#they’re dabbling in the supernatural that they absolutely don’t understand

[chaoswarfare]

dp x dc prompt #67

constantine really should have started using the yearly family reunions to get out of league meetings more often. it’s a little odd watching the people he’d grown apart from wander around talking about the goings-on since they’ve seen each other while he hovers in the corner smoking a cigarette, but beggars can’t be choosers and this definitely beats the alternative.

at least until his estranged stepsister and her husband start raving about their plans to capture and vivisect a ghost, and then start casually chatting about what can’t be anything other that plans to destroy the dimension that holds the fabric of reality together.

maybe he should have just gone to the bloody meeting, because now he’s obligated to either deal with this himself or tell the justice league about it. at least his niece and nephew are willing to help him out.

[takaraphoenix]

What is The Order about?

Thanks for asking, I have been dying for an opportunity to talk about this show! *^*

OKAY SO! It is a… supernatural college AU, basically.

We have five main characters and I love them all a lot.

The main protagonist is Jack Morton, who is very determined to join a college secret society called the Blue Rose. Only during the process of initiation does he realize the Blue Rose dabbles in magic. He’s kind of accidentally joining a secret society for witches. He most definitely accidentally also joins a secret society for werewolves though!

So the show centers around Jack dealing with the double life of being a werewolf and a witch at the same time, with witches and werewolves really hating each other actually.

There’s also murders and mysteries and his personal agenda against his biological father.

But the thing that really sold me? Beyond magic and werewolves? The characters!

First of all, meet one of my two favorite ships. The one on the left is Jack, our protagonist, the one on the right is Randall, his… guide into the world of werewolves. Randall is precious he is a total sunshine werewolf optimist who does a lot to protect Jack.

This is the rest of the main characters - left to right Lilith, Alyssa, Jack (with clothes :D) and Hamish.

Lilith is a badass murderous werewolf and I love her. And I ship her a lot with Alyssa, who is a witch and trying to do the right thing but with only half the information, she didn’t know what the right thing was. Lastly, Hamish who is The Mom of the wolf-pack.

Hamish and Lilith’s relationship can best be described as:

Hamish: Lilith NO!

Lilith: LILTH YES!

So, Hamish, Lilith, Randall and Jack are the pack. And I love them, because the small size of pack allows you to really meet all characters and understand their dynamic - so often a wolf-pack is so big you only really grasp a third or so of the characters.

Seriously, just… watching all of the different dynamics is the most fun about this show? Because yeah, there’s a lot of magic and werewolf shows out there, but when the characters work and their dynamics work? That makes the show work.

The mystery hunt itself and the main plot happening are very intriguing too, but I wouldn’t want to spoiler that and I don’t know how to really explain it without spoilers. So all I can say to that is: There’s murders, secret society rivalries.

Oh! Oh what I absolutely have to mention here, because it’s really refreshing is that the werewolves aren’t a transmittable disease or brainless feral monstersr, like in so many other supernatural shows. They’re actually… the magic-police, in a way? Because they have a Spidey-sense for when Bad Magic is used, or when magic is used irresponsibly. That’s, to me at least, a really interesting spin.

So yeah! I really enjoyed this show and am looking forward to season 2!

[grilledcheeseandguavajelly]

You probably have seen me talking about Billie x Audrey before, but I would love to listen your perspective on it because you’re really great so uwu

VIVI YOURE SO SWEET AGH YOURE KILLING ME 🥰👏🏼 OKAY. So I’ve read a dabble of Billie x Audrey, but nowhere near as much as I should have. Let the record show that I’m 100% on board with this ship and the more I think about them the harder I fall for them and I had to physically stop myself writing this because I could have gone on for AGES. Anyway! Here we go —

Warning: this got out of hand very quickly. And it turned from opinions to headcanons. Sooooo yeah I’m sorry

Billie Dean x Audrey Headcanons:

Audrey is a bottom. In my mind she’s the bottomiest bottom that ever bottomed. But she’s also so bratty that she’s almost a top?? She begs. She submits. But she also has this funny little way of wrapping her partner right around her finger and always getting her way.

And Billie LIVES for it. Billie Dean Howard is so sultry that she needs a bratty bottom. Needs someone to punish and pamper and worship.

Audrey is sooo submissive when she wants to be, and Billie loves the way she whines and squirms and always has to be touching her. But she still hasn’t figured out that no matter how in charge she thinks she is, Audrey is always five steps ahead of her, ready to do or say or wear whatever is required to get exactly what she wants.

Billie loves when Audrey gets that wicked smirk. The one that means that she wants to give. And goodness, Audrey gives so generously. Don’t get me wrong, she’s bratty when she’s needy. But when she needs to watch Billie come undone, Audrey will give with everything she has and not let up until Billie is an absolute wreck. And while Billie still bosses her, Audrey has this way of making sure Billie demands exactly what she wants to give her, and once she’s sated Audrey relishes the way Billie tucks her against her chest. Always Billie’s princess. Always treasured.

And lord that accent when she’s between Billie’s legs. Billie doesn’t think she could tire of it if she tried, and it doesn’t help that when Audrey gets particularly whiney it thickens, throwing Billie back to the way Audrey sounds right before she orgasms. And it makes Billie cave faster than she can say Croatoan.

Grabby hands. And Billie’s a sucker for them. It’s honestly pathetic.

Billie’s supernatural gift always makes Audrey feel better because she knows no spirits will sneak up on her. Not with Billie around.

And Billie loves protecting Audrey. Protecting her smile and her giggle and her softness. She had heard of the Roanoke happenings, of course she had. But two weeks after meeting Audrey she had gone to the house herself, making absolute certain that she had a clear understanding of what this woman had gone through so she could keep her safe and happy and calm.

Audrey is obsessed with Billie’s nails. Absolutely enamored. She plays with them any time she can reach them, her fingers sliding over them and tracing them and pushing into the tips. And depending on her mood she will beg Billie to keep them on in bed, relishing the prick of them on her skin, pinching as they slide against her and leaving nice red marks for the next few days.

Speaking of marking... that’s Billie’s kink. Not for herself. For Audrey. She’s hard pressed to spend a night with her where she doesn’t leave at least one. And while it may seem childish to some, she loves watching Audrey on screen, catching glimpses of the very edges of those marks and knowing exactly where her mouth/nails had been the night or week or month before.

Not to mention how much of a baby boss Audrey is about her body. She tries, she really does, to tell Billie not to mark her certain places. But Billie doesn’t give two shits and she knows the magic of movie make up, so she does what she wants and marks her where she wants and Audrey just has to deal with the aftermath. But isn’t that exactly what Audrey wanted in the first place?

Billie is the ultimate yin to Audrey’s yang - Audrey’s bubbly, tongue-popping, wide-grinning personality the perfect balance to Billie’s cool, calm demeanor. Think Billie reclining in an armchair, smoking her cigarette, looking up at Audrey with those slinky eyebrows as Audrey bounces and giggles and flails around her, telling a story. And when Audrey giggles it makes Billie laugh, that deep, low laugh that always brings a flush to Audrey’s cheeks, the two sounds snaking together in perfect harmony.

Billie is possessive to a fault. There are constant demands throughout the day that leave Audrey panting the word “yours”. And when Audrey blushes, especially in public, it leaves Billie reeling. Fast and hard.

Audrey has this sneaky way of putting on her best pouty face and curling up against Billie, standing or sitting or laying or anywhere. If they’re with friends Billie has absolutely no complaints and will gladly let her sit on her lap or the arm of her chair, fingers wandering. But Audrey has this tendency to pull that face out during premieres, when there are cameras everywhere and Billie can’t do anything more than whisper promises in her ear.

They’re surprisingly good at behaving themselves in public given how quickly they’re stripped and fucking once they get through their door. But Audrey’s pout works Billie up faster than anything, and there’s usually never more than a day or two that goes by before they’re naked in bed and screaming each other’s names.

The weeks or months that they are apart because of filming, it’s Skype sex. Every night. And Audrey always buys pretty new lingerie just to taunt Billie because she can’t touch it. At least not yet.

Billie gets revenge by sending Audrey copious amounts of flowers. It’s a bit ridiculous. By the end of it, Audrey can barely walk through her trailer. She always snatches the cards off the bouquets as soon as they’re delivered and locks them away because it never fails that Billie has written the most delicious things to make her squirm with anticipation. And Audrey has too many nosy co-workers to take any chances. She would never dream of asking Billie to stop, though. The flower-filled trailer has this strange way of making Audrey feel less alone.

They tend to sync their schedules, because Audrey is just positively too needy to be apart from Billie for more than a few hours, let alone a few weeks. But sometimes it’s impossible and neither of them would ever dream of telling the other to give up a job. So they suffer through the hard stuff because it makes the being together even sweeter. And it makes the orgasms even better.

Those mornings when Audrey plods into the kitchen in Billie’s shirt from the night before and finds Billie with a cigarette between her fingers, she always gives her best puppy dog eyes until Billie lets her hop up into her lap and drag on it. And Audrey has a nasty habit of wiggling her bum as she exhales smoke. Billie’s nails are on her in a second, without fail, and Audrey pulls that lovely “innocent” smile as she quickly submits because - you guessed it - she got exactly what she wanted. Again.

Bonus: Audrey likes to steal Billie’s jewelry and pretend it’s hers. It’s gotten to the point that Billie has forgotten what’s hers and what’s not. And she loves it.

BONUS bonus: Billie calls Audrey pumpkin and it’s a LOT, okay??

[grellsuke]

do you have any good lgbt manga recs? i just finished shimanami tasogare and loved it

yes!!!

Authors:

yuhki kamatani - the author of shimanami tasogare! kamatani is x-gender (and ace!) and thoroughly incorporates lgbt characters into their works. the others aren’t like focused on the lgbt experience like how shimanami is, but they’re all wonderful and beautiful and have lgbt characters and i highly, highly rec them.

akiko morishima - a lesbian mangaka who i really like! she’s really good abt tackling the traditional stereotypes in yuri manga as well as writing stuff about older characters and frankly discussing sexuality and shit. she also has works that are not yuri manga-centric but iirc a good chunk if not all of them still have lgbt characters, so they’re worth checking out as well! (she does have a few works with some fuckshit in them tho, fair warning)

takako shimura - i don’t personally know what her sexuality is (tho shes a woman, i know this), but shimura is pretty well-known for her lgbt works. wandering son and aoi hana are probably her most famous, at least over here in the west! she also tends to incorporate lgbt themes into her works that don’t center on lgbt characters as well.

ebine yamaji - another lesbian mangaka! yamaji’s works are very... realistic, usually about lesbian working through things. there’s a lot of trauma and a lot of sadness in her works, as well as sexual content, and i really love her art. i haven’t read ALL of her works, but what i have, i’m enamored with. they’re sad but rarely TRAGIC.

hiyori otsu - i don’t actually know otsu’s sexuality, but she’s a shoujo ai/yuri mangaka who writes a lot of genuinely sweet stuff. her works tend to very much be on the softer side of things, even if they can be bittersweet, and i’ve really enjoyed all i’ve read by her. it’s nice to just, be able to read a simple and nice lesbian manga without any major angst or tragedy or even sexual content sometimes, you know?

