#that this one in particular is Simon's brother's evil magic book

[plutosheaven]

i wonder if Charles ever chanced upon a book at boarding school with initials scribbled in the corner of a page and wondered, just for a moment, about the story behind them.

[noxstellacaelum]

Clary STILL deserved her story

So, Todd Slavkin, the showrunner (along with Darren Swimmer) of Seasons 2 and 3 of Shadowhunters TV, just published a book about his time with the show.  It purports to be a BTS account of his experience running SHTV, with proceeds going to the Trevor Project and a couple of other charities. Sigh.  Every damn time I think I am finally through with this silly, pulpy show, I get pissed off all over again.   

The TL;DR version:  OH MY GOD CAN THIS MAN PLEASE JUST STOP???!!!!  SHTV had the IP rights to the 6-book Mortal Instruments Series.  Clary is the protagonist of this series:  Her journey is the scaffolding upon which the series’ narrative is constructed.  Centering Clary (and her love Jace) in what author Cassie Clare has described as a “girl power” story was an intentional narrative choice in TMI. So why, then, did Todd and Darren treat all of the female characters like garbage and erase Clary’s entire narrative arc in favor of bizarre non-canon plot twists and ancillary characters? Why did they encourage toxic fandom ship wars that pitted fans of Clary (and her love Jace) against fans of Malec?  We NEVER, EVER should have had to choose between representation of LGBTQ+ characters and stories and Clary’s narrative arc.  

Longer version:

First, credit where credit is due.  I am glad that Todd is raising money for worthy charities.  I am a long-time supporter of the Trevor Project, and the show and its fans have been loyal supporters of this organization for at-risk LGBT+ youth for years. Good for him for publicly supporting the Trevor Project once again.

Second, SHTV is to be commended for its racially diverse casting (casting choices for which Todd and Darren cannot claim credit, BTW, since they were brought on in S2) and for its commitment to representation for LGBT+ characters and relationships.  While the show was far from perfect in this regard, in my view -- I don’t think they got bi representation right with Magnus -- credit is due. 

BUT NO AMOUNT OF VIRTUE SIGNALING OR REPRESENTATION THROUGH MALEC CAN MAKE UP FOR THE MESS THAT DARREN AND TODD MADE OF SHTV, ESPECIALLY IN 3B AND THE FINALE. I have gone down this rabbit hole so many times, so I will just summarize here:

In a nutshell, every female character was hijacked.  

- For example, Mayrse seems to have existed in S2 and S3 solely to be punished for her S1 homophobia through a non-canon de-runing, then redeemed by becoming captain of the Malec ship.  In S3, in particular, it’s as though she has no other children. She does not realize that Jace has been possessed by Lilith.  She is never shown helping Jace deal with the loss and heartbreak he experiences first after thinking that Clary was killed by Lilith, and then after Clary’s memory is wiped. Literally the only moment that Mayrse and Jace appear together in the finale is at the Malec wedding -- when she (along with everyone else) neglects to realize that Clary is distraught because her runes are disappearing.  By the end of the finale, Mayrse is surfing in Brazil, worried about the effect of humidity on her hair, while Jace remains suicidal and grieving.  Seriously?!?!?!  Putting aside all of the non-canon fan service plot twists, have the showrunners ever met a mother?  No mother would ignore the pain and trauma that Jace experienced due to his possession by Lilith, or after Clary’s exile from the shadow world.  And, what does show Mayre’s treatment of Jace say about adoption?  For a show so concerned about representation, what about Jace’s story as a survivor of abuse and neglect?

Clary. What is there even to say.  

- For one thing, the show completely botched Clary’s love life.  First, there was the jumping into bed with Simon, her lifelong best friend, without any sense of struggle/ uncertainty about her feelings, followed by episode after episode of Climon shipping.  Book Clary is conflicted -- she doesn’t always treat Simon very well, but she’s 15 (in the books), and she’s dealing with her identify as a shadowhunter and her feelings for Jace (and the whole incest story line (which I am glad the show dealt with reasonably quickly)). Show Clary seems almost entirely unconflicted.  It’s as though sex with Simon was no big deal -- even though the show suggests that Simon (HER BEST FRIEND) may well have been her first sexual experience, and forgetting the fact that she’d clearly been falling for Jace (who she now thinks is her brother). 

-Second, the Dark Clary storyline is creepy, at best, especially regarding Clary’s sexuality.  Think about it.  Clary  does not sleep with Jace on the show until after Lilith puts the twinning rune on her.  (Despite having jumped into bed with Simon no problem.)  And then, full-on Dark Clary is shown going down on Jace in a club, and assaulting him, when he was grief-stricken and basically roofied. (Apparently, the only time women on the show get to be sexually assertive is when they are evil (read-Lilith) or possessed (Clary)).  None of this made any sense. 

-Third, the memory wipe is total bullshit.  In what TMI universe would Clary, the protagonist, be left alone on an NYC in a skimpy party dress, with no money, no identity, no memories of the past 4 months, no apartment, no mother, no father figure, no love of her life, no best friend, and no chosen family?  In what universe would her love Jace not have seen her runes disappearing?  In what universe would Jace have let Clary walk about the door sobbing, especially when she had just killed her last living relative to save the world, and after she had only just returned from the twinning rune/dark side?   In what universe would an angel have exiled Clary from the shadow world, and taken away her memories, after she saved the world?  Especially when literally every other character got to keep the Sight despite their bad acts (read, Valentine, Aldertree, Jace as the owl, possessed Alec after killing Clary’s mother, Sebastian/ Jonathan after mass murder ...)

Maia’s random Jace hookup. ‘Nuff said.

And finally, the Jace character was basically collateral damage for all of this.

- The show vacillated between blaming Jace for Magnus/Alec/ Malec problems (Magnus losing his magic to free Jace from Lilith) and erasing the parabatai bond between Alec and Jace entirely, especially in 3B, even though though the parabatai relationship is core SH canon.  Alec doesn’t realize Jace is possessed for most of 3A.  He tells Jace to suck it up in 3x11 when Jace is clearly grieving and suicidal.  And, he is shown mixing cocktails in Alicante with Magnus in the finale without a care in the world for Jace’s struggle in the year following Clary’s exile.  It’s all Malec all the time for Alec.  Yes, Jace/Alec have their ups and downs in the books.  But they work through them.  And, the parabatai bond is a source of strength for both book Alec and book Jace. With a couple of exceptions, this nuanced and lovely book relationship is lost in the show.

- In fact, the show deprived Jace of every relationship.  As noted above, Mayrse doesn’t seem to remember that Jace is her child in S3.  Alec is focused entirely on his relationship with Magnus most of the time.  Jace and Clary have basically no screen time as a couple.  And, no one really seems to give a shit. Not for Jace the son/sibling/parabatai.  And not for his mental health, or his trauma after a childhood of abuse and neglect.

After all of this, the wedding was just icing on the cake. Alec and Magnus’s marriage is well-earned in Clare’s books. They get married after five years of a healthy, loving, committed relationship.  They remain -- in addition to their relationship with eachother -- son/sibling/parabatai (Alec) and a brave and loving downworlder (Magnus).  None of this let’s get married the day after Jonathan’s mass slaughter and after Clary is forced to kill her last living relative, after three or so months of mostly unsuccessful dating.

I want to be clear that I LOVE the Malec relationship, and that representation of this relationship as loving, healthy and joyous has a great deal of personal meaning to me.  But I should never have had to sacrifice Clary (and her love Jace) to see a meaningful relationship between Magnus and Alec on-screen.  We ALL deserve nice things, after all.  Lifting up Malec NEVER, EVER mean we had to destroy Clary, Jace and Clace.

