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lunarticxenia · 3 years ago

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Moon Signs Pt. 2

Hi guys here’s part 2 of the moon sign series! After I post this, I’m going to be focusing more on answering your questions, I have a lot to answer. Thanks so much for all the support! Without further ado, here’s Libra through Pisces moons!

🌵Libra Moon: You guys LOVE attention, and you don’t even try to hide it LMAO. One of my good friends is a Libra moon and he literally loves to say outlandish things just to get a reaction from us and to get attention from us if we’re not talking to him enough in a conversation. Libra moons also love relationships and if underdeveloped they may feel incomplete without one. They can also be very dependent on their partner for happiness as well. However, they are romantic and in love with love. They’re also extremely sensitive and are very feminine. Even in men, it gives them a more feminine touch to their personality. They also hold their morals in very high regard. They have their set morals and won’t change them for anything or anyone. They also tend to hate conflict and usually shy away from confrontation. They’re also too nice, WAYYYYYY too nice. You guys need to be more assertive LMAO. They’re also extremely optimistic and if they don’t believe in that particular way they at least try to be optimistic with others. They’re always reminding you the glass is half full. Also, Libra moons are mad clingy. Even with those they’re not dating LMAO. My Libra moon friend whenever I try to leave the FaceTime Call, he’s like “Don’t go... :(”. They just love to be around the ones they love. They’re also in love with beauty, and all things beautiful in the world. They’re lovers of music, art, film, and literature. Libra moons also have a softness in their eyes, I can’t describe it. This girl I used to like has a Libra moon and her eyes were just so soft. They’re also extremely indecisive, they tend to flip flop between who they wanna be and what they wanna do. They also aren’t shy when it comes to compliments, they will compliment TF out of you. They’re the best hype man. They also put others before themselves a lot, and can be very shy upon first meeting them. However once they feel comfortable around you they open up. One last thing, I feel like they tend to like anyone who’s nice to them...don’t attack me. LMAO.

🌵Scorpio Moon: I feel like Scorpio moons have about ten different playlists relating to their emotions and still won’t open up to anyone about how they feel. Scorpio moons I feel have such intense emotions that they just don’t deal with them and they tend to implode after a while. I relate to them a lot in that respect tbh with my Sun square Moon, because that’s how I am. You guys are also super passionate and super creative. Every Scorpio moon I’ve met has been really creative in some way whether it be makeup, fashion style, or artwork. I’ve also noticed that this is a very alluring placement, there’s this intriguing way about them, and like Aries Moons, they have a fire in their eyes. Their gaze is INTENSE. They’re also very selective with who they let close to them, they don’t let just anybody in. They’re also very good at reading other people and seeing people’s true intentions. They have an extremely good intuition. If underdeveloped this can be used to manipulate other people, as well as being compulsive liars. Scorpio moons are also very protective over the ones they love. If you mess with anyone they care about, they will kill you. End of story. Also I feel like every Scorpio moon I’ve met has been through the wringer, like they’ve really had some hard experiences, it’s so sad to me. Scorpio moons are also extremely stubborn, remember this is a fixed sign. Scorpio moons ain’t playing, once they’ve settled on something, they’re not budging. Also, can we just say, masters at investigating people. These are the friends you want stalking your ex’s social media. They will find out everything. They’re also really good psychologists as well, almost all the Scorpio moons I’ve met are actually Psychology majors LMAO. They’re very good at finding the root causes of people’s issues. I also feel like Scorpio moons undergo a lot of transformations in their lives. I’ve known a Scorpio moon for about 10 years now and he’s undergone so many different transformations in his life. Mentally and physically. They’re also extremely sarcastic and have a tendency to be pessimistic. They’re also mad scary when angry. I’ve seen them angry before, as an Aries moon, even I get a little scared.... love y’all tho.

🌵Sagittarius Moon: The funniest people ever. Sagittarius moons always have me laughing my ass off. Their sense of humor is very diverse. They tend to stick with sarcasm and like to say outlandish things to make people laugh. Also, I feel like Sagittarius moons tend to go for science/math oriented careers or at least have an interest in those subjects. I know four Sag moons, and they’re all in STEM it’s actually crazy. They’re also extremely blunt and honest, especially when it comes to people they don’t like LMAO. They make it very clear when they don’t like someone, it’s so funny. They’re also just so much fun, like they’re genuinely so much fun to hang out with. I feel like I’ve never not had a good time hanging out with a Sagittarius moon. I feel like Sag moons however tend to struggle with asserting themselves a lot of times, until they get really fed up. They’re very much go with the flow kinda people, and this can be to their detriment especially with the ones they love, they don’t wanna rock the boat. However, they also make really good mediators and are good at settling arguments. They also really like to travel, and likely have traveled a lot. All the Sagittarius moons I know have traveled to at least 4+ countries. They love traveling the world, and I’ve also noticed move or want to move far away from their childhood home. They wanna explore everything the world has to offer. My cousin who’s a Sag moon left her parents’ house to move a few states away and my other friend who’s a Sag moon wants to move to the other side of the country. These individuals also tend to like foreign culture as well. I’ve noticed Sagittarius moons tend to like foreign music or foreign tv shows. I feel like they also tend to ignore their emotions when they get sad and just don’t like to deal with their emotions. They also don’t like to talk about how they feel and will brush sad things off because it’s just too upsetting for them. However, once the emotions boil over, just like their anger, they will blow up LMAO. I’ve also noticed that they’re really good at teaching people things? Like my Sag moon friend explained this Chemistry equation to me I couldn’t understand and I got it after 10 minutes. Natural teachers.

🌵 Capricorn Moon: Guys, it’s okay to open up. You don’t have to pretend to be so strong all the time, you’re not weak for showing your emotions. Anyway, Cap moons have high expectations for people, and will not tolerate any bs from people. I seriously commend them for that. I feel like Cap moons struggle with how their points are being expressed, they can say one thing, but it’s seen as something else. While Capricorn moons may struggle with expressing their emotions, I haven’t found them to be closed off or cold when meeting them. Every Capricorn moon I’ve met has warmed up to me very quickly and have been super nice. I feel like they’re very friendly and once they have a conversation with you they’re really warm and kind. Also, they’re not afraid of anything?? Except for showing their feelings maybe. But like, they’re so open to trying new things like scary rollercoasters and aren’t afraid to fight for themselves if they have to. Also, super fucking ambitious. I wish I could be ambitious. These people will really have like three jobs, be in school, and tend to household responsibilities. I don’t know how you guys do it. Now everyone says Capricorn moons are just analytical and systematic when confronted with conflict, and I personally haven’t found that to be true. If they feel wronged?? Nah. They’re not going to be systematic or logical or anything. They will go off. As for personal challenges, yes they’ll be more analytical. But I feel like everyone boils down Cap moons to emotionless and machine-like nerds, which I find to be very untrue. Capricorn moons are very soft once they’re vulnerable with you, and genuinely feel like they’re bothering people when they show their emotions and feel weak for showing them. Also I’ve noticed that their mom is a big motivator for their success. Their moms always push them to do their best in work and school. If poorly aspected, they could feel too pressured by their moms to do well. Also, they’re so underrated for being funny. They have a really dry sense of humor and it’s well developed. I also feel like they get overlooked for putting others before themselves, when it comes to the people they love they’ll do anything for them. Brb gonna go give my Cap moon friends a hug.

🌵Aquarius Moon: You guys are just so unique. There’s something unique about each and every Aquarius moon, whether it’s a quirk or a hobby. These people are literally the best to talk to. It’s so easy to have a conversation with them, they really can talk about anything. I’ve also noticed that Aquarius moons tend to be interested in astrology and tarot and things of that kind. Every Aquarius moon I’ve met has been really interested in it, and even involved in it. I feel like they also have big dreams, and have big plans for themselves. Aquarius moons also love to get lost in their music and tend to use it as an escape. This can be a problem because they tend to avoid dealing with their feelings. They also go between reacting to things really heavily vs not reacting at all. It just seems like it goes back and forth. They speak up with things are unjust however only to their friends or online. They just don’t like to deal with face to face conflict in that regard. They also give really great advice. My best friend is an Aquarius moon and she always gives me the best advice. She knows me better than I know myself tbh. I feel like Aquarius moons relish in being unique LMAO. I’m 99% sure they had an “I’m not like other girls” phase. I feel like this placement always tends to space out and daydream a lot. They also aren’t the types to just lash out at people, their anger is more subtle (unless they have other placements of course). I feel like Aquarius moons also have a lot of friends but they tend to have a small group of friends that they tend to be super super close with. They’re also...really charming? I don’t know what it is, but like every single one I’ve met has been really charming and likable. They also have a really goofy sense of humor and love to do wild shit to make people laugh. I feel like some downsides of Aquarius moons are that they tend to be too analytical and rationalize things too much, and they inadvertently invalidate other people’s feelings. Aquarius moons are also super open minded to all opinions. I have a friend who I tend to disagree with on certain issues but they’ve always been open to hearing my opinion. They also love to travel too. I’ve noticed that as well.

🌵Pisces Moon: To think, I was almost one of you guys. No seriously I almost was, if I were born four hours earlier I would’ve been a Pisces moon LMAO. Anyhoo, Pisces moons are just so sweet. I don’t know how else to start, they literally are the sweetest people and give off this mystical type of aura. They’re very otherworldly. Also, these people daydream 24/7. They put Aquarius moons to shame in daydreaming. This girl I like is a Pisces moon and I always catch her daydreaming LMAO. They’re also extremely sensitive too and feel things so deeply. They try to hide how they feel from people, but you can see it in their eyes. I can always tell when my Pisces moon friend is upset just by the look in her eyes. They also tend to be introverted and it takes a while for them to warm up to someone. My co-worker is a Pisces moon and it took 2 weeks for her to finally start talking to me LMAO. They also have really vivid and wild dreams too. I feel like my Pisces moon friend is always telling me about some wild dream they had like that they were in a castle or in an ocean. They also can be really moody, they can be fine one second and then get really sad out of nowhere. Their emotions are like the ocean. I feel like another downside of Pisces Moons are that they can be very manipulative however this is really with any underdeveloped water moon/sun placement. I also feel like they tend to be escapists a lot. They don’t like to deal with reality a lot, and they see the best in everything and everyone even if it’s to their demise. They’re also super friendly and are nice to everyone they meet, even if they’re reserved they’re still very sweet. They’re also extremely creative too, I feel like every Pisces moon I’ve ever met has some sort of creative hobby. My co-worker who’s a Pisces moon is working on becoming a photographer and her stuff is AMAZING. I think that’s because they see the best in the world and the beauty in everything; and they know how to show that in their work so others can see the world like they do. They’re also super empathetic and are really good listeners. You can talk to them about anything and feel understood. :)

So this wraps up my moon sign series! I hope you guys liked it! Again, don’t take offense these are just my opinions on each moon sign! Hope you guys enjoyed, and if you don’t see your moon sign here it’s likely in part one.

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sun-moon-stars-jedi · 4 years ago

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Batfam Ficrecs – Fluff Edition

Part 1

Everything is kind of crazy right now, so I thought some wholesome Batfam fanfics would be a great way to take people’s minds off it for a bit. I tried to mostly include fluffy/funny gen fics that are maybe not as widely known as the big fanfics of the fandom. Hopefully you find something new that brings you some joy.

Find Part 2 here.

The Happiest Place on Earth by Team_Alpha_Wolf_Squadron (Gen, 11.3K, Rated T): Bruce and the kids take a trip to Disneyworld and it is just so cute, I legit cried at the end. The Batfam doing normal family stuff is always great and every kid gets a day with Bruce, highlighting each relationship beautifully.

Lost At Sea, And I’m Having A Time by whaleofatime (Gen, 16.1K, Rated T): On a mission with Jason to deal with pirates in the Caribbean, Bruce finds himself ejected overboard and accidentally lost at sea. This is one of the funniest stories I have read in my life, the humour is superb. If you need something to make you laugh, go read this.

Best Served Wet by RandomReader13 (Gen, 2.3K, Rated T): Dick and Bruce teach Jason how to swim during his Robin days. Years later he gets revenge. Super sweet, I’ve read this one probably a hundred times. Perfect if you need something to make you smile.

Don’t Read Into It by RandomReader13 (Gen, 3.5K, Rated T): In which Jason is a literature nerd and helps his siblings. Very fluffy.

Call Me Hopeless by incogneat_oh (Gen , 3.3K, Not Rated): Dick and Jason bond after Jason’s first gala. Slightly drunk Dick is a treasure and Jason realising he now has a brother always makes me feel so warm inside.

But we’ll carry our brothers (oh, we’ll carry them home) by AutumnHobbit (Gen, 1.6K, Rated Gen): Bruce asks Tim to find Damian during a gala. Damian gets to act his age, Tim is a good older brother and it is super sweet. Mentioned Bruce/Selina.

Ensemble Performance by lowflyingfruit (Gen, 4.8K, Rated Gen): Damian has a dark secret and only Jason can help him. This is peak good big brother Jason, so sweet and fluffy.

Fatherhood in the New Millennium (or, Use a Great Ball, Stupid) by 8sword (Gen, 4.3K, Rated T): The Batkids get into Pokemon Go and Bruce is suffering. Very wholesame Batfam content.

Listen by CrimeAlley1048 (Gen, 2.7K, Rated Gen): Damian finds a new target for his aggressive care-taking. Some Tim and Dami fluff.

Paperwork by starknjarvis (Gen, 3.6K, Rated T): Jason thinks Bruce will kick him out because he failed a test at school. Starts out angsty but turns so fluffy and definitely leaves you with a warm feeling of happiness.

Carry by Ptelea (Gen, 4.9K, Rated T): Dick gets kidnapped and Jason rescues him. Lighter than you think and has some very good jokes.

Butts by hearslogos (Gen, 1.0K, Rated T): The Batkids debate what signifies a nice butt and it is hilarious.

Cat’s in the Cradle by TheResurrectionist (Gen , 3.4K, Not Rated): Tim gets his wisdom teeth removed, wakes up super loopy and bonds with Bruce.

Conflict Resolution by AnicomicQueen (Gen, 1.5K, Rated Gen): It started off as a quiet Sunday morning, until Timothy and Damian decided to take their argument outside. Batkids being normal kids, very light and fluffy.

Eye for an Eye by LueurdeLaube (Gen, 2.8K, Rated T): In which Jason makes the horrifyingly startling discovery that his youngest brother is...cute.

Peppermint Winter by RascalJoy (Gen, 11.9K, Rated Gen): Jason’s first Christmas at the Manor is spent bonding with his new big brother and Dick comes back to the family. Jason and Dick are super cute together. Then comes Christmas after Jason comes back with new little brothers and old traditions.

Home Movies by fanfictiongreenirises (Gen, 3.9K, Rated T): Tim unearths a box of videos from when Dick used to create and perform magic shows for Bruce and Alfred.

Just the Same by Sohotthateveryonedied (Gen, 2.1K, Rated Gen): Jason is sick and Bruce takes care of him and it is so fluffy.

Bedraggled by gypsydancergirl (Gen, 0.6K, Rated T): Tim gets rescued by his brothers and Jason shows Damian how to treat a pinata.

A Father’s Love by Mayarene Rose (Gen, 1.6K, Rated Gen): Jason has a habit of stealing the Batmobile's tires. It's tradition.

Biphasic Reaction by renecdote (Gen, 2.5K, Rated Gen): Damian has an allergic reaction and Tim takes care of him. Lovely little story about the two of them simply being brothers.

bred in decency and order by OkayAristotle (Gen, 3.2K, Rated T): Bruce finds an injured Jason in his study and helps with hot chocolate.

Boy I’m Telling You by fishfingersandjellybabies (Gen, 1.4K, Rated Gen): After a teamup with other heroes Damian finds himself standing alone - until his brothers join him. Very good Batbrothers content.

Fluffy Socks and Batman Onesies by chibi_nightowl (Gen, 1.5K, Rated Gen): The Batbros get deaged and use their time as kids to do what kids do - have fun.

Good Samaritan law by ShariDeschain (Gen, 2.2K, Rated Gen): Damian's not very good at comforting children. Jason's a little better. Just some nice Jason and Dami bonding.

Flutter, Flutter Little Bat by audreycritter (Gen, 6.2K, Rated T): Jason comes by the Manor to hang out with Alfred on Halloween but instead meets Bruce at the door. It’s a suprisingly nice night from there.

how many bats jumping on the bed by noctelle (Gen, 1.1K, Rated Gen): Everyone comes by to cuddle Jason because they love him.

if i’m going down i’m taking you all with me by spider_momo (Gen, 9.6K, Rated T): The Batfamily Group Chat is a recipe for disaster and so hilariously funny, you can’t read this without laughing out loud.

Honourable mentions for fanfics most of you have probably already read:

In For a Pound Series by Cdelphiki (Gen, 240+K, Rated Gen): An AU in which Damian came to live with Bruce as a baby and how that changed the entire Batfam. One of the best series out there with good dad Bruce and adopted sibling relationships that make you melt. If you like wholesome Batfam, you will love everything written by Cdelphiki.

The Dark Knight Strikes Back by audreycritter (Gen, 8.2K, Rated T): Bruce plays Minecraft and it causes havoc in the Manor. Very funny story about Bruce actually showing his playful side with a dash of feelings thrown in.

Fair is Fowl by Lysical (Gen, 4.3K, Rated T): Jason has the chickenpox, which is the ideal time to bond with Dick. I absolutely love baby Jay in this fic and Dick learning to be an older brother always has me so weak. I can’t even count how often I’ve read this fic, it always makes me feel happy.

And we will find a way home by AutumnHobbit (Gen, 1.9K, Rated Gen): A group of sick Robins sleeping off a virus gives Bruce the chance to remember how much he loves his boys.

batcoons by drakefeathers (Gen, 6K, Rated Gen): Jason adopts the racoons living outside of his safehouse with some help from his family (even though he didn’t ask for it).

Diversionary Tactic by audreycritter (Gen, 1.9K, Rated T): Jason has a unique talent, that is very useful, but also kind of gross. Hilarious little fic, always reread it with a smile.