Autobiographies:

honey x honey by sachiko takeuchi - a slice of life little manga about the author and her girlfriend! it is abt a decade old, which you can see some of, but it’s a really cute peek into their lives and japanese lgbt culture. there ARE sequel(s?), but i unfortunately haven’t managed to find any english translations for them. if you do, let me know!

my lesbian experience with loneliness by kabi nagata - i own this manga! i keep it squirreled away in the bottom of my desk and pull it out every few weeks or so because it’s deeply, deeply relatable to me. the first time i read this manga i sat down and cried because i felt it deep in my soul. absolutely rec!!! there’s also a sequel, my solo exchange diary.

the bride was a boy by chii - a cute little manga about a trans woman named chii, recounting her early years up to her current life, her transition and how she met her husband (+ abt their relationship). it’s super cute and sweet, and very informative!! an absolute rec!!

i was born the wrong sex! by mayufu konishi - i haven’t quite finished this one yet, but this is a highly informative manga about a trans woman heading to thailand for her surgery! it’s extremely extremely informative about every single step of the process, and the author is an absolute delight, so it’s one i’d absolutely rec.

our journey to lesbian motherhood by emiko sugiyama/koyuki higashi/hiroko masuhara - have you heard of the lesbians that got married in disneyland tokyo? this is them!!! this is their autobiographical story of, well, their journey to lesbian motherhood! it’s very good, i definitely enjoyed it - it IS a sequel to another manga by them, but i sadly couldn’t find an english translation anywhere… it’s completely understandable without having read it, though!!

fictional manga:

my brother’s husband by gengoroh tagame - this is one i haven’t read myself, but is pretty damn high up on my ‘next to read’ list. the author is a prominent gay bara author - this is his first dabbling into more family-friendly series. he’s also recently started another family-friendly one called our colors that may be worth looking into as well!

whispered words by takashi ikeda - it’s been a good long while since i’ve read this, but i really enjoyed this when i was younger! (has it already been almost 8 years since it ended?? i feel old) it’s about two lesbians who are best friends - one of which is secretly in love with the other. unfortunately, she’s very much not her friend’s type. :( i vaguely remember some kind of weird crossdressing shenanigans with one character, tho, so tread lightly with that.

koimonogatari by tohru tagura - if you liked shimanami, this is also probably right up your alley! it’s a very realistic manga about a boy finding out that one of his classmates is closeted and gay - and he promptly decides to tell no one because he’s not an asshole, which leads to him being one of this boy’s main confidants. it realistically deals with the homophobia that gay people face, as well as the main character’s slow realization that he’s not necessarily straight, either (or at least, that’s my hypothesis - it’s still ongoing!!). i really enjoyed it.

lonely wolf, lonely sheep by fuka mizutani - two women with the same name, same birth month, and same injury end up meeting by complete coincidence at the hospital. i genuinely adore this manga and all it is. despite it only being one volume long, it deals with heavier topics such as depression, self harm, homophobia, and iirc even suicide. it’s really, really good though and i wish all the best for them.

kono koi ni mirai wa nai by morihashi bingo - i recommend this one tentatively, as the last two chapters are not yet translated (as of 1/11/19), but i enjoyed what was there. despite the label as BL on many sites, this story is actually about a trans woman (tho there is also a gay man in the manga!). the note left off on the most recent chapter, chapter 10, was a very uplifting note that she is not alone and that how she feels is completely, utterly normal, and i have hope for the last two chapters! the art’s really pretty, too, and the metaphors. but again - who knows what could go down in the last two chaps. fingers crossed!

i hear the sunspot by yuki fumino - PLEASE read this one. this manga is about two college-aged young men who end up meeting when one LITERALLY stumbles across the other. kouhei, one of the boys, is hard of hearing - and the other boy, taichi, starts taking notes for him in class in exchange for lunch, and thus begins a friendship that will blossom into romance! it absolutely gets in depth on the hoh/Deaf community in Japan, and is definitely informative - and the guys are just genuinely so sweet (as well as the other characters!!!) and I wish them all the happiness. it’s STILL ONGOING so like, warning on that, but i’m really enjoying it so far. i think there’s also a movie based off it!

cirque arachne by nika saida - this one has some sexual elements to it, so fair warning on that, but i really enjoyed it! it’s a single volume manga about two acrobats that fall in love. the art was cute and i genuinely liked the characters, quite a lot. would definitely rec.

yuureitou by tarou nogizaka - i have not actually read this manga, but it’s another that’s amazingly high up on my to read list. it’s a supernatural horror manga, and the main couple is a trans man and a cis man! i’ve heard good things about it - from people i know personally, as well as just in general - and it’s one i can’t wait to check out.

ohana holoholo by shino tarino - i FEEL like this one is completed, but if it is, the translation isn’t done. either way, i did love what i read from this! ohana holoholo is about a bi woman raising her son along with her ex-girlfriend and their neighbor, nico. it’s really good, one that i HIGHLY recommend, and one of the woman is implied to be trans, too! (fingers crossed they explicitly state it please please please-) overall, i absolutely rec it, please check this out!

no. 6 by atsuko asano/hinoki kino - who HASN’T heard of no. 6? no. 6 is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the government is, well, the government. it involves two young men working to take it down alongside others and they fall in love. and one of the other characters is non-binary! ...honestly that’s probably the best i can describe no. 6 because WOW is it a wild trip. it’s a wild trip that i highly, highly recommend though! you want gays taking down the government alongside killer bees and a magical bug goddess? this is the manga for you. please read it.

asagao to kase san by hiromi takashima & bloom into you by nio nakatani - two shoujo ai manga centering around high schoolers that i haven’t actually read yet, both of which recently got animated adaptations!!! i have heard genuinely fantastic things about both of them (ESPECIALLY) the latter, and bloom into you is actually next on my reading list. they absolutely sound fantastic and i can’t wait to read them!!

seven days by rihito takarai/venio tachibana - a two-volume manga about two high school boys. every week, a boy named seryou goes out with a different girl - he treats them very well, showers them in attention, and then promptly breaks up with them at the end of the week because he didn’t fall in love with them. out of curiosity, his upperclassman, shino, asks him out one week - and thus begins their seven day romance. i really loved this, i really really did.

tamen de gushi by tan jiu - it’s an on-going webcomic about how two girls, qui tong and sun jing, meet and fall in love. the characters are all absurdly fantastic, from the two girls to all of the supporting characters around them, and it’s an absolute TREAT to read. i would highly rec it, there’s some lovely shenanigans in there.

last but not least, i highly rec manga written by the year 24 group. this group was a non-formal group of female mangaka in the 1970s that really revolutionized and influenced the shoujo manga genre. many of their works are considered classics today, with works such as kaze to ki no uta, claudine...!, the heart of thomas, and shiroi heya no futari among them. a lot of their works really dug in and examined sexuality and gender, and you can find some of the original shounen ai, shoujo ai, and trans manga among them. i’m a sucker for the classics, and i highly recommend them. i honestly could have listed every single of one these mangaka in my recommend authors list, but decided it was just easier to promote the group as a whole. the best for last, you know?

hope this helps, anon!

[morningstarlucemon]

((So, this is a super personal thing that relates to my beliefs. So if you don’t wanna read cause you’re not interested, that’s totally cool. This is gonna be OOC and stuff. I just wanna post this here cause I don’t feel that I can openly say this anywhere else just yet. It’s not really safe for me in case bio family sees it. But I’m just... really excited and wanna talk about it. So if you’re interested, read more is below. There’s a TL;DR at the bottom if you want.))

So, anyone who knows me personally in any intimate manner might know that I’ve struggled with my beliefs for a really long time. I was raised super, super Christian, and even though my family was non-denominational, and we didn’t have a lot of religious “rules” like in mainstream Catholicism or anything similar, it was still really oppressive to me. Parts of my mental illnesses were blamed on demons and went untreated, and actually aggravated with the methods used to “help,” namely my OCD. To this day I have ticks that were programmed into my thought patters based in prayers I was taught that became compulsive habits rather than soothing mantras. And since I was very young I’ve been in a really precarious place with my faith.

I wanna say first and foremost, I don’t think Christianity is bad. I DO think the way people carry it out is harmful. But I don’t believe the faith as a whole is bad. I think that any religion practiced by someone for the want of peace and personal fulfillment without harming others is good so long as it makes them happy. I’m only saying that Christianity as I was taught it hurt me, and the people who taught it to me hurt me. And I now have a very uneasy relationship with the faith as a whole.

For probably around ten years or so, I’ve been a very... nihilistic person, not out of choice, but out of a compulsively logical mindset. If I didn’t have proof of it, my brain didn’t wanna believe it. It still doesn’t. I don’t claim to have ever experienced any proof of the supernatural. But I didn’t wanna call myself an atheist. I WANT to believe in something, anything. But any time I try, the logic part of my brain steps in and demands proof. And it’s been slowly killing me for several years, choking off my spirituality and adding to my depression. It didn’t help that, although I was too logical to believe in anything, I still had the fear and guilt that came with believing I was gonna be sent to hell. I had all of the guilt of religion, and none of the personal peace or fulfillment.

I have spent the last few years of my life talking to people of other faiths and lack there ofs-- atheists, agnostics, Lokean, Wiccan, Catholic, Voodoo practitioners, Heathens, Jews, Muslims, Hedonists, Multi-Theists, Hellenists, and a lot more, as well as several variations of Christians. But no matter what I tried, nothing seemed to fit. I couldn’t settle back into Christianity, no matter how much I tried to fit myself into more secular and relaxed sections of the faith, it never felt welcoming or comfortable. I could never get away from the guilt. But I also never felt attached to any other faith I dabbled in, either. Nothing clicked. I felt present and welcomed, but I didn’t feel at home.

I’ve been working in therapy to really explore myself, and doing a lot of self-reflecting. And part of that has been looking back on what I’ve identified with through the years. And something I have always gone back to was Dark Angels and things associated with Death. When I was very little and my Mom would watch Touched by an Angel, I’d ask her about the Angel of Death, and she would explain that he was not a bad person, but that he was someone who would come take us to Heaven when we died. And that stuck with me. I’ve always been drawn to characters who were outcasts, logical thinkers, people who thought of things with raw data and not pre-conceived ideas, and, of course, those associated with Darkness. Duo Maxwell, Treize Khushrenada, Lucemon, Violet Parr, Levi Ackerman, Rorschach, Raven Roth, Laura Kinney, Vaal Hazak, Sephiroth, Howl Jenkins Pendragon, Adrian Tepes, Black Shucks, Damien Bloodmarch... I never could put my finger on what they had in common until now. All of them are outcasts who think differently than society as a whole, many of them with dark or complex morality or emotionally injured themes about them. I have always been drawn to the darkness, even since I was a little kid. And I think, because of the fear I was taught, I denied and lied to myself something that I’m fairly sure I’ve known for years.

After really learning what other beliefs are, that they’re not all goat sacrifice and child rape, and learning the actual principals behind them, I think I might finally be ready to choose a title for myself and my belief set. After years of introspection, and debate, and self-exploration, I, for now, when it is safe to do so, will align myself with  Luciferian Satanism.

