The Addams Family

Science

Biology

Physics

Chemistry

Mathematics x 2

Nerds

Conspiracy theories

Ethical research

female serial killers

elizabeth bathory

my spotify playlists

billy joel - piano man

youtube edits

saltburn

peppa pig & ben and holly

horrid henry

lost childhood animated tv shows

enid blyton boarding school books

british sitcoms (outnumbered)

house md

characters most like me list on charactour/ openpyschometrics.

the 2 IT zoya akhtar movies

special certain bollywood

teams in red - man united, Ferrari and RCB.

Formula 1, Tennis, Football & Cricket

Batman&Alfred (Christopher Nolan version duh!)

Dark Knight’s aesthetic

old marvel and DC movies

Superhero Comics

Richard Feynman

Haunted castles

Halloween and Halloween costumes (the only right answer is switching between batman and darth Vader or my Pinterest board)

LEGO (lotr, Harry Potter, marvel and DC lego)

Batman, iron man, and dr strange

ford v ferrari

shang chi

fight club and kill bill

Zack and Cody and phineas and ferb captain underpants

Karate kid and kung fu panda

karen from outnumbered

philomena cunk

Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel being a nerd and super awesome with pit overtakes, Brocedes + 2019 rookies and Maxiel

2012 grid

2023 george russel t pose

twitch quartet

Good food and masterchef australia

LUCA

black swan

Cool nepo babies (case in point romy mars (director of the tiktok vodka pasta video & Gracie frikking abrams ily)

F2 and f3

Horror movies

SHITTY COMEDYYY movie genre I.e. the hangover, grown ups, etc.

How to train your dragon (i had a dragon dinosaur phase so this is justified)

Lego ninjago

michelle mouton

derry girls

being an absolute effing genius

academia

saltburn aesthetic

letterboxd

Horror movies

Old marvel but deadpool revival

Minions

Breakfast at tiffany’s

Old movies (arsenic and old lace, wizard of oz)

Preminger and old Barbie movies

Old Disney movies (101 dalmations)

Merida and brave and Elsa and frozen

the one dance scene from the sleeping beauty

Movies with julie andrews and audrey hepburn and meryl streep

asha banks' and gracie abrams covering songs

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS + nosferatu

horror movies of all kinds (slashers, paranormal, psychological, all of them.)

Kickass (the movie)

DEAD POET’S SOCIETY

[melanielocke]

Book recommendations: Retellings part 2

As I said in my previous book recommendations about retellings, there were far too many to put into one post, so I made a second also featuring retelling. Remember how the first one featured a sapphic Sleeping Beauty retelling? This post features two sapphic sleeping beauty retellings. And yet the three different sapphic sleeping beauty retellings are all very different and unique stories.

I'll start with Briar girls, the first of the sleeping beauty retellings

This one is not well known, I think, but I did enjoy it and it's sapphic. I'm honestly not sure if the characters are people of color but the author is.

Lena was cursed before she was born, and her touch is deadly. Interestingly, there's another book on his list that starts with the same premise. Lena has lived in fear and isolation her entire life and because of a mistake she recently moved to a new village. In the village, people are disappearing into the forest called the Silence and sometimes go back having gone mad. One night, Miranda appears from the forest, a girl from Gather, a city in the Silence where magic exists. She's on a quest to defeat the tyrannical rulers of the city, and offers to help Lena break her curse in exchange for help against the tyrannical rulers. To defeat these rulers, they'd need to wake the sleeping princess, which is where the sleeping beauty part comes in. This is a less traditional retelling, the major characters don't really follow the sleeping beauty characters, but the sleeping princess is a pretty major plot line.

Also by this author: Shatter the Sky duology

The Bone Spindle is the second sleeping beauty retelling, and follows two main characters in the first book.

Fi is a treasure hunter who loves books, ancient ruins, and mysteries. She goes on adventures alongside her sometimes partner Shane, a tough warrior axe lesbian.

During their explorations of old ruins, Fi pricks her finger on the bone spindle, which connects her to the ancient sleeping prince Briar Rose. Now she has no choice but to go on a quest to find and wake the prince, with magic, witch hunters and bad exes trying to stop her. And there's a mysterious witch that shows up sometimes, but they can't trust, and Shane might just end up falling in love with her.

This is the first in a trilogy, with book 2 coming out in February, and I'll have to reread book 1 before book 2 comes out because I don't remember enough. I think there's a cw for past abusive relationship for Fi, with the ex playing a big role in one section of the book.

Now for something completely different, Pride by Ibi Zoboi

This is a contemporary retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in a modern day afro latine community.

Zuri Benitez lives in "the hood", but the neighborhood she knows is rapidly gentrifying. The newest inhabitants are the Darcy family, a wealthy Black family with two teenage sons. Darius Darcy is this book's version of mr. Darcy, whereas his brother Ainsley is based on Mr. Bingley. Zuri instantly hates the Darcies, even as her older sister Janae is falling for Ainsley, but she and Darius are forced to find common ground.

This book is a hate to lovers romance, especially Zuri really hates Darius at first, but also deals with themes like gentrification and cultural identity. I loved how all the different P&P characters appear in this one and how many plot points are adapted to fit a modern day afro latine story.

Next up is Dark and Deepest Red by Anna Marie McLemore

In the Netherlands we have a big theme park called the Efteling which is based around stories and primarily fairytales. The oldest part is the fairytale forest, which has buildings and talking and moving statues and puppets depicting various fairytales. As a child, I loved the dancing red shoes, which is based on a fairytale that I didn't know at the time, but is about a girl who puts on red shoes and then can't take them off and is forced to keep dancing.

