#supernatural YA novel

[bloodybellycomb]

In a capitalist dystopia, your company gets to determine your sexuality, but one brave man will rebel against this system. In a world full of bisexuals, one courageous man decides to take a bold stand and come out as straight. Read this popular ya novel that is taking tiktok by storm now.

[petite-phthora]

Please don't shake the cat

[DP x DC fic]

[Love at first... murder? - part 13]

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Part 1

Ao3

---

Private chat nicknames:

RedHood = Jason

Danny = Danny

---

Private chat

RedHood: *picture*

RedHood: this yours???

---

Seeing the picture of Ellie clamped onto Red Hood’s arm Danny lets out a sigh while rubbing his forehead. He takes a few seconds to look at the picture while deciding on how to reply.

---

Private chat

Danny: you don’t happen to be in Mexico right now by any chance, do you?

RedHood: No.

RedHood: I was out patrolling when I was suddenly bitten by her.

RedHood: Thought it might have been a criminal or stray cat or something like that at first.

RedHood: I was not expecting a feral teenager, but I can’t say this is the first time it’s happened.

Danny: damn, she was supposed to be in Mexico 😕😥

Danny: I guess this is what she was trying to tell me with that cryptic message she sent me huh

Danny: and the stray cat analogy isn’t too far off to be perfectly honest 🤔

RedHood: So you know her?

RedHood: Can you help me get her off? I’ve tried prying but she’s got some sick ass jaw strength.

RedHood: Which would have been pretty cool any other time, but it’s currently not really working in my favor.

Danny: I’m so sorry about her 😓 😓

Danny: we’ve been trying to teach her to ask for consent first

Danny: but it’s still a work in progress 😅

Danny: of course I'll help you get her off!! 😊🙃

RedHood: Great! You’re at your apartment, right?

RedHood: I’ll be there in two shakes.

Danny: please don’t shake the cat 😰

Danny: she’ll get grumpy and might latch on even tighter

Danny: I’ll come to you instead 🙃

Danny: you said you were patrolling, so crime alley, right? 🤔🤔

RedHood: Well, yes, but I doubt you’ll be able to get up where I am right now.

RedHood: Let me at least come down to the ground first and I’ll tell you how to get here.

RedHood: Danny?

---

Jason looks down at his unread messages with a slight frown. He puts his phone away and looks back at the teenager on his arm.

He gives his arm a small shake, causing her to growl at him which immediately makes him stop.

Right… No shaking the cat.

Jason lets out a weary sigh before looking down over the edge of the building to the ground below. He’s trying to think of the best way to get down with only one functional arm when a voice breaks him out of his reverie.

“Hey, Hood. I’m here!”

He turns around, slightly alarmed that there’s a second person who managed to sneak up on him tonight.

Damn, he’s getting rusty

Though from anyone whom he had been expecting to see, he had not been expecting to see the guy he messaged a minute ago standing behind him on the roof.

“How did you get here so quickly? And for that matter, how did you even get up here?” Jason asks confused.

“Oh, I flew” is Danny’s casual response, which gives Jason more questions than have been answered. But before he can decide whether he should bother asking for clarification Danny already moves on to the next topic.

“Anyway, let’s see what we can do about this,” he says, approaching Jason’s arm and the girl that’s hanging off of it.

“Good luck,” Jason says, holding out his arm a little better and watching bemused as Danny and the teen have a stare-down.

“Ellie, what did we say about biting others?”

The teen, Ellie, narrows her eyes and growls at him. Danny just crosses his arms and gives her an unimpressed stare.

“Nah-ah, you have to let him go. We ask before we bite someone. It’s called consent. Don’t make me get Jazz to give you another lecture”

It’s clear to Jason that Danny’s attempt at talking to her isn’t working when the teen proceeds to glance at Jason calculatingly before giving Danny a challenging look and biting down harder.

Apparently, it’s clear to Danny as well, as the next thing he does is let out a put-upon sigh before declaring “Well, I gave you a chance. Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way”

Danny then grabs a hold of her and tries pulling her off of him.

What is his life? Jason thinks as he’s standing there while Danny tries to physically pull the teenage girl, who decided his arm looked like a nice snack, off of him.

Though luckily for him, it seems to work as not a few seconds later Danny has pulled her off of his arm and is now holding the teenage girl with a bloody mouth up by her armpits.

Danny sets her down with a sigh but before he can speak up, the teen crosses her arms and levels Jason with a sharp look that makes him straighten up.

“Thou winneth this round, Red-Helmed Knight of the Night. Though thou should be prepareth, as the upcoming trials will be even more toilsome” Ellie declares while pointing at him, uncaring of the blood on her face.

“And I,” She points a finger back at herself for emphasis, ”Sir Ellie of the Infinite Realms, will—” she gets cut off when a fly enters her mouth.

Danny moves to help her but she holds up a hand to stop him, using her other hand to thump on her chest a few times.

She spits the dislodged fly out onto the floor and glares at it.

“Curse you! Foiling my monologuing once again!” she yells after the fly as it flies off.

Right…

Jason turns to Danny.