Grow and grow till tall by AutumnHobbit (Gen, 2.3K, Rated Gen): Jason hangs around the Manor for some R&R, which winds up involving some carpentry.

#batfam #batman #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #damian wayne #tim drake #cassandra cain #alfred pennyworth #nightwing #red hood #red robin #robin #batgirl #batman ficrec #fluff #this got so much longer than I planned #so there will be a part 2

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twistedcharismaaa · 4 years ago

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Happy Birthday

Summary: Aldis’ plea is finally heard.

Author’s Note: Hi guyssss! I hope you are doing well! I’m back with something new! It’s a little ... different but I hope you guys enjoy! Please leave a comment for ya girl! I love you guys so much!!!

He was searching for something deeper - something that he couldn’t easily put into words. Something that felt beyond him as if it was physically unattainable. Spiritual maybe? It was utterly inescapable, continuously plaguing his mind night after night gnawing at his thoughts like blackened crows. Imprisoned, forced to consume this feeling in his drinks, in his food, in his literature, and in his music as if he was endlessly damned. He screamed his frustrations to deafened ears and mourned to the blind. The only friend he knew was loneliness and he wished to know more - to be more. Something more than a shipwrecked mess but, as time passed he settled into bitterness as if they were silk sheets. Completely comfortable in being uncomfortable.

Another night, Aldis sat at his kitchen table drinking the clear liquid before him as if it was water. His eyes became glossed over with tiredness as his lips pressed against the rim of the cool glass letting his drunkenness shift into dark intoxication. Gradually his breathing slowed. With each drawing breath, his eyelids became as heavy as burdens. Finishing his drink with impure intentions he grunted loudly before slamming the glass on the walnut-colored table. Relying fully on the table’s solidity, Aldis staggered to his feet. He swayed back and forth like trees in a harsh wind as he traveled down the hall. After swinging his bedroom door open with accidental aggression, he teetered to his bed. Carelessly he plopped himself on the bed. He rested his aching mind on the plushness of the pillow and stared out of the window. With blurred vision he watched the rain pour harshly on his windowpane. He observed the rain crash onto his window like liberated ocean waves until he fell asleep.

After several hours he opened his eyes and saw her. A shimmering brown-skinned goddess laying her head cozily on the pillow beside him as if she belonged. She stared into his midnight-colored eyes as if she was searching for something. She wore a gentle smile on her parted lips as she gently stroked her golden necklace. Still staring into him, she fingered the medallion that rested in the center of her chest casually inching closer to him. Silently, she reached out to him slowly cupping his face gradually caressing it with tenderness. Even though Aldis was startled by the nameless stranger in his home, he couldn’t help but melt into her touch. He didn’t know if she was casting some type of spell or if this was her natural aura but, he felt peace. He enjoyed the way her thumb repeatedly brushed against his lonely cheek and the background noise of the thunder rumbling. His curious eyes wandered her soft features as if he was walking through an art gallery. Her skin was coated in the purest brown sugar and topped in the sweetest honey. He noticed the eerie makeup that tainted her almond complexion adding contrast to her light nature. As minutes passed, it seemed as if her coffee-colored eyes began to pierce through him. He placed his hand on top of hers as he closed his eyes reveling in the warmness of her palm as if he was at her mercy. He sighed deeply as he felt his hand become wet from his own hushed tears.

“I feel your pain,” the woman said earnestly.

“What is wrong with me?” he whispered in desperation.

“This world just isn’t enough for you. That’s all,” she responded.

Aldis opened his eyes, removed his hand from hers, and placed it on the mattress. The woman withdrew her hand from his cheek and settled it on her pillow. Aldis turned away from the stranger to lay flat on his back giving him a new comfortable position.

“I’m drunk,” he chuckled to himself while shaking his head.

“That’s true. But that doesn’t mean I’m not real,” she replied.

“Who are you?” he quizzed while staring at his white ceiling above.

“That doesn’t matter. But you can call me Aya,” she answered.

“Well, Aya, how did you find me?” Aldis questioned.

“I come to those who call out for me,” she said as she turned away from Aldis mimicking his current position.

“I don’t know you. So how could I possibly call out for you?” he asked as his brows furrowed from the confusion.

“You called me through your pain. I have many unique gifts and one of them is hearing the unheard,” she answered candidly.

“So if someone falls down and scrapes their knee, you come running?” he quizzed.

Aya felt the corners of her mouth curve upwards before she giggled.

“You’re funny,” she said. “Quite witty actually.” she continued.

Aya lifted herself off the bed slowly. She sat up while swinging her legs off the side of the bed before standing upright. She put her hand on the chilled window as she watched the raindrops splatter on the windowpane.

“But to answer your question, no. I only hear the uttermost of things. It’s like being drawn to something. I can’t exactly explain it to you fully. But I was drawn to you - I am drawn to you,” she said as she turned away from the window to face him.

Aldis turned his neck towards her and watched her quietly for a brief moment before sitting up. As he sat up, he was welcomed by an unfavorable headache. He swung his legs to the side of the bed and stood up gradually. He walked over to Aya fully towering her with his height. She looked up to him with eyes full of compassion.

“How do I live in a world that isn’t enough?” he asked candidly.

“You don’t. You make your own,” she answered confidently.

“How do I do that?” he questioned.

Aya looked down then back to him with a cunning look on her face.

“Rebirth,” she replied.

“Rebirth insinuates that something or someone must die,”

“It does,” she answered while nodding.

Aldis squinted his eyes as he sat back on his messy bed. He twiddled his thumbs repeatedly as he contemplated his next words. He bounced his right leg constantly as if he was nervous.

“You came to kill me,” he said. “You came to kill me,” he echoed.

“Aldis, do you trust me?” she asked kindly while extending her palm towards him.

“I’m so tired,” he answered with sorrowful eyes. He placed his hand in hers accepting her invitation.

“I don’t want to be tired anymore,” he continued.

“I know,” she answered softly.

Aya grabbed Aldis’ free hand as she stared into his vulnerable eyes. Her coffee-colored eyes began to glow brighter than the sun. Low clouds began to fill the vacant air. Aya shifted her neck towards the left then the right. Wings protruded from her back and fluttered gracefully. She quickly wrapped her wings around Aldis as if he was in a cocoon. She blew a quick breath at him causing him to feel weak. She released his hands and immediately seized his face.

“Every night you screamed to the heavens, I heard you. Every day you ached for peace, I felt it. I hear you, Aldis. You are heard and I promise your death will be glorious.” she whispered.

She smiled at Aldis once more before biting into his neck. She felt his warm blood glide down her throat like fine wine. Aldis’ eyes began to roll towards the back of his head as he felt himself losing consciousness. His mouth became agape as if he was gasping for air that wasn’t there. Aya removed her mouth from his neck as she watched a clear substance grow on his skin. The substance coated his sunkissed pigment forming a visible cocoon. Aya removed her wings and stepped back watching the cocoon grow rapidly. As Aldis took his last breath, the cocoon covered his face entirely.

“Happy Birthday, Aldis,” she spoke.

-----

Part 2

@ghostfacekill-monger @l-auteuse @thickemadame @shaekingshitup @chaneajoyyy @lostennyc @essaysbyciara @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @thadelightfulone @sarcastic-sunshines @qweentbh @honeytoffee @mygirlrenee @lovesunnyandmary @fandomfavesss @anon-nom-nom95 @jamielennkeeler

#bonnie bennett #the vampire diaries #the originals #aldis hodge #aldis hodge x black reader #aldis hodge fanfiction #aldis hodge fanfic #aldis hodge movies #aldis hodge x black!reader #aldis hodge x !blackreader

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mrsmarymorstan · 4 years ago

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Now Furuba S2 is over, what now?

I’m already seeing a lot of people asking for recommendations now the S2 Sub is over; so this is a list of series that I think you’ll enjoy if you like Furuba!

All platforms listed are true for the UK, but might not be for other residences. More viewing options may be available in other territories.

Unless specified, All Manga/Comic recs are available from regular bookstores and EBook Stores. If you’re in the UK I’ll suggest checking out Hive, which is an online store where a potion of each sale goes towards a Local Independent Bookstroe of your choice! They also have flat-rate free shipping!

Okay, so the actual recs! (I got lazy in some places and used the official synopisis)

Romance

Convenience Store Boyfriends Funimation (Dub) Crunchyroll (Sub) 12 Eps Total

“Six high school boys hang out at a local convenience store where they talk about their daily lives. Haruki Mishima and Towa Honda are first year students looking forward to the high school experience. Alongside them, there’s Nasa Sanagi, the only member of the cooking research club. Natsu Asumi is a loner but has third year students, Mikado Nakajima and Masamune Sakurakoji, looking out for him.“

Kaguya-sama: Love is War S1 - Crunchyroll, Funimation (Sub) S2 Funimation (Sub/Dub) 24 eps - Ongoing Manga: 18/20 volumes available in English

“Known for being both brilliant and powerful, Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya lead the illustrious Shuchiin Academy as near equals. And everyone thinks they’d make a great couple. Pride and arrogance are in ample supply, so the only logical move is to trick the other into instigating a date! Who will come out on top in this psychological war where the first move is the only one that matters?”

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun Netflix (Dub/Sub), Crunchyroll (Sub) 12 Eps Total Manga: 12/12 volumes available in English

“High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki. When she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says she wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Sakura discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned shōjo manga artist working under the pen name Sakiko Yumeno. She agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga Let's Fall in Love they encounter other schoolmates, who assist them and serve as inspirations for the story.”

Snow White With the Red Hair Funimation (Dub/Sub) 24 Eps Total Manga: 9/22+ volumes available in English. Anime ends Vol. 8

“In the kingdom of Tanbarun lives an independent young pharmacist named Shirayuki. Shirayuki is a plain girl, save for her shock of beautiful apple-red hair. Her stunning mane gets her noticed by the prince, but instead of romancing her, he demands she be his concubine. Shirayuki chops off her lovely locks, and runs away to the neighboring kingdom where she befriends a handsome stranger.”

Tsuruedure Children Funimation (Dub), Crunchyroll (Sub) 12 Eps Total Manga (Ebook only) 12/12 Volumes available in English

“Short and charming comedic vignettes offer a quick glimpse into the unique and funny situations, misunderstandings, and all around confusion that can happen in a high school romance. For starters, there’s a story about a delinquent girl and the student council president, and one about a stoic boy confused about an emotional girl. Relive the charm of high school romance!”

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Amazon Prime (Sub) 11 Eps Total Manga: 4/9 volumes available in english

Looking for a slice of life romance but you’re an actual adult now and don’t want to read about teenagers? Try Wotakoi! It combines office romance with childhood friends-to-lovers. Narumi is a Fujoshi who doesn’t want anyone to find out the truth of her ways, Hirotaka is a Game Otaku who doesn’t care what anyone says about it, together they go about the ins-and-outs of dating as an adult.

Coming of Age

BOFURI: I don’t want to get hurt, so I’ll max out my defence Funimation (Dub/Sub) 12 Eps Ongoing

“She may be new to gaming, but Maple has found the secret to invincibility! Just put all your skill points into defense until you can't even move. That works, right? She doesn't want to experience any pain in the VRMMO game she started playing, and somehow it works better than anyone expected. Now she's got followers??”

Brand New Animal Netflix (Dub/Sub) 12 Eps Total

“Set in a world where humanoid animals (known as beastmen) inhabit Earth, the series centers on Michiru Kagemori, a young teenage girl who one day suddenly starts turning into a tanuki beastman. Running away, she seeks refuge in Anima City, a city built for beastmen to be able to live peacefully as themselves, and ends up meeting a wolf beastman named Shirou Ogami. Together, they investigate how and why Michiru became a beastman, becoming mixed up in even stranger events in the process.”

Hyouka Funimation (Dub/Sub) 23 Eps Total

“A worthy addition to any animation fan's collection, Hyouka is a stunning masterwork that spins a charming tale of high school romance and mystery. After disenchanted student Hotaro Oreki joins his school’s Classic Lit Club, he meets Eru Chitanda, a kindhearted and inquisitive girl with boundless curiosity and a knack for getting him caught up in all sorts of trouble.”

Koto Oto Tomara! Sounds of Life Funimation (Dub/Sub) 24 Eps Total

“Down to its last member, the koto club will accept anyone who is interested in the traditional Japanese instrument. But when a delinquent and a prodigy player sign up, finding harmony isn’t going to be easy—especially not with ensemble competitions looming around the corner. With enough time and some incredible skill at the strings, perhaps this motley crew can strike a chord with the judges.“

O Maidens in your Savage Season HIDIVE (Dub/Sub) 12 Eps Total Manga: 7/8 volumes available in English (8th available for pre-order)

The series follows a High School Literature club as they make their nervous first foray into the nature of sexuality. What is the difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction? Does watching porn mean wanting to have sex? What are these strange feelings I am having down below? Why are boys so gross and girls so pretty? Each girl undergoes their own journey and finds their own destination, a brutally honest yet heart warming look at teenage female sexuality.

CW: Sexual Assault, pedophilia (both portrayed as BAD AND TERRIBLE things)

Our Dreams at Dusk Manga: 4/4 volumes available in English

IF YOU ONLY CONSUME ONE THING ON THIS LIST MAKE IT THIS!!!!! The series is the VERY DEFINITION of “It Gets Better”.

After his classmates discover some gay pornography on his phone, Tasuku Kaname contemplates committing suicide. Just as he’s about to jump, he spots a mysterious figure parkouring down a mountain. Shocked out of his moment, he decides to go and investigate what’s happening and finds an LGBT+ Drop In Centre. The series follows the lives of the people in the drop in centre, from Haruko who wishes to marry her closeted girlfriend, to Misora who is still trying to figure out what their gender is but has the threat of puberty hovering of their shoulder.

It’s very clear that Kamatani-sensei has written this story FOR the Queer Community. It’s a truly beautiful story. Please give it your money if you can, so that Kamatani-sensei can actually earn some money, and so that Seven Seas know that there is a viable audience for these stories! So that we may get more content!

Reverse Harem

Fruits Basket is NOT a reverse Harem, but i figure there’ll be some fan crossover.

Kiss Him, Not Me Cruncyroll (sub) Funimation Dub available on DVD etc. 12 Eps Total Manga 14/14 volumes available in English

“Kae Serinuma believes one thing—princes belong together! As an avid boy’s love fan, she loves nothing more than fantasizing about faux relationships between the boys at her school. But when she loses weight due to the stress of her favorite anime character dying suddenly the boys want…her?! From pretty average to prettiest girl, Kae just wants these boys to date each other, not her!”

Sub uses an irritating “Silly Fat Person” voice that the Dub doesn’t. CW for Sexual Assult, though it is depicted as a BAD thing and used for Kae to question why she is so into it when reading BL, when IRL it is terrifying?

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom Crunchyroll (Dub/Sub) 12 Eps Total

A TRULY Bisexual harem! After bumping her head, young Katarina Claes awakens with all the memories of her past life... and promptly realises she’s been re-incarnated as the antagonist of her favourite Otome Game! Determined this time to live past the age of 17, Katarina starts to make plans to turn all her enemies into allies through the power of kindness and understanding! Throughout the series, she tries harder and harder to avoid her doom flags... without realising that she’s turned those doom flags into romance flags!

Katarina lives out the fantasy of going to magic school and eating cake as all the pretty people fall head over heels for her. A pity she’s too dim to notice.

Ouran High School Host Club Funimation (Dub/Sub) 24 eps total Manga: 18/18 volumes available in english

Set in the high class elite private school of Ouran High, the Host Club exist to provide entertainment for the ladies of the school. Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi Fujioka, stumbles across the Host Club and in their haste to leave they knock over an ¥8,000,000 vase. Now she must earn that money back by working for the Host Club, all the while disguising the fact that she’s a girl. Not that she ever felt much like a girl before hand anyway. Along the way, she gets to know better the Cool Kyoya, the flamboyant Tamaki, the Mischievous Hikaru & Kaoru, the Strong and Silent Mori-senpai and the adorable Honey-senpai. Comedic Hijinks ensue!

Slice of Life

The Emperor and I Manga: 4/4 volumes available in English on Shonen Jump App

One day Kaho returns home from school to find an Emperor Penguin in her fridge. He quickly becomes a beloved part of the family, but a secret to the rest of the world who would want to take him away from them. Hijinks ensue.

Kakushigoto Funimation (Dub/Sub) 12 Eps Total

Doting single father, Kakushi Goto, is determined to hide the fact that he writes echhi humour manga for a living. He couldn’t bare it if his daughter were to ever find out the truth, the shame of his profession only alienating her. A laugh out loud series that will suddenly cut you deep as it explores the nature of grief and familial love.

My Brother’s Husband Manga: 2/2 volumes available in English

“Yaichi, a stay-at-home single father, lives with his daughter Kana in suburban Tokyo. They are visited by Mike Flanagan, the widower of Yaichi's estranged twin brother Ryōji, who has traveled from his native Canada for three weeks to learn about Ryōji's past. Kana is fascinated by Mike and is immediately accepting of him, though Yaichi is hesitant to accept Mike as family.

While Yaichi is not overtly homophobic, Mike suggests that his tacit discomfort over his brother's sexuality drove a wedge between them that led to their estrangement. Mike's interactions with the family and neighborhood over the subsequent three weeks prompt Yaichi to confront his own prejudices around sex and sexuality, as his growing tolerance and eventual acceptance of Mike parallel his overcoming of his own homophobia.”

Whilst the trope of “the gay brother dies and the heterosexual brother learns not to be homophobic” might be over done in western media, the same is not true for Japan. It’s a heartfelt and honest look at grief and acceptance, as well as how the nature of family is changing all around the world... but attitudes are maybe conservative attitudes aren’t as quick to catch up.

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life Funimation (Dub/Sub)

So apparently everyone went “this show is undubbable! It relies too much on puns and untranslatable humour!” and then Howard Wang said “hold my beer” and did it. A bizarre comedy series set in a high school. It’s probably best known for the ongoing fight between the deer and the principal.

