#text: xanth

[isabelpsaroslunnen]

[Original date: 24 June 2016]

First reaction to this: “hm.”

To this day, I’m deeply torn over Xanth (despite liking Incarnations of Immortality better). I’ve never thought Piers Anthony a particularly good writer, and he has the depressing anti-ability to start each series on its high point and get worse with each book. Xanth was always a fairly shallow farce that essentially repeats one joke—the literalization of puns—over and over.

That said, I did read it well past the age bracket the author talks about. I only discovered the books when I was thirteen, actually.

I’d had a near-fatal asthma attack and was hospitalized for a week, then isolated inside my air-filtered room for three months. In the hospital, I had exactly one book—Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, which I’d been given over the summer and was re-reading when I went into the hospital. (That’s another, uh, problematic text, though McCaffrey was a much better writer and less fratboyish about her issues in any case. I adored Lessa and re-read it countless times.)

And while I was still hospitalized, my father bought a box of twenty-odd Xanth books to give me something else to read.

I did read them, and I enjoyed them, despite not really caring for farce. But by “them,” I mean the editorialized version in my head more than what’s actually on the page. I completely agree with the horrorshow that is the Chameleon arc; I would skip over her scenes as much as possible on re-reading. Iris is written in repellent terms, yet I loved the character, and her daughter Irene after her, along with Trent, Vadne, Jonathan, and Murphy.

I’m not quite as harsh on it as the article writer (I don’t think the downplaying of the critical importance of magic in-world is really in good faith), but fundamentally, I can’t disagree. The Xanth I loved wasn’t the Xanth that Piers Anthony wrote, so much as a mentally corrected Xanth with its intolerable aspects excised or ignored, and its good parts vastly amplified.

The good parts do exist, however, which I feel the author largely ignores. As a reader, it’s fair for the pervasive and disgusting misogyny to blot out everything else, but as analysis … eh. Partly, I’m sure, this is sheer nostalgia, although I did re-read my favorites (Castle Roogna, Night Mare, and Man from Mundania) through high school and as late as my early twenties, with progressively less enjoyment—but still, some enjoyment. There’s never been a jarring re-read where I discovered the relentless misogyny, since I recognized it all along; it just became a little worse each time.

I haven’t re-read any Xanth books in years, and I don’t really have any intention of doing so. But there were concepts thrown in there that I still find compelling. The basic concept of a world where mages aren’t a special elite minority and magic pervades every aspect of life—I thought that was fascinating. At least as far as I read, Xanth was never remotely a “normal” story + fantasy in the way that similar things often are, but its own strange reality, down to the bones. I’d never encountered that before; everything I’d read was “x but with dragons” or “x but with magic” or “x but in space.” You could call Xanth “Florida but with magic,” but that doesn’t begin to touch how utterly bizarre it is.

I didn’t care for the puns, but some of the consequent powers were things I’d never have imagined and found incredibly engaging, most successfully with Magician Murphy, at once a joke character—his power is inflicting bad luck, i.e. anything that can go wrong, will go wrong—and one of the most nuanced villains in the series. I was interested in the social structure hinted at in a world grounded on magic and degrees of magical power. He shows people with “spot on the wall” talents (trivial and pointlessly specific) to powerful but sharply restricted ones (as with Bink’s father Roland) to sub-Magician ones like Vadne’s and Irene’s, to the sheer variety among the world-class Magicians and Sorceresses (transformation, illusion, bad luck, zombies, clairvoyant tapestries…).

These are small things, weakly executed—“(some) good ideas, bad execution” is how I’d describe Anthony in a nutshell—and yet they brought excitement and interest to my life when I was sick and unhappy and lonely. The inevitable longing for all those things that fascinated me in Xanth without the baggage of … well, Xanth, is what drove me to try writing a fantasy novel of my own. That project has grown far beyond its roots in “like Xanth but no puns and none of the icky sex stuff and it’s about heroines and princesses and ruling queens all the time,” but it’s been my main outlet for many years.