“So is she your sister?” he asks curiously. And totally not trying to fish for more information about Danny and his family.

Instead of Danny answering the question though, Ellie cuts him off.

“I’m his love child with the mayor of our town.”

Danny gives her a disgusted look.

“Ellie—”

She looks back at Danny with a shit-eating grin on her face.

Yeah, definitely siblings.

“I love my dads!” she says proudly, her eyes still on Danny.

Danny gives her a deadpan look in response before it changes to a more mischievous one.

“Oh, I’m sure Vlad would love to hear all about how you reclaimed him as a father figure—”

“Oh Ancients, no. Don’t even joke about that” She fake gags at him before turning back to Jason.

“Can I change my answer? I’m his bodyguard” She says, pointing her thumb at Danny.

That makes both Danny and Jason raise an eyebrow at her, though Jason’s can’t be seen through the helmet. They speak up at the same time.

“A bodyguard, huh?”

“No, you’re not, that’s Frighty”

Danny’s statement makes Jason pause and turn to look at him.

He’s got a bodyguard?

Ellie shakes her head happily.

“Nope! I took over the position. My knightly title isn’t just for show, y’know? I earned it fair and square!”

“When did this even happen? And why was I not told?” Danny asks, bewilderment covering his face.

Jason stays silent as he tries to make sense of the conversation.

“About…” Ellie takes a moment to think about it “3 months ago? I think it was when you were dealing with some time chores. And I thought it’d be a nice surprise, so… Surprise!” she exclaims, doing some jazz hands at the end of the sentence.

“What did you even do?”

“I snuck up on him and threw a Fenton Wii remote at his head which knocked him out cold. It counted as a win so I earned the position by right of conquest and gained my knighthood” She says with a shrug.

“Huh… think that would’ve worked for Pariah Dark as well? Would’ve made things so much easier…”

Ellie gives another careless shrug as Danny lets out a small reminiscent sigh. Meanwhile, Jason stands awkwardly to the side.

“Well, either way, I’m proud of you. Do you have a video?”

“Tucker filmed it for me, yeah”

“Nice”

They high-five with grins on their faces. At this point, Jason lets out a small cough which has the Fenton siblings turn around startled and proceed to then give him identical sheepish smiles.

They really look like they could be twins…

“Ah, sorry Red Hood. And again, I’m sorry for Ellie.” Danny says, rubbing the back of his neck with a small blush on his face.

“I’ll take her back home. And uhh… see you next time?”

Jason gives him a smile from under his helmet.

“Sure, if you’re still up for that next date?” Jason trails off with some hope.

His words make Danny’s blush darken.

“Ah uh, yeah! Yeah, of course! The next date! Uhmm, I’ll text you! Or you can text me. That’s fine too!”

Next to him, Ellie rolls her eyes and makes some fake gagging motions. She then grabs Danny by his arm and starts dragging him away.

“Come on, Loverboy. You can and your paramour can flirt later. When I’m not there… and after he’s passed my trials” she says, muttering the latter part low enough that Jason can’t hear. But, judging by the way Danny’s head snaps back to her and how his brows furrow, he did hear.

Just as Jason goes to reply, giving them a thank you and a goodbye of his own, perhaps even an offering to help them get down from the roof, he picks up on movement behind him.

Quickly turning around has him regretting not leaving the rooftop earlier, as he watches the Bats (and birds) land.

Fuck.

---

Taglist:

@i-always-say-yea   @uraniumwizard    @why-must-i-be-like-this   @griffinthing @i23432i @imsotiredfanficlovertm

[luxaofhesperides]

For ghost lights prompts: eldritch/creepy/weird Danny + shy/flustered Duke + hand holding

Your ghostlights fics are giving me so much joy RN I cannot express how much, if this prompt doesn't spark a brain worm for it I get it but I'm excited to read all the others you may wind up posting

There’s a new kid at West Robinson High School. 

This normally wouldn’t be a big deal. They get plenty of new students, being an average high school; not prestigious like Gotham Academy, but not terrible like some of the schools in the lower South Side. New kids are hardly anything to make note of, but something about this student has everyone paying attention to him.

It’s not charisma. The guy doesn’t talk to anyone. It’s not attractiveness, because no one really knows what he looks like under the tattered hoodie he wears all the time. It’s not curiosity, not really, because the student body moves around him like he’s dangerous, not like they want to pry all his secrets out into the open. 

It doesn’t help that Duke sees things around him. 

He considers briefly telling someone about it, but then remembers having to argue for returning to West Robinson High School instead of being put in Gotham Academy and decides that Bruce can continue to mind his own business. It’s not like this new kid has done anything bad (yet) and Duke can handle investigating this on his own.

So he watches, catching glimpses of the new kid—Danny Fenton—in hallways during passing period, hiding away at lunch, disappearing into the streets as soon as the school day is over. They even share a class together, French Language and Culture, but Danny is always in the back corner, ignored and made invisible by everyone else. 

Well. That’s not quite true. 