SO, I’ll be donating on my own to the Trevor Project.  Maybe someday Todd and Darren will reflect upon the damage that they did.

[shewhotellsstories]

Your Fave is Problematic Pt. 4: Not that kind of girl

Fair warning this will be critical of Cassandra Clare’s writing choices with regards to Isabelle Lightwood and Clary Fray.

From Merlin to Harry Potter the lonely, magical misfit is a trope that many a writer has relied upon. It’s understandable because it makes the audience sympathize with the protagonist right away, as there’s nothing more universally relatable than feeling like you don’t belong growing up. How can you not root for an underdog? However the difference between how the Harry Potters and the Clary Frays relate to other people is that male protagonists want to connect with their peers, but simply can’t due to their circumstances. The Clarys and Celaenas have combative relationships with other female characters. They write off the possibility of friendship with other female characters because other girls are the antithesis of everything that they are and want to be. If they do have friends, they are boys or another girl that is also not like other girls. (Writing Radically, “Girl Hate in Young Adult Fiction”)

Clary Fray and Celaena Sardothian although worlds and writers apart sadly embody this particular trope.  When readers meet Clary Fray, the heroine of The Mortal Instruments series,  she is with her best friend Simon Lewis. Simon is her closet, oldest, and only friend.  They have been friends since first grade and are bound by their mutual love of manga, comic books, music, and film. It is not unusual for a protagonist to only have one friend, but Clary by the age 16 apparently hasn’t connected with other people over her passion for popular culture or her love of art. From the beginning, the audience learns that Clary doesn’t have any female friends.

Whenever Clary is confronted with another girl she instinctively feels threatened by them. For example, she dislikes Maia Roberts, a character introduced in the second book, for her beauty, her interest in her best friend, and mentoring relationship her father figure.  She dislikes Aline Penhallow, a character introduced in the third book for her interest in her presumed brother Jace Wayland. Additionally, she spends the first three books with a contentious relationship with Isabelle Lightwood.

Isabelle Lightwood, the only other main female character in The Mortal Instruments is very obviously ‘that kind of girl’ and not shockingly she and Clary spend the first three books at odds with each other. Unlike Clary, Isabelle embraces traditionally feminine pursuits. She wears the highest heels fighting the forces of evil, has as much expertise in makeup application as she is in weaponry, and relishes attention, especially male attention. Which according to her adoptive brother is a part of the reason she’s not Clary’s number one fan:

“She hates me,” observed Clary.

“No, she doesn’t,” he said, to her surprise. “You just make her nervous, because she’s always been the only girl in a crowd of adoring boys, and now she isn’t anymore.” (City of Bones 500)

 This moment is important for a number of reasons. Shadowhunter children live sheltered lives. They’re homeschooled until they are old enough to be trained for battle and have nothing to do with Mundanes, non-humans.  The adoring boys that Isabelle is surrounded by are more often than not her brothers. Although this series features its fair share of incest, Isabelle isn’t interested in either of her brothers romantically. So after sixteen years of her brothers being her only playmates why wouldn’t Isabelle be welcome to the idea of a new peer?

Many of the conflicts between Clary and Isabelle revolve around boys and body-shaming. Clary is horrified at the idea that Isabelle will start dating her best friend Simon. When Jace and Clary believe that they are brother and sister there is a great deal of pain to work through and Isabelle resents Clary for it.  After seemingly warming up to Clary, she makes it clear that she doesn’t want Clary around due to the pain she feels Clary’s presence is causing her brother.  On a more superficial level, Clary and Isabelle disapprove of each other’s fashion choices and envy each other’s body type.  Isabelle finds Clary at first to be plain and ignorant of the Shadow World. Clary often doesn’t appreciate Isabelle’s seemingly vain nature or her tendency to be blunt.

Young women are taught from a young age that the most significant and fulfilling relationships they will have in their lives will be with men. They are also taught that the thing that will most interfere with those relationships are other women. (hooks 43)  In The Mortal Instruments series this idea is reinforced. For the most part conflicts between Clary and other girls are only ever resolved when they no longer see each other as a threat to their relationships with the boys in their lives. Isabelle and Clary finally become friends once Isabelle believes that Clary will no longer cause her brother pain. Maia and Clary become friends after a shared near death experience and after Clary and Simon realize they’ll never work as a couple.  Clary’s liking for Aline improves once Aline tells Clary she’s not interested in Jace. Later, it will turn out that Aline’s not interested in boys at all.

Despite the author being a woman what these two characters are displaying is known as internalized misogyny. 

[altobrandy31-blog]

There Were Zero Things Better This Week Than That Absurdly Historic Klay Game

Welcome to Good Stuff, HuffPost’s weekly recommendation series devoted to the least bad things on and off the internet.

Monday night, I found myself in the very top row of the United Center in Chicago, where I bore witness to an absurd bit of history, and what is quite possibly the most entertaining version of basketball ever invented: A Klay Game.

The game itself wasn’t that good, by normal standards. By the end of the first quarter, the Golden State Warriors had run up a 20-point lead on the hapless and injured Chicago Bulls. By halftime, the Dubs had 92 points and were winning by 40. It was pointless. Except for Klay.

Except for Klay. Thompson, that is, the Warriors’ gunner of two-guard who, up to that point in the season, had been trash. Thompson entered the evening having made just five of his first 36 three-point attempts of the season ― a 14 percent clip that was nearly 30 points below his career average from distance. But on Monday, he reverted to his old, dumb self, which unlike Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant ― his superstar teammates whose dominant nights always feel like reminders that they have absolutely broken basketball ― tends to feel more normal. Klay is the old dude at the gym who uses screens the right way, finds himself in the corner, and pummels you with an endless barrage of buckets ... if that old dude was also 6′6″ and one of the greatest shooters of all time.

He hit his first three less than 90 seconds into the game. By the end of the first quarter, he’d made five more. At halftime, he had 10, and at one point, he had made nine out of 11 threes. He finished the game with 14, setting a single-game NBA record in just 27 minutes on the floor. He had 52 points.

The amazing thing about it, though, wasn’t that he broke the record, but how. A Klay Game is a special phenomenon: on the occasions where Klay isn’t just hot but reaches thermonuclear status, the Warriors’ other superstars cease to even consider themselves a part of the game, and instead funnel the ball to him with a relentless, single-minded focus. So each time a Bulls shot clanked off the rim and landed in the hands of a Golden State player, they looked for Klay. In the corner. At the top of the key. Barely across half-court. It didn’t matter. Curry and Durant were passing up open shots to find him. Draymond Green, on one possession, set five screens in an effort to free Thompson from his defenders. They still got theirs, but the night was Klay’s, and they knew it.

So did the crowd. By the start of the second half, no one was paying attention to the score, or the Bulls. Not even their fans. Each time Klay touched the ball, the crowd urged him to shoot. Each time he did, the air burped with the anticipation that he was about to hit another one. And more often than not, it went in. The Warriors are dumb, and even though its cool in some circles to hate them now, I can’t. Not when they play basketball like this. And not when they can decide, on any given night, to let Klay be Klay, and remind us that there are still endless wonders in an NBA season, even when its ultimate outcome already feels certain. ― Travis Waldron

Kurt Russell As Cool Santa

I don’t really know how to explain the new trailer for “The Christmas Chronicles.” There’s Kurt Russell as cool Santa Claus throwing concerts in prison and bemoaning images on cola cans for making his butt look big. There are very CGI elves who don’t totally look like gremlins, but I wouldn’t want to feed them after midnight. The Netflix movie’s premise seems to revolve ― maybe? ― around the potential death of Christmas, which won’t be saved unless some kids travel around the world with Chris Pratt’s evil dad, who seems more worried about breaking out “Star Wars” references and dunking presents down chimneys. Hmm.