I have chosen this faith for many reasons. Lucifer expects nothing from me, not even for me to truly believe in them. Do no harm, and take no shit. This faith allows me to still be a kind human being, but also to not let myself be hurt and abused as I’ve been in the past. It is the first thing to slightly allay my fear of death in years. It recognizes that life is sometimes shit, but that we don’t have to live in existential dread all the time because of it. Sure, this life is piss sometimes-- but what the fuck is sulking about it gonna do? I might not be able to change the world, but I can make a few people feel better for a little while. I don’t need to search for the meaning in life-- it doesn’t matter if life is inherently meaningless, cause I am here, so I’m gonna have fun. And I’m gonna help others have fun, too. I’m gonna be kind to people because it makes me feel better to know I’ve made someone else feel better. Yeah, it’s a selfish motivation, but that’s what all acts are motivated by-- the want to feel better. And that’s very much okay. There’s nothing wrong with helping people because it makes you feel good, knowing that someone else’s day was improved by you. I don’t need an entity threatening me to make me do good things, and I don’t need praise from humans. I can worship myself, I can love and care for myself, and that’s not only okay but expected. Things aren’t good or bad just because society says they are. Things are good or bad because of the effect they put out into the world. It’s okay to be weird as long as you’re not hurting anyone else. I don’t have to always speak as others do or move like they do. It’s okay that I’m on the spectrum. I don’t have to pretend to be normal. Whatever comes for me, I’m gonna embrace it with open arms, and will take control and improve what I can, and ask for help when I need it, because I’m alive and I chose to try and be happy. I don’t need the promise of heaven or any afterlife to make me happy. If one comes, that’s wonderful. I hope I’m surrounded by people I love and who love me.

I’m not going to lie and say Lucemon didn’t have a part in me realizing I’m a Satanist, because they definitely did. I don’t think I would have ever been willing to even truly consider it if not for this angel. But I want to clarify one thing, as some of my friends seem to be a bit confused. I do believe I am kin with Lucemon. I do not believe myself to be kin with Lucifer, Satan, or the Devil. I may have a shard of them in me, but I lay no claim to their power except what I’ve been allotted in this life. I will absolutely claim myself and my power and title as Lucemon, Demon Lord of Pride in the Digital World. But I at no time want to claim to speak for Lucifer or have any right to his power.

On a similar note, I am not in this belief for the power. I don’t expect Satan to bestow me with a silver tongue or armies of demons. I do wish to become stronger in magic and charisma and use of my natural abilities to get what I want, but I intend to work for these things, not have them handed to me. I recognize that I have nothing Lucifer could ever potentially want, except possibly, maybe my understanding. I have nothing I could offer that would be of use to them. So I won’t try to barter for something I know damn well I’m not entitled to. I intend to work, study, practice, listen, and learn to grow my power. Lucifer expects nothing from me, I expect nothing from him. I only wish to devote to them my heart and respect because I feel a kindred spirit within them.

I believe Lucifer to be an enlightener, a symbol of progress, logic, exploration, love of knowledge and acceptance, and seeing things without bias. They may exist as a concept, or as an actual entity, or something in-between, or something totally outside my comprehension. Regardless of the nature of their existence, they bring me peace, and I find speaking of and to them to be soothing and helpful to me. I also do not feel that my devotion to them will interfere with my offerings to other gods. Lucifer is not tyrannical. Lucifer is not Jealous. They want only for me to be kind, and be myself. And that’s all I want.

I’m getting super tired, and I’m really rambling at this point. But I really wanted to state all this somewhere. I’m so grateful to finally begin to have something to take solace in. And I intend to accept this and further growth, regardless of where it takes me, openly and thankfully, as holding back has only hurt me. I intend to further research my stance, and potentially am looking into calling myself a Warlock. I understand that term is typically given to you by others as a derogatory term, and is used for those who have been expelled from their covens. But with that said, I HAVE been ejected from everything I knew before. I’ve thrown much of it out in favor of healthier beliefs and practices, and I seem myself as not fitting in with where I was and as something of an “other.” So I feel this term resonates with me and what I am and want to be.

So, yes. TL;DR: I consider myself a agnostic Luciferian Satanist, and am hoping to study and grow fully into a Warlock. This has given me peace I haven’t had in many years, and I am happier with this than I’ve been with anything else since I was a child.

Thank you all so much for listening to me. I love you.

[thehouseofjohndeaf]

4 Years Sober: What I’ve Learned in Secular AA

There are a lot of things I’ve learned over the last 4 years. I’ve learned that there’s no one way to stay sober. If you’re in recovery, and you’re sober and you’re relatively happy, then you must be doing something right. If you’re not happy, maybe you should consider making a change.

I drank and drugged for over ten years. For the last three of those years I was in and out of hospitals and detoxes, I tried outpatient therapy, I dabbled in AA and NA, I even signed in to a thirty-day inpatient rehab facility. Throughout all that time, the most I could put together outside of treatment centers was three days. For three years I tried to drink like a “normal person” and continued to drink until drunk, blacked out, dropped out of classes, lost jobs, and walked away from countless friends and opportunities.

After a series of jackpots and facing a second OUI I finally hit my lowest, I was facing possible jail time and completely ran out of options. From the court house I was sent to a detox. Laying on a bed made of plastic, reading some shitty David Baldacci novel because there was nothing better, and another twenty-something year old kid was on the bunk next to mine stammering a mile a minute about how his SSI check was coming in on the first and he’s going to go rent a motel room and if I wanted I could go with him. And I gave it pause, I had a glimpse into the future, of who I could be. That day when I met with my case manager I said, “I don’t care where I go, I’ll take any bed anywhere, I just know I can’t go back out there.”

I stayed in treatment, wound up at a Christian halfway house, and I was really tested on what spirituality meant to me, and knowing that AA runs on a concept of a supernatural higher power, a “God of your understanding”, I knew I had to figure out what the hell I was going to do. I got a sponsor, I read all the literature, I attended meetings multiple times a week. But it was the reading of non-AA literature that really inspired me. Two books that really crafted my early days of recovery were “The Portable Atheist” compiled by Christopher Hitchens and “Common Sense Recovery” by Adam N. “The Portable Atheist” gave me some backbone to the philosophy of non-belief, of Humanism and Atheism, of anti-religion and neutrality. “Common Sense Recovery” gave me a method of interpreting the teachings of AA to fit my needs as an Atheist meandering in and out of church halls and basements. Along with these were some zines and essays including “Towards a Less Fucked Up World” by Nick Riotfag and “Anarchy and Alcohol” by CrimethInc.

After a while I fell out of AA. It seemed every time I shared my perspectives on spirituality the room would flutter full of murmurs of “Keep coming”, a saying often said to those struggling. But I wasn’t struggling with my sobriety, I was struggling with the use of a Christian fellowship as the cornerstone to my recovery. The fourth chapter of AA’s Big Book is entitled “We Agnostics” and teaches AA members that those who aren’t ready to believe or have issues with belief will eventually believe. Basically, “Don’t worry, you’ll come around.” So when an AA member states they have no belief in a god and that their higher power is AA itself or “G.O.D. - Group Of Drunks”, other members appear to see that as a weakness or an early start to their road to recovery. A non-Christian or non-supernatural higher power in AA appears to represent a placeholder for eventual conversion. And if you haven’t converted yet, well, “Keep coming.”

It had been nearly a year since my last AA meeting and I was around two and a half years sober when my sponsor, who I wasn’t really calling at this point, sent me an image via text. It was a flyer for a Secular AA meeting over the state line about 45 minutes away. He dropped a few names of people I might know and said, “I thought this might interest you, I hope it helps.” The next week I attended an Atheists and Agnostics in AA meeting and have been going nearly every week for about a year and a half now. Here were men and women, each with 30+ years of sobriety, telling me that the Twelve Steps of AA are suggested, that they have no need for some of the steps as they regard prayer and giving one’s will over to the care of “God”. Well, how does one turn their will and life over to the care of God or have God remove their shortcomings if they don’t believe in God? Simple, you don’t. It’s unnecessary.

For over a year I had been living in guilt because I wasn’t able to fully adhere to the Twelve Steps of AA because at their most basic function I could not perform them without a belief in God. Many AA members will be quick to point out that the steps have written, italicized, “as we understood Him”. First off, it only says that under step three, the rest of the steps simply state “God”. Secondly, “as we understood Him” capital-H Him, presupposes your understanding of a father-figure male who created man in His image, which is a Christian belief. There is absolutely no way to read the Twelve Steps of AA in a secular, non-religious fashion. The Twelve Steps of AA were written by Christians for Christians to be part of a Christian program.

Now, here I am, surrounded by a group of men and women who collectively have a couple hundred years of sobriety amongst themselves and they’re saying things like: “Steps six and seven? Useless, you don’t need them.” “Higher power? Why? I understand I don’t control the universe, I understand I can’t control my drinking in active addiction, I understand I can never drink again in safety. Why do I need a higher power?” “Sponsorship? I’ve been sober X amount of years and have plenty of friends in AA that I can call at any given time. Why would I need a sponsor?”

Over the last four years I’ve learned a lot. But over just this last year and a half in Secular AA I’ve learned more about myself, AA, alcoholism, and addiction, - conversations and readings that have lead to several epiphanies that have severely strengthened my recovery.

I’ve learned that in that first year of sobriety, when one hasn’t really come out of the haze or know much about themself, taking suggestions and having a sponsor is probably a good idea. It’s helpful to have a sponsor for their first year or so. But at some point, sponsorship is no longer necessary. Sponsorship was never meant to be a lifelong commitment. Sponsorship was originally about one member of AA bringing in a newcomer, someone newly sober, and sponsoring him/her by saying “I can attest this person is a drunk and desires to stop drinking.” The sponsor then shows them around, brings them to meetings, gives them some pointers, and that’s that. Why would someone with 10+ years of sobriety need a sponsor? I’m not saying it’s wrong to have a lifelong sponsor if that works for you. But why is it the general understanding that every AA member must have a sponsor at all times for the rest of their life? It’s unnecessary.

I’ve learned that AA is losing membership precisely for the reason I stopped attending. The problem with telling Atheists and Agnostics that if they don’t like AA they should try somewhere else, is that AA is by far the most accessible and most successful fellowship of recovery, and telling a vulnerable person who has felt they don’t belong throughout their entire life that they also don’t fit in with a group of alcoholics will often lead to that person accepting they are alone in their struggle and they will more than likely start drinking again. If AA doesn’t adopt a secular approach the fellowship will die along with hundreds of thousands of alcoholics who so badly need a stable approach to recovery built on the basic principles of AA, without it’s religious overtones.

AA is full of Christian religiosity and it’s off putting to a population that has fewer and fewer Christians in its midst. The statistical average AA member is a 50-year-old heterosexual white male according to the 2014 membership survey. According to a recent study by JAMA Psychiatry in 2017 “high-risk and disordered drinking increased by about 20 percent” between 2002 and 2012, while recent reports from Statisa based on the yearly membership survey stated a 13% decline in AA membership between 2001 and 2015. This means alcoholism is on the rise, which coincides with the 1.3% yearly increase in the US population, an average population growth of 18.2% between 2001 and 2015. So if AA was the answer to alcoholism we should have seen a growth in AA membership that coincides with the population growth and the increase in the number of alcoholics, yet we’ve seen a decline in membership. Why? It may not surprise anyone that these numbers and dates line up with the decline of Christianity in the US. While Catholicism boasted an increase in church membership between 2000 and 2017, they closed 11% of their churches. The Evangelical Lutherans “lost about 30% of its congregation and closed 12.5% of its churches.” United Methodists “lost 16.7% of its congregation and 10.2% of its churches.” The Presbyterians “lost over 40% of their congregation and 15.4% of their churches.”