There are shadowy figures that surround Danny and they never leave him alone. Even when he’s got his arms folded on his desk, head down, looking as if he’s asleep, these figures pull at the hood covering his head or reach semi-transparent hands down to pet his hair. And Danny reacts to them, lightly batting their hands away or turning his head away from them.

Duke has no idea what they are. Ghosts are his best guess, but he can’t confirm it. As far as he knows, ghosts are magic and can only be seen by magic users, which Duke very much is not. They do lead to cold spots, keeping the temperatures noticeably colder around Danny, and make the shadows darker, which only makes other students more nervous about being near Danny. 

Through his week of observing Danny, beyond the ghostly figures and visible unease he causes in everyone, what Duke learns is that Danny is lonely. 

No one talks to him. People barely look at him. Teachers avoid calling on him when they can. 

And Danny accepts it. He fades into the background, keeps out of the way, shrinks in on himself. 

No one else sees it. No one else wants to see him.

It’s breaking Duke’s heart, just a little bit.

He’s lucky that he’s not an outcast at school. With his meta gene awakening and his free hours taken up by Bats and fighting crime, it’s hard to have much of a social life, but he still has a few friends during the school hours he can hang out with. Danny doesn’t have anyone, and the more Duke sees how isolated he is, the more upset he becomes.

Which brings him to step two of his investigation: befriend Danny.

So what if he has some ulterior motives! He also just wants to give this guy someone to hang out with! What little glimpses of Danny’s face he’s able to get show him a tired teenager, worn down the way Alley kids are when they’re at the end of their rope and have nothing left to give.

Duke’s first attempts at befriending Danny fail so fast it’s almost funny. It’s as if Danny knows when someone is seeking him out, because every time Duke goes to where he is, Danny up and disappears, hurrying away and vanishing in the crowded hallways, or in the alley a few buildings past the school, or into the fucking restroom, which is always empty when Duke goes in after him. Trying to use his powers to see where Danny goes next doesn’t help either; all he sees is some glowing figure resembling Danny walk through walls, which is either due to Danny being a meta or from Duke’s powers deciding to be unhelpful.

He’s about to resort to Tim level stalking to finally have a conversation with Danny when his French teacher blessedly (and unknowingly) aids him on his mission.

“Find a partner, everyone!” she instructs with a clap of her hands near the end of class. “This is a translation project, and you’ll be doing them in pairs to check each other’s work and decide how to best interpret something into English. If you don’t have a partner in the next minute, tell me and I’ll assign you someone.”

The class is a flurry of movement just as the last word leaves her mouth, friends turning to each other or running across the room to make sure they’re partnered up before anyone else can butt in. 

No one looks at Danny. Which means Duke can just skirt along the wall of the classroom until he’s next to Danny, gently knocking on his desk to get his attention.

Danny looks up, and Duke sees a flash of blue before Danny averts his gaze, tilting his head down again. “Yeah?” he says, and his voice is much softer than what Duke imagined. He expected something hoarse and rough, a little deep, intimidating. Instead, it’s gentle and quiet and smooth. 

It’s a nice voice. It’s a shame that no one else has really heard it.

“Wanna be partners?” he asks, as if he’s offering a choice. They both know no one else is going to ask Danny, and if he wants to avoid talking to the teacher, then he has to work with Duke.

Danny sighs. “Sure.” 

And then he puts his head back down on the desk. 

Duke backs off. This is the best he’s going to get right now. Now that he’s got an excuse to spend time with Danny, he can take his time breaking down his walls and getting to know him. He watches as a figure from the usual group that hangs around Danny breaks away and gently brushes a hand against Danny’s arm. Then they turn to Duke and reach for him.

He moves without thinking, stepping out of the way. The shadowy figure fades back, almost invisible even to his eyes, and Danny’s turned his head to lay his piercing gaze on Duke.

…There’s no way that blew his cover, right? 

He didn’t just reveal one of his meta abilities from taking a single step to the side. No way. 

But Danny’s eyes are a deep blue that seem almost endless as he keeps his attention on Duke. It feels as if he’s staring into Duke, seeing more than what he wants to reveal. 

“Alright, looks like everyone’s found a partner! As you head out, be sure to grab a practice packet from my desk to work on some translation. There are due the next time we meet, and I will be handing out your individual passages once these have all been turned in.” Their teacher sets a large stack of papers onto the corner of her desk, then gets to work erasing the whiteboard just as the bell rings. 

Students grab their bags and rush to take one of the packets before heading out to their final class of the day. Duke stays behind with Danny, waiting for most of the class to leave before swinging his backpack onto his shoulder and grabbing a packet for both of them.

He hands one to Danny, who takes it with some hesitancy and a quiet, “Thanks.”

He leaves before Duke does, and though it’s only a second between his leaving and Duke stepping out the door, Danny’s already vanished from sight.

As soon as school ends, Duke heads for the Hatch, hoping a quick evening patrol will help clear his mind. It’s a quiet evening, though, so he’s left with his thoughts more often than not, staring out over the city long enough that Oracle asks him if he’s alright.

Against his better judgment, he says, “I’ve been looking into something, but I’m not finding much. Can you do some research on Danny Fenton?”