This book is a retelling of that fairytale. It is split up in two parts, one set in modern US and one set in Strasbourg in 1518.

In 1518, a strange sickness starts affecting the women of Strasbourg. A dancing plague that forces women to dance until they drop dead. Lala is a Roma woman hiding her cultural heritage in a time where it was legal to kill Roma. In public, she goes by the name Lavinia and explains her darker features by telling people she has Italian heritage. When the plague worsens and rumors of witchcraft arise, Lala becomes a suspect.

In the modern day story, Rosella comes from a latine family of shoe makers known for their red shoes. When she puts on a pair of red shoes, she can't take them off again. The only person who could help her is Emil, a Roma boy whose ancestors were blamed for dancing the plague in Strasbourg.

I love this author's writing, and have read two other books by them, both of which are magical realism. I think this one might count as magical realism too. Not all the strange events and magical happenings are explained in the end, so that might leave readers unsatisfied, but I think it was a conscious choice here. At its root, this is a story about racism, both in the 1500s and modern day. I also really liked that Lala's love interest Alifair is a trans boy who lives in the 1500s. Alifair is sort of adopted by Lala's aunt, whom Lala also lives with, so if you don't like those kinds of relationships, I wouldn't recommend this one.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust starts out a bit similar to Briar Girls

The protagonist, Soraya, was cursed and her touch is deadly. This book has been mentioned as sleeping beauty inspired, which would give us a fourth sapphic sleeping beauty retelling, but very loosely, and I couldn't really see it. It is, however, a retelling of a few stories from the Shahnameh, the Persian book of kings.

Soraya is the princess of Atashar and twin sister of the Shah, but she has spent her life in isolation, scared that she might hurt someone by accident if they came too close.

When her mother was young, she found a girl trapped in a net, and freed the girl. Then she encountered a div, a demon who told her she'd just freed his prisoner and as a punishment he would curse her daughter.

When the Shah's army captures a demon, Soraya sees an opportunity to find out if there's a way to break her curse, and learn more about why she is the way she is.

She makes some decisions that lead her to paths she never could have imagined, discovers the truth behind what really happened to her, and that her curse might really be a gift.

This story is about loneliness, and the early part especially feels heavy with how lonely Soraya is, and how much her curse weighs on her. Her complicated relationship with her mother, who may not have told her the truth about her curse, was very interesting and I loved Parvaneh, the div girl who was captured by army.

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas is a retelling of Peter Pan, set in a small coastal town in I think Oregon

Five years ago, Wendy Darling and her brothers disappeared. Several months later, Wendy turned up again with no memory of what happened to her, but her brothers stay gone. Now, children start disappearing and it might be connected to what happened to Wendy.

One night, she almost runs over an unconscious boy who turns out to be Peter Pan, a boy she told stories about but never realized was real. Peter tells her he needs Wendy's help to find the missing children, or they might disappear forever like her brothers.

This was an interesting take on Peter Pan, focusing primarily on Wendy and Peter Pan, with Peter's shadow as an antagonist. Wendy was a soft but strong main character, and I think the trauma of losing her brothers and not knowing what had happened was handled very well with lots of care and compassion.

Also by this author: The Sunbearer Trials, Cemetery Boys, both of which I covered before

The last book on this list is In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens

Prince Tal has spent most of his life hiding away in the palace to keep his forbidden magic secret. At sixteen, he finally gets to go out on a coming of age tour across the kingdom. After two days, they discover a burning ship abandoned on the sea, and on it a prisoner.

Tal instantly feels a connection to the boy, Athlen, but not longer after his rescue Athlen jumps into the sea and disappears. But a few days later he runs into Athlen again on land, very much alive. Then Tal is kidnapped by pirates holding him for ransom, and Athlen migh be his best chance of escaping.

This is a romantic fantasy retelling of the little mermaid, with Tal as the prince from the fairytale. It's not very long and the world could have been more developed, but the focus is mostly on the adventure and romance between Tal and Athlen.

Also by this author: So this is Ever After, which I covered in retellings part 1

Upcoming: Spell Bound, which will be about rival magicians with an m/nb romance, coming april 2023

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @bottomdelioncourt @ikissedsmithparker

[mediaevalmusereads]

Never Whistle at Night. Ed. Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Vintage Books, 2023.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Genre: horror, short stories

Series: N/A

Summary: Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: violence, blood, forced abortion, disturbing imagery, child abuse, racism, references to colonial history (including murder and rape)

I came across this book by chance while browsing the horror section of a local bookstore. I'm not usually one for short stories, but the combination of horror and Indigenous authors was too good to pass up.

There were a lot of things I liked about this collection. The introduction by Stephen Graham Jones was a wonderful meditation on what it means for a story to be "horror" while also introducing readers to the importance of stories (and spooky stories) in various Indigenous cultures. There were also many stories that were well-executed and made use of disturbing, compelling imagery.

But since this is a collection (or anthology of sorts), there are a few pieces that, in my opinion, weren't so well done or struggled to balance narrative with craft. Of course, this is completely subjective, and my 3.5 star rating reflects the subjective experience I had while reading. Some stories were good; others I didn't so much connect with. But even so, most stories are relatively short, so if you don't like something, you can turn over the page and start something new.

TL;DR: Never Whistle at Night is a fascinating collection of short stories written by Indigenous authors. While not all of the stories will be hits with every reader, there's enough included in this collection that I think there's a little something for everyone.

[themosthatedbeingg]

Eve and Lucifer?

send me a pair name and I'll tell you what I think it would be like if they had a child.

• Name: ( Abel hehe) Jk, Shane

• Gender: Male

• General Appearance: dirty blonde, light brown hair, hetrochromia one red eye one blue eye, hides his more angelic /demonic features . Tail and ears and claws .