It feels like a Christmas miracle this is happening at all, so I for one will be counting down the days until it arrives in my queue. ― Bill Bradley

WHY IS LIZZO PERFECT?

A Very Good Paperback

Simon & Schuster

I know. I know! This book came out in February. But I missed it then, and this week I finally circled back to the book I’d heard glowing things about for months. If you haven’t read Halliday’s masterfully engineered debut yet, you should do the same thing.

The novel opens on the blossoming romance between Alice, a young editor at a publishing house in New York, and Ezra Blazer, an elderly acclaimed novelist who bears an unmistakeable resemblance to Philip Roth. Also an aspiring writer, Alice soaks up Ezra’s attention and guidance, as he showers her with blackout cookies, rolls of cash to spend at upscale department stores, and sacks of edifying books to read. Rather than fully flipping a narrative so often told from the older male perspective on its head, Halliday relates it from a remove that hovers between clinical and whimsical, as if their relationship is a case file put into the language of a fairy tale.

Then, just as Alice realizes she must choose between her own future as a writer or a real partnership with the ailing Ezra, Halliday throws us into another story. Amar Jaafari, an Iraqi-American economist, has been detained in Heathrow en route to see his brother in Kurdistan. In between dealing with the crushing bureaucracy ― repeated interrogations that cycle through the same questions, vague and inexplicable explanations for his detention ― he reflects on his life, the two countries that have been home to his family, and the violence that has surrounded his brother and other loved ones.

The novel ends with an eerily convincing transcript of a “Desert Island Discs” interview in which Ezra, some ten years on from the start of his relationship with Alice, recommends his all-time favorite songs, reminisces, and flirts with the interviewer.

A dazzling puzzle box of a book, Asymmetry melds ambition and restraint in its exploration of power, artistic imagination, empathy, geopolitics, and love. It’s recently out in paperback, so there’s absolutely no reason not to read it immediately. ― Claire Fallon

A Night of Short Horror Films (By Mostly Women!)

Nitehawk

"Cat Calls" (directed by Kate Dolan)

Every year, Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn hosts a short film festival. And every year, Caryn Coleman, director of programming and special projects at the theater, co-curates a midnight showing dedicated to mini horror flicks, the kinds that only require eight to 19 minutes to rattle your already fragile existence and catapult your adrenaline levels in glorious micro waves of fear.

This year’s showing will take place on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 9:30 p.m. And its lineup is like a pleasant middle finger to Jason Blum, a man blithely unaware of the many female directors working in horror today.

“When I read the Jason Blum article I had watched two brand new horror films directed by women in the previous 24 hours,” Coleman told HuffPost. “Genre films by women is nothing new to me or to the many people clued into what’s happening in horror. Therefore, what he said is a prime example of how out of touch certain parts of the film industry establishment are; they are completely unaware of a reality that is right in front of their face simply because they don’t care enough to look.”

Coleman and her co-programmer Sam Zimmerman have paid particular attention to women’s voices at her festival over the years. “This year we’re thrilled that our program not only features 70 percent female directors,” she said, “but that nearly all address the real horror of what it’s like to be a woman in the world.”

Three films to watch at the Shorts Festival’s “Midnite” screening this year are “Rape Card,” “Pumpkin Movie” (“I saw it the night of the Blasey-Ford testimony and it was utterly prescient, couldn’t get it out of my head,” Coleman said), and “Cat Calls.” Tickets are on sale here. ― Katherine Brooks

Rosé In October

Nestled halfway into Quavo’s new album, “Quavo Huncho,” is a track that dares to bring rosé out of the summer slums and into the autumn breeze. Understanding the pink-tinted bubbly should be a year-round affair, “Champagne Rosé” had the rapper “poppin’ bottles” in — gasp! — October. More significantly, he did so with the help of two incredible collaborators. One of them (Cardi B) comes as no surprise; the other (Madonna) is a left-field swerve that proves to be one of the record’s highlights.

Dominating the song with a high-pitched autotune, Madonna’s is the first voice we hear. She stretches “champagne” to three syllables and turns wine into sex the way only she can (“Please drink me up”). Her presence is the yin to Quavo’s full-throated yang, perfectly accentuated by a flute that graces the intoxicating beat. And then, before the four-minute bop ends, Madonna nails a verse that again lets her bend and elongate words with a crisp, clarion cadence: “Let me entertain you / Get inside your vein, too / Intoxicate your brain, ooh / Crazy, what I’ll make you.” It’s a frothy morsel, likely to remain an under-appreciated footnote in all three artists’ repertoires. But listen to it and try not to hit the repeat button a dozen times. You can’t do it. ― Matthew Jacobs

Witch Hunting

Halloween may be over, but witches rule all year long. If you haven’t yet checked out two spooooky witchy reboots ― The CW’s “Charmed” and Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” ― the time is now. Both series take beloved ’90s shows and turn them into something darker, more complex and more overtly feminist. Neither show is perfect, but they both have done something interesting and timely ― and, dare we say ... magical? Plus, with all the talk of “witch hunting” powerful white men, it’s about damn time we saw some real witchy women get their due. ― Emma Gray

Martha Rosler Forever

In the 1975 video “Semiotics of the Kitchen,” one of multidisciplinary artist Martha Rosler’s most famed works, Rosler stands at a makeshift kitchen station in front of a refrigerator and stove. It looks like a cross between a Rachael Ray cooking demo and a Francesca Woodman photograph.

“Apron,” she says, as she pulls one over her head. “Bowl,” displaying a bowl to the world while pantomiming stirring. “Chopper,” plunging it into the bowl violently. “Egg beater ... fork ... grater,” she continues, rubbing the fork up and down the grater, emitting a jarring racket. She continues down the alphabet, naming different kitchen appliances and simulating their use for the viewer like an alien mimicking domestic rituals. When she picks up the nutcracker, Rosler glares at the viewer while spreading and shutting the tool’s legs with vigor. The video, critiquing the oppressive, domestic roles women are often forced to embody, becomes a jagged dance to the tune of a grating metallic symphony.

This is Rosler’s most well-known piece, but far from the only one worth knowing. A retrospective at the Jewish Museum spans Rosler’s five-decade career. Featuring installations, photographic series, sculpture, and video, the exhibit probes far beyond “Semiotics of the Kitchen” to show us one of the most witty and dogged feminist artists of our time. In one photo collage, blond women snap selfies in a mod mansion as flames blaze outside the windows. In an installation, various women’s lingerie and sleepwear congregate around a white mattress. The cluster of thongs and spanx and granny panties alludes to the stories clothes tell about the women who wear them. Or perhaps just the stories we buy into.