Oracle is already typing before he finishes asking. “What am I looking for?”

“Anything. He’s… strange. I don’t know if he’s a meta or just lightly haunted. But there’s something up with him.”

“Do we need to be keeping a closer eye on him?”

Duke considers. None of them ask Oracle to look into specific people unless they’re dangerous. But danger is not the sense Duke gets from Danny. It’s more like he’s hiding, shying away from the world, constantly on edge. “No. If anything, he might be in danger. Something happened to him, because no one ends up like that by living an average life.”

“I’ll let you know what I find. Turn in for the night, it’s quiet out and you’re too distracted to patrol properly.”

“You got it, O.” He salutes the nearest camera, knowing she’ll see it, and makes his way back to the Hatch to change back into civies and get started on his homework.

When he next goes into his French classroom, all the desk has been rearranged so they’re all in pairs, side by side. Already, patterns are filling up the desks, so Duke heads for the back and sits down where Danny usually hides away. He’s not here yet, which is making Duke realize that he’s never actually seen Danny walk into the classroom and head to his seat.

Did he just never pay attention? Has Danny always just slipped in unnoticed until attendance was taken? How did Duke miss that?

There’s movement in the desk next to him. Duke goes to say that he’s waiting for his partner, so please sit somewhere else, when he realizes that it’s Danny who managed to sneak in yet again.

“Hey,” he says after a moment, hoping his surprise is hidden.

There’s a pause, and then Danny returns, “Hey, Duke.”

That’s all they have time for before class is starting and their teacher goes around to collect homework. She then hands out new packets, each one a different section of L’Ecume des Jours, and gives them the rest of class to begin working on translating it. 

Duke is already dreading it as he flips through the three pages they were given to translate, stapled to each other beneath the two page instructions of how to format the final translation, how to document their previous translation drafts, and what to include in the reflection essay. 

There’s no way he can get all of this done in a week. 

On the other hand, it gives him a week to learn more about Danny. He needs to make the most of it.

“This is a lot,” he comments, hoping to prod Danny into conversation.

Danny shrugs.

“Can we work on this together after school today? Or do you have plans?”

“We can work on it today,” Danny says, voice barely louder than a whisper. He’s already scanning the pages, underlining certain words and phrases. 

Duke hurries to get to work as well, trying to parse out meaning from the text through single words scattered on the page. 

Qu’est-ce que vous faites dans la vie, vous? 

J’apprends des choses, dit Colin. Et j’aime Chloé. 

Duke nods to himself. He definitely doesn’t know French. Well, he knows qu’est-ce que. He knows vous. He know j’apprends and j’aime Chloé. Also dit Colin. Fairly simple, but with the missing pieces to the rest of those sentences, he really doesn’t know what’s going on beyond the fact that it’s a conversation and Colin loves Chloé.

When he glances at Danny’s desk, he’s shocked to see that his partner is already translating the first few lines into something that reads like normal English.

“Oh, wow,” he says, leaning over to get a better look, “You’re definitely better at this than I am.”

“I just like languages,” Danny replies, turning his paper so Duke can read it more easily.

“Have you been hiding your French skills this entire time? I could have definitely used your help before this.”

Danny goes still for a moment, eyes flicking towards his right where a shadowy figure has placed a hand on his shoulder. Then he turns to fully face Duke and says, “Better late than never. What do you need help with?”

“Everything.”

His immediate answer makes Danny smile, and he begins talking in that soft, soothing voice of his. He talks about not trying to translate everything into English immediately, but to understand the French and take it in as a whole language itself. He talks about getting the idea of the text first, the feeling of it, before trying to fit it into English. He talks about splitting up the text into sections to make it easier.

And then he reads the text, entirely in French, and Duke did not have a thing for voices or multilingualism before this, but he sure does now.

“Qu’est-ce que vous faites dans la vie, vous?” Danny reads, reaching the end of the first page. The syllables come to his easily, his French smooth and steady. “J’apprends des choses, dit Colin.” His eyes dart up, off the page, and fix Duke in place. “Et j’aime Chloé.”

Duke has never been happier that he doesn’t blush so visibly with his dark skin because he feels downright romanced. It’s a mix of the French, of Danny’s addictive voice, of their closeness, of how intimate this dark corner of the room feels, tucked away from the rest of the class.

“We can work on the other pages after we finish translating this one,” Danny says, leaning back at bit. 

Duke nods, swallowing to chase away the dryness of his throat. “Sounds like a plan!” 

They work in silence for the rest of the class period, and once the bell rings, Danny says, “I’ll wait for you by the bus stop down the street,” before he slips out of reach and disappears into the throng of students heading to their last class. 

He’s beginning to think that he’s in way over his head. Duke can handle being in the middle of all the action, risking his life, fighting for others. He can handle staring down rogues and criminals and Gnomon. He can’t handle feelings and romance and other such things. Those are much scarier than a criminal shooting at him. At least with the criminal, he knows what to do and doesn’t just freeze up like he did with Danny.

The school day ends faster than he’s prepared for. As promised, Danny waits for him by the bus stop down the street, where other students are also waiting. 