In the end, I know how profoundly gross and offensive Anthony’s novels are. Yet I do think there are legitimate reasons beyond “comic fantasy” that they became so popular, which this article very much skates over. And, personally, I can’t help feeling grateful for them, nonetheless.

[bayofwolves]

being a writer is great bc i can change whatever i want about a character. whether that be appearance, personality, backstory or something else. i can even take a character i don't like in canon and transform them into someone i find more interesting, compelling or just generally likeable. but then i look back at the source material and i'm like... umm who the fuck is that

[multi-lefaiye]

my post about weight gaining as a sign of healing in fiction is actually about my friend's oc xanthe btw

[magicaldogtoto]

One fun thing for me about the Sailor Moon Eternal English dub is Xanthe Huynh and Cassandra Lee Morris voicing members of the Amazoness Quarter (Palla Palla and Cere Cere, respectively).

Basically Nagisa Momoe and Kyubey in the same group.

[aingeal98]

Cass, texting Steph: Hey can we postpone our date until next week I've got to help Xanthe with some Spirit World stuff and then Rose wants to fight and Harper wants to talk about things and also there's this new girl I met who's been trapped in another dimension so I'm going to take her around the city to show her what life is like here.

Steph, reading all that and then immediately calling Selina: Hey it's Steph I need help... I know you didn't go through with it but how exactly did you manage to get Batman to commit to a monogamous marriage with you? Be specific, I need details.

[shyjusticewarrior]

DC Comics Incorrect Quotes Pt 84

Damian: Richard texted me and said Drake got hurt, so I brought a watermelon.

Dick: Why?

Damian: He loves watermelons. *gives Tim watermelon*

Tim: *cradles watermelon*

Cass: So what makes a butcher knife more butch than the other knives?

Xanthe: The knife itself isn't necessarily butch. It's named that because it's wielded by a butcher, who is more butch than the other food shop owners.

Cass: Hmm, I see. What, then, makes the butcher more butch than the other food shop owners?

Xanthe: The knife.

Constantine: That's what ancient Greek philosophy is like.

[livingfictionsystem]

Petty Revenge Story Time!

So, circa 2013-2014, I lived in the upstairs portion of a duoplex for an absurdly cheap rent. We got what we paid for; it was pretty shabby and the heat/air conditioning was literally just one window unit in the living room. When summer rolled around, my flatmate decided that air conditioning costs too much and didn't let me turn it on. At all.

I even offered to pay extra on the power bill, that was in his name. But no, he would come home, find it on, and turn it off while I was asleep. Chap was batty. So many sleepless, sweaty nights.

He was also just awful on his own. A destructive alcoholic and two of the windows were victims to his partying. His antics put me + the household in danger a couple of times. I obviously celebrated when he moved out. (Even though he left me with his share of rent and utility for his last month there. I had contacted him but he refused to pay it.)

The power stayed in his name, because we were both too lazy to have it switched. I made regular payments. Fast forward to about a year later. He texts me that he was going to take the power out of his name in two months because he wants to open his own account in his old house.

It was summer again and I, you know, was understandably still salty after all the sweating I did in that house.

I CRANKED up that air conditioning; the house felt like a fridge. Even my flatmate from Russia was cold. I wore a coat in the house. It was bliss. I did not pay a dime to power all that summer. When he switched his out, I opened my own, and left the house at a more reasonable temperature.

You had better believe he threw a tantrum when he tried to open up a new account and found he had an $800+ balance.

-Xanthe 🪶

[farsight-the-char]

Cass, psyching herself up in a mirror: "I Can Do This. I can Handle They/Them Pussy." Cass, sure of herself, texting Xanthe: "Hey Xanthe, want to go out on a date tonight?"

[baldurs-gay-three]

Heyyy everyone, welcome to our special interest hell <3

You can call us Coffee and we are an autistic (among other things) plural system. We tend to introject like crazy from our special interests, so it’s only a matter of time until we have the cast of baldurs gate 3 living in our head rent free!