• Personality: inquisitive , and quick to anger but quick to forgive as well, a dreamer and hard worker , loves to create art and keep goats, respects nature and it’s rituals. .

• Special Talents: a witch/warlock, can do Powerful fire and nature spells .

• Who they like better: both parents

• Who they take after more: Eve

• Personal Head canon: Raised on earth with visits to hell, his older brothers are Cain and Abel , he tried to explain to his parents it really did seem to be an accident but was little at the time no one believed him. He just wants his family together and to have more time with his father /Lucifer .

• Face Claim: ( MY BABY MY FAV ACTOR EVER ) Landon Liboiron

[tirsden]

Last time, we started out with Shane the child ruler of Iceland battling for power with her regent Sigfus, who I have since confirmed was indeed her chancellor once she wrenched the throne from him (I wasn't sure last round, memory holes and whatnot). His obnoxious ass had declared war on me after I failed to assassinate him, and I realized belatedly it was probably because he was in my court and my beefy intrigue perks had high protection specifically on my court… whoopsie.

Either way, I'd kicked him out of my court by the time he declared war. So, now we're down to a sliver of land after being imprisoned for crimes against the former-regent-and-counsellor-turned-Jarl, which was fixed up right quick with some ransom gold because Sigfus is a doof. I'm still chieftainess? Good. We can work with this.

While fleshing out my family tree, I noticed that I was actually listed as an heir to the entire country… after Sigfus's one and only child. Hmmmmm, but he has a relatively young wife, that's not good. Oh well, sonny and waifu didn't last long. And the hard lock on trying to kill Sigfus himself was coming to an end, just as I saw he betrothed himself to a 12 year old girl. Don't worry sweetie, you're gonna be fine. Meanwhile, Sigfus kept trying to revoke my titles? My claims? The mechanics for that stuff is confusing, but I think he managed to sort-of mess two of them up which will become relevant later, but for now… he's running out of time.

Sigfus died of snake, going to his grave with the nickname "The Greedy" which surprises nobody. Everyone forget he ever existed, please and thank you. Iceland is mine again, bwahahaha! And I packed the court, which eventually had two of my own kids, and I kept killing off bishops because each new guy hated me so much, can't imagine why.

My firstborn son Richard lost his damned arm while training with one of my marshals, wtf. I actually had a lot of problems with marshals, or shall I say, my former-spymaster hubby Gunnarr did. He kept whining that they were insulting him, so I kept banishing them. One more time, dearest hubster, and I'm killing you instead. He died of old age before he could bitch about New Guy Number Whatever, go fig.

Ring in the new hopefully-less-gripey hubby, and enough people have been turned into witches behind the scenes that I formed a coven. The coven included none other than the one bishop I decided NOT to kill, partly because he was young and I'm thinking about the future now.

Then Richard died, and that wasn't good for the ol' stress level… rocked further by the death of my good friend and oceanic neighbor the Bastard King of Norway. Sadface. I now had to deal with a wrench in my inheritance plans, as Richard's lone son yoinked himself into the next-in-line slot ahead of my remaining sons. Said kiddo didn't like me. And had a funny name (I think I'd hit the randomizer at the time of birth). Gosh, people die so easily around here!

Xander, one of my sons I actually wanted to succeed me now, became first in line after the death of whoever-that-was. I noticed not long after this, that he wasn't going to inherit the titles for two sections of land I owned (I thiiiink this is from Sigfus's shenanigans). Thus, I bestowed those titles upon my youngest son Kaito, because I need more practice with vassals after my whole "taking over the entire country" thing and have been sole ruler of everything ever since. Did I mention Kaito is 11? He has some lady as a regent now in his new vassaldoms, while mumsy has flashbacks of her childhood.

The timing of deciding land ownership couldn't have been more poignant, as Shane died not much later. Nine kills under her delicate belt, and never lost "The Witch" as her nickname. I love her epitaph, except "burn" should be "serve popsicles" of course. And the crown is handed down… with the kingdom immediately trying to fracture via my spymaster-hubby's son Gunnarr thinking he has any right to the throne just cuz he's named after the husband I had for an actual long time. Sheesh.

Good luck, Xander. You're gonna need it.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Shane the Witch Child

After thinking about this "Shane is the Wizard's Child" idea for while, I've come up with a fic idea.

Shane is the forgotten child of the Wizard abd the Witch.

Like literally forgotten.

When the Wizard made the "mistake" that drove his wife away (aka having a romance with Caroline and conceiving Abigail), the Witch created the Shrines.

The Shrine of Night Terrors; to torment the world of man that her husband had abandoned her for.

The Shrine of Memory; to remove all remnant of their lives together.

And finally The Shrine of Selfishness; to erase both her husband's "mistake" and their own child. Their "Gift from Yoba" that he had ignored in favor of pursuing mortal pleasures.

The Witch, in a moment of clarity, ground her vengeful ritual to a screeching halt. However it was a little too late...

Memories of the magical couple had been stricken from the world, including those shared between the Wizard and his mortal lover Caroline. Rasmodius could not even remember that he had a child with his ex-wife.

And the child themselves?

The Shrine of Selfishness had made its mark upon the toddler, albeit not permanently. When the tiny plum-purple chick chirped at up their mother with confusion and fear, the Witch knew that she could never forgive herself enough to continue raising them.

The Witch locked her cabin and oppointed a loyal henchman to watch over her damned shrines and prevent any fron using them in future.

She left her and her husband's marred child in the care of her sister Marnie. Placed amongst the nests of hens as if they'd been hatched there. With time and care the "chick" would bloom back into a human child, although forever changed.