The show opens on Friday, Nov. 2 and is up until March. All feminists, Jews and bad chefs are encouraged to attend. ― Priscilla Frank

The Drawing of Lines

Screenshot

We’re all blessed to have lived long enough to discover that the Gateway Pundit apparently does have a line, and that line’s name is Jacob Wohl. ― Ashley Feinberg

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/there-were-zero-things-better-this-week-than-that-absurdly-historic-klay-game_us_5bdccf96e4b09d43e31efd6c

[shions-heart]

too lazy to read past like.. number four.. but i wanna know about your oc's!! do you have a lot? only a few? do they all exist in the same world? favorites? basic bios?? i love oc's!!!

thanks love

um, I have a lot, yeah. I’ve been writing original stories almost as long as I’ve been writing fan fiction. There’s, um, Carthonia, which is about a group of new settlers sent off a dying Earth in order to repopulate and colonize a planet they’ve named New Earth, but when they get caught in the debris of an exploding star, they’re thrown off course and land on a different planet, Carthonia, where they discover a lot of shady stuff is going on. The main character, Rose, is the one who discovers the horrible secret the Carthonian government is hiding, and she tries to rectify it.

The main characters in that are Rose, her medic brother Jasper, a nameless Carthonian boy, and the military faction’s second-in-command Jack. Looking back, though, I might make Jack a female character, so Rose isn’t the only one.

Carthonia was my first NaNoWriMo attempt, and though I did complete over 50k in the month, I never finished it.

putting the rest under read more cuz this is gonna be a lot, sorry

then there’s the Afaennon Trilogy. The first book, The Blind Traveler, was the NaNo book I completed and self-published, sold about 50 copies. I started the second book but didn’t get very far into it. I want to go back and revamp it all because I really thought the story was good, but we’ll see.

The main characters in that were Anna, a princess whose family was killed and her kingdom taken over by an evil king; Luka, the blind Traveler who is also one of the Chosen Ones, the special few who still have magic; his sister Alyosha, who’s badass; and Misha, another Traveler who they meet on their journey to try and convince the other Chosen Ones under the evil king’s command to defect and join them in taking him down. (There’s also Sasha, Luka and Aly’s brother, and Alexei, from a fellow Traveler family, and Onion, Anna’s pet toad.)

There’s actually a LOT of characters in that one, but those are the main, main ones. I guess the main characters are Anna and Luka, if we’re going to be precise.

another, more recent one, is Haven, which is about the orphans of registered superheroes. Well, one orphan in particular. Rebekah Rodriguez aka Reb. Her parents and younger brother were killed by her evil uncle, and she doesn’t believe she has any abilities. Like in Sky High? But it’s really just that her PTSD suppressed them because she was the only survivor. She finds out that her brother is still alive but in the clutches of her uncle, so she formulates a rescue plan with her best friend Simon Nakamura aka Sy. He’s an empath and has the power of invisibility. He’s also dealing wth PTSD because he blames himself for his parents’ death. (Yes, this is the Sy I got my name from.)

There were other characters in my original plot-line, but I’ve since condensed it so the only other characters of note are Ryker, a cat burglar who has the abilities of an actual cat (like cat woman except male), can even turn into a cat, who Reb enlists his help in sneaking into her uncle’s headquarters, and Nadia, who can manipulate water, whose father works for Reb’s uncle but ends up helping them after they’re caught and locked up.

after that story (which I finished but then rewrote and now I need to rewrite again), came Mnemosyne, which I haven’t finished and need to revamp/rewrite too …

but in Mnemosyne it’s about four friends, once of which dies at the beginning, and the rest of the story is basically a flashback of the months leading up to the death. I’m thinking of rewriting it tho and making the death happen at the beginning and the rest of the story being these four friends attempting to cope with the death of their best friend and trying to move on, that way it ends on a more hopeful note, rather than a tragedy.

but the four main characters are Faith, a high-spirited, optimistic girl who’s bi and lives with her single mother and is basically the sunshine child of the group; Caleb, a half-Sioux, half-Irish gay foster kid who ran away from his abusive home and is now homeless but has known Faith since he first showed up in the town when he was 13 and she was kind to him so they’re best friends now, so close they’re practically siblings; Rae, a trans female who has non-accepting parents and a confused but loving little brother; she’s the newest member of the four who is still a little shy and self-conscious but since the others love her for who she is, she’s a lot more open and outgoing around them; and Jason, who’s black and whose father is filthy rich and owns half the town, who’s engaged to a woman named Paola, an arranged thing by his parents, who won’t accept the fact that their son is gay and in love with Caleb. He also has a sister named Juno, who’s very supportive and keeps trying to get Jason to stand up to their parents, but he’s very much a diplomat (tho Caleb just calls him a coward). Jason and Faith go way back to when they were little kids, so they were already best friends when Caleb showed up on the scene.

In the original story, it ended with Jason dying before he and Caleb got to say they loved each other, but tbh there are already too many sad gay stories. I’m not sure yet how I’m going to fix things, if I’m going to have Jason die at the beginning and have the story be Faith, Caleb, and Rae trying to pick themselves up and move on, or have Faith be the one to die at the beginning, and they have to try and move on without their sunshine, or have an as-of-yet-unnamed 5th friend be the one who dies, and it’s about the four of them struggling to pick themselves up and move on, helping each other, falling in love, making new friends that support them through it all, etc. 

so yeah, not sure yet how I’m gonna revamp that, but yeah.

EDIT: shit, I forgot about Alex and Jake. Yeah, there’s The Adventures of Alex and Jake, which I kinda want to make into a graphic novel. I think it’d be cool as a graphic novel . . . but yeah that’s about Alex, a genderfluid dmab vampire who’s isolated and cynical and protests that he’s lonely (and SUPER extra, takes the vampire thing much too literally), and Jake, a happy-go-lucky (at least on the outside), outgoing, optimistic, friendly, etc. werewolf. Alex takes in Jake after finding him wounded in the woods, and then gets caught up in the danger that follows him because a back of evil werewolves want him, and a group of Hunters, want to kill them both.

There’s also Abigail, Alex’s younger sister, who is the brains of the operation, who takes care of Alex and tries to convince him that he loves Jake, even though he continues to protest his growing feelings for the kid . . .

SO! yeah, I have plenty of stories with OCs that haven’t been written yet, but I figured I should just stick with the stories I already have that I’m gonna try to rewrite into something that’s actually publishable. I still really like all these ideas, but I haven’t worked on any of them in forever (I wrote Mnemosyne in May 2015, before I fell into anime hell).

As to my favorites … mmm I think Rose, the unnamed Carthonian boy, Luka, Sy, Jake, and Caleb are my favorites.

[dancesontheedge]

An age and a half ago, @tavsancuk tagged me in a 10 characters in 10 fandoms meme.  I am finally filling it.  I have laid myself some ground rules.  I will choose and present to you, in no particular order, my ten favorite male characters.  I will also include explanations for my picks.  I am strongly considering doing a mirror post with my ten favorite female characters with explanations.  Also, some of them are coming with fic recs.  Sorry not sorry.  Most of those recs will route you to FFN.  That, I am a little sorry about.  Since this is explanation heavy, I’ll put it under a read more.

Finn (Star Wars) This fabulous man turns his back on everything he has ever been taught because he realized it was wrong.  He broke more than a decade’s worth of programming to free Poe Dameron, and then he went back for Rey despite his fear of the First Order.  That takes serious guts, and I have so much respect for his character.

have you heard by peradi Finn sparks a stormtrooper revolution.

Jess Mariano (Gilmore Girls) Jess grew so much over the course of the series.  We did not get to see most of it happening, but he went from a really messed up, angry at the world teenager to a well-adjusted and very successful adult (based on what we’ve seen).  Also, though he and Rory had their issues as a couple, he was the only one of her boyfriends who she did not feel the need to change for.