They don’t wait for a bus, though. Danny just meets his eyes and begins walking away, leaving Duke to follow after him, matching his pace so they can walk side by side.

The shadows in the alleyway seem to reach towards them as they walk down it. Something about it doesn’t feel right, so Duke tries to quietly use his powers and force them back. 

He only has time to think, Oh, that was a bad idea, before Danny is shoving him against the wall, getting them both out of the way as a shadow solidifies and lashes out at them. He’s kept in place by strong hands on his chest, and Danny’s eyes are glowing lightly as he hisses at the shadows, making them rear back and settle down once more. 

As if given permission to reveal themselves, more shadowy figures and strange movements in the shadows emerge, surrounding them. 

“Danny, I don’t mean to alarm you, but—”

“I know,” Danny says. “I thought you might be able to see them too. Which is not good.”

“Sorry, man, it’s not like I can turn it off.”

“It’s fine. Just be more careful. They like me because I’m like them, but you just register as a threat. Either that, or prey.”

“Great,” Duke replies weakly, “Those are my favorite things to be. Are we… are we safe to move?”

Slowly, Danny steps back, no longer pressed right against Duke. Nothing moves to attack him, but it might be due to the glare fixed on Danny’s face, eyes still glowing.

“They’ll leave me alone, so…” He reaches a hand out, looking away. The hoodie isn’t able to hide the way his cheeks go red. “Don’t let go and we’ll be fine.”

“I hope this isn’t to lead me to my doom,” Duke jokes nervously as he accepts Danny’s hand, holding it tightly. 

Danny wiggles his fingers, making him loosen his grip, and then their fingers are lacing together. Duke stares down at their hands, wide eyed, and hopes he doesn’t look as flustered as he feels. 

“Not to your doom,” Danny reassures. “Just a coffee shop I thought you’d like.”

“Well, then, lead the way!”

“Allons-y,” Danny replies. 

Stealing glances at him as they walk, ghostly figure and shadow shrinking away from them, all Duke can think is that he doesn’t need to worry about Danny being evil. His immediate instinct to protect Duke has proved that. He’ll keep the investigation going, though, to make sure Danny is safe from others that could hurt him. 

Strange and unsettling as he may be, Danny’s also a smart, kind person who deserves more.

Duke is determined to make sure he gets it.

And if he gets a crush along the way, that’s his business and his business only. 

It looks like Step Two: Befriend Danny is finally complete. He’ll figure out the other steps later. For now, he has an evening of French in a coffee shop to look forward to.

[kenziewritesstuff]

Supernatural Horror Novel: The Exodus Killer

Religious Trauma + Autistic Fascination with Numbers and Death = A Book about a Serial Killer playing God.

Warning! Content Includes:

Mysterious dead mom who is totally dead

Depressed, ADHD-ish Main Character

Plague of Blood and Hail and Darkness...oh my!

Mom is still dead, right?

Angsty brotherly relationship

Add a tablespoon more blood

Pfft mom's not dead, she's right over there

*Gestures to nothing*

"I'm fine...what voices?"

Detectives!

Dead mom...probably...I think

Available on Amazon as Paperback or Ebook

[vampiremacncheese]

Looking for some fresh new sapphic reads👀🌈?

Here's a roundup of everything from heart-melting romance 💕 to spine-chilling horror stories that'll linger long after the last page 👻.

[obamasleftkidney]

HEAR YE HEAR YE

I have some wonderful news!!!

The publishing process has begun (my awesome cool 10,000 aura publishers are literally the best) and I'm so happy to announce this book might actually hit the shelves after all this time and effort invested.

Keep your eyes PEALED on your dash to find my posts for one of them soon might say it's finally up on the shelves.

ROLL IN YOUR GUESSES

THE CLOCK IS TICKINGGGGG!!!

If this is your first time seeing my post; I'm writing a novel which will be released soon. I refuse to tell you the plot, the characters, the tropes, nor the premise. I only ask for your follow + I write my followers names down in a little pretty notebook. I will drop little clues and quotes and paragraphs. Ominous little hints. And the first follower to guess the plot receives a free signed copy of the novel once it's published. (Merch included according to the guessed plot's accuracy)

Do follow me and find out, for if this ended up on your page, this novel has everything you like. I might disappoint, but how do you know for sure I will?

If you're interested, follow me, and go read my posts. Clues have already been dropped. Best of Luck!

[feraligatrfangs]

one of the enrichment activities for pokemon at the shelter is audiobooks, kindly donated by the community (mostly moms and our local library). these books vary in quality, but usually the pokemon quite enjoy them. (twilight is a big favorite for young dark-types, for example.)

today, i watched a group of pokemon finish one such audiobook (some YA thing about a magic island) and then demand me, the closest being with opposable thumbs, to find a video essay disparaging said book on mewtube.

the one they settled on is 4 hours long.

they are entertained.