Our inbox and dms are always open for questions or conversation about plurality or baldurs gate 3 so don’t hesitate to reach out!

main blog: @genderqueer-cloud-strife

tags: #vyne posts (old tag) and #coffee posts (new tag) is shit we post, #baldurs gay plurality is the plurality tag for this blog, and #phlox posting, #vesryn posting, #vys’ra posting and #myrna posting are the tags for our characters

❗️This blog will contain some game spoilers, but we have not completed the game yet so do not send us or tag us in any major spoilers❗️

list of current baldurs gate 3 fictives + image IDs and Plain Text under the cut!

⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎

Current Baldurs Gate 3 fictives list:

• Xanth (any pronouns) ; genderqueer warlock, character we made in the prerelease

• Vesryn (he/him) ; trans gay adhd half-elf rouge, the one we made to get with Astarion lol

• Phlox (she/her) ; pan lesbian teifling warlock, beloved first character and good hearted durge

•+ many slowly forming fragments

------------------------------------------------------------

[banner ID: screenshot taken from the game baldurs gate 3 that features our character (a teifling with pale skin, dark hair in two low buns, red eyes, and sharp blood stained horns) standing facing away from the viewer. A red dragon is taking off to the left of her. The image is positioned so that our icon sits right between these two figures. /end ID]

[icon ID: screenshot taken from the game baldurs gate 3 that features our character (a teifling with pale skin, dark messy hair, red eyes, and sharp blood stained horns) standing in a warmly lit room in front of a fancy dining table covered in food. She has an angry expression on her face. The text is too small to read in the icon, but says “Raphael: One skull, two tenants, and no solution in sight”. /end ID]

[Plain Text : Heyyy everyone, welcome to our special interest hell <3

You can call us Vyne and we are an autistic (among other things) plural system. We tend to introject like crazy from our special interests, so it’s only a matter of time until we have the entire cast of baldurs gate 3 living in our head rent free and we for one can’t wait!

Our inbox and dms are always open for questions or conversation about plurality or baldurs gate 3 so don’t hesitate to reach out!

main blog: @genderqueer-cloud-strife

tags: #vyne posts is shit we post, #baldurs gay plurality is the plurality tag for this blog, and #phlox posting, #vesryn posting, #vys’ra posting and #myrna posting are the tags for our characters

[exclamation mark emoji] This blog will contain some game spoilers, but we have not completed the game yet so do not send us or tag us in any major spoilers [exclamation mark emoji]

list of current baldurs gate 3 fictives + image IDs and Plain Text under the cut! /end PT]

[shadethechangingman]

thought i posted this but i didnt: weekly comic thoughts

decent art in batman vs scooby this week

every time tk writes orion i die again i need him fired sooo bad

i dont totally hate superboy MOT but i wish it was Superboy and the Ravers 2

batman inc is soooo bad to the batman inc characters wtf. whitewashed art/every single artist neglecting to draw bat-man of china fat/brisson’s OCs beating up all the old batman inc guys/The Writing™ of everyone realy. i love grey wolf but the rest of this comic is killing me

donna x garth PUUUUKE but waid deciding to undo “robin as the fifth teen titan” decision already is interesting but NO complaints from me i hated that i have strong feelings on roy as the final original titan

i need to read the old doom patrol stuff but degenerate really is such a 90s DC Character like they nailed it soooo well he reminds me of a grittier/meaner Major Bummer lol

i never got around to reading golden eagles comics but now i kinda want to so i can complain

i had TOTALLY forgotten about the joker raises baby batman manga so reading that was. interesting. i liked the superman getting lunch one more

kngiht terrors flash wasnt uploaded yet so i havent read it 

i had only seen the text from this panel and thought it was xanthe speaking and was like woahh what a plot twist its crazy that happened to cassandra too and now im actually reading it like oh yeah that makes more sense

