#the real lunar chronicles

[cyborg-martyr-wolf-monarch]

just wanted to say how much i love your ikos photoalbum/the real tlc series!!!

Thank you, I'm glad you like them! I want to make some more if I ever find the time/motivation to search for pictures. For a while I wasn't finding any new ones on Pinterest...Maybe it'll be easier now that it's been a while.

[therealkaidertrash21]

you know who's good teen representation? Prince Kai from the Eastern Commonwealth, not Noah Centineo.

[winterrhayle]

im bored so im gonna spread my cress is a lesbian propoganda (i know this and believe it with my entire being, and my qualifications for this are : 1) i am a lesbian and 2) i know more than you)

cress spent her formative years alone in a satellite with extremely limited human interaction. for seven years.

therefore her idea of love and relationships will have entirely come from what she saw online, primarily in the form of net dramas

i would assume that these net dramas were mostly m/f couples, as marissa meyer doesn't address lgbt couples in this series at all so i think that in the tlc canon universe, heterosexuality is still viewed as the norm/default

throughout book 3 and 4, in cress' inner monologue you can hear how her views on relationships are generally very *unrealistic* cinematic romantic scenes with a man, you never really see her fantisizing about the more mundane parts of love, or the parts that could really happen in real life, which to me seems like shes more interested in relationships in theory but not the real thing

she pines over carswell thorne, a twenty year old man who is on the run with cinder. he is conventionally attractive (square-jaw, blue eyes, dimples etc etc) and he strikes me as the type of person you're supposed to think is attractive (theres nothing wrong with this but i have a point here i promise lol)

in other words he seems like the type of guy a closeted lesbian would force themself to 'like', as thats what they may think they're supposed to do, as that is what is 'expected'

at this point thorne is also a famous criminal, cress doesnt genuinely think (pre book 3) that she's going to meet him, so he's an unattainable man. and specifically 'liking' only unattainable men is a common part of the comp-het lesbian experience because it allows lesbians to assign feelings to men (and therefore feeling safe in the belief that they are straight) without having to worry about actually being in a relationship with that person

so when she actually meets thorne, her idolisation of him, as well as the power imbalance due to their age gap, already made me feel very critical of cresswell, and i think that all this ^^^^^^^ would make so much more sense for her character

in conclusion,

[cyborgcourt]

Amanda Todhunter’s unhinged recap of Cinder is literally me when I say I love Cinder. When you love Cinder you become Cinder

[m00nbuggies]

i read cinder.. it's very good... anyways PEONY!!

[ikosburneraccount]

Okay, I'm posting this because @boardthatsinkingship teased me about how my Ao3 links to my writing blog with NO WRITING. So I'm posting a snippet of this fanfic that I'm NEVER going to write but I liked it anyways.

Premise: Modern!College!DrugDealing!AU where Thorne entices Cinder to start selling cocaine. Yes, you read that correctly. Rated M for the adult themes, of course.

The scene starts where they're mopping the cafeteria floor as part of their punishment (intended to be a college suspension that Thorne's father was able to knock down to community service):

--

“You know, if you think about it…an orgasm is kind of like a body sneeze.”

She scrunches her nose. “Ew, Thorne. Gross.”

He scratches the stubble he insists is a beard. “Yeah, I knew that wouldn’t land.” 

When she glances over at him, he’s still looking down, hand to jaw, pinky finger curled against his mouth. 

“Thorne?” 

“You know, I’ve been thinking. What if we start a business?”

“A business.” 

“Yeah, like a real business. Tax returns, CFOs, LLC’s, all the acronyms. Commercial advertisements, Cinder. We’ll be big.”

“Okay…sure. What kind of business though?”

“Cocaine. Boom.” His hands mimic fireworks exploding.

“Are you fucking stupid?” Her head could not whorl around fast enough — what the fuck is he thinking? 

“What the fuck, Thorne? You can’t just go around saying that shit. Please tell me this is a joke. Dining cannot be that bad for you  — the heir to a prime military oligarch — to consider selling drugs. And cocaine out of all of them, too! You couldn’t just—“

Something hits her square in the face. A gentle something because it just falls down to the floor without any impact.

A tiny, tiny little bag full of white sits between her worn, yellowed Reeboks. She’s been needing a new pair, and for a while now, because the soles are starting to hollow and her heels cramp like a motherfucker when she stays too late in the lab. 

And the answer lays between her legs. 