[keenmusicscienceskeleton]

It be like this irl fr 😭

[clairechammy]

Coming out of my shell to post that I wrote a book for the Castiel girlies and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer girlies to enjoy (especially Fuffy *I think that's the ship name*)

[queer-book-society]

Title: DeadEndia: The Watcher's Test

Author(s): Hamish Steele

Description: Barney Guttman’s life has been turned upside down. His family is struggling to fully embrace his trans identity, but thanks to his best friend Norma, he’s just landed a job at Phoenix Parks, a Dollywood-esque amusement park inspired by the long life and career of mysteriously youthful actress and singer Pauline Phoenix. Soon, Barney and his dog, Pugsley, secretly move into the haunted house attraction. Little does Barney know, the house contains a portal to the demonic planes of Hell. When Courtney, Barney’s devilish new roommate, invites a demon king to Earth through the portal, they offer Barney and Norma as flesh vessels for the king, but in a strange twist, Pugsley is possessed instead! It’s a race through the park to save Pugsley—and the world—from the demon king’s reign of terror that leaves Pugsley with strange and magical side effects. With all of this chaos going on, Barney is also discovering he has crush on park employee, Logan, so he must face his biggest fear of all… talking to someone he likes.

[creatrackers]

Creatrackers: novella series

Genre + Tropes: teen/ya fiction, mystery and supernatural aspects (paranormal creatures/magic/monsters), lighthearted adventure, found family, friendly neighbourhood vampire, lgbtq+ characters

Stage: first draft of book one is complete at 23077 words, second novella planned and started

Synopsis: Holly, Adrian, Jo, and Kelvin are the original Creatrackers; a self-proclaimed research team who try to find evidence of supernatural beings and any other creature they hear about. As the number of crew members and their fans grow, and as the original four start to get older, their fun little hunts start to become far too real. Watch these characters evolve as they become adults who start to unravel what truly is out there in the world. In the first book two new members join, including Willa. A seemingly normal 21 year old who has actually been travelling the earth for the past few hundred years, trying to keep her vampire identity a secret. She has no thirst for human blood, only human cultures and the way of life for other creatures like herself. She becomes interested in the group while living in a small English town, and soon joins them on a hunt. Then another, and another... What could possibly go wrong for a vampire who befriends a bunch of monster hunters? 

Willa, Holly, Adrian, Jo, Kelvin, Kenny, Mickey, Cleo character introductions

Want to read the first draft? Click here! Reading and commenting is 100% anonymous and I would love any and all feedback <3

[johannamation]

All 263 pages of inks for my debut graphic novel THE GHOSTKEEPER are done.

✍️ ☺️✌️

[lilmackiereads]

HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE (2016) BY JENNIFER NIVEN - SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This week I finished Holding Up the Universe (2016) by Jennifer Niven. I found it in a Little Free Library near my parents’ house and the title and dual cover art struck me as interesting. Without reading the jacket description I took it home and devoured it within a couple days. If you haven’t read this book yet, but plan to, head to my page and read my Spoiler Free Review instead! 

The narration goes back and forth between the two lead characters, Jack – a teenage boy with prosopagnosia (a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to recognize and remember faces), and Libby — an overweight teenage girl who has been homeschooled throughout middle school due to immense weight gain from the grief of her mother’s unexpected death. This story kind-of follows the Enemies to Lovers trope, but I don’t really feel like they were ever enemies, rather they just misunderstood each other.

Beware, we now go into spoiler territory. 

Character Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Libby was my favorite because she is so courageous and fun! I think Niven really nailed what a teenage girl thinks like and what anxiety feels like. I think Libby and I would get along because she loves to read and watch sci-fi/fantasy shows. I’m not much of a dancer, but I would love to join her dance club! 

Jack I also like, but he would be hard for me to get along with in person with his jerk-persona he puts on to keep other people away. I mean he’s pretty handsome so maybe I could look past it and be “the one to change him” like Libby. Haha. I do love the relationship he has with his little brother, Dusty, and I think his internal monologue and notes are hilarious. I think after he sees that Libby, Dusty, and a male side character are getting bullied he becomes a much braver person and that’s when I started to genuinely like him. His transformation, cocky attitude, and incredible curly hair, reminds me a lot of Patrick Verona from 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). If they make a movie, I need Jack to be a total H-O-T-T-I-E.

I like that Libby is not your “typical” Mary Sue beauty that so many teen romance novels have. I have never read a book from the perspective of a young woman of her size (300 to 600lbs+ over the course of the book). While Eleanor and Park (2012) by Rainbow Rowell features a teen who is a little overweight and not your average beauty, Niven choosing to make Libby “America’s Fattest Teen” is really committing to showing what life is like for someone who has experienced emotional and physical grief for a big portion of her life and how society treats that person and their relationships. Also, there are not a lot of books out there that feature someone of mixed race as the lead, such as Jack who has a white dad and a black mom. I think it’s interesting how he and his brothers are described as looking very different and how their appearance somewhat influences how other characters treat them.

While I adored Dusty, and Libby’s two main friends, Bailey and Rachel, I think many of the other side characters were not super memorable. Iris and Jayvee and Libby’s dad were ok, but most of the other side characters didn’t make much of an impact in my opinion (or have a lot of growth) which perhaps is part of the point. I can’t tell if Niven did this on purpose to show that not everyone grows out of their high school phase/ is not as special and mature as Libby and Jack or if she just didn’t know how to make the side characters dimensional.