Of Books and Music by once-was-serendipity.  Instead of cutting off all contact with Rory when he left in season 3, Jess sent books with his margin-notes to Rory.  We see him deal with all of his shit. Pay the Piper by Iscah McKrae.  Immediately after Rory’s disastrous visit to Philadelphia, Shane contacts Jess to tell him they have a daughter who she wants not part of.  Jess winds up taking full custody.  Incomplete. Truths Universally Acknowledged by 12cubed.  A Jane Austen report assigned by Mr. Medina spirals out of control as Taylor announces a Jane Austen festival.  Season 2 style Rory/Jess pining. Tide and Moon by once-was-serendipity.  Jess and Rory’s relationship over seasons 2 and 3 plays out a bit differently.  Mostly, Jess get’s his shit together earlier.  Incomplete.

Zuko (Avatar the Last Airbender) Over the course of the series, Zuko realized that his father was evil and everything he had been taught (by someone not-Uncle-Iroh) was either a lie or immoral.  Once he finished being in denial about it, he took action, ultimately changing sides and working to atone for the wrong he had done when he still believed in his father.

Embers by Vathara.  At the beginning of season 2, Zuko discovers the secret of healing fire, and then things get super AU, super fast.  Lots of worldbuilding, and I swear to god this author’s a goddess.  Has been described as “Atla in the style of Game of Thrones, minus the sex” Mismatched by Kimberly T. In season 1, Zuko discovers an Earth Kingdom baby with mismatched eyes.  Because local superstition claims the baby is a witch-child and bad luck because of it, Zuko adopts him.  This speeds his realization that everything he knows is wrong by quite a bit. Incomplete. Second Nature by lazyartisan.  At the end of season 1, Zuko is captured at the North Pole.  Angst ensues.  Essentially, the author upped the stakes and ignored the “kids show” genre.  Incomplete-ish.  The author told the story she wanted to tell, but ends the story at the end of season 2 rather than resolving everything.  She may eventually update again, she may not. Another Brother by AvocadoLove.  Zuko was scarred much younger than in canon and is found by Chief Hakoda almost dead on a Fire Navy ship.  Hakoda takes him in, and he is raised in the Southern Water Tribe alongside Sokka and Katara.

Steve Rogers (MCU) Steve Rogers’ moral compass is so on point it’s honestly terrifying.  His entire morality basically boils down to “I don’t like bullies or trust the people in power not to be bullies,” and honestly that’s the kind of role model we all could use.  He is uncompromising, but he’s right with an alarming consistency.  And he’s genuine, which warms the cockles of my own way-too-honest heart.  (It should, perhaps, be noted that this is why Benjamin Tallmadge is my favorite Turn character and that these traits are reflected in one of my most formative female characters, Keladry of Mindelen.)

Serenade by CSI Clue. Happy fic.  Steve gets a girlfriend and everything is adorable. Choice is Not a Word a Bullet Knows series by bomberqueen17.  Winter Soldier followup, so much poly capfam, at least one really awesome OC. A Pretty Boy with a Bird Tattoo by Kryptaria and rayvanfox.  Steve/Bucky/Nat OT3, punk college AU.  My favorite of their collaborative works (because Nat), but their other stuff (stucky, all of it) is super awesome too.  Source Code by Closer.  Steve is tired of everyone thinking he’s a robot clone or whatever the conspiracy theory of the week is. Freezer Burn series by Domenika Marzione.  Comics/MCU mashup that follows a different Avenger in each of the major stories. Freezer Burn follows Steve, Thaw follows Clint, Revenant follows Nat.

Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds) Spencer Reid gets put through such shit by the Criminal Minds writers (and the fandom, honestly.  We love to watch him suffer), but he continues to be dedicated to justice and peaceful solutions.  In addition, he is one of the biggest nerds and genius’ on TV, and is generally way less obnoxious and improbable about it than others of his type.  It should be noted that I am not up to date on this show, having missed almost every episode that aired while I was at University, and that I am refusing to watch the current Reid-in-prison-without-his-memory arc.  Because that was a bridge too far.

Foxtrot Whiskey Bravo by Kuria Dalmatia.  Reid and Elle have a friends with benefits relationship.  Very unangsty for my possible Reid picks. The Comstock King’s Daughter by TheKnittingLady.  Reid/OC.  Reid and his date get kidnapped by an Unsub, things go better than they could.  The least depressing/angsty story by this author, the story by this author requiring the fewest content/trigger warnings.  This author is *very* good, but her work is pretty messed up.  Writes almost exclusively Reid-centrics, usually Reid/OC. Liar by Addicted Archangel.  Reid is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.  Somehow not as angsty/whumpy as the current canon storyline.  Begins with his conviction, ends with his release.

Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables) Honestly, who doesn’t love Gilbert?  Pining away for Anne and being generally adorable.  No long winded explanation here, but can we all just take a second, think of Gilbert Blythe, and smile?

Blythe Spirit and Unromantic Ideal by Morte Rouge.  The first three books of the Anne of Green Gables Series from Gilbert’s POV.  I promise it’s not repetitive.  Some grammar issues.

Christopher Perry/Halliwell (Charmed) This tortured soul happens to fall right in the middle of one of my favorite tropes: Time Travel.  Chris travels back in time to prevent his older brother, the most powerful witch to ever live, from turning evil and taking over the world.  He lost literally everyone, led the resistance, watched his brother kill his fiance, and when he went back in time was hated by the younger versions of his family for being so driven and not letting them have a life and also for breaking up his mother and father (they, of course, did not know who he was). Also, he’s a sarcastic little shit.  It’s like he’s the definition of my preferred angst-button.

A Pair of Ragged Claws by cunneware.  Wyatt’s most deadly assassin arrives from the future.  It is revealed that she has been magically enslaved by Wyatt, and when that magic is lifted, she decides to aid Chris in his mission to prevent Wyatt from turning evil.  Ultimately, it is revealed that Chris is the sisters’ son/nephew. The Last Horcrux by Stonage Woman.  Crossover with Harry Potter, AU from book 6.  Taking place in the original future where Wyatt is evil, with all the accompanying super-depressing things that come along with that.  Harry is in his 40s, still fighting Voldemort, and essentially adopts Chris.  If you would like to know where my angst-o-meter sits, this one registers at like an 8 of 10.

Edmund Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia) Edmund is generally a shit in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Nobody will argue that point with you.  What’s important to me is how he grows.  He decides to become worthy of Aslan’s sacrifice.  He decides to live up to his sobriquet “The Just.”  He acts to atone for his selfishness and live a life of service.

Harold and Morgan: Not a Romance by rthstewart.  This is super a romance.  Edmund got married in Narnia to a banker from the Lone Islands.  It’s adorable, and I’m quite convinced she’s on the autism spectrum. The Stone Gryphon ‘verse by rthstewart.  The Pevensies deal with being back in WWII England, mostly by being ridiculously badass. Not a whole ton of Edmund yet, but it’s awesome, I love everything about it, and could hardly write Narnia recs and not include it. Letting Go by Lirenel.  Prince Caspian AU in which Edmund arrives separately from and substantially before his siblings because he wasn’t holding their hands at the train station. The Ledbury Run by Maddy Carr. Back in England, Edmund and Peter participate in a cross-country race and find in their path a downed German paratrooper.

Simon Tam (Firefly) Simon had it all.  He had money, he had his dream career, he had parents who were pleased as punch to have him as their son.  He gave it all up to rescue his sister from government experimentation and subsequently became a fugitive.  He has some trouble adjusting, as you can imagine, from golden child to desperate man on the edges of society, but he never considers going back.  Not once.  Because his sister was more important to him than all the accolades he could earn.