Way of the Househusband Manga: 4/5+ (ongoing) volumes available in English

After he meets and marries the career driven Miku, Tatsu AKA The Immortal Dragon decides to give up his life of crime to commit to being the worlds’ best husband. You’d be surprised at the transferable skills between a Yakuza enforcer and a house husband. From knowing how to efficiently cut up a slice of meat, to how to perfectly clean a bathroom of all evidence. Hilarious and heartwarming, Taki and Kyoko would be best bros.

Slice of Life + Supernatural

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K S1 Funimation (Dub/Sub) 24 episodes Netflix S1 (Dub/Sub) S2 & 3 (Sub) 50 episodes total

“Saiki Kusuo is a typical 16-year-old high school student… except he has psychic powers. He can use them to get whatever he wants, but he also knows everything that people are thinking. Everything. No surprises, no secrets, no normal human experiences. He’s kept his powers in check since childhood, but with the temptations of high school now on his mind, he’s bending the rules—and spoons.“

Sabrina The Teenage Witch (2019)

Writer Kelly Thompson wears her magical girl influences on her sleeve in this new take on the Archie Classic. Sabrina is your regular teenager, except she is also a witch and so are her aunts. Hijinks (and Card Captor Sakura References) ensue.

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun Funimation (Dub/Sub) 12 eps total Manga 13/13 Volumes available in English

“Kamome Academy is rumored to have many mysteries, the strangest of which involves the mischievous ghost of Hanako-kun. When occult-loving high schooler Nene Yashiro accidentally becomes bonded to him, she uncovers a hidden world of supernatural beings. Now the two of them are conspiring to keep the peace between student and supernatural—that is, if they can only stay out of trouble themselves.“

Jughead (2015) 4 Volumes total

Bought to you in various parts by the creators of Squirrel Girl, Jughead combines slice of life with spy thriller, time travel and the joy of a good burger. Hilarious and heart warming, this run holds a special place in my heart as the one where Jughead was confirmed as canonically asexual and continues to express various aro/ace moods throughout the series. There’s a REASON my friends say I’m a Real Life Jughead....

Weathering With You - available digitally/physically 28th Sep. 2019

In June 2021, first year high schooler Hodaka Morishima leaves Kōzu-shima in order to get to Tokyo. When his ferry to the city is hit by a rainstorm, he is saved by Keisuke Suga, who runs a small occult magazine that’s looking for an assistant. As Hodaka becomes broke and struggles to find work, he meets Hina Amano, an employee of a McDonald’s restaurant. She takes pity on him and gives him food. After agreeing to work with Suga, Hodaka learns about the legend of the “sunshine girl” who can control the weather! It turns out that the newly unemployed Hina is a sunshine girl! And with her little brother, they start up their own business to bring sunshine to the never-ending rain of Tokyo.

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches Crunchyroll (Dub/Sub) 12 Episodes Total Manga: 22/28 volumes available in English

After tripping on the stairs, School Bad Boy Ryu Yamada and Top Student Urara Shiraishi discover they can swap bodies with a kiss! They then learn that they’re not the only ones with magic powers in the school, and with the help of the Supernatural Studies Club they begin to track down the identities of the 7 witches of Suzaku High.

This series really stretches my limits on fan service, but at least it does proceed to get a little even in terms of gender. It’s still a really rather sweet and romantic series, once you get past the boobs and panties.

Your Name Netflix (Dub/Sub) Spin Off Manga “Your Name: Another Side: Earthbound” - 2/2 volumes available in English

A modern take on the Red Sting of Fate mythos, Mitsuha and Taki are two teenagers tied together. Three times a week, Mitsuha will wake up in Taki’s body and live the life of a Tokyo School boy. In turn, Taki will wake up in Mitsuha’s body and learn what it is to be a Rural Shrine Maiden. A look at the bonds that tie us, and how fate won’t let two young people fall apart before they can meet.

Also the animation is BEAUTIFUL and it made me cry. Like a lot. There’s a spin off manga called “Your Name: Another Side” that follows the same story but from the POV of Mitsuha’s friends and family. It really brings new light to the events and made me very emotional.

Mental Health

Green Lanterns: Rebirth (2018)

Jessica Cruz suffers from PTSD and severer anxiety, seeing her utalising her will power to overcome those problems and harness that energy to help save the universe is so incredibly powerful and moving.

Hawkeye (2012-2015) 4 Volumes

The Fraction/Aja/Wu/Hollingworth Hawkeye run is widely considered one of the best superhero runs of all time. Fraction and Aja perfectly capture “functional depression” at its finest, and we watch as Clint Barton slowly burns all his bridges before being forced by his friends to sort his shit out and put them back together again. There’s also a whole issue that’s primarily written in sign language too.

My Roomate is a Cat Funimation (Dub) Crunchyroll (Sub) 12 eps total

“Mystery author Mikazuki would rather live in total isolation than deal with others. Getting a roommate is the last thing he’d ever do, until a stray cat sparks an idea for his next novel. After plucking the little killer off the streets, this four-legged muse inspires Mikazuki in ways he would have never expected. And for the street-wise cat, this human just opened the door to a whole new world.”

A Silent Voice (Manga/Movie) Movie: Netflix (Dub/Sub)

“A former class bully reaches out to the deaf girl he’d tormented in grade school. He feels unworthy of redemption but tries to make things right.”

CW Attempted Suicide, bullying

Please watch the dub. Lexi Marman Cowden, who voices Shoko, is an ACTUAL hard-of-hearing actress. It makes for a more real and vulnerable performance that avoids the mild ableism of the Sub hiring a Hearing Actress and robot-ising her voice.

Yuri!!! On ICE Crunchyroll (Sub) Funimation (Dub) 12 eps total

“Yuri Katsuki makes his way to the Grand Prix ice skating competition as Japan’s top representative with his eyes on the prize. However, instead of celebrating, Yuri walks away defeated and ready to retire for good. But a run-in with champion Viktor Nikiforov and rising star Yuri Plisetsky ignites a new fire within him. With the two of them close by his side, Yuri will take to the ice once more.”

Yuri’s defeat sends him into a very relatable spiral of lack of self belief that he slowly starts to regain thanks to the help of Viktor. Part sports anime, part love story, all full of feels.

The Dub is considered hit or miss depending on whether you like accents or not, but honestly it’s worth it for Sabat’s Christophe giacometti. Ayame walked, so Christophe could strut.

Generic

I’m gonna start by recommending the Shonen Jump App, it’s £1.99/month and gives you access to all their recent publications as well as their back catalogue in English! So you can read all of Boys Over Flowers, Nisekoi, Naruto, One Piece, Haikyuu, Assassination Classroom, My Hero Academia etc. for a fraction of the cost of buying the physicals! SO much manga at your finger tips! No, they don’t sponsor me but i wish they would.

Astra Lost in Space Funimation (Dub/Sub) 12 Eps Total Manga: 5/5 volumes available in english, available on the Shonen Jump App

A group of teenagers on a school trip become Lost In Space and quickly discover a conspiracy is a foot. Part thriller, part comedy, saying anything more about this series would count as a spoiler given the number of plot twists throughout.

Radiant Funimation (Dub) Crunchyroll (Sub) 42 eps total Manga: 13/13+ volumes available in english (ongoing series)

A french manga turned into a Japanese Anime.

“Seth, a sorcerer destined to find Radiant, sets his sights on Caislean Merlin for answers. He’s desperate to find out what the Knight Sorcerers know, but can he trust them? In the wake of all that is unknown, he digs deep within himself for the wisdom and confidence to control his powers. And as the world around him continues to grow with more magic and power, he gains strong new allies.”

The series has BIG Saturday Morning cartoon vibes. My 12 year-old self would have been ALL OVER this.

Batman Ninja (Netflix)

What if a Japanese animation studio asked DC if they could make a batman movie? And then just threw a Japanese history book at it? What if there was time travel? What if the main batman villains were all feudal lords in Japan? What if everyone were Samari? What if Damian had a small animal companion he could communicate with using a flue? What if Jason’s hood was made out of wicker? What if Penguin had a penguin shaped mecha?

A wild ride from start to finish that makes no sense but really, do you care?

#fruits basket #anime #manga #recs #furuba #anime recs

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d-l-dare · 3 years ago

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“Another Layer [Part One]”

Belief is something that controls a lot about how we think. Sure, there are certain facts about things in this world, but there are others we can only assume. For example, how big the universe is, or how big the human body can truly become. The certain beliefs we have control what we think and how we do certain things. But what if something came by, something that presented us with such a grand claim that it will take more than belief to understand its existence?

I could feel my heart racing as I approached the cemetery in the dead of night. A friend I'd met online had told me about this place, how there was something she needed to tell me, how it was the only place to let it out. I was a little lost as to why she couldn't just call or message me about it. Why did our first time meeting have to be in a situation far darker than I felt I could handle.

She and I had never met before, however I had seen pictures. She sent me a couple, asking what I thought about her. A part of me thought she was trying to come on to me, so I told her she looked good. She never did attempt to push our friendship any further, and I didn't want to be the one pushing things to their breaking point in innocents. It was odd though, it was like she expected my reaction to be different when she showed me a picture of herself.

Pushing past a few draped branched of the trees overlooking the cemetery, I saw a shadowy figure next to a grave stone. As I approached, I saw them turn their head toward me. I grabbed my phone and sent her a message. "Is that you?" I asked. I got no reply back. It didn't look like she was even online. Clearly the person before me didn't have their phone on them, as I never saw them turn their gaze from me. It was too dark out her to make out a face.

"Meghan?" I called out. "Is that you?"

The person said nothing in response. Instead, they waved their hand, motioning me to come over to them. I did as I assumed they wanted. As I got closer, sure enough it was her. I crouched down on the ground next to her. Before us, on the grave stone, was a mirror, seemingly cemented into the stone.

"Why did you want me to come here?" I asked.

"Do you believe that when you die, you go somewhere?" she asked in a hushed voice, as if not trying to be heard by the dead.

"I guess so," I replied, thrown a little off. "Are you asking me if I believe in ghosts?"

"No," she said, "Not technically. I'm asking if you believe there is life after death."

"I might." I said. "Do you?"

"I kinda have to," she replied. "It's how things work where I'm from."

"And where are you from exactly?" I asked. I knew now that she must be messing with me.

"I'm from a dimension higher than you." she said. "I don't know what you call it here, but I guess it would be the plane of existence before you come here."

"Before I come here?" I asked. "What do you mean, being alive?"

"I guess you could say that. Kind of like how when you die, you become a ghost and go the next layer of living down, I come from the layer above where you are now." she explained.

"Okay, now I know you're messing with me," I said, laughing. "You're funny and all, but why did you really bring me out here?"

"No, I'm more serious than I've ever been with you," she said. "You were once there before you passed on to come here, to the next plane of existence. We used to be friends."

"And what exactly is this 'first plane of existence' that you come from like?" I demanded.

"We were the ones that create the next down below. We observe and attempt to control the outcomes on this dimension." she replied. "Reading up on some of this plane's literature, we would have been Gods."

"So you're telling me I was a God, and just like everyone else roaming the Earth, we died and came here?" I asked, still chuckling a bit.

"In a sense, yes." she nodded.

All I could do now was roll my eyes. Was she seriously trying to pull one over on me? I mean, the concept was clever, but there's no way any of it could be true.

"Tell me then, if I died and came here and lost my memory apparently, why do you still remember everything?" I asked.

"I came here through a portal," she said, pointing to the mirror on the grave stone. "We don't have this reflective surface in our world. They are unique to your dimension alone. We often see these as mirrors to look at you. That's why creating one, something that shouldn't exist in our dimension, sent me here."

"Okay, prove it," I said. "Use the same portal to go back."

"I can't. The portal is a regular mirror in your dimension. The physics of it all just works differently." she said. "But I can prove it to you another way. I had a friend from our dimension. He traveled here in the same way I did. He told the world about the dimension above them. And I don't know how, I think he may have somehow communicated with the people in the upper dimension to get him back. He said he had to die to do it, but he came back to us up there."

"What was his name?" I asked. "Surely if something like that had happened, we would have heard about it," I asked.

"His name was Jesus." she replied.

This in itself was enough to convince me. Sure, it seemed a little far fetched that someone that came from there had somehow started a religion down here, but it was interesting enough for me to stick around with her a bit more, humor her in this idea she's from somewhere else, just to see where this thing leads me.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

VvV Story Behind the Horror VvV

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

After that story, you may assume that I went to this story with a religious approach. It came from something so far from it that it didn’t come until the planning process hours later.

It started with me asking a bunch of people on an app to give me 3 words and I’d make a horror story out of it. I ended up with about 11 suggestions. The first one to stick out to me was “Dimensions, Ghosts, and Mirrors”

Seeing ‘Mirrors’ was intriguing because I loved the idea of twisting an idea into something the world hadn’t seen before (see “Mirrors” story I wrote recently) There’s something about mirrors that gives a blank canvas to develop something dark, new, and beautiful if approached right.

I wanted to try something I hadn’t done previously. I thought, what if to us they are regular mirrors, but they are something that beings from another dimension can use to peak in on us. Maybe 4-dimensional beings peering in on us like we would to 2-dimensional beings. They can’t see us but we see them.

Throwing ghosts into the mix with this, another idea entered my mind, what if there were layers to existence? Like there’s life, which we are in, then there is death, (which is debatable where we go, roaming the Earth or Heaven/Hell) but what if we weren’t the first layer of existence? What if there was a whole word before us that we have no memory about?

Then came creating the ‘plane of existence’. What would it look like? I wanted it to be creators, like a Matrix situation. However, I like twisting things into something new. The layer before us were creators, but it’s more like a game above us. We on our plane are game pieces to the the twisted game they play above us without our knowledge.

Now will I continue with the approach of religion and game pieces in part two? I have no idea what it will even look like tomorrow. They only thing I can say is the next part will include finding a way for Meghan to get back home. How? I have no idea. Yet.

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inspector-montoya-fox · 5 years ago

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here’s why Thieves in Time is a bad game

before y’all try it, i just want to say that i’ll be as unapologetically petty and sarcastic as i want and fucking rip this game to shreds. yes, this is how i’ve spent my days since Thieves in Time came out. sitting alone in my room, staring at the wall, crying and complaining. because it has since been my life’s aim and dream to think about it every day, state the negative things about it, and become an evil essay witch on this half-dead website. *evil laugh*

Story:

References: i want to start with the smallest problem, but one that annoys me to this day. in the original trilogy, there weren’t a lot of references but the ones that were included were meticulously researched and well thought-out (i’m specifically referring to that Neil Diamond Carmelita vinyl gag, but can’t find the original post). the references in Thieves in Time however, were obviously just the creators’ interests. Turning Japanese, Clan of the Cave Bear and Bentley’s “hacksona” presented as Rambo just scream 1980s (which i’m assuming is the decade the creators grew up in), and Of Mice and Men is classic literature about the Great Depression, which subsequently started being taught in school in the US during the 1980s. it feels like the creators just went ‘let’s discuss what our lives had in common during our teen years and put that in’ instead of researching it first. and, here’s the thing: when you’re adding references, in order to make them funny or interesting, they have to fit in with the property or the character that’s connected to them in some way. Don Octavio was an opera aficionado so his episode’s title card pays homage to the Phantom of the Opera, young Muggshot was influenced by the movie “The Dogfather” because he’s a gangster, etc. these were funny because they were so spot-on with these characters. if every character in the Sly Cooper universe references the same type of stuff (from the 1980s) and shares the same interests, it’s just claustrophobic and uninteresting. i’m pretty sure i’m not the only one who had to look up these ultra-hetero, scrotum references when the game came out. that’s because they were specifically tailored to be funny to them, and not their target demographic which were kids in 2013.

Narrative: now that we got that out of the way, let’s look at the narrative. at the end of Sly 3, Bentley says he’s building a time machine. Sanzaru took that joke and decided to run with it as the premise for their game. ok, not the best idea, but i get it - you’re literally picking up where the last game left off. since all the storylines were wrapped up, they could’ve done something different like Sly’s kids or Bentley and Murray’s families, but this isn’t an essay about suggestions so...... time travel (i want to say that it’s, again, an 80s reference but whatever) was pretty ‘out there’ in 2013. i mean, even Plants vs Zombies 2, which was released that year, had to do with time travel (yes, i’m referencing an app). but Sanzaru had the advantage of applying this premise onto already established mythos and lore. the story had definite potential: someone is threatening Sly’s lineage so he has to travel back in time to save the day. the player would get to explore new locations and iconic eras in history, and, of course, the main selling point: playable ancestors. how could you screw that up? welp.... let’s think about the plot holes here for a sec. Bentley’s device would take the gang back in time when given an item from the specific era. stop. this right here is called ‘over-complicating’. how did they know the items would take them directly to the point where the specific ancestor was in danger? the Feudal Japan period lasted for 700 years: how did the machine know when and where to drop them off? and if the gang could return to the present at any time, why didn’t they do so when they were in trouble? oh right, the machine was broken. so how did they return the baddies to the present after they defeated them? i mean, why did they use the Grizz’s crown to travel to Medieval England if they went back to the present to drop him off to Interpol first? and on that note, how did they drop the baddies off to jail without getting caught and without Carmelita being around? i can already hear you thinking but these are total details that aren’t important, you jerk! well, yea, they truly are details and i truly am overthinking it. and yes, i truly am a jerk. but let me tell you something: when Sanzaru chose to make a new Sly game, did they not think ‘oh we’ll have to follow up Sly 2 and Sly 3′s stories’ which were well thought-out narratives with depth and various themes and didn’t have huge plot holes (as seen by my analysis through the episode project) ???? and did they also not think that their game would come out eight years after the last one, having expectations at an all-time high???? yea, that’s what i thought.