All throughout the dawn of the 21st century there’s been a decline in religious worship, an increase in alcoholism and drug addiction, and a parallel decrease in AA membership. If religion and spirituality were the broad saving grace for those who struggle from substance use disorders we would have seen a growth in both church membership as well as AA membership. But we didn’t. Religion is not the answer.

Following this timeline, somewhere around 2012 we start to see exponential growth in secular recovery. In a 5 year period, from 2012 to 2017, LifeRing, a secular program of recovery, saw meetings increase by 300 percent. Between 2014 and 2016 SMART launched 900 new meetings nationwide. In 2016 the website SecluarAA.org launched, showcasing the growing number of AA meetings across the US that have declared themselves to be Atheists, Agnostics, Non-Believers, and Freethinkers.

The Secular AA movement is not a movement of anti-religion or heresy, it is a movement that wishes to bring neutrality to AA. Despite anyone’s religious beliefs or non-belief, every alcoholic and addict deserves a chance to achieve sobriety. While there are many neutral parties in AA who will come to AA’s defense as a non-religious program, it is unquestionable that AA is Christian by default. The preamble of AA indicates they do not ally with any “sect, denomination…” but does not specify that they do not ally with any religion. The statement of not allying with any sect or denomination and the omission of the word “religion” is a pretty clear indication that it doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic, or Protestant, or Methodist, or Lutheran, but as long as you’re Christian then AA has no qualms. The Serenity Prayer is in fact a prayer that opens with the words, “God, grant me the serenity…” Most AA meetings open with the Serenity Prayer and close with The Lord’s Prayer, a prayer found in the New Testament Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2. You can’t sit there and tell me you’re not a religious program and then gather up in a circle to recite a prayer with two versions found in the New Testament. That’s not how this works!

But again, the Secular AA movement is not about being against religion, but against a program of recovery being Christian by default. Secularism is about not making sick and suffering alcoholics feel unwelcome because they don’t believe in the supernatural. And if you’re an AA member and believe that no one is ever to feel unwelcome in an AA meeting, I propose an experiment for you. Travel to an area outside of your normal meetings where you don’t know anyone. Tell the group you’re new to the area and you are an Atheist is AA. Tell me how that goes.

I’ll tell you what I’ve experienced in just the past 4 years. I’ve experienced everything from the docile and subtle remarks like “Keep coming,” and conversations with members saying “I had trouble with the G-word myself, but you just gotta use something tangible, like a light switch, you flip it and you always know the light will come on, you trust it!” (To which I would like to respond, “No I don’t trust the light switch. You’ve never had a lightbulb burn out on you and need to replace it, or ever call an electrician?”) all the way to people pointing and screaming “My higher power! The Almighty! God! As I understand Him!” I’ve also had many people come up to me and tell me they’ll pray for me.

All of this is to express my issues and struggles in remaining sober in a religious program without being remotely religious. To say to anyone who struggles with “the G-word”: You aren’t struggling, this isn’t a hurdle you need to get over in order to remain sober. God didn’t get me sober, simply because God does not exist. But it’s true, I didn’t do this. I did not get myself sober. My parents got me sober, my brother helped me, a trusting probation officer, case managers and counselors, employers and co-workers, friends, my loving bride-to-be helps me stay sober, along with my son and a growing number of people in my life who I love and care about - they all got me sober and keep me sober today. They say, “God works through people”, but I say people are social creatures who foster relationships and build their own meaning out of the hand they’re dealt. There is no hereafter, there is no Heaven or Hell, there’s just here and now. I only have one life and I need it to be worth living. You all make that possible, every one of you. Religion and faith have nothing to do with sobriety unless you want to build a life on religion and faith. And if you want to do that, that’s great for you, but do it with people who are seeking worship at your church or temple, at masses or sermons. AA is not about worship, it’s about humility and self discovery. AA must adopt a secular approach if it’s going to withstand its own centennial.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/10/542409957/drinking-on-the-rise-in-u-s-especially-for-women-minorities-older-adults

https://aaagnostica.org/2015/09/06/aa-membership-growth-or-decline/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Christianity

https://aaagnostica.org/2018/04/05/aa-struggles-to-stay-relevant-as-secular-programs-gain-momentum/

https://secularaa.org/

[preserving-ferretbrain]

City of … Clocks?

by Dan H

Sunday, 05 February 2012

Dan crawls back to Cassie~

Reading Cassandra Clare is, for me, like visiting an old friend. An old friend who is kind of a dick. An old friend who is kind of a dick, but who you are comfortable enough around that you accept their being a dick as part of the charm of their personality, and then after you get home ask yourself why the hell you were ever friends with that dick.

So yes. Cassandra Clare.

The Infernal Devices trilogy is a prequel to the Mortal Instruments trilogy, set in the same world, but in Victorian Times. Being Victorian Times means it is set in London, which is where the Victorian Times happened, and there are clockwork automatons, which is what the economy of the Victorian Times was based on.

The heroine of the prequel trilogy is an American Girl named Tessa Gray who has had to come to England to live with her brother. The hero of the prequel trilogy is Fanon Draco, as always. This version of Fanon Draco is called William Herondale. He is a sarcastic, emotionally withdrawn young man who has difficulty trusting people. He is not to be confused with Jace from The Mortal Instruments who was a sarcastic, emotionally withdrawn young man with different coloured hair.

I'm going to start by saying how much I love the name “William Herondale”. It just sounds so perfectly like what it is – a name invented by an American girl to sound really English to other American girls who have never been to England. The whole book is kind of like this – it feels a great deal like the cast of the original trilogy decided to cosplay as Victorians (and the cover of the UK edition looks rather like that as well – I've never seen somebody look less comfortable in a top hat).

The book opens with a nine page prologue, but the action of the prologue takes place directly before the action of the first chapter, so I really don't understand what makes it a “prologue” and not “chapter one”. Anyway the prologue delighted me by including the two things I've come to demand from the works of Cassie Clare, the first being incredibly ill-constructed similes:

Through the gap, Will could see the dark outlines of docked ships, a forest of masts like a leafless orchard.

It's not quite “the colour of black ink” but there's a certain peculiar genius to it. You can almost imagine her sitting at her keyboard and thinking “hmm, there's this forest of masts, but I need a striking visual metaphor to describe it, what would it be like … I know, a forest of masts would look like an orchard.”

And the second, of course, being an infeasibly hot badboy love interest:

Will smiled the way Lucifer might have smiled, moments before he fell from heaven.

As I so often say in these situations, part of me appreciates the sheer brass (and presumably in this case steam-powered) bollocks of it. Remember that this line appears on page twelve of the UK edition, and the prologue only starts on page seven. I'd say that she might as well have just written “and by the way, Will was really, really, really hot” but she actually does that as well a mere thirty pages later:

He had the most beautiful face she had ever seen. Tangled black hair and eyes like blue glass. Elegant cheekbones, a full mouth, and long, thick lashes. Even the curve of his throat was perfect.

I mean, it's nice that she puts her cards on the table, but seriously, we are on page forty-two here. I don't think I'd mind so much if it weren't for the fact that they don't even get together in this book – they kiss like, twice, and he makes inappropriate suggestions (because he is tormented) and that's it. I know it's the nineteenth century, but nobody in the entire book offers more than a passing nod to a period-appropriate worldview – at least TMI had the whole incest arc keeping the leads from hopping into bed with each other, all that stops the protagonists of this book from jumping in the sack is recycled Draco-angst and the fact that Tessa very, very occasionally remembers it's supposed to be 1878.

Anyway, the story of Clockwork Angel (spoilers follow) is that Tessa Gray is summoned to England, where it turns out she has shapeshifting powers, which she is abused into revealing by two scary old ladies called the Dark Sisters (I shit you not) who want to force her to marry somebody called “the Magister” (I still shit you not). She is rescued by

Draco

Jace

William Herondale and the other Shadowhunters, who are investigating the Dark Sisters and the mysterious “Pandemonium Club” that they work for and the sinister “Magister” who runs it. Investigation ensues, and it turns out that the Pandemonium Club are building a clockwork army to wipe out the Shadowhunters. The Shadowhunters try to take down the Magister, but it turns out they have been tricked by the real Magister into taking down the wrong villain. The identity of the true Magister is kind of obvious (clue, all Cassie Clare's villains have surnames beginning with “M”) but the reveal is reasonably well handled and while you can see the twist coming a mile off, the clues are mostly metatextual so the protagonists don't look too stupid.

Because it's the first book in a trilogy, of course, the book ends with a completely inconclusive confrontation, and a metric assload of foreshadowing during which nothing whatsoever is revealed about anything at all.

I'm sort of torn about the plot. I found the opening dull, was quite excited at the bit in the middle where they killed a bunch of vampires, was pleased with the revelation of the real Magister but then realised that (a) nothing was going to get explained at all and (b) there were still two chapters to go, which presumably would consist of nothing but setup and foreshadowing. I did provisionally like the Magister arc, which begins with the Shadowhunters being all dismissive and superior about mortals who dabble in the occult, and ends with the revelation that the Magister actually is an ordinary mortal who – it seems – has managed to achieve power in the world of the supernatural by being legitimately smarter than everybody else (which admittedly isn't particularly hard, Clare's secondary creation isn't exactly overflowing with competence).

Of course this touches on one of my perennial beefs with Urban Fantasy, which is its complete lack of interest in anybody who isn't touched by the Special Magic Fairy Dust. Long-time fans of my struggles with the good Ms Clare might remember that I felt that

City of Glass

was in part an attempt to “do right” some of the unfollowed plot threads in the later Potter books (specifically, any and all threads that related to Wizarding society being hella fucked up), in City of Glass the Clave really does have to make concessions to the Downworlders in order to defeat Valentine, and they (to some extent) have to confront some nasty truths about their society. Clockwork Angelseems (although I am more than ready to be disappointed on this count) to be making a similar attempt to address the Wizarding World's treatment of Muggles (and more generally, the treatment of mundane humans in urban fantasy as a genre). It's relatively clear throughout the book that the Shadowhunters have a really screwed-up attitude to mundanes, and part of the reason the twist works so well (despite being relatively obvious) is that you can absolutely see why they fall for it – it's clearly impossible for any of them to believe that they could be so utterly played by an ordinary human.

This does have a downside, however, which is that it leaves some parts of the audience (at least, those parts of the audience which are me) kind of rooting for the villain. Perhaps I'm just an asshole, but Clare does such a good job of making the Shadowhunters look like patronising douchebags that I could see a lot of sense in Operation Robot Army. Certainly I'd rather put my faith in a bunch of killer machines than in a group of invisible ninja wizards who think they're better than me. Of course the problem with this is that the guy is inevitably going to lose, which means that whatever Clare's intentions, it seems likely that the overall message of the series is going to wind up being “and remember, don't try to move outside of the sphere you were born into.” Like always.