She then left for the skies upon her broom, leaving the world of mortals far behind...

_

Roughly 20 years later; Shane wanders into the abandoned Community Centre to get black-out drunk and trips over a swarm of apple-shaped Junimos that excitedly declare him "The Witch's Child".

Shane wonders if his drink was spiked.

[robertdeanstockwellgal]

Dean Stockwell interview from 2004.

Las Vegas Weekly

DEAN STOCKWELL AT THE FIFTH STAGE: FROM GREEN HAIR TO QUANTUM LEAP, CIGAR-SMOKING ACTOR HAS CARVED OUT A DISTINCTIVE CAREER

Jeffrey Anderson Thu, Jun 10, 2004 (midnight)

Biographers will have an easy time with Dean Stockwell. The actor's career breaks very neatly into four parts: child actor, young man, hippie, and character actor.

Born into a showbiz family in 1936 in Hollywood, Stockwell made his movie debut at age 8 in the MGM musical Anchors Aweigh. During a recent telephone interview, he says he doesn't remember his first day of work, but does remember that he didn't like it much.

"I found myself in a very weird world, this moviemaking. I was expected to do the same caliber of work as the adults, and at other times I would be reminded that I was a child. It was difficult. I could do the work but I didn't like it. Other than two comedies and The Boy with Green Hair, I didn't enjoy acting at all."

The Boy with Green Hair (1948) was a bizarre, passionate anti-war film that changed many people's lives. In it, 12 year-old Stockwell plays a war orphan whose hair turns green as a symbol for war orphans everywhere. The film marked the directorial debut of the celebrated Joseph Losey (The Servant, The Go-Between). "He was a very sweet man," Stockwell says. "I remember he gave me a puppy. It was a little dachshund and I named him Thief."

Stockwell notes that the film came "at a time when there was a very influential right wing that created the blacklist. This was prior to the McCarthy witch-hunts. Losey went to England and never came back. While the film was being made, I was unaware of that. I only found out about it years later. What did affect me was the content of the film. I took it very seriously. The other ones were just dropped in my lap, but I was very proud to do this role."

The actor dropped out of the movie business to go to high school, but re-emerged in his 20s. "I didn't have any training to do anything else in life," he says. He received some acclaim for his performances in Compulsion (1959) and Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) before entering the "hippie" phase of his career, epitomized by the San Francisco Haight Street movie Psych-Out (1968).

It wasn't long before Stockwell burned out again, eventually moving to New Mexico and acquiring his real-estate license—though he never used it. "I was feeling pretty depressed," he says. While working on a "stupid Mexican 'B' movie," Stockwell learned that David Lynch was making Dune and managed to get an introduction.

"He said, 'I thought you were dead.' He had confused me with the kid who was in Shane," Stockwell says. (Brandon de Wilde died in a car accident in 1972.) Initially rejected, Stockwell landed the part of Dr. Wellington Yueh after another actor dropped out. Later that year, a film festival in Santa Fe put him in touch with Harry Dean Stanton, which led to his illustrious role in Paris, Texas.

"I never really liked acting until I was in my 40s," he says of this new period of creative character roles, which also included To Live and Die in LA, Blue Velvet, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob —his favorite role, for which he received an Oscar nomination—and the popular cult TV show Quantum Leap.

For Lynch's Blue Velvet, he based his role of the bizarre, effeminate Ben on Carol Burnett. "I told her about it to her face and she loved it. Funny how things work."

Demme also recently cast him in a "teeny, little part" in his new Manchurian Candidate remake. "I think it could be hot," Stockwell says.

It also was during this period that Stockwell's signature cigars started popping up from time to time, notably on Quantum Leap. "The cigar made its debut in Kim," he says, speaking of the 1950 film he made with Errol Flynn, based on the Rudyard Kipling novel of the same name. "I guess it was in the book; my character smokes these little cigars. I started smoking them for real years later in Nicaragua."

Now Stockwell has embarked upon what could be his fifth career stage as an artist. "I'm making collages and prints out of computer-made pieces. I'm having an exhibition in Taos, New Mexico, at the RB Ravens Gallery in September, and then another one later in Monterey [California]. There are 42 pieces in the show," he says proudly.

In a business where most child actors burn out quickly, Stockwell has shown remarkable staying power, especially with very few role models to learn from in his childhood. "I attribute it to good fortune and fate," he says. "It amazes me that I'm still alive and that I'm still working."

[planetofsnarfs]

An award-winning Oklahoma principal has been forced to resign after he performs as a drag queen on the weekends. 

Ryan Walters, the right-wing superintendent of the Oklahoma State Department of Education, began calling for Shane Murnan’s termination after hate influencer Chaya Raichik posted about his drag gig on her social media account Libs of TikTok in September.

Murnan has been an educator for over two decades but started a new job as John Glenn Elementary School principal in 2023. Raichik reportedly learned of his side job as a drag queen from an anonymous newsletter that also called attention to decades-old criminal charges against Murnan that were dropped. As soon as she posted about Murnan, the school began receiving bomb threats – a common occurrence for institutions highlighted on the Libs of TikTok account.

After his drag queen persona was thrust to the forefront – though he never kept it a secret – the school banned Murnan from working in the building during the day, deeming his presence a safety risk, according to a report from NBC News. Western Heights Superintendent Brayden Savage at first stood by Murnan but ultimately told him to resign or face termination due to the added security costs the school was incurring.

Savage reportedly told school staff, “I’m not caving to Ryan Walters, but I have to ultimately keep the students and the staff of this school safe. The hate has not stopped. To bring Shane back to the building is a risk to safety for all. I cannot be totally sure that one of those crazies will not show up to, quote-unquote, cleanse the building, which is something I’ve seen over and over again.” 