Characters: i’ll make a different section for Sucker Punch’s characters, so this is for Sanzaru’s original ones. name one iconic original character from Thieves in Time. i’ll wait... nope. not one. that’s because all of them were absolute shit. and here’s where i want to touch upon Sanzaru’s over-reliance on the trilogy. Ms Decibel (perhaps the most obvious copy) is a mix between Don Octavio, Miz Ruby, and the Contessa. El Jefe is Rajan if he went to the gym. Toothpick has Sir Raleigh’s temper and tendency to grow in size. and the Grizz is... whatever the fuck he is. (don’t worry i didn’t forget Le Paradox and Bob). there’s a difference between studying & creating similar characters and blatantly plagiarizing older characters because you lack the creativity. oh, boo-hoo this evil jerk’s telling it how it is. this set of villains is so lacklustre, i don’t even know where to begin. El Jefe is a tiger, even though we’ve already had two major tiger villains and one tiger flashlight guard. ok. Rajan could summon lightning because of the Clockwerk heart but El Jefe can do the same, how exactly? Toothpick is an armadillo (good) from Russia (better) with an obsession with the West (excellent) who can also grow huge (very bad). it’s never explained how or why. why?????? just tell me why. i want to know. i really want to know. Ms Decibel is an elephant who got into a tragic accident which left her with the power of hypnosis. music and hypnosis have already been done, but ok, i’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. so how do we use this character? spend the entirety of her screen time making jokes about... wait for it... her weight !!! this is top-notch comedy... really? like... really? the creators’ humor is a crime, at best. fart jokes and fat jokes all around. oh, and then there’s the Grizz. what the fuck where they thinking? just, what the fuck. i guess the guys at Sanzaru thought black people speak in rap? is that it? apart from it being extremely offensive, it’s also a blatant copy of Dimitri’s backstory. like, his introductory cutscene even has his paintings thrown at him and into the trash, like the intro cutscene for The Black Chateau. honestly, all of these villains caused me several types of pain, but not as much as...

Bob & Le Paradox: the absolute worst. i can just imagine the meeting going something like this: Sly’s ancestors are awesome! i wish we could fit them all in the game... here’s an amazing idea! what if we use one of the game’s few levels to introduce a brand new ancestor! yea! let’s make him dumb as fuck, strip him of any athletic prowess, and retcon the entire lineage by having him be the first Cooper ever! the kids will love a prehistoric level! ..... could you kindly point out where and when did ANYONE ask for this? i remember @ironicsnap saying something like the game is good until Bob. no, it was already bad - Bob just lowered the standard. like, a lot. people love Murray and his gameplay is neat, but no one ever thought ‘oh i wish we had a Cooper character with Murray’s game style’. why would they waste the opportunity to bring in Henriette, Thaddeus, Otto, literally any ancestor? why??? but they went ahead and created their own Cooper, and that wasn’t even the end of it. they had to make him dumb. they had to make him unbearable. they had to ruin the Cooper ancestry by adding this mess to the lineage. Sucker Punch made sure that all the ancestors were unique, but at the same time made all of them suave and funny and slick and you wish you could be them! well, fuck that. also, his name is Bob. Bob Cooper. it’s been 7 fucking years and i still can’t wrap my head around it.... so now, let’s talk about Le Paradox. i don’t have to mention the previous main villains, but i will. Clockwerk killed Sly’s ancestors and father, and was seemingly an eternal threat. Neyla was a psychopath who fooled everyone on her journey to becoming immortal by resurrecting Clockwerk. Dr M opened up the possibility for Sly’s dad to be a jerk instead of a hero, and died trying to unlock the Coopers’ legacy. how does Le Paradox compare? well, he’s a sleazebag skunk who was mad because of his dad’s downfall to the Coopers. that’s it. no twist, no depth, no clever dialogue. nothing. there’s nothing there. this is a new character, unfamiliar to everyone, who was hyped up for 5 levels and defeated in the conclusion. why was he a match for Sly? i don’t know. how did he fight for his life and ultimately tricked Sly into helping him? i don’t know. how the hell did he kidnap Carmelita? i don’t know. was it the power of persuasion? no, he’s revolting. so i literally don’t know. there’s no backstory, no fleshing-out the character, nothing. all we’re given to work with is a brief info-dump about his dad and how he escaped prison. i don’t know what else to say apart from how big a humiliation this was for Sanzaru and their team of writers. you had 8 years to work on something and this is what you came up with? anything would be better. anything would best this utter cliché of a villain, a distasteful misogynist, crybaby, idiot with an accent. literally anything.

Arcs & Themes: let’s take a look at the formulaic subplots for the gang’s members. apart from dealing with Le Paradox, everyone had a small arc. Sly had to deal with his break-up with Carmelita. Bentley had to deal with his break-up with Penelope. Murray had to deal with playing second fiddle to Bob. Carmelita was a damsel in distress and sex bait for the ancestors. the ancestors had their own mini storylines along with reacting to Sly’s presence. there you have it. i summarised it all for you, nice and neatly. are there any themes like in the previous games? nope. i promise you i’m not lying when i say that i tried hard to come up with something, even some speck of a detail i could use to over-analyse the story and come up with some ideas on themes. nothing. there are no themes. the subplots are character-driven and the player gives it 0 emotional investment. there is nothing to analyse, nothing to talk about. maybe even a theme for each level, like a spooky level or something? nope. the levels are dependent on eras and historical periods. the variation here is ok. Feudal Japan, Wild West, Prehistoric Australia, Medieval England and Ancient Arabia - pretty good selection. i’ll give them credit for it. but that’s it. due to the absence of themes, the hubs feel empty. there’s no replayability factor. after you collect the bottles and masks and treasures, there’s nothing. i would spend hours revisiting the trilogy’s hubs, just roaming around. the hubs here are huge and empty. there’s nothing to reminisce about. nothing to recall. oh that’s where this mission went down. no, nothing like that. the aforementioned subplots are resolved during mission cutscenes and then they’re gone. you don’t have to explore spooky Prague alone as Bentley to have him overcome his fears, you don’t have to find out miners abducted Murray’s beloved Guru and search the Australian outback for him, you don’t have to hold back your tears when you’ve reached the end of the Cooper Vault and Sly asks his dad for help. nothing.

Gameplay:

Controls: as soon as i laid my hands on the controller the first time i played the game, that fateful afternoon, i knew something was up. Sly would respond 1 second late after you pushed something on the controller. it felt clunky, is what i’m trying to say or, as my sister put it, it felt heavy. and she was right. the controls were clunky and heavy and didn’t feel light, like playing as a thief should feel. i don’t know shit about game mechanics but this definitely didn’t feel right. the hubs are also chunky in design, the cliffs are huge and so cyclical or hexagonal, that when you parachute your way to them and are just an inch close, Sly will automatically just drop because he can’t grab onto them. running as Sly doesn’t feel fast, silently obliterating guards from behind feels slow, and swinging, grabbing, pickpocketting, and hanging aren’t fun anymore. presentation-wise, @designraccoon goes into detail here, in an absolute gem of a post. in short, the gameplay animations make Sly look less sneaky. Sanzaru didn’t even consider a thief’s movements.

Missions: why the fuck would you remove the player’s option to choose between which mission to do first? why would you do that? the game lays out what goes first, sometimes having only one mission available in the hub. and the missions aren’t even enjoyable. firstly, the loading screens take up to 5 minutes, maybe even 7-8. secondly, there’s hacking every 2 missions. the missions don’t have any dialogue to make them fun, lack in interesting puzzles, what more can i say? they’re overly easy and lack any challenge whatsoever. at least there’s variation in gameplay (hacking, RC car, fishing, costumes, ancestors, turret etc.) but because of the controls, even these get tiresome. the missions are solely there to progress the story and that’s why the operations are merely ‘storm the main baddie’. the trilogy had some pretty interesting missions which made sure to complete jobs required to take down the big bad. e.g. kidnap General Clawfoot to take down the security, hack Contessa’s computer to make sure Carmelita will be freed, steal voices to tempt Neyla, and then take down the Contessa. the missions in Thieves in Time lack substance and variety. and the hacking (all three styles) sucks.

Collectibles: here’s another fantastic idea: have players collect costumes in order to collect bottles in order to collect treasures in order to collect masks in order to unlock funky Sanzaru logo-themed merch! what was the reason for the collectibles? in previous games, collecting all bottles would unlock special abilities. that was it. it’s the same thing here too, but there’s less incentive? i mean when you have to collect 1000 things, what’s the point? the treasures are random and very few are references to the trilogy, so whatever. and the masks unlock... superhero costumes for what reason exactly? oh, and then there’s also the achievements for your Playstation account, like ‘open the map in every single location you visit’. what fun! if the reason for collecting the treasures is to play godawful hacking minigames in order to get masks, what’s the point? decorate your paraglider with the Sanzaru logo? or have Bentley dress up as discount Robocop? i mean including masks in the interior locations was cool, but the bottles were always supposed to be something you could do whenever your soul desired. sometimes i left them last before the operation, sometimes i collected them before the first mission. so i was pissed when i found out that, in some cases, you had to unlock the episode’s costume in order to get the all the bottles. so, fuck off.

Animation: i’ll keep this short. the animation was terrible. do you remember that tumblr blog from a while back, where she dedicated the posts to pointing out the mistakes in the animated cutscenes? yeah. point is, there were lots of them. the animation style was bad, the character design was ugly, the characters’ movements were unnatural. everything about it was shit. looking past the bad decision to drop the trilogy’s comicbook-style animated cutscenes, couldn’t they have hired someone better? someone with more experience? their concept art was awesome. couldn’t they hire that guy and have it be comicbook style if he wasn’t trained in animation?

Legacy:

The Players: let me ask a genuine question: who was this game made for? kids growing up in 2013? maybe so. because it feels like Sanzaru didn’t even consider the fans of the trilogy. actually, it felt like a huge fuck you. Sucker Punch made their trilogy for whoever. there were great stuff for kids, but adults would pick up and appreciate the references, the real-life setting (e.g. tobacco use, existence of nightclubs, spice instead of drugs, etc.). that’s why all three games are timeless classics. judging by Thieves in Time’s humor, the game wasn’t targeted for adults. so, it doesn’t make sense to use an already established property, beloved by its fans, to attract a new audience consisting of nine year-olds who’d laugh at Murray dressing up as a woman. if they really wanted to appeal to the fans of the original, why retcon everything? why change who the first Cooper was? when the gang’s stranded in Saudi Arabia, why have Sly say ‘i couldn't remember a time since we've teamed up that we felt so defeated’? the gang’s been in way deeper shit before. why the ‘Sly’s dad vs Le Paradox’s dad’ deus ex machina? Sly’s dad wasn’t famous because of stealing the world’s largest diamond, what the fuck are you even talking about? do the guys at Sanzaru have such big egos and bravado that they needed to change the original games’ lore? were they so preoccupied with leaving their signature on a property which was never their own? i don’t know who needs to read this, but i’m stating FACTS.

Characters: now let’s talk about Sanzaru’s treatment of the Cooper gang and the ancestors (female characters will get their own section). why would you change the characters like that? if it wasn’t for the voice acting, i’d say this is a completely different Cooper gang. there’s no wise-cracking band of best friends, going on heists and being proud of their brotherhood and bond. all that is replaced with the formulaic story arcs for each member. the trilogy’s cutscenes and dialogues made sure to establish how Sly, Bentley and Murray have lived together since they met at the orphanage, play videogames all day and order chinese food and pizza and whatever. through missions and their adventures, they face obstacles they have to overcome as a gang, and when Sly 3 came around, their friendship was put to the ultimate test when they almost disbanded. Thieves in Time was too lazy to add to this. Sanzaru thought ‘oh the trilogy showed how they’re best friends so we might as well have them focus on their own stories separately’ and if this is truly the case then i ask again: who was this game made for? because new fans would never know how tight the gang was just by playing Thieves in Time. there’s a lack of genuine friendship moments. like, what happened when Sly came back after faking his amnesia? that’s completely ignored. where’s the witty banter? the ‘wizard & sitting duck’ type of jokes? nothing of the sort. what we get is fart jokes and Murray wanting to dress up as a woman. on that note, what was that all about? ok, have him dress up as a geisha to get in. fine. have El Jefe slap his ass, have him perform in a painfully lengthy dance sequence, have him dress like that during the rest of the episode, and then have him be persistent about getting the belly-dancing gig? the hell? Murray was always kinda goofy but this just feels kinda homophobic? it feels dragged out and unfunny. and then there’s the ancestors. i said it once before and i’ll say it again, Sanzaru deprived me of a buff Arab daddy Salim Al Kupar and gave us that elderly shit instead. all jokes aside, the redesigns were uninteresting. why take away Tennessee Kid’s facial hair and give it to Galleth? i legitimately think all the ancestors were boring. i mean, their gameplay was cool, especially Tennessee Kid’s guns, but in terms of character, they were just some dudes. did they believe that Sly was their descendant from the future? maybe. did they care? nope. they all had the same storyline of dealing with Sly’s arrival, flirting with Carmelita and getting their canes stolen. that was it. the fans waited for so long to get even a glimpse of the ancestors in action, and Sanzaru downplayed all of them. they reduced them to useless idiots too occupied with women and food, incapable of getting their canes back from stupid Le Paradox. and they didn’t even stick to the lore. no ma’am. let’s make Rioichi the inventor of sushi !! because that makes total sense and would defo fit in with the character and the property! why. just, why. you were handed the lore !!! you were given all this rich backstory and you threw it all away to replace it with trash !!! complete trash.

Changes & Inconsistency: i want to briefly mention some changes that pissed me off. where’s the laser glide move? it was an important turning point at the end of Sly 3, so why did they get rid of it? Sly is a master thief who’s traveling back in time, so you’d think they’d actually make him a master thief. also, the changes in the binocucom and Bentley’s slideshows in order to modernise them. if Sucker Punch managed to place the mission starting points at locations where the binocucom would show the objective clearly, so could Sanzaru. instead, they chose to have it be a moving camera, floating around the hub. and Bentley’s slideshows were absolute classics, opportunities to include gags and have Bentley show off in his own way. you just had to change it into a tablet, didn’t you. omg you’re still looking at small details like these? yes sweetie, i consider the details because i think they shape the game more than anything. if i didn’t consider the details, then my opinion on the game would be incomplete. when i praise the trilogy i don’t only look at story and gameplay. because i’m unbiased like that. here, i’d also like the mention Dimitri. what a fucking waste. you either include him in the game or you don’t. but don’t give me some half-baked shit on how he’s working for the gang back in present day. Dimitri staying home, waiting on the gang to call him in order for him to give them details on the villains. how does that even slightly resemble anything about Dimitri’s character? they didn’t even include his voice, some greasy sweet Raccoonus Doodus dialogue.

Female Characters: you know it’s all been leading up to this. this is the crux of the Thieves in Time hate. i don’t want to say the game is misogynistic so i’ll call it anti-feminist. why? just answer me. why? why did you have to disrespect Carmelita like that? right off the bat, they swapped the pants for the skirt. in what world does an active inspector who’s always on the scene wear a skirt? Carmelita now wears a skirt because her only role in the game is to be the love interest. Carmelita now wears bright red lipstick and has a new hairstyle, which would be ok if only it wasn’t Carmelita. Carmelita now plays up her inner sassy Latina because she’s pigeonholed into the ‘angry ex girlfriend’ role. they compartmentalised her, tried to sexualise her because she couldn’t possibly be one of the boys. nope. let’s take a respected woman, high in rank and as physically able as Sly, and turn her into a cliché, an angry ex girlfriend for comedic relief, strip her of her abilities and have her be kidnapped twice, have every exchange with her be about how attractive she is, have almost every male character in the game flirt with her, have her boyfriend be jealous of his own ancestors because they’re flirting with her in order to create purposeless love triangles, and then, after all that, dress her up as a belly dancer and distract some guards while the rest of the gang do the heavy lifting. that last one was really the nail on the coffin. did Bentley have other ways to enter that door? absolutely. so, what the fuck? why did i come back for a good Sly game 8 years later and receive a game where you have to shake your controller to have Carmelita shake her ass? why did they have the guards’ eyes pop like that? why did no one stop them? and it isn’t just Carmelita. it’s Penelope too. god forbid we have a female character who doesn’t have a waist smaller than my finger, and a voluptuous physique. why was the redesign so drastic? the story stuff is also nonsensical. why did she leave? wasn’t she happy with Bentley? i watched her speech about turning on the gang about a thousand times and it still doesn’t make any sense. like, i literally don’t understand. what was her motive? and why reverse her story of overcoming the Black Baron persona and the connotations of a meek woman hiding behind a man’s disguise? why repeat it, shamelessly? do the guys at Sanzaru only know women who have recently broken up? why does Carmelita, Penelope and Ms Decibel all go through break-ups during the game? why does Penelope go against Bentley before they even break up? why waste the opportunity to introduce a new, well-written villain and use it to repeat something already done? why???? no woman is safe from Sanzaru because Ms Decibel... boy, did i feel bad for her. apart from continuously reminding us that she’s haha fat!! she’s also presented as a blind lovefool. love? what a silly concept only women believe in! Ms Decibel had a crush on Le Paradox (for some reason i can’t even fathom) and for that she must pay by being utterly humiliated. and what do ALL women do when a guy breaks up with them? they get so angry! yikes, stay clear guys! ....why does Sanzaru hate female characters? i’m genuinely curious. i mean, what forced them to depict women like this? i’m sorry, i can’t take much more of this.

Ending: and how do you end a disappointment that came 8 years late and didn’t even have a sequel guaranteed? yeap, you guessed it! a cliffhanger. but not just any cliffhanger - a total fuck you to anyone and everyone. with a single move Sanzaru instantly screwed over the franchise. the fans, the creators, the characters, anyone looking to continue the series. everyone. WHY would you trap the protagonist in the past? WHY? did you feel defensive about something that wasn’t even yours and went ‘well you can continue the series but the sequel will have to do with time travel’. why did you think it was a good idea? how does it even slightly resemble a good ending? someone fill me in please. because i don’t think i’m being unreasonable, i’m just telling it how it is.

Conclusion:

i did it. i fucking wrote it in all its motherfucking glory. the idiots at Sanzaru could’ve given us an amazing game but instead of working on how to make it better or including extra levels, they wasted their time on deciding what killable baby animal to include in each hub or what the backstory for each treasure should be. how fucking distasteful. and to think i’m an idiot myself for trying to force myself to like it because i was so in denial about how bad it was. i’ve just outlined everything wrong with that cursed game. i’m exhausted.