As always when reviewing long running series by the same author, I find myself running out of steam around this point because, well, there isn't a lot I can say here that will be a surprise to anybody. I can I think say that Cassie Claire is getting less bad, although as always it might just be that I'm growing accustomed to her idiosyncrasies. For example, I didn't find the chapter titles quite as infuriating this time around – none of them were in Latin, most of them were short and descriptive, and only three or four of them contain the words “Heaven”, “Angel” or “Darkness”. Chapter two does reach a new low by being called “Hell is Cold” - a title which is justified solely by the fact that Tessa randomly tells Will (in the middle of an escape scene, no less) that “Hell is Cold” because the lowest levels of hell are full of ice in The Inferno. Which she has read. And which Cassie Clare has also read.

Oh yes, about that. While Ms Clare has very slightly restrained her urge to pack literary references into her chapter titles, she has more than compensated in two ways. Firstly, she continues her tradition of having her protagonists quote stuff all the damned time (this gets circular fast – frequently chapter titles are references to the fact that characters in the book quote a particular line in the chapter – as with “Hell is Cold” in chapter two). Secondly she opens each chapter with a quote from a poem. Poems which she helpfully informs us (in an author's note after the text – much like you might get in an H/D songfic) were all poems that Tessa would have known about, except for the bits that aren't – there's Wilde and Kipling in there despite the book being set in 1878. I wouldn't have minded this so much, but the Author's Note makes quite a big deal about how the rest of the poems are texts Tessa would have been familiar with, and I kind of think that if you're going to do a thing, you should do it properly, otherwise it looks a lot like you've just taken a bunch of random poems from some time vaguely in the past.

The book opens, incidentally with a full length poem called “Thames River Song” which was actually written especially for the book by a third party (one Elka Cloke, you can apparently find a full version of the poem at www.elkacloke.com). This poem is clearly supposed to be about the Thames as it was in the Age of Steam, and – I don't know – I think if you want a poem about the Thames in the nineteenth century you should go with a nineteenth-century poet. I can't help but suspect that the reason she didn't pick, say, Lines Written Near Richmond, Upon the Thames, at Evening or Steam-Launches on the Thames is because they didn't contain enough references to cogs, steam, machinery and all the other things that people who have never been to London associate with it.

I vaguely promised myself that this wouldn't turn into a rant about Steampunk, I've mellowed a lot on the (sub)genre over the years, and I'm happy to accept that good books can be and have been written in a steampunk mode. That said, a lot of things still hack me off about the subculture, one of which is its peculiar insistence that the Industrial Revolution was all about individual craftsmen building wonderful machines when in fact it was about masses of people in factories producing stuff in bulk. To put it another way, real Victorian poets didn't write about their world like this:

Each tiny golden cog has teeth, each great wheel moves a pair of hands which take the water from the river, devour it, convert it into steam, coerce the great machine to run on the force of its dissolution.

This is because people in the nineteenth century didn't give a crap about cogs and brass and steam any more than, well, twenty-first century people do (after all the vast majority of electricity is still generated in thermal power stations, which still use steam-driven turbines and which still contain cogs and gears and all of those other oldey-timey sounding things which are part of pretty much any mechanical device you might care to name). Real historical poets who lived in the real London wrote about real people who lived in a real city. William Blake's London for example, begins:

I wandered through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

Wordsworth, in London, 1802 writes:

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;

Sorry, I've spent a really insanely long time banging on about this, but you might notice that neither of those poems contain any reference to brass, steam, lenses, goggles or any of the other steampunk nonsense that Clare felt was such a necessary part of her evocation of my goddamned home city.

Again, I should add that I have actually mellowed a lot on Steampunk over the years, but what bothered me about the steampunky elements in Clockwork Angel was that it isn't a steampunk setting. Steampunk posits an alternate reality in which the progress of technology is fundamentally different, but this clearly isn't true in the Cassandraverse – we know that, supernatural elements aside, the New York of the Mortal Instruments trilogy looks exactly like the real New York. Yet somehow the villain of The Infernal Devices is able to build humanoid robots which follow verbal commands, believably pass as human, and move sufficiently well to stand up to trained Shadowhunters in a one-on-one fight, and he is able to do this without using magic. Clare just seems to assume that because it is The Victorian Times people have access to steampunk technology that somehow ceases to exist somewhere between 1878 and 2010.

It's not the steampunkyness that I object to per se, rather it's the thoughtless assumption that (a) England (b) the late nineteenth century and (c) steampunk are basically the same thing. It's like Clare was unable to imagine a novel set in England that was not set in the Victorian era, unable to imagine a novel set in the Victorian era that was not set in England, and unable to imagine a novel set in either England or the Victorian era that did not include steam-and-clockwork-powered mechanical marvels.

It makes it quite hard to work out where to place the books. They're so tied to the original trilogy that they don't really make sense except as a prequel series, but they make enough changes to the way the world works (seriously guys, clockwork robots are a game-changer) that they don't feel quite like they're set in the same universe. It's a lot like the Star Wars prequels in that respect, you have to really squint to imagine that the events established in the original canon logically follow from the world established in the prequels.

The weirdness is compounded by the fact that half the characters in the book have the same surnames as characters from the previous book. I get that this provides a sense of continuity, but rather than making the story feel like part of a consistent world, it makes it feel like it's just set in a weird AU where everybody is a Victorian (like that Marvel comic where it's the X-Men except that they're in 1602). The strange fake feeling isn't helped by the fact that people not only fail to act in any way like actual Victorians but also draw attention to the fact that they aren't in any way acting like actual Victorians. So Tessa tries for about two chapters to refer to Will as “Mr Herondale” but then just forgets, she points out how peculiar it is that she Shadowhunters all refer to each other by their first names, but they still do it. Yes you can claim that it's all “Shadowhunter tradition” but it seems a giant fucking coincidence that the eternal and unchanging traditions of the Shadowhunters align so perfectly with twenty-first-century social conventions despite their having been instituted n-thousand years ago. It's like that bit in City of Ashes where they explain that “adult” in Shadowhunter tradition means “eighteen year old” because “teenagers are a modern concept”.

The awkward sense of history is at its most jarring when it comes to gender politics. Tess pays lip-service to having internalised sexism, but after expressing mild surprise that in Shadowhunter society Women Are Allowed To Have Power And Fight Like Men she just goes with it. Except later it seems that Shadowhunter society is kind of sexist after all (Charlotte, the Shadowhunter who runs the institute, can do so only because she does it jointly with her affable buffoon of a husband, and her gender apparently causes her political difficulties) which for me shoves the whole thing down the uncanny valley. If it's a gender-equal society, why does Charlotte get a hard time for being a woman? If it isn't, why don't they keep their women at home making Shadowhunter babies? Again it all feels oddly specific, like the Shadowhunters are eternally stuck in a kind of late-twentieth-early-twenty-first-century mindset with very, very vague nods to whatever time period they happen to be cosplaying as.

The gender politics get particularly confusing when we get to the character of Jess. Jess is the Isabel of this book (although she's fair-haired this time, meaning her hair is presumably the colour of blonde ink) only instead of being a badass dominatrix, she's a (relatively) proper Victorian lady who isn't interested in fighting demons at all, and who wants to move out of the Institute and find herself a husband. Jess is very nearly an interesting character, but I could never quite work out whether I was supposed to find her situation complex and ambiguous or whether I was just supposed to think she was shallow and stupid. Read charitably, Jess asks us to question the morality of Shadowhunter society (which is trying to force her into a life she doesn't want, just as Victorian society forces many mundanes into lives they don't want) and to recognise that some women really will choose marriage and domesticity over excitement and adventure, and that there is nothing wrong with this. Read uncharitably she's there exclusively to make the heroine look good.

I'm going to close this review by mentioning the two Author's Notes at the end (this really, really feels like a fandom thing to me – I half expect the next book to open with bold text saying: Disclaimer: I don't own any of … oh wait). I've already mentioned the one about the poetry, but there's also a lovely note about “Tessa's London” which begins thus:

The London of Clockwork Angel is, as much as I could make it, an admixture of the real and the unreal, the famous and the forgotten.

Good old Cassie and her thesaurus. But I do wonder what she means by “as much as I could make it,” surely as long as the book contains at least one real thing (like say, the name of the city) and at least one unreal thing (like say, the character of Will Herondale) then she has succeeded in her goal.

Either way, thus ends the review. A review that is, as much as I could make it, an admixture of the fair and the unfair, of sincerity and sarcasm.Themes:

Books

,

Young Adult / Children

,

Judging Books By Their Covers

,

Cassandra Clare

~

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Arthur B

at 01:20 on 2012-02-06

It's like Clare was unable to imagine a novel set in England that was not set in the Victorian era, unable to imagine a novel set in the Victorian era that was not set in England, and unable to imagine a novel set in either England or the Victorian era that did not include steam-and-clockwork-powered mechanical marvels.

To be fair, maybe she

could

imagine such a novel, but she (or her publishers) couldn't imagine it selling better.

I mean, if you're a hack novelist who's perfectly content to write the literary equivalent of popcorn - lacking in distinctiveness, flavour, nutritional value or surprises, but comfortingly disposable and familiar - and if you're facing a situation where the urban fantasy market is oversaturated, moving on to steampunk seems like the logical choice because there's a built-in subculture attached to it of folk who'll happily give your novel a chance provided there is a reasonable chance there'll be cogs and corsets in there.

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at 10:20 on 2012-02-06This is because people in the nineteenth century didn't give a crap about cogs and brass and steam ... Real historical poets who lived in the real London wrote about real people who lived in a real city.

I love you so much for saying this and for quoting poetry and for putting into words something that has bothered me about Steampunk Londonland for a while. Thank you.

I personally think steampunk has huge potential as a lens (a fun lens, even!) for looking at a very interesting and highly problematic era, with industrialism, imperialism, the beginning of the suffragette movement and many other issues and events - yet it mostly seems to be about gears and cogs and corsets and steam, rather than poking and prodding what it was that made the 19thC (in England and elsewhere) such a volatile time.

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Sister Magpie

at 19:09 on 2012-02-07

I'm going to start by saying how much I love the name “William Herondale”. It just sounds so perfectly like what it is – a name invented by an American girl to sound really English to other American girls who have never been to England.

As someone who once was an American girl who had never been to England, I sort of want to hug it just for that too because it is so naked in its appeal.

So Tessa tries for about two chapters to refer to Will as “Mr Herondale” but then just forgets, she points out how peculiar it is that she Shadowhunters all refer to each other by their first names, but they still do it. Yes you can claim that it's all “Shadowhunter tradition” but it seems a giant fucking coincidence that the eternal and unchanging traditions of the Shadowhunters align so perfectly with twenty-first-century social conventions despite their having been instituted n-thousand years ago.

This kind of fascinates me because when you read a lot of 19th century lit, well, as you said, the difference is just there. In the book I'm reading now I just read a passage where a woman refers to someone by just their last name in a letter, with a line about how the recipient might be shocked to hear her taking such liberties and she'll now explain that they have become much more intimate since she last mentioned him. There's also a scene earlier where the two dim-witted lovers have a breathless exchange about how they are totally going to call each other by their first names.