In the meantime, Murnan’s life has been turned upside down. 

“I’m a very professional person — I’ve worked really hard,” Murnan told NBC. “I’ve gone to school. I got my bachelor’s, my master’s, my doctorate — I have been devoted to education, trying to make it a better thing. But they’ve destroyed me, and I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing now. This has been a nightmare.”

He added, “There’s never been an issue, because I’ve never put it out there to make it an issue. I did my side job on the weekends, and then I went to work and worked my tail off to make the school a better place. They never conflicted with each other. Then someone took it and ran with it and tried to make it into a spectacle that it’s not.”

Walters posted a video on X to celebrate Murnan’s resignation, calling it “a great day for Oklahoma schools.” He claimed parents across the country were “outraged” and said he would continue to investigate the school to figure out how Murnan was hired in the first place and hold those who selected him accountable. 

“It will not be tolerated here in Oklahoma to have drag queens in the classroom,” he said.

When the school hired Murnan, administrators posted a statement acknowledging awareness of old criminal charges against him, emphasizing that he “has an outstanding reputation” and “comes highly recommended.” Murnan was reportedly charged with possession of child sex abuse materials in 2001, charges that were later dropped due to lack of evidence, according to NonDoc. Murnan’s record was expunged.

“It was a witch hunt,” he said. “Back in that time, being gay was not acceptable. I mean, that was (nearly) 25 years ago. And being gay wasn’t acceptable.”

Walters has used the situation to call for a statewide ban on hiring any educators who work as drag queens outside of school. 

“The issue that we’ve seen in one district in particular, and that is the use of drag queens as administrators and being hired by a district,” he told the state Board of Education in December, according to NPR. “We are proposing a rule that would update the teacher code of conduct to include sexual activity in public targeted towards kids to be inappropriate for those that work with our youngest students. I’ve heard from parents all over the state who are very concerned with the left, pushing sexuality on our kids, pushing transgender ideology.”

Walters has become known for his extremist agenda for Oklahoma schools. He wants to ban LGBTQ+ books but teach the Bible in public school history classes and has previously pushed the transphobic lie about schools providing litterboxes to students who identify as cats. He also referred to teachers’ unions as “terrorist organizations” and illegally tried to make rules banning LGBTQ+ books and transgender bathroom access in schools. He has appeared at events hosted by Moms for Liberty, a right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ “parent’s rights” group that has been called an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In September, he announced an “ongoing partnership” with right-wing propaganda group PragerU, allowing the conservative nonprofit’s controversial videos to be shown in state classrooms.

When running for his current office, Walters said he wanted his state’s teachers to “undergo patriotic education offered by a conservative Christian college” because “our students are not taught history but instead are taught indoctrination, instead taught this country is an evil place full of bigoted racists,” KOCO-TV reported.

And in January, Walters appointed Raichik to serve on the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee. The committee decides what state public school students are allowed to read; Raichik doesn’t live in the state and has no experience working in education.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

Compiled and edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Last Jr.

This collection of twenty-six short stories provides an interesting and different look at some issues I have never thought about. In reading through reviews of this work I found that some reviewers  were able to relate to more of the stories than other readers and some readers were unable to relate much at all. Most went into reading believing the stories would be scary, horror stories, or put them on edge – some did, and some didn’t, in my opinion.

The stories that had the biggest impact on me were:

* KASHTUKA by Mathilda Zeller in which a young woman is pushed by her mother to go with someone she doesn’t want to be with to cook and help with a party. A ghost/scary story is told briefly and seems to allow a Kashtuka to materialize and kill a few people – the twist at the end was a grabber indeed.

* WHITE HILLS by Rebecca Roanhorse looks at what a woman might do to maintain a better quality of life than she was raised in. I hated Marissa’s mother-in-law and husband and really questioned the decision she made at the end of the story.

* SNAKES ARE REBORN IN THE DARK by D.H. Trujillo’s story brought in a bit of magic and touch of horror while talking about respecting and honoring ancient wall/cave paintings.

* BEFORE I GO by Norris Black dealt with grief and loss and made me hope I never run into Mother Night.

* DEAD OWLS by Mona Susan Power is a cold story with ghostly encounters that I hope to never experience myself.

* NAVAJOS DON’T WEAR ELK TEETH by Conley Lyons was dark and disturbing with a main character I wanted to shake and tell to spend time with someone else…someone safer, less abusive, and better for him…that had a darker ending too.

* WINGLESS by Marcie R. Rendon dealt with two boys in a foster care situation no child should find themselves in. I cringe thinking about that story and hoped at the end they both found a brighter future somewhere somehow.

There were a LOT of stories and though I couldn’t relate to all of them, the stories above were the ones that stood out the most to me and will linger longer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for the ARC – this is my honest review.

4 Stars

BLURB

A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?” Featuring stories by: Norris Black • Amber Blaeser-Wardzala • Phoenix Boudreau • Cherie Dimaline • Carson Faust • Kelli Jo Ford • Kate Hart • Shane Hawk • Brandon Hobson • Darcie Little Badger • Conley Lyons • Nick Medina • Tiffany Morris • Tommy Orange • Mona Susan Power • Marcie R. Rendon • Waubgeshig Rice • Rebecca Roanhorse • Andrea L. Rogers • Morgan Talty • D.H. Trujillo • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Richard Van Camp • David Heska Wanbli Weiden • Royce Young Wolf • Mathilda ZellerMany Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home. These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.