For some reason, every moment in Cinder’s life flashes before her: the blankness of her foster care experience, memories of screams in black and smoke and so much coughing, like there was no more air; Garan adopting her, no elation but only a lingering sense of sorrow; Adri’s rejection; Garan’s death; Adri again, screaming, yelling, hitting and blaming her, you useless thing, you monster, you did this, you are the reason this family doesn’t exist. A ghost. A nothing. 

She bends down — more like squats down, sitting back on her heels, and gingerly picks up the baggie. Cups it in her hands, turning it over between her palms, watching the way the powder shifts and shutters downwards. 

“You’re considering it. I fucking knew it, I knew you would.” He runs a hand through his hair, smiling and his eyes are wild and shiny and incredulous. “Well, well, well, what do you say? Let’s start a business?”

His hand hovers in the air between them, palm open and fingers outstretched. The gold of his gold bracelet is beginning to rust into a nauseous green, rotten. Moldy pennies.  

She slips her palm into his and tucks her thumb next to his.

“Deal.” 

And they shake on it.  

---

That's it. LMFAO! I hope you enjoyed because there will never be a full version of this.

Also, everyone say thank you to @boardthatsinkingship for teasing me into posting this snippet.

[chemicalarospec]

I never was into Monster High and the younger-demographic reboot appeals to me even less tbh, but honestly I have half a mind to seek it out in the faint, vain hope that it might encourage Mattel to reboot Ever After High. But on the other hand Ever After High's original design was so charming because of the elements which are now becoming charmingly dated to the early 2010s, so I just know an official redesign would just always be disappointing even though fan redesigns are always super cool. And the whole fairy-tale fad is over, I guess -- I bet there are still little kids who love it like I did, but the market is saturated (and apparently Descendants is still active, and I know they're still publishing their Disney fanfiction AU books...) -- so there's little hope on that front. But I'm bringing Ever After High back into my life myself anyways. Wayback Machine saves of the old website and my books will suffice <3

Edit: wait something is GOING ON right now?? something peculiar and iffy but SOMETHING!!

[writesailingdreams]

Watched the teaser trailer and actual trailer for the Disney live action Snow White (apparently that is a real thing that is happening somehow), and wow. I hate it.

read more because I wrote more than I thought; very rambling

the quality is lacking. I think there's shots with voice overs that don't match up. This may be because of the strike(s) and I'm okay with that if it teaches Disney you can't make good trailers if you don't pay people and recognize unions

I am so confused as to where it exists; I saw fantasy and/or historical and modern settings at the same time. (I hope that doesn't play into the choosing her destiny bit.)

I can do without girlbossing Snow White. like I get wanting to make her a more active character but active-in-story does not equal defying/rewriting destiny. What's wrong with gentleness and positivity as strengths?

most importantly, if you're doing live action Snow White anything and you don't give the dwarves dynamic character arcs, along with Snow, while focusing the emotional story around her and their relationship, what are you even doing?

it gives me 10th Kingdom vibes (the setting), but like with 90s era Disney feminism

also gives me vague Winter Lunar Chronicle vibes (mostly if that's a wolf I caught a glimpse of)

it doesn't feel like a fairy tale; it feels more fantasy -- fighting evil and darkness and lots of references to destiny (at least the 10th Kingdom tied destiny into the fairy tale angle of there being these larger roles you find yourself enacting & fitting into because of circumstances of your life but also your personal temperament due to those circumstances.)

[nebulardrip]

WINTER Lunar chronicles

my dearest lunar chronicles blorbo

[hippityhoppityicantrhymegoaway]

Oh god I’m dying right now

So my friend sent me this song called “Crazier Best Friends” and I was listening to it and um despite the fact that literally no one is going to read this there’s these few lyrics that go, “Ashley has a tendency to fall for bad guys, Caroline, she likes em sweet and Zoe likes when they lie, Victoria has some daddy issues, she likes em older kinda mean with tattoos” and because I have been going on a Lunar Chronicles spree ever since I finished Winter, I for some reason have matched the characters to said lyrics. So um yeah. Here.

“Cress she has a tendency to fall for bad guys, Winter yeah she likes em sweet, and Kai he likes when they lie, Scarlet has some daddy issues she likes em older, kinda mean with tattoos.”