#yOu'Re rEaLLy pEttY ! sOrRy hAd tO UnFoLLoW #i think i covered everything #THIS IS AN AMAZING ESSAY #this is the crown jewel of my time on tumblr #i love myself so much #sly cooper #anyone who even remotely comes for me because of this WILL get blocked #the birds really think i care about my rep on this fucking hellsite #HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

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to-read-or-not-to-read3088 · 3 years ago

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70+ disabled, neurodiverse and chronically ill authors COLLAB

This post is in collaboration with several other bloggers whose links are included here:

Artie Carden

Anniek

Hi! It’s been a while since I posted anything, but this post has been a month in the making. I have twenty books by twenty authors for my part in this collaboration, and you can check out the other parts of the collab with the links at the top of the post.

I haven’t read some of these books but almost all of them are on my to be read pile, and I did extensive research to make sure I got this right, but please let me know if there are any mistakes or if anything needs to be corrected.

1. Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

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Meet Cute Diary follows Noah Ramirez who thinks he’s an expert on romance. He must be for his blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem. All the stories are fake. What started off as the fantasies of a trans boy who was afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe. Noah’s world unravels when a troll exposes the blog as fiction, and the only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. That’s when Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place. Drew is willing to fake date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realises that dating in real life isn’t the same as finding love on the page.

The author, Emery Lee, is a kid lit author, artist and YouTuber hailing from a mixed racial background. After graduating with a degree in creative writing, e’s gone on to author novels, short stories and webcomics. When away from reading and writing, you’ll likely find em engaged in art or snuggling with cute dogs.

Emery Lee is nonbinary, and uses e/em pronouns, and e’s debut book, Meet Cute Diary, features a side character who is also nonbinary (and asexual!). Emery is also neurodivergent, and frequently speaks about what its like being a writer with adhd on twitter.

Meet Cute Diary is a book I only discovered last month, when it was published, but I’m excited to read it. It has representation of all kinds, and I love any book that has even a little mention of an asexual character because its so rare to see.

2. Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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At Niveus Private Academy money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because an anonymous texter calling themselves Aces, is bringing two students’ dark secrets to light. Devon, a talented musician, buries himself in rehearsals, but he can’t escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Chiamaka, head girl, isn’t afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power. Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they’re planning much more than a high school game.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, is the author of the instant New York Times and IndieBound bestseller, Ace of Spades, billed as ‘Get out meets Gossip Girl’. Entertainment Weekly has called it “this summer’s hottest YA debut”. She was born and raised in Croydon, South London, and Faridah moved to the Scottish Highlands for her undergraduate degree where she completed a BA in English Literature. She has established and runs and mentorship scheme for unagented writers of colour, helping them on their journey to get published. Faridah has also written for NME, The Bookseller, Readers Digest and gal-dem.

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s book is one that I pre-ordered months in advance, after discovering that I actually really liked this sub-genre of YA, and although I still haven’t read it yet (sorry!), I’m still super excited to dive into it. From what I hear, it has some gay rep, which we all know by now is something I seek out in my books.

3. Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal

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Priya has worked hard to pursue her pre med dreams at Stanford, but a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease during her sophomore year sends her straight back to her loving but overbearing family in New Jersey and leaves her wondering if she’ll ever be able to return to the way things were. Thankfully she has her online pen pal, Brigid, and the rest of the members of “oof ouch my bones,” a virtual support group that meets on Discord to crack jokes and vent about their own chronic illnesses. When Brigid suddenly goes offline, Priya does something very out of character; she steals the family car and drives to Pennsylvania to check on Brigid. Priya isn’t sure what to expect, but it isn’t the creature that’s shut in the basement. With Brigid nowhere in sight, Priya begins to puzzle together an impossible but obvious truth: the creature might be werewolf – and the werewolf might be Brigid. As Brigid’s unique condition worsens, their friendship will be deepened and challenged in unexpected ways, forcing them to reckon with their own ideas of what it means to be normal.

Kristen O’Neal is a freelance writer who’s written for sites like Buzzfeed Reader, Christianity Today, Birth.Movies.Death, LitHub and Electric Literature. She writes about faith, culture, and unexplained phenomena. Her debut novel, Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses is based on her own experiences with being chronically ill. Kristen has two autoimmune disorders and “a number of other problems and issues” with her body. According to her website, she is doing much better than she used to, but still has flares somewhat regularly.

I cannot describe the feeling of seeing a published book with the best group chat name I have ever seen. Oof ouch my bones is absolutely something that I would be part of if it really existed, because its just such a mood, and funny at the same time. I pre ordered this book too, but like all the others, I still haven’t gotten around to reading it. I’m super excited about it though and cannot recommend it enough.

4. Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

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Will Tavares is the dream summer fling – he’s fun, affectionate, kind – but just when Ollie thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends, and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realises it’s the same school Will goes to…except Ollie finds out that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted – and to be honest, a jerk. Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts “coincidentally” popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening. The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again. Right? Right.

Sophie Gonzales was born and raised in Whyalla, South Australia, where the Outback Meets the Sea. She now lives in Melbourne, where there’s no outback in sight. Sophie’s been writing since the age of five, when her mother decided to help her type out one of the stories she had come up with in the bathtub. They ran into artistic differences when five-year-old Sophie insisted that everybody die in the end, while her mother wanted the characters to simply go out for a milkshake. Since then, Sophie has been completing her novels without a transcript. Sophie Gonzales tweets about her experiences with ADHD on her twitter.

Only mostly devasted is one of the few books on this list that I’ve read. I read the whole thing in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down, which is weird because I normally don’t read contemporary at all. I have recommended this book to literally everyone I know, and even bought my best friend a copy to convince her to read it.

5. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd Jones

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Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family, and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meagre existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead. The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that they're the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good? Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them deep into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the long-hidden truths about themselves.

Emily Lloyd-Jones grew up on a vineyard in rural Oregon, where she played in evergreen forests and learned to fear sheep. After graduating from Western Oregon University with an English degree, she enrolled in the publishing program at Rosemont College just outside of Philadelphia. She currently resides in Northern California.

Another book on my to be read pile that I’m super excited to read, but still haven’t gotten around to. This one features disability rep, but because I haven’t read it, I don’t know much more, sorry guys.

6. Mooncakes by Susanne Walker and Wendy Xu

📷Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers' bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

Suzanne Walker is a Chicago-based writer and editor. She is co-creator of the Hugo-nominated graphic novel Mooncakes (2019, Lion Forge/Oni Press). Her short fiction has been published in Clarkesworld and Uncanny Magazine, and she has published nonfiction articles with Uncanny Magazine, StarTrek.com, Women Write About Comics, and the anthology Barriers and Belonging: Personal Narratives of Disability. She has spoken at numerous conventions on a variety of topics ranging from disability representation in sci-fi/fantasy to comics collaboration.

Wendy Xu is a Brooklyn-based illustrator and comics artist. She is co-creator of and currently draws the webcomic Mooncakes. Her work has been featured on Tor.com, as part of the Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion exhibit permanently housed at the Chinese Historical Society of America, and in Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. She occasionally teaches at the Asian American Writers Workshop and currently works as an assistant editor curating young adult and children’s books.

Suzanne Walker suffers from hearing loss, something that she wrote into her graphic novel, Mooncakes, making Nova hard of hearing. I read this in a few years ago as an advance reader copy for Netgalley and it was honestly one of the best graphic novels I have ever read. The main characters are Chinese American, queer AND magic, which is an amazing combination of representation.

7. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

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Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone… A convict with a thirst for revenge A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager A runaway with a privileged past A spy known as the Wraith A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Leigh Bardugo is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy novels and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, the Six of Crows Duology, The Language of Thorns, and King of Scars—with more to come. Her short stories can be found in multiple anthologies, including the Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy. Her other works include Wonder Woman: Warbringer and Ninth House (Goodreads Choice Winner for Best Fantasy 2019) which is being developed for television by Amazon Studios.

Leigh grew up in Southern California and graduated from Yale University. These days she lives and writes in Los Angeles.

In the acknowledgements section of Six of Crows, Bardugo reveals she suffers from osteonecrosis and sometimes needs to use a cane; this was a source of inspiration for one of the story's six protagonists, master thief and gang boss Kaz Brekker, who uses a cane.

I read Six of Crows a few years ago and I really loved it. I’m not going to pretend I managed to finish the whole Grishaverse series, because I haven’t even gotten close yet, but it really showed Kaz’s struggles with his disability, and his mental health. This is part of a duology, and the duology is part of a large series of books with another duology and trilogy, but Six of Crows can be read without reading the others.

8. Hyperbole and A Half by Allie Brosh

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This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative--like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it--but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly. So, I decided to just make a list of things that are in the book: Pictures Words Stories about things that happened to me Stories about things that happened to other people because of me Eight billion dollars* Stories about dogs The secret to eternal happiness* *These are lies. Perhaps I have underestimated my sneakiness!

Allie is an American blogger, writer and comic artist best known for her blog in the form of a webcomic Hyperbole and a Half. Brosh started Hyperbole in 2009 and told stories from her life in a mix of text and intentionally crude illustrations. She has published two books telling stories in the same style, both of which have been New York Times bestsellers. Brosh lives with severe depression and ADHD, and her comics on depression have won praise from fans and mental health professionals.

Another book on my tbr that I just haven’t gotten around to but really want to.

9. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

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What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just must find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions...

Patrick Ness, an award-winning novelist, has written for England’s Radio 4 and Sunday Telegraph and is a literary critic for The Guardian. He has written many books, including the Chaos Walking Trilogy, The Crash of Hennington, Topics About Which I Know Nothing, and A Monster Calls. He has won numerous awards, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Booktrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Born in Virginia, he currently lives in London.

Patrick Ness has written about OCD and anxiety in at least two of his books, inspired by his own experiences with the two disorders and how it affects him (The Rest of Us Just Live Here & Release)

10. Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire

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Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children No Solicitations No Visitors No Quests Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost.

Seanan lives in an idiosyncratically designed labyrinth in the Pacific Northwest, which she shares with her cats, Alice and Thomas, a vast collection of creepy dolls and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She has strongly held and oft-expressed beliefs about the origins of the Black Death, the X-Men, and the need for chainsaws in daily life.

Years of writing blurbs for convention program books have fixed Seanan in the habit of writing all her bios in the third person, to sound marginally less dorky. Stress is on the "marginally." It probably doesn't help that she has so many hobbies.

Seanan was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Feed (as Mira Grant) was named as one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010. In 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo Ballot.

Seanan McGuire has an invisible disability due to herniated disks in her spine. She is slowly coming to terms with this, and talks about it occasionally on her twitter, and about the struggles she faces.

I loved this book, and so did my best friend. We both read it in one sitting and talked nonstop about it afterwards. Although short, its filled with amazing characters, plot, and representation (asexual character!!)

11. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honour they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead 📷of paper, she's made of fire. In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumoured beauty has piqued the king's interest. Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

Natasha Ngan is a writer and yoga teacher. She grew up between Malaysia, where the Chinese side of her family is from, and the UK. This multicultural upbringing continues to influence her writing, and she is passionate about bringing diverse stories to teens. Ngan studied Geography at the University of Cambridge before working as a social media consultant and fashion blogger. She lives in France with her partner, where they recently moved from Paris to be closer to the sea. Her novel Girls of Paper and Fire was a New York Times bestseller. Natasha has a heart condition, and talks about her struggles with her health, and gives updates on her health and her books on twitter.

I’ve heard a lot about this book, but for trigger warning reasons it sadly isn’t on my to be read list. Everything I’ve heard about it says its an amazing book though, and the cover is beautiful.

12. Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

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Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself. Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought. Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favourite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

Jen Wilde is the YA author of QUEENS OF GEEK, THE BRIGHTSIDERS and GOING OFF SCRIPT. She writes unapologetically queer stories about geeks, rockstars, and fangirls who smash the patriarchy in their own unique ways. Her books have been praised in Teen Vogue, Buzzfeed, Autostraddle, Vulture and Bustle. Originally from Australia, Jen now lives in NYC where she spends her time writing, drinking too much coffee and binging reality TV.

Researching for this collab was the first time this book popped up on my radar as something I might be interested in reading. Jen Wilde, the author, is herself autistic and suffers from anxiety, which gives the narrative “authenticity that is lacking in similar books” according to socialjusticebooks.org.

13. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

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Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So, she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful. Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back. There’s only one problem: Molly’s co-worker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (film: Love, Simon), The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat. She is also the co-author of What If It's Us with Adam Silvera. A former clinical psychologist who specialized in working with children and teens, Becky lives with her family in Atlanta.

Becky Albertalli has generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), and has spoken about it in several interviews, which you can find online. She has also written several characters in her books who also suffer with anxiety. Her first book, Simon vs the Homosapien’s Agenda (or Love, Simon), is the only book of hers that I have read so far, and I loved it. It was the first contemporary book that I read and actually enjoyed.

14. Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

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Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s current gift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows. Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?

Veronica Roth is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Divergent series (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Four: A Divergent Collection), the Carve the Mark duology (Carve the Mark, the Fates Divide), The End and Other Beginnings collection of short fiction, and many short stories and essays. Her first book for adult audiences, Chosen Ones, is out now. She lives in Chicago.

Veronica Roth suffers from anxiety, like a lot of the authors on this list, and talks about it in interviews. A quote from one: "I've had an anxiety disorder my whole life, so I've been to therapy on and off throughout, before books and after books. I went back and tried to talk through some of the things I was feeling and experiencing, and it was helpful."

I’ve never read any of her books, not even the hugely famous Divergent trilogy, though they’ve been on my radar for years. I’d love to get into her books at some point, but it might take me a few years.

15. How to be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe

📷An urgent, funny, shocking, and impassioned memoir by the winner of the Spectrum Art Prize 2018, How To Be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe presents the rarely shown point of view of someone living with autism. Poe’s voice is confident, moving and often funny, as they reveal to us a very personal account of autism, mental illness, gender and sexual identity. As we follow Charlotte’s journey through school and college, we become as awestruck by their extraordinary passion for life as by the enormous privations that they must undergo to live it. From food and fandom to body modification and comic conventions, Charlotte’s experiences through the torments of schooldays and young adulthood leave us with a riot of conflicting emotions: horror, empathy, despair, laugh-out-loud amusement and, most of all, respect. For Charlotte, autism is a fundamental aspect of their identity and art. They address the reader in a voice that is direct, sharply clever and ironic. They witness their own behaviour with a wry humour as they sympathise with those who care for them, yet all the while challenging the neurotypical narratives of autism as something to be ‘fixed’. This is an exuberant, inspiring, life-changing insight into autism from a viewpoint almost entirely missing from public discussion. ‘I wanted to show the side of autism that you don’t find in books and on Facebook. My story is about survival, fear and, finally, hope. There will be parts that make you want to cover your eyes, but I beg you to read on, because if I can change just one person’s perceptions, if I can help one person with autism feel like they’re less alone, then this will all be worth it.’ Charlotte Amelia Poe is a self-taught artist and writer living in Lowestoft, Suffolk. They also work with video and won the inaugural Spectrum Art Prize with the film they submitted, 'How to Be Autistic’. Myriad published Charlotte's memoir, How to Be Autistic, in September 2019.

Another book I didn’t know about until researching for this post, but I really want to read it because I haven’t read many books about autism, and practically none of them were actually written by someone who actually is autistic. Charlotte uses they/them pronouns.

16. Ask me about my Uterus by Abby Norman

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For any woman who has experienced illness, chronic pain, or endometriosis comes an inspiring memoir advocating for recognition of women's health issues In the fall of 2010, Abby Norman's strong dancer's body dropped forty pounds and grey hairs began to sprout from her temples. She was repeatedly hospitalized in excruciating pain, but the doctors insisted it was a urinary tract infection and sent her home with antibiotics. Unable to get out of bed, much less attend class, Norman dropped out of college and embarked on what would become a years-long journey to discover what was wrong with her. It wasn't until she took matters into her own hands--securing a job in a hospital and educating herself over lunchtime reading in the medical library--that she found an accurate diagnosis of endometriosis. In Ask Me About My Uterus, Norman describes what it was like to have her pain dismissed, to be told it was all in her head, only to be taken seriously when she was accompanied by a boyfriend who confirmed that her sexual performance was, indeed, compromised. Putting her own trials into a broader historical, sociocultural, and political context, Norman shows that women's bodies have long been the battleground of a never-ending war for power, control, medical knowledge, and truth. It's time to refute the belief that being a woman is a pre-existing condition.

Abby Norman’s debut book, ASK ME ABOUT MY UTERUS: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women’s Pain, was published by Bold Type Books (Hachette Book Group) in 2018, with advance praise from Gillian Anderson, Lindsey Fitzharris, Jenny Lawson, and Padma Lakshmi.

The book was praised by The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, The Irish Times, Literary Review, The Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, Book Riot, Toronto Star, ELLE, Health Magazine, Undark Magazine, BUST Magazine, Bitch Magazine, Ms. Magazine, BBC Radio 5, and other international media outlets.

In 2019, the paperback edition was published in the U.S. and the Korean translation in Seoul (Momento Publishing/Duran Kim Agency).

Her work has been featured in Harper’s, Medium, The Independent, Literary Hub, The Rumpus, Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and elsewhere. Interviews and profiles have been seen and heard, including NPR/WNYC, BBC, Anchor.fm, The New York Times, Playboy, Forbes, Glamour, Women’s Health, and Bitch Magazine.

Abby Norman suffers from endometriosis, which was a large part of why she wrote her book, and why she advocates so hard for fellow patients at conferences such as Stanford University’s Stanford Medicine X and the Endometriosis Foundation of America’s medical conference and Patient Day. She is

Abby has served on technical expert panels including the National Partnership for Women and Families’ CORE Network (Yale University), the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid, The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR), and Health Affairs.

In 2019, Abby contributed to a paper addressing research gaps and unmet needs in endometriosis published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

This book is definitely one I will be adding to my to be read list, as someone who (unfortunately) also has a uterus, it is important to be informed. And Abby sounds like such a badass who wrote a whole book about her chronic illness to help others with the same condition.