[ID: Cassandra Cain Batgirl from DC Comics looking scared. She’s saying “my mother. She killed me. then brought me back.” Constantine and Xanthe are standing to her sides and looking at her. End ID]

[flurty]

sunshine, crazy frog, bleu, leather, soup, gay, and why for the funny little ask game <3

sunshine - u brighten my day | crazy frog - what the FUCK are u on and can u share | bleu - the ultimate takes | leather - *mugs u in alleyway and runs away with ur gender* | gay | why - are u so fuckin cool

XANTHE!!!! my beloved bestie. did you know every time i get a text or notification from you i smile? ya, i cherish you.

i'm not on much, maybe caffeine (aren't we all?). i could totally share!

what are you gonna do with my gender? huh? you don't even need one (you're that COOL!).

anyway you're cooler. love you. bai

[bayofwolves]

do you guys think shane met xanthe when he went to sadre with yumaris after the book of shane: vengeance?

i think so. i imagine xanthe found him and yumaris approaching phos astos and could hardly stay away from them during the short time they stayed. her first time meeting updwellers, you see. she only really talked to shane, though, because yumaris never spoke to her, only whispering strange things in shane's ear.

xanthe met shane before his transformation began, but the sight of him and the name he gave -- his true name -- were, of course, insignificant to her. (how could she know?) yumaris never provided her name, and shane did not supply it in her stead. xanthe referred to her as "the old woman". conor and meilin were intrigued to learn that there had been humans in sadre before them, and recently at that, but xanthe never got far enough into her story to reveal the boy's name and appearance to anyone but takoda. these were throwaway details that meant nothing to the monk. both sides of the war managed to keep the truth of the devourer's identity hush-hush, and outlying communities across erdas such as takoda's had no idea.

xanthe and shane unexpectedly meet again in the aftermath of the burning tide, when shane sails abeke and rollan to their reunion with the underground explorers. it's hard for xanthe to connect the shane who abruptly descended into her world to the new one standing before her, with scales and claws and haunting eyes. but it's him! the first updweller she ever met! what a small world.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

What is media like in the Rhine City verse? What are some recurring shows within a show?

We haven’t super got into it, and there’s quite a bit of media that’s fairly different too! A lot of in-universe series are based on scrapped story concepts, some of which long-time viewers of my blog might remember. Here’s a few things I came up with:

The Handy & Ydnah Show: The bastard child of Oobi and ATHF. It’s a PG show beloved by adults and stoners for it’s weird and surreal plots. The production of it is extremely mysterious; no one knows much about it even though it debuted in the 80s.

Tales of Aethra: Based on one of my oldest story ideas. It’s essentially a long-running multimedia fantasy franchise, though its popularity is comparable more to something like He-Man or Xanth than something like LotR. It has gotten a well-regarded animated series, several books, and a crossover set with MTG.

Mercenaries: Based on the story Eric originated from. Basically an over-the-top stunt-heavy action franchise a la John Wick, featuring a sendup of Snake Plissken as its lead (his name is Max Viper). Venus Crowley’s character Scarlet Love became a huge breakout and shot her to stardom.

Genesis: Based on the story David Paine originated from. A TV series about a future where some of the population have superpowers. It’s like Akira or Heroes back when the latter was good.

SafeWord: 90s cult classic comic about a queer S&M themed superhero. Was adapted into an equally cult classic film by Troma. Based on an old OC idea I had.

Virgin Killer: A more recent movie, an action-comedy about a young man who dresses in a Virgin killer and enacts vigilante justice on incel type guys. Based on a joke someone sent into my blog once.

Dick Kicker: Private Eye - A film noir parody series in the vein of Naked Gun. Very deadpan, very respectful of the genre.

Bottom Line: A blaxploitation series from the 70s about the eponymous martial arts hero who protected his community from various threats.

Arya Mournblade series: Long-running sword-and-sorcery fantasy series notable for consistently keeping the same actress from the original 80s film all the way to the 2017 finale. One of the films is infamous for featuring aliens as the antagonists.