[laresearchette]

Sunday, October 22, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: FEAR THE WALKING DEAD (AMC Canada/AMC+) 9:00pm AKA MR. CHOW (HBO Canada) 9:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: THE GREAT HALLOWEEN FRIGHT FIGHT (ABC Feed) THE HOUSE ACROSS THE ROAD (TBD - Lifetime Canada) UNDER THE CHRISTMAS SKY (TBD)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CRAVE TV AKA MR. CHOW

NETFLIX CANADA VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE

GRAND SLAM OF CURLING (SN) 10:30am: Women’s Final (SN/SN360) 3:30pm: Men’s Final

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN3/TSN4) 1:00pm: Lions vs. Ravens (TSN3/TSN4) 4:00pm: Steelers vs. Rams (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 8:20pm: Dolphins vs. Eagles

NHL HOCKEY (SN1/SNWest) 5:00pm: Flames vs. Red Wings (SN1) 8:30pm: Bruins vs. Ducks

MEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP (TSN2) 5:00pm: Semifinal - Argentina vs. New Zealand

HEARTLAND (CBC) 7:00pm: Amy must deal with Lyndy's sudden fear of horses; Logan blames himself for Miley's accident; Tim enlists the family to make Shane's return to Heartland perfect, while Katie struggles with a friendship… A HORSIE FRIENDSHIP!

THE BIG BAKE (Food Network Canada) 7:00pm: From posh parties to private jets, these witches are the talk of the town! Host Brad Smith asks the baking teams to wave their magic whisks to create cakes featuring the queens of Halloween for judges Ron Ben-Israel, Eddie Jackson and Danni Rose.

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 8:00pm: ALCS - Rangers vs. Astros - Game #6

THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (CBC) 8:00pm: Seven remaining bakers face the inaugural Harvest Week with three bakes celebrating nature's bounty.

A FAMILY'S SECRET (Lifetime Canada) 8:00pm: Ana is a nurse struggling to pay for school. When she comes across a lucrative job caring for Joan, a woman struggling with dementia, Ana is intrigued.

HOUSE HUNTERS (HGTV Canada) 8:00pm/8:30pm/9:00pm/9:30pm (SEASON PREMIERE): The series brings potential home buyers a better understanding of the process, each episode following a prospective buyer and an agent from start to finish.

THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND (History Canada) 8:00pm: Matty Blake hosts a countdown of the ten most compelling and plausible theories that may explain the 228-year-old Oak Island mystery.

SKYMED (CBC) 9:00pm: As Chopper returns to flying medevacs, the truth about what happened in Selection Camp finally comes out; Lexi's dream promotion takes an unnerving turn.

CYNARA (documentary) 9:00pm: The justice system is put on trial as a defense team challenges a mother's murder conviction for the death of her disabled child.

BRIA MACK GETS A LIFE (Crave) 9:00pm/9:30pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Follows a Black woman living in a mainly white world with the help from her invisible hype girl.

THE ROYAL MOB (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: As the Tsar nears the end, Nicky marries Alix and quickly inherits the throne. They are invited to Balmoral, to visit the Queen.

EXPLORER: LOST IN THE ARCTIC (Nat Geo Canada) 10:00pm: An attempt to solve the mystery of 129 men who vanished in the Arctic.

THE WINTER KING (Crave) 11:00pm: Arthur believes that Bedwin will be able to negotiate peace with Gorfydd; however, when Morgan and Derfel arrive in Powys, they discover a horrific site.

[mylenapony11]

You know what? Fuck it! I’m rambling about my SDV Farmer

My farmer’s name is L, and they’re so extremely ordinary that it’s surprising things even went this way.

The man who owned the farm was their paternal grandfather, and when he died everyone was surprised that L’s dad didn’t get the farm in the will, considering he grew up there and such.

L has a good relationship with all 4 of her parents (child of divorce) and is heavily spiritual in their own way. After all, their mother is a witch and their father is a druid.

But they get the farm, tell their family who wishes them luck (and asks to visit once they’re set up). Dad sends one of his familiars with L, a white cat that we’ll call P, to keep an eye on them and protect her. That’s been P’s job for years.

But I think L would do well. It would take a long time to get the farm up and running. L isn’t the most strong or in shape, but they’ll certainly try.

As for relationships? L is head over heels for Shane. Probably good friends with Elliot and Harvey. Probably joins Abby, Sam, and Seb for D&D.

L tries to get along with everyone they can. Small town after all.

But I’m the end, if things go their way, L is married to Shane (and Elliot and Harvey was part of L’s side of the wedding party), they have P and a German shepherd named Vox, Jas lives with them, and perhaps a kid? But just a peaceful life surrounded by love.

[burningexeter]

Twas The Night Before And All Through Updates:

• In terms of the horror elements, the movie will be heavily influenced by previous animated horror films such as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie, Gil Kenan's Monster House, Henry Selick's Coraline and even Shane Acker's 9 all combined where the horror is straight-up horror. It's intense, disturbing, fucked up, creepy, unnerving, nightmarish and most of all, twisted but at the same heart has a clear and genuine heart to balance it out. For example, during Andrea's first escape attempt, Verona lets out a large sneeze and her nose comes flying right off and hits Andrea right in the face who screams in horror at the dismembered body part on her face but not before the hot, steaming snot comes to life and goes straight up ANDREA'S nose as its new home. But when it comes to the heart, the example would obviously be Verona's backstory and mourning of her failure at bringing joy and happiness to children on Christmas.