Alec Hardison (Leverage) Hardison is a hardened criminal.  Ish.  He takes immense pride in his hacking ability and would be offended if I said he was one of the best in the business.  Because he’s the best. But really, Hardison’s a soft touch.  He was the one most easily convinced to join the Leverage team and use his crime powers for good.  His first heist? Hacking into the Bank of Iceland to pay his Nana’s medical bills.  He decided that the Leverage crew was his family, and promptly adopted them all.  He’s the team-builder, the block they all built on.  He provided the space, he provided the nurturing eye, he paid attention to what his team members wanted and gave it to them.  Though he’s a criminal, he’s the moral center of the Leverage crew.  Also he’s a giant nerd and completely hilarious.

The Justice League Job by Eatsscissors.  Casefic about a stolen comic book. Hardison/Parker.

[askwwwwd]

WHAT WOULD WONDER WOMAN DO?...about the Westboro Baptist Church (Originally posted Feb. 11, 2016)

The vitriol with which they spew their venomous zealotry has made them a national household name, and rightfully so. That’s right, the Westboro Baptist Church is at it again. They claimed to be going to San Francisco last weekend, for the 50th annual SuperBowl, and pledged to picket last Saturday morning’s book signing of Square Zair Pair, A new children’s book by Journalist of The Year award winner Jase Peeples. The writer received multiple threats of picket. However, one can’t help but wonder...Why a children’s book? Well, I think it is pretty clear that the ‘Church,’ which has been deemed a hate group by both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, has proven that they are not above much in this world. Founder Fred Phelps was first brought national attention in 1998 during his picket of the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming man who was killed for being gay. The church’s fire and brimstone antics have continued even after Fred Phelps’ excommunication and subsequent death. Matter of fact, their picketing of funerals and LGBTQ events has become happenstance in America. Sadly, they vowed to turn their attention to children last weekend. Mostly because Peeples’ Zair Square Pair delivers a message about the importance of acceptance and diversity, and that is a message, in the words of the WBC, that “God Hates.” I personally come from a strict Pentecostal Christian upbringing. So, the group has both fascinated and confounded me for a very long time. As with everything in life that confounds me, I continue to pose the same question. Today I ask, in the case of the Westboro Baptist Church: What Would Wonder Woman Do?

Both are creatures of myth and story (yes, I said it). Both are products of divine birth. Both were gifted with divine powers. Both charged by the almighty(s) to show the world a better way. If you’re wondering who I’m talking about it’s Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) and Diana of Themyscira (aka Wonder Woman). Many aren’t aware of the clear and direct Messiah-like parallels of her story, but I’m here to tell you that they are there. Or at least they were there for the character’s first 70 or so years prior to DC Comics’ ‘New 52’ revamp...

Dr. William Moulton Marston III’s depiction of Wonder Woman’s divine birth, but that’s fodder for another article. Today I’m going to concentrate on the character’s first 70 years with an emphasis on Dr. Marston’s original creation. Because ultimately, that’s the source material and what I believe for what Wonder Woman was intended. In my humble opinion, the ideals of Jesus Christ and Wonder Woman are complimentary and very near to be equally parallel. Since the WBC has claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, I figured I would take their most popular three word slogan “GOD HATES FAGS” and utilize it as a template, to compare: a) their Lord and savior’s message, b) Wonder Woman’s message and c) how the church falls in line with said doctrine. All in an effort to lead me to an answer of ‘what Wonder Woman would do’. Okay,...here we go!

FIRST WORD: ‘GOD’ – Who is this God in the bible that the Westboro Church follows? The Christian faith says that God is three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, when referring to Jesus Christ we are also referring to God. Well, the bible also gave a very clear and direct definition of who God is. In 1 John 4:8 says that “...God is Love.” (Siri, create a Reminder for me to thank John for being so thoughtful and breaking it down for us). Ok, so how does the bible actually define love? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says that, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” By these definitions, God is love and love is exhibiting goodness and kindness...Seems pretty simple to me, right? Dr. Marston also seemed to have similar views.

In the previous photo, Marston’s Wonder Woman proved to the personifications of Love and Wisdom (Aphrodite & Athena), that she was worthy to have people obey her, due to her mastery of love and wisdom. Essentially, in one panel, Marston made a clear statement that Diana being of service to love and wisdom was the prerequisite for her to lead. His character was literally governed by the two ideals, and was commanded to lead with love and wisdom. Seeing this panel really blew my mind on so many levels. Those who I personally consider to be some of the greatest and most memorable writers of Wonder Woman (Perez, Jimenez, Rucka, Simone, Badower, etc.) continued to expand upon Marston’s idea of Wonder Woman being a creature governed by love and wisdom. It’s very clear, to me and in my opinion, that both God and Wonder Woman have love as their foundation. I have yet to see a display of that kind of love (patience, kindness, etc.) from the Westboro Baptist Church. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure if they are aware, but the Westboro Baptist Church has exhibited the equal and exact opposite of every single description Corinthians gave of what love is supposed to be. Especially with the word ‘hate’ being at the nexus of their most popular slogan. Which brings me to the next word in today’s template for examination...

SECOND WORD: ‘HATES’ – I can’t blame the Westboro Baptist Church for concentrating on this particular word. Hate is actually mentioned often in the bible, and they do a very great job of listing many of the mentions of hate in the good book. There is a definite through line of ideas about hate weaved through the holy text. Though ultimately, if you ‘hate’ and claim to be a follower of Christ then you, “...shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 50: 20-21. This passage is conveniently left out of the Westboro Baptist Church’s list of hate mentions. God (Jesus) also told us himself (directly) that one of the greatest commandments was to love our neighbor as ourselves, and John 3:14- 15 says that, “...Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart.” And aren’t we all brothers and sisters in the Lord? So, if I’m correct, God pretty much sees hate as a sin, because “Vengance is MINE sayeth the Lord.” Romans 12:19.

It seems to me that Wonder Woman continues to reflect similar principles of loving everyone regardless. Marston exemplified his intention with Wonder Woman when he has her saying things like, “...keep your hands extended to all in friendliness but never holding the gun of persecution and intolerance.” I personally don’t see any kind of ambivalence there. It’s very cut and dry; always be friendly and don’t persecute or be intolerant. Three words sum it up for me: Don’t hate people. That’s were Wonder Woman seemed to stand in my eyes. It’s a stance that once again parallels what I’ve garnered to be the bible’s. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the interpretation of the Westboro Baptist Church with their “God Hates Everyone” slogans. Moving on...

FAGS – This is not a word I would use in mixed company. I believe it to be common knowledge that usage of the word ‘fag’ is clearly one meant to be derogatory towards homosexuals. Since today I’m comparing Jesus Christ and Wonder Woman (a comparison I know for which I’m probably going to catch a little heat), I’ll defer to what each of them has said in their books. Because I feel it is always better to get information ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’. Otherwise, you run the risk of playing the telephone game. First, let’s look at Diana. She was always an advocate for all people. In the previous panel she talked about learning love and respect for human rights. Since Marston did spend some time as a Hollywood writer of sorts, and he was consistently liberal with his views (especially on relationships...*cough-cough*), I can only speculate that he was in support of LGBTQ rights. Some of the greats expanded upon this idea as well. Perez introduced a gay couple with whom Diana spent time, Jimenez reinforced this, and Rucka eluded to a possible gay relationship. But it was Jason Badower who had Diana come right out and say the obvious. In Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman issue #48, she says to Superman, “Clark, my country is all women. To us, it’s not ‘gay’ marriage...Its just marriage.” Jesus Christ was also very good at articulating his stance on gays. He said....oh wait. That’s right. He didn’t say anything at all. Well, I guess that’s that.