It makes me wonder about the decision to do that, I mean, to take a basic difference in the two societies and then toss it when it immediately makes everything seem that much more modern.

I actually just read another YA book that takes place in the 19th century in England where there wasn't many places to deal with this sort of formal convention but I was really distracted by how completely modern the personalities were. Like, not only did all the girls openly chafe against all the Victorian expectations (or lack of expectations) for girls, but they had personalities that were almost frightenly abrasive and aggressive for the time period compared to any other books I've read. Judged in the way the women in the actual 19th century book I'm reading, every one of them would be the villain.

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at 19:45 on 2012-02-07Yeah, steampunk in general bothers me for a lot of similar reasons. Obviously fantasy is fantasy, but people native to the 'steampunk world' simply wouldn't be so self-consciously obsessed with the purely cosmetic trappings of steampunk (cogs, steam power, goggles, etc.) that for the bulk of the poulation would be everyday mundanities. It'd be like a character in a typical fantasy setting going apeshit over common swords and shields and campfires. The setting isn't so fresh these days that mere mention of its tropes excites interest. James Blaylock wrote better steampunk novels in the 80s.

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http://angmar-bucket.livejournal.com/

at 23:21 on 2012-02-07I must be one of the few people who just doesn't get the appeal of the Victorian era. It's in the past, but in the relatively recent past by historical standards. I'd love to read a supernatural thriller set in ancient Egypt, or Mongolia, or Mesopotamia, or something like that. And what about Japan? If Ms. Clare doesn't want to use people's surnames, she should set a book in feudal Japan, where once upon a time only the nobility had surnames and everyone else had to make due without them (of course, there are a lot of other Cultural Restrictions in that setting, so perhaps nevermind to that idea). I suppose medieval Japan wouldn't be "classy" and "posh" enough.

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valse de la lune

at 07:13 on 2012-02-08Ugh fuck no, there are enough crappy, orientalist, exotifying novels written by westerners about Japan as it is. Let hacks continue to wank over Victoriana and leave everything else alone, it's much less insulting than rampant cultural appropriation.

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Janne Kirjasniemi

at 11:36 on 2012-02-08Of course, the thing about the industrial revolution is that not only were people not that interested in the cosmetic trappings, many of them were actively opposed and hated by many people as the industrial revolution brought with it not just miracles of engineering, but also the negative effects, a burgeoning uncontrollable urban growth and poverty, problems with sanitation and health and the pollution caused by the many factories situated quite near city centers. Trains were feared or treated with suspicion and in general, there were many who regarded the progress as a negative thing destroying a world that they had grown used to. But enough about that. I was both fascinated and confused by this line:

Will smiled the way Lucifer might have smiled, moments before he fell from heaven.

I am having a hard time imagining the exact nature of this smile. So, moments before he was cast outside the light of god into perpetual metaphysical darkness, Lucifer was smiling? Was this smile masochistic, defiant, inappropriate, insane or lackadaisical? That's one tough angel. One could imagine that this is the exact sort of positive attitude that makes one able to turn abyss into the fastest growing afterlife enterprise in the christian universe, but on the other hand it might be that he thought he was actually winning and was smiling about it not noticing that archangel Mikael had tricked him to step above a hole in the clouds and he was only moments away from realizing, like Wile E. Coyote above a ravine, that there's a long drop to abyss opening under him. But what exactly was Will doing, that made him pucker out a smile resembling such a specific expression from a future archfiend? Did the author elaborate on this? Even with the above speculation, I can't imagine what sort of a smile it would actually be...

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Shim

at 12:23 on 2012-02-08I would love to read something fantastical about Victorian Japan written by someone competent. Sadly given how likely genre fiction is to get translated, that's probably contingent on me learning Japanese. Really must find more non-Western fantasy to read.

Frankly I'd also like to read some steampunk that wasn't about London; did nobody notice the whole "industrial north" business? The whole "Sheffield: steel capital of the world" business takes on a whole new meaning.

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at 15:03 on 2012-02-08Well, there are the Kai Lung stories Ernest Bramah wrote, though those come off to me more as a satire of the West's distorted idea of China than anything else. A less charitable person could consider them really insulting cultural appropriation I guess, but this is just so exaggerated that I can't believe he was taking it seriously or intending it to reflect on China as it actually was:

"O illustrious person," said Kai Lung very earnestly, "this is evidently an unfortunate mistake. Doubtless you were expecting some exalted Mandarin to come and render you homage, and were preparing to overwhelm him with gratified confusion by escorting him yourself to your well-appointed abode. Indeed, I passed such a one on the road, very richly apparelled, who inquired of me the way to the mansion of the dignified and upright Lin Yi. By this time he is perhaps two or three li towards the east." "However distinguished a Mandarin he may be, it is fitting that I should first attend to one whose manners and accomplishments betray him to be of the Royal House," replied Lin Yi, with extreme affability. "Precede me, therefore, to my mean and uninviting hovel, while I gain more honour than I can reasonably bear by following closely in your elegant footsteps, and guarding your Imperial person with this inadequate but heavily-loaded weapon."

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valse de la lune

at 15:30 on 2012-02-08I'm not entirely comfortable with a person who's not Chinese doing that, to be honest.

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Janne Kirjasniemi

at 15:52 on 2012-02-08What of Robert Van Gulik's Judge Dee stories? I don't know any better, but I did get the impression, that he tried to interpret traditional Chinese detective stories to a western audience and he did seem to do a lot of research on it.

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valse de la lune

at 16:02 on 2012-02-08I'm not familiar with them, but there was a film about the same character--that is, based on the same historical figure--made by actual Chinese people, so I'm predisposed to be more interested in that than in something by whoever Gulik was.

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/XN0WFW88y4QZqlu6627sTvW6qWXOhmhF#91b77

at 16:14 on 2012-02-08

Here

is an interesting article about cultural appropriation in speculative fiction. It touches on ways an author might deal with elements of a foreign culture tactfully. While a member of the culture in question could obviously be counted on to deal with it from a place of knowledge and sensitivity, there's nothing preventing people who aren't from doing so as well.

It's just that the 'invaders' (to use Shawl's terminology) tend to be more common. Dealing appropriately with complicated and sensitive subjects like foreign culture is difficult. Making matters worse, the English-speaking speculative fiction readership is largely comprised of white western people, who aren't exactly likely to notice and be vocally critical of cultural appropriation.

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valse de la lune

at 17:13 on 2012-02-08Oh, I've written reams

on that subject

on particular

books

, particular

occasions

.

Truth be told though? Westerners get my culture(s) so wrong most of the time that I'm inclined to run the fuck away when I see one of them try. I no longer read anything about my country that's by a white person. Why should I, when there're plenty of my countrypeople writing?

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at 17:34 on 2012-02-08Fair enough, seems like you've thought quite a bit more about this than I have, what with it directly concerning you and your culture (surprise: I'm a white guy).

Still, I think you go a bit far. An outsider's perspective is often useful, and can be educational; should white people only read white people's opinions on what white people are like? Surely not. The difference I guess is in the claim of 'authenticity'. Like in that book by Paolo Whatshisname you wrote about; it's set in Thailand and told from the perspective of Thai characters, and so really needs to display a deep understanding of the culture, but he proceeds to prove his ignorance about it.

But say some other foreigner lived in Thailand for a period and wrote a book that drew from their genuine experiences with Thai people and their culture, from that foreign perspective? That would bring something much different to the story than what you'd get from a Thai author writing about their own culture and countrymen. I'm assuming, of course, that it doesn't just turn into more "white guy out-natives the natives" type of Dances with Wolves/Avatar/The Last Samurai crap.

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http://scipiosmith.livejournal.com/

at 18:37 on 2012-02-08

It's like Clare was unable to imagine a novel set in England that was not set in the Victorian era, unable to imagine a novel set in the Victorian era that was not set in England, and unable to imagine a novel set in either England or the Victorian era that did not include steam-and-clockwork-powered mechanical marvels.

It's occurred to me that, as you've described it, the Victorian English setting works as quite a nice paralell for the goings on around the villain. You have a society in which an established elite, perpetuating by blood, who come under assault by the little-thought-of underclass, and are completely blindsided by it due to their own complacency in their continuing place at the head of affairs. Meanwhile the revolutionary villain harnesses the desire of the working class to improve their station and uses it to sweep himself into power. This isn't just a YA urban fantasy, it's a metaphor for the rise of the Labour Movement and/or Irish Nationalism.

Pity it wasn't set in 1868, the Hyde Park riot could have been used as a backdrop.

Since I haven't actually read the book, does that make any sense at all?

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valse de la lune

at 20:20 on 2012-02-08

But say some other foreigner lived in Thailand for a period and wrote a book that drew from their genuine experiences with Thai people and their culture, from that foreign perspective? That would bring something much different to the story than what you'd get from a Thai author writing about their own culture and countrymen. I'm assuming, of course, that it doesn't just turn into more "white guy out-natives the natives" type of Dances with Wolves/Avatar/The Last Samurai crap.

Oh piss right the fuck off. Hahaha "genuine." God, white people like you are the very fucking worst. Jesus buggering cocks. I've read that shit and it's full of condescending assumptions, judgmental assholery, and general idiocy of every single flavor imaginable. It's the white expats living in Thailand that are the worst of all species of scum: racist, entitled, sexist, whiny. I have no idea why we give then long-term visas and if a political party promised to deport the whole fucking lot I'll vote for them with all my might, even if that same party also promises to club baby seals.

The idea that you believe POC need an outsider's perspective to educate us about our own culture/country is patronizing beyond belief. And very, very white. You didn't even have to tell me you were white.

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at 20:26 on 2012-02-08Jesus Christ, I'm sorry I offended you but that's not what I meant at all. I didn't mean white people could teach you about your own culture, I meant an outsider's perspective can teach you about how you come off *to other people*. The impression you make and all that. If you've read a lot of stuff written by expats and it's been largely crappy then fine, you've read more of that than I have and know better than I do about its failings. But I don't think it's a bad idea in principle, assuming it's approached with maturity and sensitivity (which according to you it isn't the bulk of the time). And what's up with your attack on 'genuine'? All I meant was, people who have real, actual, *genuine* interactions with people of different cultures might have something interesting to say about those interactions. They might also have soapboxes they want to get on to preach some "racist, entitled, sexist, whiny" message, but that's true of anything.

But seriously, you want to *punch me in the face* over this? If that would make you feel better, be my guest, but it's not going to change anything.

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at 20:42 on 2012-02-08OK, well you edited out the part where you want to punch me in the face. Is my face now safe? Look, I'm not *trying* to be patronizing, but I'll admit that if my comments were interpreted as you did that they would come across as very patronizing. I didn't mean them that way, and I could've worded myself better, given that it's obviously a sensitive subject for you. It's a complex issue and I'm certainly not an expert on it (duh!). I do think outsider perspectives can have value if they're handled well, but maybe when it comes to culture that's an unattainable ideal.