Prudence Clay, Student Witch: A young adult fantasy book series by author Frida Spinney, which was hailed as the next Harry Potter by critics. The books have come under constant scrutiny for some extremely problematic elements, not helped at all by questionable comments she made online which inspired others to make similarly questionable comments (she’s friends with JKR if that tells you anything).

The Will of the Old Ones: A book by an author going by “Charlotte Webber.” It is a cosmic horror story whose content was overshadowed by a plagiarism lawsuit alleging the text was cobbled together from several unpublished manuscripts. The author making the claims of plagiarism was eventually found dead of an apparent suicide and the case ended up dropped. Hardly any discussion of the content of the book is made anymore, only the insanity around it.

Salty Steve’s Pirate Pizza Palace: A Charles Entertainment Cheese competitor founded in 1987. The discordant mashup of pirate and dinosaur theming has given it an odd charm that has helped it stay afloat, also helped by it getting a surprisingly good SNES game based around it.

Rubber Octopus: Popular mid 2000s indie rock band.

Six Shots: Based on an old scrapped superhero story idea. It’s not made yet, but it’s the next script James Gunn has for a movie, and Venus is gonna star in it.

[dontwaitforupdates]

Alphabet Soup Handwriting

the text is just their name and the font name. All fonts came from Dafont so you should be able to look them up there. This isn't their exact handwriting just the general idea and vibes. The plain text is below the cut.

Abeni/Aatos Stoll: Marshmallow Bea/Benjamin/Bailey Skinner: Baby Doll Cassandra (Cassie)/Cooper/Charlie Menzie: Amalfi Coast Dapisha Grimm: Lemon Yellow Sun Esme/Eugene/Emery Francis: Let Der B Carnage!!! Fiona/Finn/Francis Richard: Black Shine Georgie Abel: Simplicity Hayden Bauer: Scratchy Ihab Pau: Daniel Julia/Jacenty/Jay Andrews: Paper Note Kaia/Kai/Kaipo Nilsen: Angelina Lark/Luke/Loren Young: Squash Delight Melody/Milo/Madison Kelly: Hello Brownie Narith Polaris: Duckname Ofir (Ollie) Vargas: Samarchy Penny/Pierce/Page Hoffman: Handwriting Quin/Quentin Rees: Frusciante Hand Rada/Radek Werner: Kittendust Savannah/Samuel (Sammie)/Salem Carpenter: My Handwriting Tavani Hood: Signerica Ulyssa/Ulysses Klein: Cutesy Veronica/Vincent/Val Bourne: Skeetch Willow/William (Bill)/Winter Morrison: Milkshake Xanthe/Xavier/Xan Thomas: Journal Yazmin/Yanis Vlanos: Stay Classy SLDT Zoe/Zander Cohen: Farmhouse Children

[zorilleerrant]

WIP Game

Rules: In a new post, list the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!

(I'm doing my notes on my phone because I haven't organized my computer yet. I was trying to work on it but I got distracted by Steamboat Willie okay)

(warning: there's a lot. this goes back years)

DW fic ideas

Travelers Carrie - protocol alpha

Yuletide: Midnight Mass

Yuletide: Travelers

???

Master & Mickey

How to queer an apple

Barbie cinematic parallels

Icarus

Yuletide: Spirit World

Yuletide: Avenue 5

Yuletide: Khaos Komix

Dream blue goo

Yuletide: Only Murders

Yuletide: Monkey Prince

Red Text

Gain Infinite dramatic irony with this one easy trick! Audiences love to hate him