I can’t help but notice that the WBC continually puts special emphasis on the word ‘fag’ and systematically adds it to the majority of their phrases describing sinners. Again, just to clarify, they do not attribute this singularly as a derogatory adjective describing gays, but to most things describing sin... curious. My guess is that if I had the magic lasso and wrapped it around Shirley Phelps, she would reveal that my longtime theory is true. My theory is that Fred Phelps was actually a closet homosexual, who in the last year of his life started coming to terms with how harmful it is to hang on to hate. Then when he decided a love based approached was more appropriate, and revealed this new discovery and updated philosophy to Shirley Phelps she excommunicated him from the church in August of 2013. I can just see the knee jerk reaction someone would have when being on the receiving end of that information. I can only imagine how painful it would be to have the foundation of your entire value system be pulled out from beneath you in one fail swoop. Denial via excommunication would be a totally logical and instinctual action in these circumstances. Yes, this is probably the most obvious answer, because it has been proven time and time again, that those who dig in their heels the deepest, and are the strongest advocates against homosexuality; it is those are who are usually struggling with it the most. So, yeah I think that the Westboro Baptist Church is based on the beliefs of a closet homosexual. Why else would “the lady doeth protest too much?” But again, it is just a theory and I could be way off here. Regardless, it’s plain to see that once again, the ideals of Jesus Christ and Wonder Woman appear to line up almost perfectly. While the Westboro Baptist Church’s do not.

So what I’ve learned here today is that in my eyes, the Westboro Baptist Church doesn’t seem to line up with the principles of Jesus Christ. Yet, they are principles Wonder Woman seems to continually parallel. I find that it is unfortunate that a pagan seems to embrace and uphold the principles of Jesus Christ better than a group that claims to serve him. We have seen the group behave unapologetically offensive, express hate, and insight anger and discord in people. So, what would Wonder Woman do? In the previous, we saw that Wonder Woman is of service to love and wisdom via her greatest weapon: truth. I realize that we don’t all serve the same God, but something tells me that isn’t the case in this situation and that there is a clear and identifiable inauthenticity going on here. I think that Wonder Woman, although always prepared for battle and having the power to do what is necessary, would see through the veil of inauthenticity and would first extend her hand in friendliness. Gail Simone had a fantastic quote coming straight from Wonder Woman’s mouth that exemplified this: “Don’t kill if you can wound, Don’t wound if you can subdue, Don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.” I think that Wonder Woman would always look for truth in the situation. That she would inspire conversation and debate, very much the way that Rucka depicted her in her Reflections book tour. I think that Wonder Woman would see through this hate, and would use Aikido like principles via her greatest weapon of truth to redirect this hate into love. But do not ever take Diana’s mastery of love and wisdom to be a sign of weakness. Love is never weakness, it is strength and power personified that always wins over hate and war. The Westboro Baptist church proved that when they didn’t show last Saturday to Jase Peeples’ book signing, as reported by theHuffington Post. Jase had organized an anti-Hate rally to combat the ‘church’s message of hate with one of love and acceptance. Peeples wrote on his invitation that he wanted to combat their message of hate with one of acceptance and love, and was prepared to engage in actual open conversation. The church of hate knew what was in store for them. They knew this was a loosing battle because like each and every time #LoveWins!

You can check out and purchase Peeples’ book on Amazon and a big thanks to the Westboro Baptist Church for giving the publicity to the book and helping to spread the message of diversity, acceptance, and love.

[journeyintotheshelves]

Tuesday’s Treats is a weekly blog post dedicated to newly released books that I’m most excited for. (Books are in no particular order.)

All books featured this week will be released: SEPT 5th (Part One)

1. Behind the Song: K. M. Walton [editor] (goodreads) (book depository)

For me, music and writing go hand in hand. So, when I heard about Behind the Song, a YA anthology with short stories and essays all centering around music and lyrics, I quickly added it to my TBR. I can’t wait to grab this one.

YA Anthology; Sourcebooks, Paperback (US)

2. The Glass Town Game: Catherine M. Valente (goodreads) (book depository)

In order to entertain themselves, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne Brontë created a game called Glass Town. There, their little toy soldiers fight Napoleon and no one dies, but the main thing that Glass Town gives the Brontës is an escape. Charlotte and Emily are going to a dangerous boarding school where they may never come back from, and the four do not want to be separated. But when Anne and Branwell go to the train station to say goodbye, the four are transported, not to the boarding school, but to a real Glass Town. But this Glass Town is not quite the same. Their soldiers can die, there’s a potion that can bring back the dead, and none of the Brontës are safe, and neither is England.

Middle Grade Fantasy, Historical Fiction; McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, Hardcover (US)

3. Sourdough: Robin Sloan (goodreads) (book depository)

Lois’ entire life is her job as a software engineer at a robotics company in San Francisco. Her only human interaction that isn’t with coworkers is with two brothers who run a food delivery service that she orders from every night, savoring the spicy food and amazing sourdough bread. But when the brothers suddenly have to leave the country, they leave Lois their culture, their sourdough starter, with a few simple instructions: keep it fed, keep it happy, and keep it alive. Soon, Lois finds herself diving headfirst into the world of sourdough bread and into an odd underground farmer’s market that help her fuse her two loves together. But nothing is every quite what they seem.

Magical Realism; Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan, Hardcover (US)

4. All's Faire in Middle School: Victoria Jamieson (goodreads) (book depository)

All’s Faire follows Imogene (a.k.a. Impy), a girl who has spent her entire life at a Renaissance Faire, until she decides to go to public school. Now, she must balance who she is with what her peers expect her to be, and learn what it means to be truly brave.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m going to the Renaissance Faire in a couple of weeks, or if I’m just a nerd, but I’m ridiculously excited for this book.

Middle Grade Graphic Novel, Contemporary Fiction; Dial Books/Penguin, Paperback (US)

5. Black Bird of the Gallows: Meg Kassel (goodreads) (book depository)

Angie knows that there’s more than meets the eye in regards to swoon-worthy and brooding Reece, but she can’t quite put her finger on it. When something unreal — something paranormal attacks her, Angie’s thrown right into the middle of a long battle between good and evil where she discovers that Reece isn’t quite human either. But Angie has a secret as well: she knows the secrets of her town that can kill them all, if loving a harbinger of death doesn’t kill her first.

This book is kind of giving me Hush, Hush by Huntley Fitzpatrick vibes (a book I loved when I was younger), and I’m totally game.

YA Paranormal; Entangled Publishing, Hardcover (US)

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

 [Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include CIA board games, the art of escape rooms and The Oregon Trail's genesis.

Huzzah - have managed to get the newsletter out extra early this weekend - wonder if it helps with open rate? There's over 400 of you on this list currently, by the way, plus I tend to get 700-1,000 page views on the Gamasutra crossposted version. I'd call that a good result in today's micro-attention intellectual economy. (But I want more, of course.)

Anyhow, quite a bit happening this week - and in addition to the YouTube GDC talks I posted below, the GDC Vault is up, with 170+ free videos from the 2017 show, hundred of free slide decks - and 500+ videos in total if you were a select GDC passholder. Not linking individual lectures from there because I'll be adding the YouTube versions as they gradually get xposted over the next few months, but there's some amazing talks out there - thanks again to all our speakers.