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valse de la lune

at 20:46 on 2012-02-08"Genuine" is a favorite buzzword used by a certain type of bleeding-heart liberal slacktivists who go around backpacking through Asia (usually on their gap year, because white people

love this sort of thing

), write travelogues, and congratulate themselves over how

amazingly genuine and insightful

they are. In fact, the bulk of travel literature is nothing but exotifying claptrap writing by smug self-satisfied privileged white people who know nobody'll question their shit and buy into how "genuine" their dreck is.

I didn't mean white people could teach you about your own culture, I meant an outsider's perspective can teach you about how you come off *to other people*. The impression you make and all that.

Like the west in general and tourists particular don't tell us how they perceive us 24/7? I mean do you think... this... is... something... new? That there's a gaping void that begs to be filled? Westerners love nothing more than to lecture everyone else on what to do and how to do it in a way that'll appeal to them, westerners, better. At a global level my country is defined solely through the perspective of tourist guidebooks and exploitative expat scum. Everything has already been said,

you people

can't stop blathering on, you people can't just shut the fuck up and

listen

. Whites have an opinion on every fucking thing and love nothing more than to shout those opinions (even if their opinions are

insulting/based on generalizations/on three days' vacation

), and best of all while drowning out the opinions that actually matter. Like, you know, the opinions of insiders. Who know what they're talking about.

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Janne Kirjasniemi

at 20:55 on 2012-02-08Do you happen to remember the english name if any of that film? It would be nice to see it.

I wasn't meaning to puff Van Gulik, it was just something that popped into my head. They're pretty good detective strories, but I don't really know what there is to get terribly excited about in them, if one can read the originals. Van Gulik was a Netherlandish diplomat who worked in China during the Second World War. I remember reading that he translated some of the original stories into english. Whether they(his stories) are in anyways accurate about Qing dynasty China or its justice system or what in general is to be made of them, I don't know. Hmm, according to wikipedia, one of them was translated to chinese. Doesn't mention how it was received, though.

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valse de la lune

at 20:59 on 2012-02-08

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

It's an interesting reimagining of China with a queen as the sole ruling monarch. There's at least one wuxia show IIRC that features the same historical personage as well. He's a popular one.

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at 20:59 on 2012-02-08

Like the west in general and tourists particular don't tell us how they perceive us 24/7? I mean do you think... this... is... something... new? That there's a gaping void that begs to be filled?

Well according to your own post, doing it well *would* be something new! Granted, I would like to see more attention paid to insider perspectives in speculative fiction too. I'm really tired of medieval Europe (or America in Space) being the default setting and cliched western views of other cultures are worse. Are there any good Thai spec fic authors you might recommend? In translation, of course.

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valse de la lune

at 21:07 on 2012-02-08Hahaha the thought of Thai genre writers being translated. Heh heh heh. Nope. The Anglophonic publishing industry isn't generally super-interested in things that aren't English-language. Even works from parts of Western Europe that don't speak English don't cross over very often (hey Gollancz, what's holding up that translation of

Time of Contempt

?). There aren't even good translations of some well-known Chinese epics.

Sightseeing

by Rattawut Lapcharoensap is fairly okay, and it's by an actual Thai person too! Not SF/F, but what the hell.

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Janne Kirjasniemi

at 21:29 on 2012-02-08On that subject, there is a rare Finnish specfic book which is(I think) actually good, by Johanna Sinisalo, which has been translated into english, called

Not before sundown

. It's about a gay photographer who rescues a young troll. It is really a shame that lack of translations. There's been lot's of people I know learning chinese here so I should probably try it out as well.

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Michal

at 02:10 on 2012-02-09

Even works from parts of Western Europe that don't speak English don't cross over very often (hey Gollancz, what's holding up that translation of Time of Contempt?).

Poland is considered part of Western Europe now? I guess I should be proud.

But yes, the imbalance is hugely frustrating; last time I was in a Polish bookshop half the stuff there was Polish translations of English works and actual Polish books were squeezed into their own little corner. Meanwhile, barely any fantastika from the whole of Russia, Poland, Ukraine et al has recently been available in the English-speaking world. Even honest-to-God classic works in French haven't been completely translated yet (You'd think you could find a complete English-language edition of Louis Sebastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris, but nooooo); let alone works from, uh, most of Asia and Africa.

As for the topic of writing outside of the usual Victorian London/western medieval setting, here's thing: I would love to see a steampunk novel set in St. Petersburg, say. I just wouldn't want Cassandra Clare to write it. Because, you know, Daniel can snigger at Claire's not-really-London, but I think she'd step into unbelievable levels of failure if she tried to take on a culture or place "outside the norm". If anglophone authors can't even seem to get Russia right 80% of the time, how well do we expect them to do with non-white cultures?

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valse de la lune

at 06:02 on 2012-02-09Herp, I should've said

Europe

period.

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Shim

at 13:41 on 2012-02-09Okay,

Sightseeing

and

Not Before Sundown

added to reading list. Other suggestions welcome! Currently working my way through Alexey Pehov and Fflur Dafydd.

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Michal

at 16:23 on 2012-02-09If you want to add some early Polish horror to the list, Shimmin, a little bit of Stefan Grabinski has made it into English (and unlike most cases, the translation is actually quite good). He's a personal favourite of mine.

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Shim

at 19:53 on 2012-02-09Thanks Michal, I've made a note of it.

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http://angmar-bucket.livejournal.com/

at 22:30 on 2012-02-09All this being said, I'd still like to see more fantasy books set in other places and in other time periods. They're hard to find, and the ones I actually like are even harder. (To be fair, any time after the 1300s I generally find boring, and in my opinion the world really lost its shine after Trilobite and the early Tetrapods went extinct, but there you go...)

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Dan H

at 23:46 on 2012-02-09Wow that's a lot of comments...

From the top

@Arthur:

To be fair, maybe she could imagine such a novel, but she (or her publishers) couldn't imagine it selling better.

I don't think that's the case though - it's not a steampunk text, it's a YA urban fantasy with vampires and wizards, its chief selling point isn't the fact that it's got quasi-steampunky elements, it's that it's got hot boys.

@alankria:

I love you so much for saying this and for quoting poetry and for putting into words something that has bothered me about Steampunk Londonland for a while. Thank you.

Thanks. Like I say in the article I've actually mellowed a lot on Steampunk (I basically think of it as fantasy with more modern technology these days). I think the reason the poetry bugged me so much was that she'd put so much effort into picking "authentic" period poems for her quotes, and then had something made up for the big introductory piece. It's like writing a book about the life of Jesus, peppering the text with lines from the gospels, and opening with a long pseudo-biblical passage you got a mate to write.

@Sister Magpie:

As someone who once was an American girl who had never been to England, I sort of want to hug it just for that too because it is so naked in its appeal.

I know! It's kind of adorable.

@angmar-bucket:

I must be one of the few people who just doesn't get the appeal of the Victorian era. It's in the past, but in the relatively recent past by historical standards.

I think it's the recentness that makes it so interesting in some ways. It's a world that's recognisably *not* the world we live in now, but is also recognisably very *similar* to it. I had no problem with the book being set in Victorian England (although I kind of think Victorian New York would have been cooler and less done to death) - just with its being filtered through the cogs-and-steam lens.

@scipiosmith:

It's occurred to me that, as you've described it, the Victorian English setting works as quite a nice paralell for the goings on around the villain.

Interesting, I'd been thinking something similar (although to be honest I know crap all about the history), but it strikes me that the problem as always has to do with the fact that the guy is, well, the villain. Because trying to take power away from people who inherited it through no virtue of their own is bad.

Sorry for the bulk post, I feel like I've just written one of those circular Christmas emails.

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Cammalot

at 02:59 on 2012-02-10I like the bustles. They validate my African-esque physique. (What?)

As far as actual (UK) plots and dramas go, I kind of prefer the Edwardians to the Victorians. Massive societal change, changes in self-perception and whatnot...filling the gaps in my knowledge of WW1, which is technically after, but *right* after, and always seems to get included...

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http://fishinginthemud.livejournal.com/

at 15:36 on 2012-03-10I want to point out that it's frightening how easily writing reasonably well-received fanfiction inflates the ego. I wrote a drabble a few years ago and got some praise for it from people I didn't know, and I walked around for the next month thinking I was Hemingway.

I didn't try to write a novel, or anything, but I can see where this poor Clare woman is coming from. And of course she's a bestseller now, so she doesn't have to care what anyone thinks. I doubt I would either.

By the way, I hope it's okay for me to comment on an older article this way. I also wanted to let you all know that your podcasts have at least one other American listener.

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http://mary-j-59.livejournal.com/

at 18:53 on 2012-03-10Valse de la Lune, I'd like to point out something about Ernest Bramah, whom my mom and my sister have enjoyed enormously. He's not really writing about China at all. He's poking fun at his own culture. One of the wittiest stories in the collection deals with the rise of insurers and insurance agencies, and I don't believe for a moment that's something the West got from China, though we certainly appropriated many other things.

No offense, I hope.

BTW, I can't help thinking that there is also a difference between a genuine Victorian or Edwardian being unconsciously racist, and a modern person being so. Surely one ought to be far more offended by the modern author? Or am I wrong about that?

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Dan H

at 23:37 on 2012-03-10

I didn't try to write a novel, or anything, but I can see where this poor Clare woman is coming from. And of course she's a bestseller now, so she doesn't have to care what anyone thinks. I doubt I would either.

To give Ms Clare her due, I *do* think she's got better. As I've mentioned several times before, even writing a *bad* book is much harder than people think.

By the way, I hope it's okay for me to comment on an older article this way.

That's absolutely fine, we get comments on articles *years* after they go up, it's nice in a way because it lets us know the old content isn't dead.

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http://fishinginthemud.livejournal.com/

at 01:48 on 2012-03-11

To give Ms Clare her due, I *do* think she's got better.

From what I could tell, never having read any of her books and knowing only that she plagiarized a lot of people in her fanfiction, she had nowhere to go but up. I was always puzzled by the fanon Draco thing, and with the idea of "fanon" characters in general; I would have thought if you were going to change the guy's entire personality, you might as well give him a new name and write your own book about him. I now realize that was bad advice in Clare's case.

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Furare

at 09:30 on 2012-03-11By the end of HP, if you wanted to write a fanfic about any three-dimensional, moderately well-realised character, you'd end up not being true to the character as presented in the text. Just saying.

Mind you, I never understood the "fanon Draco" phenomenon either. It's much more satisfying to try to make the bugger vaguely sympathetic while preserving the notion that he's actually kind of a bastard.

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Michal

at 16:51 on 2012-08-19

Cassandra Clare made it on the NPR "100 Best-ever Teen Novels" list. Twice.

Meanwhile, I don't think Jane Yolen was even on the long list.

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/pwQl65QjyO_qKzMVXCk4NkWmA93bTB40uqFXg0tjtoso59j2K3E-#74262

at 11:06 on 2013-09-03People in the nineteenth century didn't give a crap about steam and cogs? One poet at least was an exception:

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_mcandrew.htm

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Dan H

at 13:04 on 2013-09-03Umm, pretty sure that poem isn't about steam and cogs at all - it's about being a Scots Calvinist boiler worker. It's no more about steam than From a Railway Carriage is about electricity or Radio Ga-Ga is about electromagnetic radiation.

Also, that's one poem by one poet in which the word "steam" features, that's hardly a national preoccupation.