17. Stim: Autistic Anthology by Lizzie Huxley-Jones

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Around one in one hundred people in the UK are autistic, yet there remains a fundamental misunderstanding of what autism is. It is rare that autistic people get to share their own experiences, show how creative and talented and passionate they are, how different they are from media stereotypes. This insightful and eye-opening collection of essays, fiction and visual art showcases the immense talents of some of the UK's most exciting writers and artists - who just happen to be on the spectrum. Here they reclaim the power to speak for themselves and redefine what it means to be autistic. Stim invites the reader into the lives, experiences, minds of the eighteen contributors, and asks them to recognise the hurdles of being autistic in a non-autistic world and to uncover the empathy and understanding necessary to continue to champion brilliant yet unheard voices.

Lizzie (Hux) Huxley-Jones is an autistic author and editor based in London. They are the editor of Stim, an anthology of autistic authors and artists, which was published by Unbound in April 2020 to coincide with World Autism Awareness Week. They are also the author of the children’s biography Sir David Attenborough: A Life Story. They can be found editing at independent micropublisher 3 of Cups Press, and they also advise writers as a freelance sensitivity reader and consultant. In their past career lives, they have been a research diver, a children’s bookseller and digital communications specialist.

I wasn’t even aware that there was an anthology out there by an autistic author, about autism, but now that I do I need to read it.

18. Chimera by Jaecyn Bonê

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Creatures unlike you've imagined before! Welcome to a world where myths and legends collide to create a new breed of monster. Savage and soulful, these monstrosities combine to form the mighty Chimera. In this anthology, talented writers weave 10 tales of fantastical beasts. Featuring stories by: Matt Bliss Jaecyn Boné Alexis L. Carroll Chris Durston Dewi Hargreaves Stephen Howard Samuel Logan Vincent Metzo Braden Rohl Michelle Tang

Jaecyn is a queer, non-binary, disabled Asian-American writer and digital artist fascinated by faeries.

Most of their writing involves wlw romance and faery-inspired creatures. Their first novel, Farzana's Spite is a 10-year-old work in progress and the first novel in The Faerth series. Other works include The Killing Song (novel) and Colour Unknown (short), both of which are also part of the Faerth universe.

Jaecyn's art can be described as a neorealistic pop art style with cel shading. They began their digital art journey with a 5-year-old refurbished iPad using their finger as a stylus and immediately fell in love. They do digital download commissions as well as sell prints of their artwork.

Jaecyn is the Co-Editor in Chief of the Limeoncello Magazine, an online Own Voices literary magazine which debuted its first issue on March 21st, 2021.

When not writing, drawing, or chasing after their two children, they can be found either gardening or practicing their ukulele.

None of Jaecyn Boné’s books are published yet as they are still in the stage of querying, but they contributed to the above anthology, along with nine other authors. I had no idea that this anthology existed, and now I’ll be closely following this author to see when their books get published!

19. Forest of Souls by Lori M Lee

Sirscha Ashwyn comes from nothing, but she’s intent on becoming something. After years of training to become the queen’s next royal spy, her plans are derailed when shamans attack 📷and kill her best friend Saengo. And then Sirscha, somehow, restores Saengo to life. Unveiled as the first soul guide in living memory, Sirscha is summoned to the domain of the Spider King. For centuries, he has used his influence over the Dead Wood—an ancient forest possessed by souls—to enforce peace between the kingdoms. Now, with the trees growing wild and untamed, only a soul guide can restrain them. As war looms, Sirscha must master her newly awakened abilities before the trees shatter the brittle peace, or worse, claim Saengo, the friend she would die for.

Lori M. Lee is the author of speculative novels and short stories. Her books include PAHUA AND THE SOUL STEALER (Disney/Rick Riordan Presents), FOREST OF SOULS and the sequel BROKEN WEB (Page Street), and more. She’s also a contributor to the anthologies A THOUSAND BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS and COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES. She considers herself a unicorn fan, enjoys marathoning TV shows, and loves to write about magic, manipulation, and family.

Lori struggles with anxiety, and the common symptoms like fatigue but she doesn’t let this stop her writing amazing books. I read Forest of Souls earlier this year, and it was seriously one of the best books I’ve ever read. I loved the magic, the characters, the world building. Everything about it, including the plot twist ending that had me losing my mind at 2am, was just so unlike anything I had read in any other fantasy before.

20. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown

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For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts Malik’s younger sister, Nadia, as payment into the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom. But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?

Roseanne “Rosie” A. Brown was born in Kumasi, Ghana and immigrated to the wild jungles of central Maryland as a child. Writing was her first love, and she knew from a young age that she wanted to use the power of writing—creative and otherwise—to connect the different cultures she called home. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and was also a teaching assistant for the school’s Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program. Her journalistic work has been featured by Voice of America among other outlets.

On the publishing side of things, she has worked as an editorial intern at Entangled Publishing. Rosie was a 2017 Pitch Wars mentee and 2018 Pitch Wars mentor. Rosie currently lives outside Washington D.C., where in her free time she can usually be found wandering the woods, making memes, or thinking about Star Wars.

Roseanne is another author that struggles with anxiety and wrote one of her two main characters with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), despite it being a fantasy. I don’t even think I can name a fantasy that had a character with anxiety represented so well. This was a book I read around the same time as Forest of Souls, and I loved it. The cover was beautiful, the characters were brilliant, and I just loved the world building, the magic, and the plot. It was just different to the usual fantasy books I read, and I enjoyed the variation so much I’ve had the sequel pre ordered almost a year in advance.

So, this was my 20 books by 20 chronically ill, disabled or neurodiverse authors list. Blurbs and synopsis were compiled between Goodreads and author websites, and bios were found either on Goodreads, author websites or on amazon author pages. All the information about their chronic illnesses, disabilities or neurodivergence was found online, where they had either explicitly said it or written about it, but if I have something wrong, please let me know so I can fix it!

If you have any other suggestions or know any other books and authors that should be on this list, please let me know and I’ll do my best to add it to the list as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading 😊

#bookblr #reviews #recs #books

2 notes · View notes

vicunaburger · 5 years ago

Text

Admittedly, I’m Hard to See

Fandom: Beetlejuice the Musical Chapters: 8/? Pairing: Beetlejuice x OC (Holidae) The Players: Beetlejuice, Lydia Deetz, Holidae Bell Word Count: 1,741 Warnings: M for Language and Suggestive Content

Notes: GETTING SPICY.

Chapter 8: In Which Courtship is an Abstract Concept

The dynamic in the house started to change after the photograph was taken.

Holidae found the image of her seemingly floating in mid air quote “haunted as fuck”, but relented when Lydia declared her intentions to use it in her next art show. If Beetlejuice had any sort of opinion on the photograph, he kept it to himself, much more interested in the fact that Lydia seemed happy and willing to talk to him again.

The three housemates began a routine of sorts over the next few weeks: Lydia and Holidae would take care of the household chores, while BJ… really didn’t contribute anything besides the occasional prank and conversations during mealtime. He was given the important task of planning their weekly movie night, which he was extremely proud of himself for excellent choices in cinema.

Nine times out of ten he would choose The Exorcist.

Holidae, being rather unsubtle, avoided being alone with the ghost; taking great pains to make sure Lydia was always in the room, or just outright pretending she didn’t notice him when he caught her alone. It was a childish response, she knew, but that didn’t stop her from going along with her scheme.

Lydia spent most of her time preparing for the fall art show held in the next county over from Winter River, snapping candid shots during the evening hours throughout the house, or going out to shoot some more natural subjects. Until she had finished with her collections, Holidae was stuck in a bit of design limbo; unable to try and work up plans for her friend’s exhibit without knowing the theme of what Lydia was aiming for.

“You’ll know when it’s done,” Lydia told her one evening, packing up her camera to take on another visit to the local cemetery.

Holidae followed her into the front entryway, “Do you even know how big the space we need is going to be? Or how many photos this time? I can’t just… magic square footage. Let me come with you, at least; just to see what you’ve been shooting?”

Lydia shrugged, “Relax. I’ll be home soon, and I’ll show you what I have so far. Besides, you have Beej to keep you company. Why don’t you read that book you got the other day? One of those trashy things full of kissy faces and torn bodices?”

“Hey, they have a plot… sometimes.” Holidae waved her out the door, “Don’t get eaten by zombies, I don’t want to stuff bits of you into a casket. Too sticky.”

Lydia stuck her tongue out as she closed the door behind her, leaving Holidae alone - sort of - in the house for the time being. Beetlejuice hadn’t made an appearance since that morning over breakfast, but that didn’t stop the paranoia of him just… popping up when she least expected him to.

Dramatically throwing herself onto the living room sofa, Holidae pulled her book out from under a stack of paperwork on the coffee table, flipping it open to the page she had dogeared earlier. Sure, her taste in literature wasn’t always going to win a Pulitzer prize, but there was nothing more satisfying than just losing all thought in a steamy, badly written romance novel. She got herself comfortable, propping her head up with a pillow, and stretching her legs out on the soft couch cushions.

Holidae was so engrossed in her novel, that she failed to noticed the sudden weight that settled itself between her legs. Beetlejuice had noticed Lydia’s departure, taking it upon himself to find some entertainment with his other living roommate. He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Holidae had been avoiding him since the roof incident; but whether it was because of the attempted murder, or the subsequent moment Lydia had caught them in afterward was hard to pinpoint.

Beetlejuice wrapped his arms around her midsection, resting his head by accident of course, on the cushion of her breasts. He could feel her tensing underneath him, shifting her position, but didn’t outright attempt to move him. She merely flipped another page of her book, lifting the novel a little higher so that he had room to lay his head down.

“Okay, really? You have an dead guy with his face in your tits and you’re just going to keep reading?” Beej headbutted her sternum with force. “Pay attention to me.”

Holidae thwapped him on top of his head with her book, “Shush. It’s just getting good. Besides, what could I possible do against you? I can’t move you, I don’t have any holy water to sprinkle on you, if I make a fuss you’ll just find some other way to annoy me… have I missed anything?”

He hummed, wiggling his body against hers, “No, that pretty much covers it.”

“See?” She flipped another page.

With a pout, he snatched the book out of her hands, adjusting his position so that he was straddling her hips. She tried to get it back, but he held it up above his head, shoving her back down on the sofa with his free hand.

“What is this… oh my god, this is why you’re ignoring me?” He laughed, showing off his mouthful of sharpened teeth. “Oh, we mustn't meet like this~ the scandal will be too great! She cried, throwing herself onto the chaise”

Holidae clawed at his jacket, trying to knock him off balance, “Give it back!”

In a puff of smoke, Beetlejuice was no longer sporting his favored suit, instead dressed in a striped black and white cotton shirt that was unbuttoned to the middle of his chest. A breeze somehow ruffled through his hair, adding to the dramatic effect. Holidae stuffed a pillow over her face, muffling the fit of giggles she burst into at his new appearance.

“Ah~ fair not, sweet dove, I have taken great pains to ensure we will not be discovered~” He reached down and took the pillow off her face, tossing it across the room. “It’s goddamn rude to not pay attention when someone is delivering this calibre of performance. Ahem. Now! I beg of thee, a simple kiss will not sustain me this night.”

Unable to contain herself, Holidae clutched her stomach in laughter, cackling at his theatrical display. She didn’t know why it was so funny to her; by all accounts it wasn’t the most unique humor, but something about him just set her off into a fit.

“Oh my God/Satan… I did it!” Beej stopped his recitation, tossing the book over his shoulder, and grabbing Holidae’s face with both hands. “I got you laughing. Geez, I didn’t think you had a sense of humor for a while, ya know? The whole uptight anxiety ball thing.”

She tried to pry herself out of his grasp, feeling his icy hands squish her cheeks, “Maybe you just aren’t funny most of the time. Let go, your hands are all dirty.”

“What? Dirty? Me? Excuse you, but I am not merely dirty. I am gross and proud. Look at me, baby; look at how gross. Really get in there up close and appreciate it.” He pulled her head closer, rubbing his scratchy beard stubble against her cheek. “Takes years of work. My morning beauty routine is legendary. Oh~ you’re warm. Nothing like a warm body sometimes, you know what I mean?”

“No no no. Stop. Don’t. I’m allergic to mold.” Holidae squirmed around, feeling his fluff of hair start to tickle her nose. “You want my lungs collapsing in on themselves? What are you going to tell Lyddy when she finds me puffy and dying? Get off.”

“Oh, I am definitely trying to do just that, Holiday Greetings,” Beetlejuice doubled his efforts, going so far as to lick a stripe of skin from her jaw to her ear, “You’ll be fine, that stuff hasn’t grown for years. You know what does grow? It’s my-”

“Don’t you dare. I mean it. You finish that sentence and I’ll kick you square in the crotch.” She managed to free one of her hands, covering his mouth with her palm. “Don’t test me, Juice.”

The demon gave a sharp bite against the flesh of her hand, causing her to yelp and move away, “My hair.”

Holidae had expected many inappropriate endings to his sentence. Most of them concerned the area she had threatened with violence just moments beforehand, but nothing prepared her for the sheer audacity of the response he actually gave. She had walked right into his joke, and proved that she was the one thinking unwholesome thoughts about his anatomy.

Beetlejuice 1, Holidae -100

Taking her silence in stride, Beetlejuice snapped his fingers, setting the two of them in a more comfortable position on the sofa, and changing back into his normal attire. Of course, his idea of comfortable was having Holidae perched on his lap with one hand pressing against her lower back, and the other holding her thigh… to balance. Didn’t want her to fall on the coffee table.

“Holli,” Beetlejuice tried to put on his best stern expression, “You were thinking I was going to say something naughty, weren’t you? For shame! What kind of influence are you having on my bestest best friend? What kind of upbringing did you have to think such thoughts about me? No, seriously, I want to find your parents and thank them.”

“You have my undivided attention, Lawrence, don’t waste it. Now, what can I do for you? Are you bored? I can get you one of my books to read. Or there’s a pack of cards in Lyddy’s room.” Holidae blinked slowly, reaching out and brushing a stray curl off of his forehead without much thought.

The reaction was instant.

Beetlejuice’s hand snapped up and grabbed Holidae’s wrist before she could pull away, and he stared at her intently. Small, thin strips of pink highlights started to run through his hair, swirling around in a mix of green and dark emerald. Unsure of what he was thinking, Holidae stayed still and quiet, not wanting a repeat of the last time he held her with such intensity.

He still held her fast, shrugging in a very trying-to-be-nonchalant-and-failing manner, “Nothing. Just didn’t want you to have any peace and quiet.”

She frowned, watching the pink continue to invade his hairline, “There were easier ways of doing that.”

“Yeah, but not as fun.” He pulled her dangerously close, almost touching noses with her.

For a moment, Holidae was swept into the sudden… whatever this moment was. Romance? Flirtation? …awkward social convention? Her eyes fluttered closed, and she leaned forward to close the distance…

…right before she was met with a face full of sofa cushion.

Beetlejuice had literally disappeared out from under her like a bad magic trick.

Writing Tags: @mr-geuse @paxenera @leiasolo77 @go-commander-kim @ashemspirit

#beetlejuice broadway #beetlejuice fanfiction #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice x oc #beetlejuice x self insert #writing time

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years ago

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11/25/2020 DAB Transcript

Daniel 1:1-2:23, 1 Peter 3:8-4:6, Psalms 119:65-80, Proverbs 28:14

Today is the 25th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it's wonderful to be here with you today as we take the next step forward like we do every day, the next step. It's funny, just the next step is what we take and then we…we end up having moved through the entire Bible and then through an entire year. And it's such a vivid portrait of what next steps can do when we take the next right step and letting the Bible be a voice in that next right step. Well that's why we come here every day around the Global Campfire isn’t it. So, let's dive in. And right off the bat here we’re moving into new territory in the old testament brand-new book.

Introduction to the book of Daniel:

This book is called Daniele and it’s an intriguing book to say the least, maybe one of the more intriguing books in the Old Testament. And it’s…it’s an historical account and is certainly helpful and valuable and gives insight into the…the kind of times, the times of exile that we've been reading about for quite a while now. It hasn't been that long ago, but it seems like it’s been a long time ago that we read the story of Solomon and we came to like the apex of ancient Israel's culture and civilization. And since that time we've…well…we've been in a lot of territory but this theme of exile, this thing of conquest and Jerusalem being conquered both historically and prophetically have been kind of where we’ve been camped out and we get a different perspective of that in Daniel. But Daniel also though contains these incredible visions and these visions have been poured over for thousands of years in eschatological studies - the studies of the end, the end time prophecies. Daniel is a centerpiece in that study. So, here's what's interesting. We just read the book of Ezekiel and Daniel was contemporary with Ezekiel. He was…he was taken into exile when Jerusalem first fell to Babylon in 597. And we know because we’ve been reading these stories of deportation and exile and prophets both in exile and in Jerusalem. So, we got Jeremiah prophesying from Jerusalem through all of the turmoil and we’ve got Ezekiel prophesying from exile in Babylon during all the turmoil. So, we know that it was not a good easy time whatsoever for those who were being displaced and Daniel was one of those people. And despite the struggle of being deported to a different land Daniel was favored by God. He was gifted. He was young. He rose to become an influential advisor. He was of utmost authority in the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. But there's quite a story that got him there. And even though Daniel was exiled and was a Hebrew and was a prophet he really wasn't a prophet for or against Israel, which makes his voice unique because this isn't a particularly Jewish set of prophecies with the other prophets. We need that…that Hebrew context that we’ve been drilling into all year long to sort of understand the grievances that are being laid out before the people of Israel and what repentance might look like for them and what things might look like if they continue on the road that there on. Daniel’s not really prophesying with that kind of voice at all. So, we’ll notice that Daniels’s…it’s not broken up into two different halves or anything like that, but we’ll see that generally the first part of the book is the story of Daniel's life. So, we get to know Daniel in the first part of the book. And we’ll find some of the most famous of Sunday school stories in in this part of the book like the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace or the account of Daniel in the lion's den. Then once we kinda move through that narrative, move into the back half of the later part of the book, it shifts then to Daniel's prophetic visions. And he has visions of four great world empires. And it…it's…it's apocalyptic literature. So, as a genre, it's highly symbolic and allegoric and we’ll see almost cinematic in nature as its retold to us. Remember when we…remember the wheel within the wheel and all of that imagery in Isaiah when we’re trying to think this all through and picture all this. We’ll be doing that with Daniel as well. And of course, if…if eschatology, the study of the end times is a passion of yours then there's no way to avoid Daniel. It’s the centerpiece of that type of study in the Bible. But whether or not figuring out the end of all things, the end times, the apocalypse is…it is important or not in your faith journey, what Daniel portrays through all of his visions, if we had to kind of boil things down we would see that Daniel is revealing that God is sovereign over every kingdom of the world for all time. Like, God is the most-high God and He is sovereign over all. So, let's let’s dive in. Daniels gonna to carry us into the final month of the year, which is the month of December and we’re just days away from that.