• Verona is not only named after but her design is directly inspired by the character of the same name from Stephen Sommers' Van Helsing yet at the same time is both given her own distinct personality and distinct design traits to make her stand on her own separately to where yes, you can notice the influence BUT you can also perfectly view the two of them as completely different characters. Plus, there's no thick Transylvanian accent with her so there's definitely that. However as for Verona herself, the rest of her backstory aside from her childhood and how she became a vampire witch will be kept ambigious throughout with the only hint being a news segment on bizarre Christmas stories.... such as the mysterious five-year disappearance of popular and successful supermodel Verona Crawford who went missing around this time after her controversial Christmas porn magazine was released. The only time we see what she looked like as a human and then, that's it. It's quick and over and obviously something Andrea wouldn't pay a single bit of attention to.

• "The Verona Song" will not only be the one and only song in the whole movie but it will obviously be heavily inspired and influenced by the classic "Oogie Boogie Song" right down to the cheap funhouse lighting and Verona and Andrea glowing in the dark.

• An important piece of trivia that ends up changing a lot of things by recontextualizing them — during Andrea's successful escape attempt this time to stop Verona and put an end to this madness, she finds or rather stumbles into a secret hidden room where she finds two things: 1). A series of magic mirrors that shows her entire house from the inside to the outside and to Andrea's horror, not only has Verona been watching her and her child this entire time but that Sophia is being terrorized by one of Verona's toys and is hiding in her room, crying in fear and 2). Several items or rather easter eggs from plenty of other media that Verona has appeared to have collected for herself, heavily hinting at and implying a retroactive shared universe....

.... meaning that technically speaking, not only are all these including Twas The Night And All Through in the same universe but they also all take place in Charmcaster's mind.

• Lastly, at the ending segment that reveals all of this was just a story told by Charmcaster, Gwen asks before they put the campfire out together, "What did ever happen to Andrea?".... to which Charmcaster casually but kind of smugly and playfully answers "She and Verona got married and now hide under children's beds when they sleep".

Gwen purses her lips than rolls her eyes playfully with a smile, after the two put out the fire they walk away arm in arm while they kiss on the lips with Sandra already in the car, now smiling at the young couple and they drive away into the darkness as the fire smoke finally dies down.

[PITCH]

Twas The Night Before And All Through

What is it —

A 2D animated Christmas horror film that's an aesthetic cross between Tony Moore's artwork as a comic book artist and 2000s/early 2010s action cartoons.

PREMISE:

Set two days before Christmas Eve in the middle of Los Angeles, California when everyone and everything is in chaos preparing for the big day with last minute touches, we follow a 25 year old single mother, Andrea Adlard, trying to raise her 8 year old daughter Sophia all on her own and give a most loving Christmas as always since it's not just their favorite holiday but also her daughter's birthday.

But Andrea isn't just some regular gorgeous blonde that your eye would catch if you passed her on the streets - before becoming what she is now which is a clerk at a law firm, Andrea was a black-belt in both karate and taekwondo and was always at the top of her class with every single one of her trophies and achievements on display in her house so it can show her daughter that if you can put your mind to something that you love, you can accomplish anything. Better yet, Andrea was the captain of the cheerleaders in high school throughout and was the best of the best, always noted for her incredible skills, agility and flexibility.

It's all of these things that Andrea is about to find out will all come full-force to her advantage at every possible opportunity there is because her life is about to completely turn upside down for good.

As Sophia is sitting on the floor watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, playing with her pet kitten Esther, Andrea is in the kitchen preparing Christmas cookies (Sophia's favorite kind) while talking with her younger sister on the phone with her shoulder holding it up when all of a sudden, the door bell rings and wonders who on earth could that be at this time.

She opens the door and to her confusement and surprise, there's three pale-skinned teenage girls with sadistic smiles that drool on their faces with a large person-sized bag they're carrying and say "Happy Halloween" before they proceed to kidnap Andrea and bag her.

To her horror, Andrea is brought to what appears to be a hidden world amongst the forests where they bring her to a twisted house on a jagged tree with crooked pipes all over the place. The girls, despite her pleas, shove her right down the biggest chute that she barely fits in. Landing down on a human-sized roulette on her back-first, we're finally introduced at long last to the main antagonist/tritagonist of this film — Verona, a gorgeous, long black-hair down past her shoulders, grey-skin, pitch-black eyes as dark as night, slender, sharp fanged vampire sorceress. Thus "The Verona Song" begins and eventually ends.

Hanging from a hook with her hands tied above and to it, Andrea (though flabbergasted, stunned and beyond horrified) demands to know what's going on, where she is and who are you most of all to the deadly, twisted, sadistic but playful femme fatale Verona. It's after a failed escape attempt that ends with Verona dragging a stuck but close to freedom Andrea back through the chutes that Verona finally reveals her true motivations once and for all —

For years, Verona has been the "Boogeyman" or rather the "Boogeywoman", terrorizing children in their sleep and in their dreams, in their nightmares. She's been the shadows whether it'd be the moonlights or cold alleyways, all the things that go bump in the night and who is the "Who?" when you call "Who's there?". She was tricked into taking over the role of the "Boogeywoman" from the woman before and has now been it for 10 straight years. However, after all this time finally, Verona has become or rather grown bored and unsatisfied with being just the Shadowwoman that lurks and stalks the night, bringing nothing but fear and screams to all the poor children that have met or witnessed her.

She's now tired of being the one who brings nothing but nightmares to children regardless of whether they're innocent or not and has now decided she no longer wants to be this, so she's now set her sights on the one thing that brings joy, cheeriness, laughter, love and happiness to everyone one and all and what used to be her favorite holiday growing up as a child back when she was human — Christmas.

This year, she'll be St. Nicholas. She's made her own sleigh out of disgusting and crooked skeleton bones and a rustic coffin, brought to life her own deformed reindeer whose faces are beginning to rot and melt away and created and wrapped and has already packed several horrific and nightmare-imducing creations with minds of their own that she calls "toys".