- Simon, curator.]

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

Escape to another world (Ryan Avent / The Economist 1843 Magazine) "Like millions of people of a certain age, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) had occupied a crucial place in Mullings’s childhood. It introduced him to video gaming, gave him a taste for it, made him aware of the fact that he was good at it: a “born gamer”, in his words. Yet the pixelated worlds of the Mario brothers, for all their delights, were nothing like the experiences available to gamers today."

'Witcher' Studio Boss Marcin Iwinski: 'We Had No Clue How To Make Games' (Chris Suellentrop / Glixel) ""We were small, unknown guys from Poland," Marcin Iwiński, the co-founder of CD Projekt Red, said last year when The Witcher 3 beat out games like Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V, and Bloodborne for the Game of the Year award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco."

The Shrouded Isle and embracing darkness in games (Katherine Cross / Gamasutra) "PAX East’s indie offerings sometimes have unexpected themes emerge from the potpourri; a couple of years ago it was young women as detectives. This year, a subtle current among the games on offer was exploring life in cults from the inside."

Why math is strangling videogame morality (Jody Macgregor / PC Gamer) "What's disappointing is that in the 22 years since Ultima IV, the math governing most morality systems in games has gotten more complicated, but it's still math. And it's still there. When our behavior is tied to an equation we've been trained to understand over the past two decades of gaming, the exciting nuance that should lie at the heart of moral decisions tends to disappear."

The CIA uses board games to train officers—and I got to play them (Sam Machkovech / Ars Technica) "The two groups of South By Southwest attendees split up in this conference room hesitate to get up. They were testing out the weirdest training exercise the CIA has ever publicly revealed: board games. These aren't off-the-shelf games; instead, CIA officers designed and assembled these elaborate tabletop games to reflect the realities of the CIA's day-to-day operations."

Balancing survival gameplay and RPG progression in Conan Exiles (Alan Bradley / Gamasutra) "Funcom's Conan Exiles, one of the latest challengers to the throne that Minecraft built, pushes this kind of progression to the logical extreme, not only tying player’s stats -- things like strength and stamina -- to its leveling, but also locking the majority of its buildings and tools behind it."

What it’s like making games in Pakistan (Basim Usmani / Polygon) "Chappal Strike, a play on shooter Counter-Strike, is a student-made game in which the player launches chappals — Pakistani sandals — to take down army helicopters. The game is rooted in one of Pakistan's darkest moments of 2016."

Are Teenagers Replacing Drugs With Smartphones? (Matt Richtel / New York Times) "With experts in the field exploring reasons for what they describe as a clear trend, the novel notion that ever-growing phone use may be more than coincidental is gaining some traction. Dr. Volkow described interactive media as “an alternative reinforcer” to drugs, adding that “teens can get literally high when playing these games.” [SIMON'S NOTE: not really sure where this theory fits into app refreshing, games and endorphins, but flagging it as intriguing.]"

Arcade Photographs, Arcade Comics, Arcade Tales – A Social History of the British Amusement Arcade (Alan Meades / mediaXstanford / YouTube) "Alan Meades, Senior Lecturer in New Media Theory in Canterbury Christ Church University’s Department of Media, Art and Design presents his arcade culture research project, Arcade Tales, which uses comic books as a way of communicating and capturing oral histories from British arcades, and also a selection of rare and previously unseen arcade photographs from Canterbury Christ Church University’s George Wilson Archive."

The story of Crash magazine (Graeme Mason / Eurogamer) "If, like me, you were a ZX Spectrum fan growing up in the 80s, one of its trio of passionately assembled and dedicated magazines was an indispensable read... Sinclair User was the longest serving, and had a drier tone; Your Sinclair (formerly Your Spectrum) gleefully brandished its off-the-wall humour in each issue, and is especially revered today. But for me, and many others, our magazine of choice was the appropriately-titled Crash, published by Ludlow-based Newsfield."

Choices, Episode (Emily Short / Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling) "There are several thriving brands of interactive fiction on mobile that tend not to get a huge amount of coverage in the traditional IF community, despite their large player base. They’re placing well on the app store, though, and GDC talks increasingly cover them — so I went and had a look at a couple of the main contenders. [SIMON'S NOTE: Also see How Episode became the world's biggest interactive fiction platform.]"

Board Game Design Day: The Making Of 'Pandemic Legacy' (Matt Leacock & Rob Daviau / GDC / YouTube) "In this GDC 2017 talk, 'Pandemic Legacy' creators Matt Leacock and Rob Daviau walk through the thought process of creating the popular board game, looking at the design challenges (and solutions), where the team behind Pandemic went right, and where they went wrong."

How to Make an Escape Room (Laura Hudson / Feminist Frequency) "Laura E. Hall wants you to get out; she really does. As an escape room designer, she’s created numerous live-action mysteries where teams of intrepid players sealed in a real-life room must rifle through clues and solve puzzles in hopes of getting out before time runs out."

Meet the Swedish Politician Who Streams 'Hearthstone' (Luke Winkie / Glixel) "There is a unique tranquility in watching a man calmly break down Scandinavian political policy while piloting a Beast Druid deck. So if you're like me and you're in need of a reminder that government isn't always stupid and evil, I highly recommend the Hearthstone Twitch stream of Rickard Nordin."

LawBreakers isn't trying to be an Overwatch killer (Tom Marks, Mark Paget / PC Gamer) "First-person shooters had a big year in 2016, something that wasn't necessarily expected when Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski and Boss Key Productions revealed LawBreakers in 2014. Since then, Overwatch has sort of become the de facto leader of the character-based shooter movement, but when we met up with Bleszinski at PAX East 2017, he told us that he isn't trying to make an Overwatch killer."

Prompto's Facebook: How a Buddy-AI Auto-Snapshots Your Adventure in FFXV (Prasert Prasertvithyakarn / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, Square Enix designer Prasert Prasertvithyakarn describes the creation of Final Fantasy XV's photo system that allows Prompto to document your epic road trip on a quest to save the world."

Classic Game Postmortem: Oregon Trail (Don Rawitsch / GDC / YouTube) "In this GDC 2017 postmortem, Oregon Trail creator Don Rawitsch sets off on a journey to explore the development of this classic educational game that took the world by storm."

How Osiris: New Dawn calculates monster crab scuttling (Philippa Warr / RockPaperShotgun) "So I’ve played enough of Osiris to know that you’ll be minding your own business, looking at a tree, and then a crab will come and try to cave your skull in. It’s not a proper crab in the sense of earth taxonomy because it has four legs, but it has a carapace and a set of angular legs that have a very crab-ish/lobster-y aesthetic."

Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams talks about simulating the most complex magic system ever (Wes Fenlon / PC Gamer) "Forget what you thought you knew about the infamous complexity of Dwarf Fortress. We haven't seen anything yet. Dwarf Fortress hasn't been updated for a year, because developers Tarn and Zach Adams have been preparing it for the most ambitious magic system ever implemented in a videogame."

'Nier: Automata' Director Taro Yoko Doesn't Envision a Happy Ending for Humanity (Matthew Walden / Glixel) "Nier: Automata has finally thrust the reclusive Yoko into the spotlight, with its impeccably polished action offering a more accessible entry point to his fascinating universe filled with heartbreak and introspection. Recently, Yoko has become equally recognized for the grinning, skeletal mask he dons in public, as well as his cryptic and playful answers to interview questions. So it's a particular treat to have a candid conversation with him about his career and legacy so far."

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[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]