Plot Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I had many scenes that I adored as well as others that completely horrified me. 

Adored:

*Libby flaunting her body-ody-ody in her purple bikini at school and Libby’s bravery on page 310:

*Libby saying “no” to the Damsel’s dance team after they asked her to lose weight to become a member of the team... and then starting her own dance group!

*Libby and Jack’s first date and dance at Clara’s pizzeria. The restaurant itself sounds fun. I would totally go there!

*References to quotations and scenes as well as plot parallels to We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) by Shirey Jackson, “The Crucible” (1953) by Arthur Miller and To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee.

*Jack’s notes about being the kid of a parent with cancer and building robots.

*Dusty and his purse <3 

*The Shitkicker robot with its OWN purse! <3 <3

Horrified:

*Jack accidentally making out with his girlfriend’s cousin... twice.

*Jack taking Libby on a date out of town. It still wasn’t 100% clear to me if he was trying to surprise her or trying to avoid being seen with her.

*The game “Fat Girl Rodeo” --- this stressed me out because I had never heard of it and I don’t really like being touched. I never really thought about how awful people make up games about peoples’ weight and that some jackass would hear about it and think that it was a good idea to copy it. That would be my fear about this book becoming a movie is that if they showed it in the trailer people would see it out of context and it could become an awful TikTok trend. 

I figured at some point that Jack hiding the fact that he knows about Libby’s former title as “America’s Fattest Teen” and that he snuck into her house the day she was rescued from her home would come back to bite him. But whether it be him revealing the truth about stealing the book and magnet on purpose or accidentally I wasn’t sure. What I didn’t put together until the end is that Libby had always been curious about Jack, too, when she realized that he and his brothers were the brothers she imagined being friends with and called “Dean, Sam, and Cas” after her favorite characters from Supernatural. This threw my right back to my teenage years as I was obsessed with them in high school.

Cover Art: 5 out of 5 stars

While you should not judge a book by its cover, the cover art for this story is amazing. The blue paint schmears are very symbolic as how Jack sees people in his life while the blue marble is how he sees Libby. The marble also reminds me of Men in Black (1997) when the whole universe fits inside the keychain on the cat’s collar. When you take off this paper jacket to reveal the hard cover, the book is a beautiful baby blue with silver text and a sparkly heart. This book has a lot of love in it and is just very cute. I think I will take the paper cover off and leave it in my bookshelf with the baby blue and silver text instead because it is more eye-catching than the white book jacket with blue and black design in my opinion.

Reread-ability: Possibly!

Due to the fact that I read this book so quickly, I obviously liked it. However, it doesn’t beat my favorite three favorite teen love stories, The Fault in Our Stars (2012) and Turtles All the Way Down (2017) by John Green and Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda (2015) by Becky Albertalli, the three of which made me laugh and cry. HUTU made me laugh and get a bit sad at points, but not enough to actually cry. Perhaps if there was a film version of it then the visuals might be enough to do it for me.

I do want to keep it in my bookshelf in case I have kids, or a movie is made of it because I think it has a really good anti-bullying message and would be good for people to read to open up their world, especially for people who are prejudice against heavyset, racial, or disability differences. I don’t know if this book would lessen their prejudice, but I hope it would at least stir a little emotion.

[shellku]

Unpopular Twilight Opinions

- Jasper is hot. And Alice is Hot. And they are amazing couple.

- The baseball scene was HOT. Bi-awakening level hot for teens everyone.

- Alice while she relies perhaps on her visions to much is amazing. She truly loves her family and is extremely clever.

- Alice had a horrible past and does not let her treat others poorly. She deserves a medal for some of the shit she has to put up with trying to keep her chaos family alive. As does Jasper.

-Carlisle is a hypocrite and enabler. Not ultimate evil. But he is an enabler and a hypocrite.

- Esme should have put her foot down more. A LOT more.

- Charlie deserved better and truly loves his daughter.

- Charlie isn’t stupid he’s just a good person. Who really loves her daughter.

- Jacob wasn’t wrong for finally telling Charlie some of the truth. Even if some of his reasons weren’t Noble.

- Reneé may love Bella but her selfishness is ridiculous.

- Edward didn’t even try to truly get along with and spend time with Bella’s human friends until after she has a major depressive episode. Also would have been great practice because his human acting needs work.

- Angela Webber is a great friend. If anyone should have been in on Bella’s secrets and helped with the cover story it should have been the loyal, intelligent, and kind hearted Angela.

- Forks was weird. Like the high school itself was a bit odd. But the movie captured the randomness and idiot-ness of teen boys perfect. “Bella look it’s a worm”.

- Charlie should have never pushed Bella to give Jacob a chance.

- Charlie should have made more of an effort to bond near the beginning even if it was really uncomfortable. It was not his fault. At the same time a teenager is a new place with little guidance is a bit of a recipe for disaster. Especially after her first ‘run away back to Arizona’ episode.

- Imprinting is NOT romantic. No. So much no.