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Fishing in the Mud

at 21:32 on 2013-09-04I can understand wanting to use a motif for the time period, but it's weird to focus on one specific thing that you don't have any actual experience with. It's like if people wanted to evoke the information age in 150 years and wrote poems all about USB ports and cat-5 cables.

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Dan H

at 19:20 on 2013-09-05

It's like if people wanted to evoke the information age in 150 years and wrote poems all about USB ports and cat-5 cables.

I really, really hope this happens.

How doth the little USB

improve each shining hour,

And transfer data all the day,

'twixt laptop, phone and tower.

[indurarinks]

the mardi gras conundrum

( 3. ) Silence reigned. For a good fifteen seconds. The collective expression easily painted on their faces would have been hilarious had Bonnie not been dead serious with her ultimatum. That alone spoon-fed the demon in her that pulled her down a path of anger and blind vision. Until raucous laughter rang in her ears. She was fast on her way out of the room with determined steps that boomed beneath her feet. The congregation of asphyxiating testosterone was in for a good lesson, Bennett-style. But there was one whose laughter refused to become anything other than a myth. The one whose thunderous voice, enriched with the thickest accent she had ever heard, effectively stopped in her tracks as hesitation gripped her conscious and her infamous innate willingness to help those in need kicked her teeth in. Her fingers had just grazed the doorknob. “We need your help, Bonnie.” There was no mockery, no laughter in his tone. Only seriousness, a sense of urgency and honest need for assistance. A humility she found incongruous with the creature that had said them. But Acheron Parthenopaeus was nothing but a dichotomy in the flesh. Amusement had fled the scene with its tail tucked between its figurative legs. Her gaze lingered on her hand hovering just inches above the cool metallic doorknob. —Fine, she thought to herself. She turned around and, once again, she saw herself reflected on the dark lenses of those sunglasses. —Arrogant prick! To her complete shock, the corners of his lips twitched as if he had been privy to her private name-calling. Had she said it out loud? She wondered. No, it wasn't possible. The two remaining pairs of midnight eyes, oddly identical in shade, stared at her with a relevant degree of apprehension in them. Absolutely stunned with Bonnie's unexpected combustion. —Okay. . . She was clearly surrounded by powerful creatures. Too powerful, perhaps. Her senses tingled with the unfamiliarity of such power. Raw, untamed, volatile. Yet, she held fear at bay. For unknown reasons, each one bled protectiveness, and in their unreadable eyes, she found pain, betrayal and scars that ran too deep. No one with souls as mutilated as theirs could aim to cause pain by their own free will. She was safe, she decided. “So...?” She prompted. “Alright. We haven't been completely straightforward with you. The darkness of our world in desperation for a win against the good guys,” Acheron pushed his hand forward toward his two companions, “has formed an alliance with the darkness of your world.” “How?” Bonnie's interest piqued, she drew near the mysterious leader of this bunch. “The lord and master of the Daimons, our own version of vampires, has unleashed a ploy to turn New Orleans into a rich, delectable banquet of souls. Long story short, the witches, wolves and vampires of this city are being manipulated into hating each other. The three factions of the supernatural are coveted by our Daimons because of the great power embed in their souls.” Trying to wrap her mind around the avalanche of information he was dumping on her, with a promise of chaos and apocalyptic doom, Bonnie fell unceremoniously onto a chair. He took no mercy on her. “Their feud, if not contained, will end up being the death of all of them. We suspect a member from the Mikaelson family to be working alongside Stryker, the leader of the Daimons. We can't find out who though. But we know you have come in contact with this family before, back in Mystic Falls. And the Bennett name is whispered in New Orleans with reverence, with utmost admiration. Your lineage is considered to be royalty amongst the witches around here. And you, Bonnie Bennett, are the most powerful and skilled of all. Rumors on you spread, emphasizing your prowess, your battle-ready fire impossible to be quelled. The prophecy speaking of a witch wielding great power, seduced by darkness but never welcoming it entirely, rises from the ancient books of destiny.” Nervous laughter spilled from her lips. “And you think that's me? You're all nuts!” In denial, she struggled to breathe and her ears buzzed. Slapping her hands on the metallic table before her, she forced herself to stand but her legs weakened under her weight and she stumbled back onto her seat. With lines of worry creasing his forehead, Acheron lowered himself to her height with probing eyes. He hid the intensity of his gaze behind that wall of black from those sunglasses she was starting to despise. “Breathe, Bonnie. Slowly.” Sensing the decrease of her panic, his lips twitched again before adding, “I know you know people feel quite intimidated by you. They even go as far as crossing to the other side of the street so they don't have to walk by you. Humans are quite perceptive in their paranoia. It's like they know we could be a threat to them. Potentially.” Including himself in the rejection from humans, he paused halfway whilst reaching for her fingers as if silently asking for her permission to be touched by him. A mist of confusion descended upon her mind. Why on Earth would a creature as powerful as him be so hesitant to touch another? Surely not. . . Promptly repressing the thoughts rooted in darkness and ugly depravity, Bonnie's fingers closed about his. His aura was nothing but an encrypted message with a multitude of inconsistencies that were at war with each other. A walking contradiction. She licked her lips, suddenly aware of his proximity. Toying with the idea of revealing the colour of the eyes he so adamantly hid, her fingers practically flew to the sides of his boyish face, marked with ages of wisdom. “Careful what you wish for, Bonnie...” He warned. But paying no heed to his forewarning, she finally drew the proverbial curtain with a gasp of wonder. He had been stunning with the sunglasses on but without them, he was a creature of absolute perfection. Innately beautiful, it was as if he had been touched by Aphrodite herself. His eyes held untold wisdom in them. And unfathomable sorrow. But it was their swirling silver shade, reminding her of poisonous mercury, that held her captive. They were mesmerizing. “Why do you hide them?” She whispered, lost in a dream of perfect beauty or beautiful perfection. “They're beautiful.” The raw, unfettered agony radiating off him in crushing waves nearly drowned her. Yet another mystery left to unveil. . . Why would something as innocuous as the eyes cause him so much pain? Unsurprisingly, he ignored her words. “You should probably go find that stubborn, most likely bitching Greek asshole. He's outside, pouting in a corner because he got yelled at. You take your time to think about this, alright? I know this is a lot to take in... and there's a lot to consider. But the most important thing is, no one is going to hold it against you if you think the best thing is to walk away now.” The simple touch of her fingers from earlier had untethered the channel that made it possible for him to see into her fate. But for her touch, he would still be able to monitor her future and what was to befall her. But Acheron could never be so lucky. And those three little bitches hated him with a passion that was nothing but irrational. The Fates could sever Bonnie's thread of life without his knowledge and that scared him already. A cursed god, and the Atlantean god of Final Fate, he was forbidden to share the company of his protective mother and his powers were banished to those he stupidly cared for. Eleven thousands years later and he still hadn't learned the most important lesson of all. To never get attached, especially to humans. His interference could ultimately lead to catastrophic consequences. Not only his omnipotence was limited to himself, that restriction was also extended to those who managed to worm their way into his dark heart. Inwardly, he damned himself for allowing this to happen yet again. He watched her stand, slowly. Bonnie was evidently still recovering from her innate inability to recognize the most basic thing about herself. Panic won her over every chance it got. She was rendered impotent against it the moment another confronted her with unshakable truths about her and her witchcraft. Her natural defiance and refusal to stay down for any longer than absolutely necessary inspired him, making him long for that same spirit. She was vibrant, warm, emotional but surprisingly prudent. She held a warrior's spirit. He had been around too many to recognize it when he saw one. At the main entrance, Bonnie sought for Dev in hopes he might hold any information on Kyrian's whereabouts. One quick glance through Sanctuary had been enough to know he couldn't be found in the premises. Strangely enough, she felt him at a level she refused to analyze for the time being. It was as if he was calling out for her with something akin to a siren's call. Pointing down the road, Dev indicated her where Kyrian was headed when he left. According to him, Kyrian had been in quite the rush to leave. Flustered, even. With a mild groan of irritation, she followed Dev's directions whilst pushing her mind to neglect Acheron's words about her. She had never been the proficient witch they all claimed her to be. Alright would be the appropriate term to describe her knowledge and skills when she dabbled in witchcraft. Moreover, she couldn't even understand her desire to seek Kyrian. Or her yearning to soothe the blisters caused by Acheron's earlier spewed accusations. In fact, she should be furious at him for his antics. —What is wrong with me? In her inner battle of unwanted thoughts, a group of exceptionally beautiful, blonde men circled her, until she had no other way out other than through them. Confused, and frankly momentarily dazed by their ethereal beauty, Bonnie stumbled on her feet. One of them smirked, giving her a glimpse of the tip of his fangs while another prevented her tumble to the ground by griping her arm. Vampire! Her mind screamed at her. Summoning her magic, she was ready to strike back when the smirking blonde surprised her by conducting an attack to her mind. His powers were nothing like she had experienced before. The creature overpowered her with an eerie effortlessness that Bonnie was not accustomed to. She saw her own soul being absorbed into the center of the chest of the blonde, relishing in her magic and strength. To elongate their lives shortened by Apollo's curse, result of a series of disastrous events in a far past that lived no more (even in history books), these creatures with characteristics of wild animals (also a consequence of the curse) found a loophole to their sentence of a life of mere 27 years. Souls. As long the souls they drained from others lived within their bodies, they extended the limit to their lives. And the stronger and more powerful the soul, the more and longer it would sustain them. “You're a... Daimon.” Bonnie mumbled already half unconscious, finally understanding the difference between these sucking creatures and the ones she was familiar with. —So this is how I die... It dawned on her that this was what Kyrian and the others fought against. Protecting humanity in the dark, and spurned by those they vowed to protect. Nobility truly came from those you least expected. Mocking laughter rang in her ears again. Only this time, it was as commemoration for her imminent demise. That was until a bellow of untamed fury and the promise of merciless vengeance cut through the air with similar artistry of that of a sword. “Bonnie!” Like a wild predator bent on cutting the finish line earlier to the pack of hungry dogs around Bonnie, Kyrian extended his retractable sword with unrivaled grace before assuming the warrior side of him, deadly and without mercy. Dancing through the walking corpses that collapsed in an explosion of dust, he was mesmerizing as he bled courage and thirsted for victory with every blow he delivered. Whispers of the ancient world brought Bonnie into this one as she regained conscious and admired the trained soldier effortlessly putting the rabid dogs down. « “On the battlefield, with a sword in your hand, you are invincible.” » Uncertain of where she conjured those words from, Bonnie's magic sizzled as an unfamiliar recognition wrapped itself around her heart. Somehow she knew the words were familiar to Kyrian. “At least they clean after themselves. It would be a bitch if I had to hide all these bodies. Nifty, huh?” He said, laughing whilst strapping his weapon on the inside his leather jacket. Closing the distance between them, he winked at her with a boyish grin plastered to his face as bent down to carry her on his arms, bridal style. Bonnie closed her arms around his neck, grateful that her soul remained intact and with wonder reflected in her eyes, her lips curled in amusement. Then, to her complete surprise, he dipped his head and claimed her lips in the most ardent kiss she had ever been given to. “I've wanted to do that all night.”