Yuletide: Stargirl

Yuletide: October Daye

Yuletide: Usher

Yuletide: Song of the Lioness

Yuletide: Harlivy

Yuletide: D'vana/T'Lyn

A poem

Exchampion fixer

Omegaverse Tim

Grimm

Goncharov

Jaytim pregnancy

Exploding Baby

Carry on

Billy & Theo

Danny Constantine

Jason Swap

Children under ten must be accompanied by monkeys

New Note

Bundtgate

Dick time travel

Read

Battiest season

Frederick the Frog

Godcoffee

spn charmed

CoBro Ben Glenroy

Dick/Garth identity

Xanthippe

Laura & Gerard

Bingo

That's the way the cookie crumbles

Memory Wipe

Ric & Dami

Gordyverse

Psychotic Dick

A Bet's A Bet

Xanthe/Cass

Billy and Constantine

Black Adam, Jason Robin rewrite version

Clockwork balcony

Three

Monkey 12

Dream about ghosts

Jasonfam beyond

Therapist

Monky busy other history

Monky busy Lori convo

Monky busy Dami convo

Snarry time travel

important dc characters

Val Yor

People keep asking me if I've ever met Black Captain America. I have!

All the Company Equipment

Ric & Dami

Kamala and Minhkoa

Smallville Confidant Lex

Batfam beyond

420

Timber Robin suit

Other Damian

TimBer

There's this legend, among my people.

The Prince and the Guard

Clex

Lex

Evil twin

Baby Jason

N

Pizza guy

Kara/Alex

Wait, this thing is powered by magic?

Starman

Hogwarts trans student union

DC Covenant

Batman Dynasty

Aboveboard

Who the hell is oz

Harley and rats

DeltFall

Peter

Sterek

Necromancer Danny

Failure. Retry?

Survey of Doom

Freely given

Wizardbot

Magicians

Monkeyland

Monkeyland 2

Sandman

Family Dinner

no capes billy

deaged Jason

when she smiles

joker junior

Terry

In the case of Caroline Hill

Magicians

Castle

Fake dating

Quentin harem

You're drunk Patricia go home

Kate and Katie destroy the world

Monkey crossing

Annabeth medusa

Qaf

Dark knights of superbat

Kryptonian sex ed

Jon coming out

Graysons live

Gotham soulmates

Dick time travel

MCU Jason

Della

Fetch a pail

Draco mpreg

Harleycest

Sylvester Lance

Green Dye

Yelena

Pennyworth

Wolfdog

Sexy werewolves

who you really are

Xanthippe

Paige Tico

Lost prince of winter

Dav-el

Love Story

Spike

Master

Sparkles Mcvillain

Even More Bones

some of them have more to them than others! I tried to skip the ones I already posted but I think a couple of these are finished things I just never published anywhere

[lucianinsanity-only-art]

Tag List:

Art and Writing related:

Luci An's art

Luci An's writing

Other People Fanart

Other People Art

Other People Fanfic

OC Kiss Week

AUs

Comic

Horror

Fanfic

Animation

Sculpture

Sewing

Art Doll

Dolls

Monster

Fandoms:

BNHA

Dragon Ball

Trigun

Good Omens

Sam and Max

TMA

Centaurworld

TOH

Ace Attorney

Dungeon Meshi

Venom

SCP

MP100

WTNV

Pacific Rim

Simon Snow Series

Hatsune Miku

Original Characters:

Random Lore

Los 23

Owen

Philip

Brisa

Jace

Dracon

Derian

Xian

Natalia

Eloisa

Xian, Natalia and Eloisa

Rovvena

Random (character)

Random and Rovvena

Xanthe

Sigrid

Azul

Danilo

Dom (Domeka/Dylan)

Ismael

Rei

Facundo

Santiago

Fabricio

Dax

Karla

Camila

Karla and Camila

Samantha

Hannah

Sam and Hannah

Ariel

Mar

Malva

Yeong-Jun

Hector

Hal

Hal and Hector

Arturo

Victor

Paris

Nicolas

Noah

Maximo Juan Zacarias

Senda

Iris

The Not Name Story

Dylan

Nic

Danilo NN

Random Stuff:

Tag Game

Bye An Sanity (text post, just talking)

Content Warnings:

Scopophobia

Body Horror

Blood

Injury

Violence

TW Death (death)

Bugs (Worms) (Spiders)

No ID