- Leah Clearwater deserves better. So much better.

- Rosalie deserves better. And more credit for her amazing blood control.

-Also while Rose can be shallow sometimes. Her wanting to protect the family and protect others (Bella) from what happened to her is NOT selfish. She also supports Bella and accepts her much more after Bella A) becomes part of the family and B) assures her that she’s made her choice and isn’t acting impulsively.

- Bella when originally asking Edward to be a vampire was not considering all the consequences. Therefore it was reasonable for some of the family and Edward himself to tell her NO.

- Jasper is an empath and so when everyone experience blood lust at Bella’s birthday it was truly not his fault. Having to experience

- It’s amazing he’s not a completely psychopath. Who thought it was a good idea to send a empath to high school over and over again?

-The Cullens cover story is stupid. And they do a horrible job of ‘ blending in’.

- Bella is a parentified child who suffers from depression. This set her up to have a higher chance of toxic relationships.

- Jasper is by far the best strategist of the Cullens. And one of the most protective members.

- Rosalie is underrated and had serious trauma. She needed her families support and her having issues with Vampirism is legit.

-Rosalie and Emmett are adorable.

-Emmett is Awesome! Despite his difficulties with the diet he genuinely tries and seems to be on all accounts a good person. He adores, loves, and respects his wife. He supports his siblings and always does his best to keep the chaotic family going with positivity and genuine kindness. As well as humor.

-I would have loved more Tennessee and Texas references. Jaspers is a Texas man first. And Emmett realistically also would have an accent. Is Emmett a Dolly Parton fan? I think so.

- I love the Cullens. But they are very problematic as both a coven and family. Dysfunctional abound. Also … they aren’t the Volturi but they aren’t saints. I don’t know where Edward gets him catholic guilt complex from but they are vampires and they all have killed. They aren’t angels.

- Alex Volturi is scarier than his sister Jane.

- Seth Clearwater honestly handles the craziness so well. Also considering his age? All the kudos. However, I wish we saw him chew someone out. Like Sam. I wanted him to chew out Sam. It would be glorious.

-Paul’s actually pretty cool and grew a lot as a person in a short time. He still hates vampires but he hasn’t really seen a reason to trust them yet either?

- The wolves should have had their own book. There was so much going on.

-Embry’s dad? Should be Sam’s father. I think them all doing some group therapy and supporting Embry would have been great.

- Jacob’s sister irritates me. She isn’t mentioned much but honestly comes off a bit self centered and uncaring towards what her brother is going through.

- Jacob, while he gets on my last nerves, was dealing with a lot in New Moon and did not have the same guidance as others. His ‘alpha’ was Sam Uley for crying out loud.

- Sam Uley is a bitch and needs to be punched in the face and taught some facts. He should have let Leah go long before he was forced to.

- In New Moon when Bella is depression she is also experiencing legitimate withdrawals from being on the receiving end of Vampire ‘dazzles’ for so long.

- I don’t think Bella is going to be a good mother to a hybrid teen who is ‘matched’ with Jacob. The amount of therapy needed for that. (Cringe)

- I honestly think Nessie is set up in a situation to be spoiled and entitled beyond belief. Not sure how that would work out realistically but it’s extremely problematic at best. I’m not just talking about the wealth. I’m talking about the charms/ instant gratification/ and growing up with your imprint enslaved into worshiping the ground you walk on from birth.

- Jacob should not have imprinted of Nessie.

- why did no one in Forks mention something like ‘Buried in the Backyard’ or ‘20/20’ much? The amount of weird astound there is frankly weird. It would make more sense if everyone knew they were vampires and just didn’t mention it.

- Actually Angela Webber should have known. Come over during Breaking Dawn and been like ‘oh shoot. I’m sorry. This is one of those vampire things isn’t it?’ And when everyone starts panicking and Bella accuses you knew?!?!?! She’s just very calm and like “yeah. It was obvious but it would be impolite to say anything. “

- There is not enough therapy in the world.

- I know that Edward can’t control his ‘gift’ but he can’t judge people for their every thought realistically. It’s not only not healthy but a huge invasion of privacy.

- Edward should have accepted some of the things Bella did is because she is from a different time and that was never going to change. Also he was far to controlling.

- On the other hand, when Edward said NO to sex he had legitimate reasons and Bella was wayyyyy to pushy in some scenes.

- The movie cinematography is top notch. *chef kiss*

- The soundtrack is Epic. And borderline iconic.

[croc-odette]

as evil as every thing surrounding it is the supernatural gay confession raised the standards for baiting so high that when i found out something happened in the teenwolf movie i instantly assumed another character must have said explicitly out loud ‘i want you and i love you’ and then when i found out that didn’t happen at all i’m like. why are we even mentioning it. it’s not 2011 anymore we don’t have to live like this

[shiftycryptid]

Cape Corvyd - Chapter 1 is live on AO3

Cape Corvyd is a novel that I wrote and self-published a few years ago, but I've decided to release it for free on AO3, since it wasn't making money anyway. I'll be posting one chapter a week until it's finished, so go check it out!