And, man tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. It’s also China's birthday. So, I’ve had two major holidays land on two birthdays in my family. Jill’s birthday’s July 4th. So, that's a constant. Of course, China's birthday is the 26th of November, but it happens to fall on Thanksgiving. So…so we’re…we’re really at the threshold. This is like Thanksgiving Eve, everybody's cooking lots of food and after this we move into warp speed so quickly that we just need to take a deep breath as we move into this new territory, reminding ourselves that God is sovereign over all things and continue to do what we talked about just a few minutes ago, the next step forward, day by day, no matter what the chaos or…or all the stuff that's going on swirling around. Even though it's festive, the rhythm we've established is what's gonna carry us into the new year. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week. Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 23.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another day. We thank You for bringing us into new territory. It's always exciting to turn the page and move into new territory. And, so, we thank You for the book of Daniel, and we ask Holy Spirit that You would awaken our minds, quicken our hearts that we might hear and learn and see whatever it is that You have for us as we continue this journey day by day, step-by-step. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it is the website, and it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, everything that you can find at the web is also in the app, just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. Be aware of that.

Be aware of the Community section. That's where the Prayer Wall is and lives and continues to be a resource 24 hours a day seven days a week. So, be aware of that.

There are also links there of where to get connected on social media, etc. So be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you. Thank you. If…if what's happening as we continue to sail across the year together in the Scriptures, as we continue to be a community around the Global Campfire, if that is important and makes a difference in your life then thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can dial 877-942-4253 or you can hit the Hotline button in the app, it's the little red button up at the top. And no matter where you are in the world you can share from there.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey this is Jared calling from Duluth Minnesota it’s 2:53 in the morning on Sunday November 22nd, day 575 of my renewed journey in the DAB family. I was so moved today by __ of joy who’s been cycling down for three weeks and can’t move, is scared, not going out of the house, completely alone and your desperate cry for help. Want you to know that we are praying for you and that I’ve been there before in a dark place and so difficult to get out of that…that hole sometimes but __ can help and God will be your rock in time of need. And also, for Rosie, Free in Jesus where one year ago her son disowned her like my son has disowned me and your husband died and contemplating suicide. And again, I’ve been in those dark places. I want you to know that we’re praying for you and that God would just supernaturally bring peace, comfort and joy in your life today and in the future. God bless. Bye.

Hello food DAB family this is Vonnie from Northern California calling on Sunday morning the 22nd of November. Just heard Sheer Joy crying out for help this morning and even though I know it’s been a few days I am praying for you dear sister and know that the Lord sees you and hears you. And even though your family is praying for you a few days after you called God sees you exactly where you are at that moment and He is going to come in and He is going to enter in His Holy Spirit to help you. And we’re asking, O Father please in the name of Jesus we ask You to bind the enemy and keep him from our dear sister, Sheer Joy. Bring back the joy, restore the joy of her salvation dear Father. Help her in Jesus’ name come in and eradicate any part of the enemy’s plan to bring her down. Bring someone else in, a friend, somebody who can bring light and joy and comfort and encouragement to our friend and bring her out of this pit. I think of David and the psalmist calling out from the pit and she’s doing exactly that Lord Jesus. I pray that You would restore the joy to her, fill her with the love that casts out all fear and all dread and bring her back to fullness and to healing and hope and to health. We thank You in Jesus’ name.

Good morning everybody this is God’s Smile here. Just like to share a little about Maria my helper. Maria had an experience. She’s had two this year. She’s been with me two years, Maria, and our relationship has really grown close. We’ve had some chats about the Lord but that’s as far as it’s gone. Maria had sleep paralysis twice now and, in that paralysis, she sensed evil and her hands were tied in front of her outstretched and she couldn’t speak or move, and it really frightened her. So, when I heard this, I said to her, “Maria there is power in the name of Jesus and so to use that name. And she said, “how do I use that?” and I said, “if you can’t speak it Maria just say it in your mind.” So, we conversed like this and I gave her a little prayer to say and gave it…spoke to her about the Lord and His love for her. So, Maria is covering around tomorrow to…she’s a teacher but she cleans for me. Isn’t that lovely? And, so, I felt…I felt the Lord saying get her a Bible, but I wasn’t sure when to give it. So, this Bibles come today. So, I’m…she’s been messaging me, and I really have this rise deep inside my heart that the Lord is in all this. Of course, He is. But you know, faith is rising to believe she is very close to receiving Him as her Lord and Savior. So, would you pray for us? My discerning about the right time…time’s ticking away…give her the Bible. Bye-bye everybody. Love from God’s smile. Kiss kiss.

This is for Dorothy the special ed teacher who called in with compassion fatigue and for all teachers, front line workers, nurses, doctors, police officers, first responders and I would add veterinarians for we’re doing our best to provide good medical care and love on our patients while providing curbside service and it’s just so difficult for people. There aren’t enough hours in the day and the dogs are so frightened. But we’re doing our best Lord. And I also want to lift up a prayer for the student who called in with so much anxiety she couldn’t leave her apartment. She was too anxious to stay in bed but too depressed to get out of bed. Oh Lord I lift up my prayers for mercy for from 138. I give thanks O Lord with my whole heart and sing your praise because when we call on you, you answer us. And the strength of our souls you do increase. You know that though we walk in the midst of trouble you preserve our lives. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of all that would threaten to overcome us, and your right hand delivers us. You will fulfill your purpose for us, and your steadfast love O Lord endures forever. For I know that you will not forsake the work of your hands but instead pour your Holy Spirit on us. Fill us with your living water. Lift us up with the power that raised Christ from the dead. Renew our strength. It will mount up like eagles. Lord I give you my thanks and I pray your grace and mercy on all of these who have called in. In Jesus’ name. Amen. This is Donna from Pennsylvania.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Wonderfully Made in Albuquerque. Today’s the 23rd of November. I have a prayer request. I have been struggling with some really really extreme anxiety related to work stresses. The work that I am involved in deals with a lot of regulatory compliance issues and I lead a team that supports…has…is a support group for customers. And I…there are some customers that are pretty combative, and I am not the kind of person that deals well with that. I want peace I hate conflict. I know that conflict exists in this life, but I shut down when I have to deal with people who are like that. And I…it’s Monday, I‘m anxious, the emails are pouring in and I’m starting to shake because I am scared of what I’m going to have to deal with. And, yes, I could leave my job and go to a different job but the challenge with that is there’s always going to be people that are just very abrasive and mean and….and so I’m dealing with…I’m struggling with that, especially with how I respond as a Christian. I really don’t lash out in anger at people but what happens is I…I hold it in, and I think through conversations I want to have which I know won’t be edifying. So, anyway I’m just really really struggling, and I need prayers. Thank you so much.

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ruoyeming · 5 years ago

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My Top Ten Anime, a chaotic list

This was so hecking difficult, I’m gonna have to do some ‘honourable mentions’ for ones I can’t bring myself to leave out. This list is based entirely on my personal feelings, not an objective assessment of what are logically the best anime. There also may be mild spoilers at points because I can’t control myself. Doing this in quarantine cause I looove ranting about things I like.

10) Attack On Titan

This was the first anime I ever watched, and it blew my mind a bit tbh. The music is iconic, and the animation is great as well. It might have been a bit harrowing for my first experience with anime, but I absolutely loved the story. It’s set in a world where titans (man eating giants) have driven the dregs of humanity to live within giant stone walls. There’s a group of humans trying to research titans, kill them, and protect humanity, and the main character decides to join them after a titan breaks through one of the walls and his mother is eaten. It’s one of those where you think you know everything and suddenly the world gets turned upside down by a new discovery. All the puzzle pieces start fitting together the longer you watch, and you find out that everything going on is much bigger than what it originally seemed (government conspiracy time lads). The plot twists are unpredictable (for me at least) and devastating, and the emotion this series evokes is awesome - you can FEEL the sheer desperation of the characters, their rage and despair as they fight again and again against a seemingly unending enemy. Despite almost every battle being a suicide mission and despite too many losses, the characters keep going out of the human need to survive and protect.

10/10 for brutality and gore, but also theme of hope.

9) Naruto

A founding father of anime. Surprisingly not one of the first I watched, in fact it took me a few years to start. It’s set in a feudal Japan where ninjas are the defenders and servers of the people, and different villages have different ninja styles. Naruto is a young boy with a dangerous spirit sealed inside him which has caused him to be shunned by society (even though it’s not his fault??), and he wants to become a ninja. First off I’m a sucker for the Naruto archetype: dumbass, cocky, obnoxious, but kind and loyal too. Years of solitude and ostracisation as a child mean that Naruto desperately wants people to acknowledge him, and he intends to become the Hokage to prove himself. There’s a huge range of characters and villains, all with cool ninjutsus and different philosophies. Friendship, power, and determination are some of the main themes and it makes me so proud to see my son *COUGH* Naruto progressing and learning from his mistakes. It IS a long boi though and I haven’t even finished Shippuden yet, but I think Naruto captures the essence of shounen anime and is a great underdog story. Manga is lit too.

10/10 for cool battles and great characters.

8) Psycho Pass

One of the earlier anime I watched, and it became an instant favourite for the way it makes you question morality. It’s set in a kinda dystopian future Japan, where a technology called the Sibyl System checks people’s mental state and determines their ‘crime coefficient’ - how likely they are to commit a crime. The main character is a young woman who joins the police and begins to realise that blindly following this system is perhaps not the best way to go about things. For example, they have special guns that automatically kill people whose crime coefficients are over a certain level, but she soon proves that you can easily lower someone’s coefficient by talking them down and negotiating instead of killing them off immediately. It’s got great drama, great government conspiracy, compelling villains, and some really badass characters. It pushes the question of what is right or wrong, and how far technology should go when it comes to justice.

10/10 for sociological debate and horror elements.

7) One Punch Man

OPM is an anime that stands out for me, partially for mocking the tropes of battle anime, and partially for the uniqueness of the main character’s predicament. It’s set in Japan where heroes and villains exist, and the protagonist is a man called Saitama who gained superstrength after doing 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10K run every day. However he’s become so strong that he can defeat every enemy with a single punch. Nothing is a challenge for him anymore so he becomes depressed and unfulfilled; he’s still a good man who helps people, but he feels he’s missing something from his life. A cyborg called Genos makes Saitama his master, determined to learn his ways and they become friends. It’s one of the first anime that made me laugh out loud; it’s funny and entertaining, but also shows us that power is not equal to happiness.

10/10 for moral lessons and good jokes.

6) Tanaka-kun is Always Listless

The only slice of life anime on this list and not very well known, however it has a special place in my heart. The main character Tanaka is a boy who dozes off constantly and acts exhausted when awake; he loves expending as little energy as possible. His best friend Ohta looks out for him and essentially makes sure he doesn’t get lost/ be late/die on a daily basis, including carrying him when he just falls asleep sometimes. Although Tanaka seems uncaring, it’s shown that friendship isn’t a bother to him, and he realises that he actually relies on his friends despite saying he likes being left in peace. His friends all have great personalities, my personal faves are a tough gangster girl who’s rude to everyone EXCEPT her adorable loli girlfriend, and a popular girl who’s trying too hard to fit in and starts to become more herself after befriending Tanaka. All the characters share one brain cell, and it’s genuinely a funny anime - I’ve burst out laughing watching it a few times. Also Tanaka and Ohta are extremely shippable if you want to go down that route; it’s said several times in the series that they’re like an old married couple.

10/10 for wholesomeness and comedy.

5) Ouran High School Host Club

Another lighthearted show, probably the anime that’s made me laugh the most out of any. It’s set at an academy for rich-as-heck kids, and there’s a ‘Host Club’ where all the girls go to drink tea with a group of handsome boys. There’s the cunning Kyouka, prankster identical twins Hikaru and Kaoru, stoic Mori, adorable Honey, and princely but obnoxious Tamaki. Haruhi, a working-class scholarship student who is mistaken for a boy, accidentally breaks a precious vase and is forced by the host club to join them to pay off her debt. The group of boys realise fairly quickly that haruhi is a girl, but she becomes a popular host amongst the girls (LOVE the secret lesbian vibes) so they keep up the charade. I think I have a weakness for groups that share one brain cell because aside from Kyouka, they’re all idiots. I also love how flexible the show is with ideas of gender and sexuality despite being a slightly older anime. The daily antics of the host club combined with their personalities is a recipe for comedy, and they’re all lovable in their own ways.

10/10 for characters, drama, and comedy; it’s well-paced too.

4) Bungou Stray Dogs

Set in an alternate modern Japan where some people have secret abilities that can be activated, this anime became an obsession when I first watched it. The cast of characters is amazing and the villains are awesome too. Atsushi is an orphan who discovers he can turn into a powerful tiger, and is hired by the Armed Detective Agency, a small organisation of powerful individuals who fight crime. NEED I SAY ANY MORE?? Many of the main characters share names with famous Japanese authors such as Osamu Dazai and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa which is really cool and something that might add to the story more if I had an understanding of Japanese literature. Anyways the main character Atsushi is kind of a wimp at first (understandably because the world of ability-users is actually terrifying), but he learns to stand up for himself and use his ability to save people. The show’s mixing of dark and comedic tones is perfect to me; one moment a character is off his head on mushrooms and the next Atsushi’s leg is brutally sliced off in a back alley fight (it regenerates later no worries). The plot is really cool and full of intrigue, and eventually you get the whole ‘Usually we’re sworn enemies but we’re forced to become allies in the face of a greater evil’ thing and it’s great! Turns out our main guy and our main bad guy are actually a pretty powerful and efficient team, hoho??

10/10 for supernatural detectives being super cool.

3) Yuri!!! on Ice

Y’all already know what’s going on. Ice skating, emotional breakthroughs, gay shit, HIT ME WITH IT. The story follows Yuri Katsuki, an insecure figure skater trying to regain his confidence, and his self-appointed coach Viktor Nikiforov. Viktor is enthusiastic in helping Yuri train, and Yuri has been a big fan of Viktor since his childhood *throws pillow across the room*. Yuri becomes determined to, quote, “surpass Viktor’s wildest imagination”, and they end up agreeing - through a series of convoluted events - to get married if Yuri wins gold at the olympics (I think it’s the olympics??). Either fuckin way this series has angst, humour, cuteness, and god DAMN did I get invested. When Yuri was doing his free skate my own heart was beating harder than it did when I finished a 10K. Love the vibes and also it’s the closest to full healthy gay representation that I’ve seen in anime for a while. Not much more I can say, but do I really need to say more???

10/10 for GAY and MY HEART

2) Kimetsu No Yaiba (Demon Slayer)

Ok this one’s kind of a cheat cause I’ve read the manga as well which is way ahead of the anime, but FUCC. It takes place in the Taisho Era in Japan (begins 1912), where Demons exist who eat people. Tanjiro Kamado’s family is killed by a demon one night and his sister Nezuko is turned into a demon - but it is soon discovered she’s different to other demons, and can restrain herself. Tanjiro joins the Demon Slayer Corps to try and track down a cure for his sister, while proving that demons are not inherently evil. I LOVE Tanjiro as a main character because he values kindness over everything else, not forgiving demons for their sins but recognising they are tormented creatures, trying to give them peace before they die. All demons were once human - a fact that only Tanjiro seems to remember when fighting them. He’s patient, gentle, and determined - hotheaded and brash sometimes, but he has this vibe that just makes people become his friend/respect him even if they don’t intend to. He befriends two other slayers - Inosuke, an absolutely feral Best Boy who was raised by wild boars, and Zenitsu, a cowardly but ultimately loyal guy. This trio works really well together and Tanjiro is a great protagonist. Don’t even get me STARTED on the music and animation. Impeccable. Kamado Tanjiro No Uta makes me cry every time I hear it, and the water/fire effects used to show the metaphorical way the swords move like the elements takes my breath away.

10/10 for morals, music and animation.

1) Mob Psycho 100

Where the fuck do I start here. This anime is so unique in its style, story, and characters that I think it will always be my favourite. It follows Shigeo Kageyama (nicknamed Mob cause that’s what they call extras and background characters in Japan), a plain boy with incredible psychic powers that explode when his emotions are too high. Over time he’s learned to suppress his emotions, causing him to become socially inept and emotionally withdrawn. His (fake) psychic ‘master’, Reigen, uses him to make money exorcising spirits, making Mob believe that it’s for ‘training’. Mob appears naive at times, but he is so simply kind to people that it makes my heart hurt. Unlike many of the egomaniac psychics that Mob comes across, he recognises that without powers, he is just an ordinary boy. Mob’s greatest power isn’t his OP psychic abilities, but his power to show people they can change, that he can change. He forgives (and eventually befriends) people who have tried to kill him. Redemption and empathy are big themes here and they’re done really well.

The other characters are so well rounded and are also given time to grow, including Reigen - at first he’s a seemingly manipulative sleazebag, but later you see that he is a genuinely good man who has taught Mob many lessons and helped him grow up. This is a core message - Mob’s ability to change is due to support from his friends, not purely his own desire - people need other people!

This is also one of the true rarities in anime where the second season is absolutely just as good (if not better!) than the first one. The music is unique to the show, the ops for both seasons get me litty, the animation is incredible, the jokes are great and although it’s not all about big-ass fights, when we do get a big-ass fight it’s so fucking cool. The fight sequences are beautifully animated and visually stunning. MP100 makes me laugh, cry like an actual baby, and want to become a better person. Idk I could literally write pages on it like the big nerd I am but that’s all I’ll do for now.