[fandomsandfairytales]

I haven't been in multiple fandoms at once in a long time and being so now is pulling me in all different directions XD I'm rereading The Selection series (just finished it actually) in tandem with reading The Lunar Chronicles for the first time, I'm rewatching Longmire with my mom and am still into it, I'm so into Sons of the Star & Annaáuchiwee (it's on the brain very often), I just finished and posted my first Tolkien fanfic and I'm reading Tolkien fanfics I'm subscribed to, and I'm getting drawn back into Greta Van Fleet because they're resuming their tour in a few days and the guitarist just announced that he's forming a band with 3 other guys and that band is going to be opening for GVF. My brain is a very chaotic place right now in terms of fandom. So. Yeah.

[cyborgcourt]

They’re literally the couple.

kai and cinder are such cool bf x loser gf except everyone thinks cinder is a loser bc she doesn’t talk to anyone and kai is super social until you get to know them and realize cinder’s actually the cool gf and kai, being such a nerd, is the loser bf

[cyborgcourt]

Cinder definitely has an old prince kai merch mug, but since he’s the emperor now the ‘prince’ is crossed out and emperor is written off to the side instead, so it’s “#1 Prince Emperor Kai Fangirl”

[fictionadventurer]

Top ten fairytale retelling novels/novellas you've read.

I've already answered my top 10, so here's my shot at listing 11-20.

11. A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan: Would probably be higher on the list if I'd remembered it in time. Sci-fi story that's a very loose retelling of "Sleeping Beauty", but so rich and emotionally devastating.

12. Maid and Minstrel and The Beggar Prince by Kate Stradling: Putting both of her short "King Thrushbeard" retellings in one entry. The first is more of a "Beauty and the Beast" tale that makes both leads decent people caught up in a misunderstanding, but I appreciated how it (probably accidentally) made me see the Christ-imagery inherent in the original. The second gives King Thrushbeard some character flaws and a good arc, and has an excellent explanation for why the princess didn't want to marry any of her suitors.

13. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine: Snow White retelling set in the world of Ella Enchanted, and retains that book's creativity in adapting the fairy tale elements. Has an excellent full-cast audiobook.

14. The Stepsister and the Slipper by Nina Clare: Georgette-Heyer-esque Cinderella retelling. Very rushed ending, and not the kind of romance I'd advise anyone to pursue in real life, but very fun.

15. Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling: Cinderella retelling with an excellent twist, adorable characters, and a convoluted ending.

16. Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey: Short and basic Cinderella retelling that gets on the list because I have extremely fond autumnal associations with this book.

17. Unseen Beauty by Amity Thompson: A "Beauty and the Beast" retelling from the point-of-view of one of the invisible servants. Since I'd had that idea for years before finding this, I was thrilled to find that this story does a pretty good job with it.

18. Exile by Loren G. Warnemuende: The first book in a trilogy that retells "Maid Maleen". I haven't finished the series yet, so maybe it's unfair to put it on here, but I loved the section of the story that takes place in the tower, so I couldn't leave it off the list.

19. The Seventh Raven by David Elliot: A retelling of "The Seven Ravens" that does a decent job of retelling the fairy tale, but I mostly love it as a very well-structured novel-in-verse that structures each POV character's poems with their own poetic form.

20. The Tales of Ambia by Allison Tebo: Fun, slightly Wodehouse-ish retellings that are a breath of fresh air in the romantasy-dominated world of indie retellings

Honorable Mentions:

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: Objectively as stories, these should be pretty high up on the list. It had great characters and adapted the fairy tale elements in some amazing ways. But I'm not a fan of a lot of the worldbuilding elements here, so I couldn't bring myself to rank it above some of my beloved, but more-flawed indie retellings.

With Blossoms Gold by Hayden Wand and Sweet Remembrance by Emily Ann Putzke: Both contained in Once: Six Historical Fairy Tale Retellings. The first is "Rapunzel" set in Renaissance Italy with an agoraphobic Rapunzel, and the second is a beautifully devastating retelling of "The Little Match Girl" set during WWII. I haven't read these in a long time, but I remember them both being very good.

Masque by W.R. Gingell: An excellent "Beauty and the Beast" retelling with a very lively Beauty, a Beast who works as a police detective instead of brooding in a castle, and some clever adaptations of the fairy tale elements. Unfortunately, I've decided a couple elements of the magic go beyond what I'm comfortable with, so I couldn't put it on the list, but I had to give it credit.

[ikosburneraccount]

thorne is a whitino who would pronounce gringo as grinko and im sick of him.

[cyborgcourt]

This whole interaction was so funny. They were SASSING each other so casually since day 1. Cinder, that’s THE FUTURE EMPEROR YOURE TALKING TO, GIRL

those six comms are my roman empire.