And why is Andrea here or what does she even have to do with any of this — because Verona wants a human who was just like her to be the first ever witness to her bringing Christmas celebration to all the boys and girls of all ages.

Obviously leading to a disaster of more-than-epic proportions with Andrea now being the only hope to save this Christmas Eve from an absolute nightmare.

Notes/Trivias/Details:

• Tony Moore's design for the character of Andrea from The Walking Dead comics will be used for the design of Andrea in Twas The Night Before And All Through because not only is too good of a design to just all of a sudden go to waste *snaps* just like that but it fits the character of Andrea here. Plus, not only is her name also being Andrea an in-joke but so will her last name Adlard. It's named after the second Walking Dead comic book artist Charlie Adlard.

• As for Verona, her influences will be quite obvious but she's made in her different way so she can really stand out all on her own into a cool, dastardly villain turned anti-villain turned anti-hero. Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas is the most painfully obvious influence but others that you'll clearly see with her are Eris from the crappy Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas, Selina Kyle/Catwoman from Telltale's Batman series, Poison Ivy from The New Adventures Of Batman & Robin and finally Shego from Kim Possible. The difference with her that makes her standout is that she has a code such as never harming or killing a child or never psychically harms Andrea and instead just toyfully plays with her in the most sick and bombastic ways.

• As for the animation style of it, what I said way above will be exactly like that but with more elaboration on it. In terms of the character designs and action sequences, they'll be an incredibly fluid and expressive without going too overboard take on the artwork of Tony Moore right down to the big upper lips on the women characters since it gives it its own unique style and look to make it stand out all on its own. It's like nightmare-induced horror comic book came to life that just so happened to be taking place and is set on Christmas Eve.

• There's also a strong use of color and contrast, everything involving the outside world is as warm, welcoming and most of all, colorful as can be since it's Christmas and represents the bloody cold on the outside and the refreshing warmth by the fire inside. Meanwhile, all of the things past the forests and with Verona are all the exact opposite - it's dark, gothic, macabre and twisted with any sort of color from here or there popping out.

• What will make this movie stand out is the unexpected ending but hopefully in a good way, in a way that's actually interesting is that after it appears to be finally over with both Verona and Andrea having been shot down and landing in a graveyard by themselves, Verona mourns with her face down having realized her failure and what she's done while an outraged Andrea scolds her for everything she's done. It's then that Verona pins Andrea to the floor and on the verge of tears, tells her she thinks she may know her completely but she's wrong. She had her life stolen away from her by a witch as she was too vain and egomaniacal back then and was punished for the terrible person she was. Now she finally had a chance to do something good for once in her now miserable life, she always remembered the faces that she made as a child whenever she would open up a single present on Christmas Day and wanted to bring that sense of joy to other children that were like her including Andrea's daughter, Sophia.

The two of them manage to reconcile and make an agreement — Andrea uses a spell she discovered to restore all the broken toys and create new ones that this time are wonderful, ordinary Christmas gifts that all children want and she helps Verona deliver the gifts to set things right and save Christmas.

Which is exactly what happens.

After finally reuniting with her daughter who is now in good hands, Andrea finds to her shock yet again that Verona is in her living room and decides to propose another deal and it's this time to Andrea — since she was the only person by far who has actually been able to impress her, that she and Andrea should team up together with Verona now having entirely new ideas on how to terrorize children. A disgusted Andrea rejects this but unfortunately for her, Verona is not taking no for an answer. She lunges towards her and gives Andrea a great big kiss on the lips than her body parts instantly fall apart in a grotesque way and of course, she's still alive and moving. A screaming Andrea runs up to her bedroom with Verona in hot pursuit (especially her head), she makes it but now has to hold the door in terror from opening as Verona and her body parts are trying to open it from the outside all while Sophia, who's sleeping in her mother's bed, wakes up in confusion to see what's going on in front of her.

The camera slowly moves from the inside of Andrea's bedroom where all this horrifying chaos is occurring to the outside and later above view of their neighborhood streets and how the Spirit of Christmas has returned to everyone, especially the good little boys and girls, but unfortunately all at the expense of a young woman named Andrea Adlard.

Now here's the big reveal or surprise:

After the effective final shot of children and adults celebrating and in-joy, cheering now that Christmas is saved with Andrea's screams having fainted away and is no longer heard whatsoever even in the slightest bit possible, it dissolves into a large campfire with a ticking watch clock striking 12 o'clock at midnight being closed and a femme fatale voice going "And that's the end".

The camera pulls up after that to reveal it's none other than Charmcaster from the Ben 10 series, UAF Charmcaster to be specific, telling a rather dark scary campfire story to none other than Gwen Tennyson and her Aunt Sandra Tennyson who are both shocked at how the story was.

It's revealed that Twas The Night Before And All Through was all along a campfire story being told by Charmcaster in an alternate Ben 10 reboot universe.

The reason I'm doing is because there's a few connections here - Andrea's design from Tony Moore's art in Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead, Gwen Tennyson has gotten a lot of comparisons to Atom Eve in both Robert Kirkman's Invincible comics and TV show and top it off, I wanted just one more bang for the film and especially the story to leave an impression on you or to whoever watches it if it actually gets made one day hopefully.

Kari Wahlgren, Ashley Johnson and Beth Littleford will obviously reprise their roles as Charmcaster, Gwen and Sandra with the end wraparound being in the same style as UAF but with more expressiveness and fluidity and the setting being a campfire out in the middle of the desert at night. Boy oh boy, that will most likely kill you for real in real fricking life!

[asexual-levia-tan]

also why are all of the older-coded LIs male? like? not to imply that i want the best for pam specifically but like i literally bought her a house so--