10/10 for literally everything.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Given : about a boy who joins a band which helps him work through his trauma. Lovely healthy gay representation and themes of healing.

Samurai Champloo : ragtag trio consisting of two samurai - one lowkey feral and does breakdancing, the other lofty and withdrawn - and a bold young girl. Themes of friendship and journeys. I simp for the lofty samurai.

Cowboy Bebop: jazzy music, bounty hunters in space, 90s anime WHAT MORE COULD U WANT. Yet another group of characters that share a single brain cell. Love it.

#anime review #anime recommendation

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nashiekoots · 5 years ago

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Wholesome Loser College AU

I needed some wholesome content where all of the Losers go to the same college and never forget each other, so I wrote some head canons!

Mike Hanlon: studies Veterinary medicine with plans to specialize in livestock health and wellness. Has always loved animals from a young age and wants to better their living conditions anyway he can. The way his face lights up when interacting with any animal is something the Losers find so precious and love so much. When he eventually moves out of the dorms and gets his own apartment with a few of the Losers he quickly opens up his home to be a foster home for sick and homeless animals, much to the others dismay. It’s tough work, but mikes compassion and love for the animals outweighs all of the sleepless nights spent studying.

Stanley Uris: studies accounting. He knew it was a boring major, but it was safe and was something he was comfortable with. Richie went out of his way to tease Stanley about his career choice, calling him an actual 80 year old man. But Stanley was content, and that made the others content as well. Dabbles in photography/ takes a photography class and is just naturally good at it. His whole portfolio is filled with beautiful shots of birds and nature and of course candid shots of all the Losers when Stanley finds them most breathtaking. When mike is laughing heartily, or when Beverly takes the first puff of her cigarette after a long stressful day. When Eddies fiery and full of energy and throws all caution to the wind, or when the suns golden hour cascades off Bills earnest smile in such a way that makes all of the Losers swoon. When Ben looks at Beverly; hopelessly lovesick, or when Richie looks at Eddie in the exact same way. As much as Stanley loved photographing birds, capturing his family in these special moments meant so much more to him.

Eddie Kaspbrak : studies medicine/nursing. It took him a long time to finally get over his fear of germs and put his medical knowledge to good use. It was years of therapy and setting boundaries with his mother, but he did it. He thrives on helping others, he always has, so being able to do it for a career was a no-brainer for him. All of the Losers go to him for medical advice,sometimes in lieu of going to a true medical profession, and jokingly call him Dr.K. He pretends he’s annoyed by it, but in reality he loves it more than anything. Helping his friends is the most important thing to him, and if that means spoon feeding a stupid sick Richie his soup, or helping Ben set up a healthy balance of exercise and nutrition, then that’s what he’s going to do. They were his family after all.

Richie Tozier: studies radio broadcasting and communications, and takes classes in improv acting. He also has a job on campus as a disc jockey where he loves to put on different voices and make up characters for when he is on air. his favourite being “Trashmouth”, a foul mouthed man from Chicago that likes to drop far too many expletives than are allowed on the radio, but no one is really listening anyways (besides the Losers of course). His transcripts were amazing, he was a straight a student in high school, and he could have majored In just about anything, but wanted to do what made him the happiest, making people laugh. The other Losers thought that was his super power, making others laugh. No matter how upset or angry they were, Richie had a way of lighting up their day. He lived to hear his friends laughter and to make them smile, and the attention he got from them (good or bad) was a plus too. Eddie and Stan would often tease him, saying he was making a mistake because he absolutely was not funny, but that was simply not true. Richie was the funniest person they knew, and the Losers were always there to support him wholeheartedly.

Beverly Marsh: studies fashion and design. She’s always had such a cool and unique fashion sense and the others encouraged her to pursue it as her career. She got a full ride scholarship due to her financial situation, which was one of the main reasons she even agreed to go to college. The Losers had scoured endlessly to help her find a scholarship, knowing full well that she wouldn’t go unless she had one. She never imagined herself in college, surrounded by so many talented and amazing people, but once she settled in she fit in seamlessly. The clothes she creates tend to lean on the androgynous side, her motto being that people should wear what makes them feel cool and comfortable and not what society wants them to wear, definitely taking her and her friends fashion senses into account. She often uses the boys as models for her clothes to use for her portfolio (Stanley volunteers as photographer, feeling far more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it) and even though the others aren’t particularly comfortable with it, they would do anything to support Beverly. She even goes out of her way to make her boys special articles of clothing to keep, elevated versions of things they already wore, which just melts their hearts completely.

Ben Hanscom: studies architecture and design. Ben has always been interested in design since he was young, single-handedly designing and constructing the Losers underground clubhouse. It was just something that came so natural to him and It's the one thing he's truly confident in. Every time he creates a new project, even if it’s just a simple sketch or a full blown diorama, he gets so excited to show it off to the Loser. The Losers always drown him in praise, especially Bev. The Losers praises inspire Ben to always do his best, and eventually gets an internship at a super prestigious architecture company, and the losers couldn’t think of anyone who deserves it more.

Bill Denbrough: studies literature/writing, with an emphasis in creative writing. Bill was always a little shy about his writing, never thinking anything would come from his stupid short stories. Until one day when he let Mike read one and Mike gave him endless praise and encouragement to pursue it further. He tends to write horror, drawing from his past traumas to make truly heart wrenching content. His professors often praise his originality in character designs, though he honestly can’t take credit for that. Almost all of his characters are based loosely off his close friends. He also takes classes in painting and art, loving to express himself in many different mediums. Bill will often draw his friends whenever he can, whether it’s a full blown portrait or just silly little doodles, they are his favourite to draw. The other Losers are always so touched when Bill gives them or shows them a drawing of themselves, and Bill is just happy he can make them smile.

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worrywirt · 5 years ago

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The music video for There There by Radiohead is a masterpiece and here is why

So, as many of you might know already, There There and Nude are my two favourite songs by my favourite band, Radiohead. They are two very unique songs that move me in different but equally intense ways. But what makes There There extra special to me is the video, which managed to combine basically all the things that I love: spooky forests, little animals in clothes, hollow trees with winding roots, references to fairy tales and literature and a dream-like, voyeuristic atmosphere. I am first going to analyse the song itself, then how combined with the video, it is one of my favourite pieces of media I have ever seen.

Lyrics here. As the song starts off, it already feels like the listener is dropped inside a weird, intense primal world. I love percussion-heavy music and when I first heard it, the use of tom-toms and alienating, hardly recognisable sounds already reminded me of one of my other favourite artist’s best-know song: Björk’s Human Behaviour. I can’t really explain it if you don’t hear it, but both have this hypnotic, primal quality that beckons you in right off the bat. Then Thom’s mournful voice sings: “In pitch dark/ I go walking in your landscape/ Broken branches/ Trip me as I speak”. Not to go all A-Level English on his ass because let’s be honest, Thom’s lyrics are often nonsensical and vague, but I love this verse so much. It goes perfectly with the instrumental, starting off in a way that is like the start of a story; the words painting you a picture that is both dreamlike and frightening. To me, it describes falling in love in a way: “I am walking in your world, and I don’t know the way, and it’s all new and confusing and dark and sometimes I say the wrong things but I am still exploring, and it’s beautiful”

After this start that frankly hits you in the chest like a basketball in year 9 PE, we are treated to a combo attack with the lines “Just 'cause you feel it/ Doesn't mean it's there”. In classic Radiohead fashion, all the perceived optimism from the first verse is denied from us, basically saying “just because you feel a connection, it doesn’t mean it’s real”. Trust issues central. But it can also be interpreted to mean emotions in general, which is usually how I (a very emotional person) interpret it: feelings technically aren’t real. And the way you perceive the world while you are Going Through It™ is not always correct. No, everyone doesn’t hate you because their world isn’t centred around you: stop obsessing. It’s okay. There, there. (This is also reinforced later on with “someone on your shoulder”, basically saying it’s just your brain playing tricks.) Additionally, some think it’s referring to a dream, which would fit thematically with the music video.

The next verse to me is about the temptation of a bad decision while Going Through It™. Yes, it would be very easy to do the wrong thing, to go off this path that is making it really hard to get up in the morning: but it would also ruin you. I also interpret “don’t reach out” as coming from the siren (i.e. surprise, surprise: depression) – it wants you to self-destruct, to be a “walking disaster” but that, however tempting, is the wrong thing to do. The use of “we” also works with the “someone on your shoulder” line, and to me (however cringy that sounds) it means that music will always be there for me and help me work things out. It can also be applied to the relationship angle: the couple are in the same boat (/ship), and if one of them does something self-destructive, it will affect both. Both of these options work with the “Why so green and lonely? (…) Heaven sent you to me” lines. It’s interesting because the religious interpretation on Genius always annoyed me – Radiohead are the least religious band ever! This is the only religious reference I can think of from the top of my head, minus “angel” in Creep – but because it’s so rare, maybe it has a reason to be here? Maybe it IS about God after all, but I don’t really think so. Also, to me the imagery of “green and lonely” and the nautical “siren” and “shipwreck” have a much bigger weight visually than “heaven”, so they negate the religiousness in my eyes. I think it’s about two broken people finding each other, but also finding it hard to figure out how to fit together. They’re thinking that it might be a lost cause and destruction is right around the corner, but the best they can do (is good enough) is try and be there for each other while they head towards their ultimate end. Very comforting in a twisted way, which is Radiohead’s specialty.

So, let’s talk about the VIDEO!!! I’m writing this after an HQ version was FINALLY released on their website, so I’m going to use screenshots of that because oh my god, it’s beautiful.

We start off with the “pitch-dark landscape”, more-or-less just as I imagined it while listening to the song. Although it is kind of drab and boring at the start, this only emphasises the magical quality of what it becomes later, as our protagonist Thom (I’m going to call him by name but I’m obviously referring to the character, not the real person) heads deeper and deeper inside. Oh, how I love forests in the dark. Nothing else has the same perfect ambiance.

Thom is walking in a way that matches the rhythm and the dreamlike atmosphere of the song, i.e. somewhere between an alien who just learned the way the Earthlings walk and the exaggerated, slightly sped-up movements of a silent movie star. We already know he has an affinity towards both bowler hats (Lotus Flower video) and pantomime-like acting (ANIMA) so this is truly on brand. He then sees dark clouds pass at a breakneck pace (again, the dreaminess of it all... chef’s kiss), then confused and lost, heads back into the forest which this time looks a lot less boring and “real” then at the start. The dark clouds can be interpreted as a warning of things to come (“stay out, not safe”), which he ignores or just a sign that something is off and we’re not in Kansas anymore.

So as he turns back, we’re treated to my first Favourite Moment: Thom finding the beckoning yellow light and deciding to follow it. The way he is acting suggests both curiosity and sneakiness, like he suspects the thing emitting the light is much better than his original destination (if he had a destination at all).

I love the way the light is illuminating his eyes here, it again reminds me very much of old movies (and Morticia Addams in the 90s movies, but probably because the filmmakers also took inspiration from the same well)

Oh my god, just look at this shot. Beautiful. Lothlórien who?? I only know magical glowy Radiohead forest. Because yes, we’ve obviously crossed the path between realms the minute Thom decided to pursue the yellow light (which can also be connected to the “siren singing you to shipwreck” in the lyrics). This is now the land of magic and fairy tales, and strange things are afoot.

Again, I gotta stop analysing for a moment and just note that the amount of serotonin this gives me would fuel 10 people for a year. For anyone who doesn’t know me well enough, animals in little clothes living in little well-arranged dwellings inside a tree are in the top 5 things that make me happy, and combined with Thom Yorke Radiohead peeking in the window like an innocuous tourist… and the warm light illuminating the miniatures… perfection. Okay, moving on.

Thom is exploring this strange world of anthropomorphic animals like an awkward giant, without seemingly anyone noticing him. This adds to the alienation seeping from the music: this is a weird and wonderful place but you don’t belong here (sorry for the Creep reference, swear it was not intentional). He first saw a pair of squirrels, chilling in their house; then a big banquet; then a cat wedding (power of 3, the fairy-tale number). If we are going with the dream metaphor here, these might be alluding to things happening in real life, especially the wedding as he actively walks away from it, but this is just a speculation. Mostly it just shows that these animals are living in a happy little community and we love that for them! But it also make me feel like this is a coping mechanism for our protagonist here. Apparently Thom (the real one) got the idea for this video from a children’s TV show called Bagpuss: I had a look and it’s the tear-jerkingly comforting and nostalgic stop-motion series that everyone needs one of in their lives (I have several, both English and Hungarian). The subtitle “The Boney King of Nowhere” refers to a song in episode 2 about a king who wasn’t comfortable on his throne: according to this link, this resonated with Thom, who found himself on a pedestal he never wanted. (It’s kind of funny that a little kid’s song about a king’s bony ass has such a sick name though). He also wanted the original creator of the show (Oliver Postgate) to animate the video but he declined. Anyway, the "fifties East European genre animation, overlaboured and naïve” aesthetic, to me, symbolises comfort and warmth that our protagonist doesn’t feel at home in.

So off he goes, into the dark heart of the forest. Also, important to note the patch of fog that keeps showing him the way: is this the siren’s song physically manifested, pulling him away from the warmth of community? (”don’t reach out, don’t reach out”)

He then climbs up and sees a golden coat on a tree inside some kind of ancient ruin. This to me immediately brought to mind the Golden Fleece from Ancient Greek myth, which was the fleece of a magical ram that hung on an oak tree. It signified kingship, linking back to the subtitle. Thom sneaks to the tree, looks up at the ravens (7 of them: another fairy-tale number) and when he sees they are sleeping, tries on the coat. I found it interesting how at this point the coat looks quite ordinary, drab and brown – possibly a metaphor for a decision that you know is bad but you do it anyway; and by the time you realise it actually didn’t feel as good as you thought, it is too late - he listened to temptation (the sirens). He even takes the boots from inside the tree, which reminded me of SO many of the folktales that I grew up on: it’s not enough that the bad sibling did this one bad thing, they even did ANOTHER bad thing, which cements the listener in believing them to be irredeemable and worthy of the awful fate the tale has in store for them. The ravens (birds of death and in this case agents of justice) wake up – Thom has a little “oh shit” close-up and then start running for his life in his new attire.

Addition: another theory I found interesting among the comments is that this place is Limbo - “

The gothic look of the ravens chasing Thom with the rising full moon is such a huge contrast to the warm, comforting glow of the stop-motion animal town, but it makes sense with the crescendo of the music and it’s dark and menacing cacophony: “we are accidents waiting to happen”. This was Thom’s mistake: and now there is no turning back. (Quick note: his running here reminds me once again of the Human Behaviour video – I am working on another similar essay that concentrates on how Radiohead and Björk are mirrors of each other so look out for that).

He thinks he is saved for a moment by the magical seven-league boots (another folktale reference) but it is only a false hope. He gets his punishment and turns into a tree by what we can assume to be a painful and terrifying process (I love his facial expression so much). The ravens arrive and we realise that this is most likely how the previous tree met his or her fate. The cycle continues. He is now the Boney King of Nowhere.

One of my favourite mental images is people taken over by nature: not in a decomposing way but more like a Hanahaki disease way. Thom turning into a tree reminded me of a couple of things: one, my other favourite piece of entertainment Over the Garden Wall, which is very similar in tone to this video (if I ever meet Thom, I genuinely only want to ask him if he’s ever seen it and if yes what his thoughts are on it). SPOILERS for OTGW: the Beast turns lost children into trees and uses oil from the trees to keep his lantern alive, which is basically his life source – in this case the tree-person seems to be the living beating heart of the forest. The way the tree-curse is transmitted also reminded me of how the lantern was (nearly) passed down to Wirt. Basically, it is an inheritable burden. Two, and this isn’t my interpretation but I thought I’d mention it: Daphne & Apollo, wherein Daphne hides from Apollo’s sexual advances by turning into a tree. This doesn’t really fit the tone of the scene in my opinion, because Thom’s transformation is an involuntary punishment; but it kind of connects to the other reference to Greek myth, Odysseus and the sirens (both chasing after women, or the impossible dream). Three: Dante’s Inferno, in which the second ring of the seventh circle is the Wood of Suicides where “the souls of the people who attempted or committed suicide are transformed into gnarled, thorny trees and then fed upon by Harpies, hideous clawed birds with the faces of women; the trees are only permitted to speak when broken and bleeding”. Whomp whomp, it was a suicide metaphor :/ And it wasn’t a dream, it was Limbo - a thematic preoccupation of the band, so not impossible.

A comment I found relating to this: “After death you have to cross over. He got distracted by the nice and shiny shoes and jacket (don't reach out), hence the siren that leads you to shipwreck (Odysseus). When you want to enter the spiritual realm you have to be able to leave the material world behind or you shall not pass. He was distracted, got caught and changed into a worldly tree (he was still to attached to the material realm). The so-called reality we live now is the dream. (Just 'cause you feel it doesn't mean it's there). He remembered that he died and came back to this illusion. We are stuck in a lift....” I really like this interpretation of Thom’s downfall being too attached to materialism/ fame & fortune. I wonder what he meant by “came back to this illusion”? Also, who are the animals in this scenario: aspects of Thom’s life or other people, stuck in Limbo/ every-day oblivion?

This wouldn’t be the first or last time Radiohead explores the concept of death, so I don’t think it’s far-fetched. And it fits with the lyrics too, as I’ve discussed briefly above: this is what happens when you listen to the siren (the fog, the light) and stray away from the cute animal town, Thomas! I’m joking because it is kind of a bummer to end it on this, but I just love how dense and layered this video is. Most of their videos are top-notch but this one just hits a really sweet spot for me, so yeah! 2500 words! I’m glad you came along, pardner! Goodbye till next time!

#radiohead #thom yorke #there there #the boney king of nowhere #bagpuss #otgw #sorry I didn't go into the sonic side of things I just don't know anything about it #music theory is a scam

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