#we should start a new literary genre like this

[philcon-programming]

Philcon 2024!

Do you love Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror? Are you a Writer, a Gamer, a Costumer, or a Filker? Are you looking for a weekend of distraction in your life? If you’re in the vicinity of Philadelphia- or more specifically, Cherry Hill, New Jersey- there’s an event coming up on November 22 – 24, 2024 that we’d love for you to come check out. If you aren’t already familiar with PHILCON, here’s what you should know: * We started out as a literary-centric SF convention in 1936, but have grown to embrace all mediums of storytelling (movies, television, comics, podcasts, etc) as well as expanding to cover the Fantasy and Horror genres. Most of our participants are authors, and there will be Readings by them and Autograph sessions all throughout the weekend, in addition to their participation on discussion panels. * While many of our Literary panels are about SF, Fantasy, or Horror topics in general, we also have an emphasis on panels discussing the craft side and business sides of writing, for those looking to develop as authors. * One of our content tracks for the weekend is dedicated to Science & Technology itself, not just how it is used in fiction. * We will be screening several movies over the weekend, and Anime will also be shown in our Anime & Animation room at certain times. * There will be Workshops and Demos for Costuming (including "Fabric Manipulation", "How to Make Foam Armor", "Make-up for The Stage", and "A Pox on Patterns!") and Art (including "Using Alcohol Inks", "Block Printing With Your Own Designs", "How to Make A Controlled Color Palette", and "Making Wire-Wrapped Jewelry"), and if you’ve got an outfit you made that you’d like to show off on stage, we’ve got a yearly Costume Contest. * If you are a Filker- or just enjoy listening to other people sing and play music- Philcon has a room dedicated Filk room, and this year’s Musical Guest of Honor is Cecilia Eng. As Cecilia is not often on the east coast, if you’d like to see her play in person, now is an excellent change to do so without flying to the other side of the country. Lynn Gold, another west-coast Filker, will also be joining us this year. There are also Concerts scheduled for Sirens & Liars, Half a Slime Devil, Brenda and Chuck Shaffer-Shiring, and Sara Henya. * Since the Gaming track moved from an upstairs suite to the “Gallery” room on the first floor, it’s had the literal room to expand the number of games it can run, and we’ve got a bevy of them on the schedule for 2024, as well as a bank of games for you to choose from during Open Gaming hours. There's also a LARP Workshop Series being run by Spectacle INK. * Our Artist Guests of Honor for 2024 are Gina Matarazzo and Matthew Stewart. Each will be giving a presentation on our Main Stage on Saturday afternoon, as well as having their art displayed in our Art Show. * Our Principal Speaker for 2024 is MAX GLADSTONE, and we also have Nghi Vo as our Special Guest. Both will be doing Readings, Autograph Sessions, panels, and a main stage Q&A session. An interactive version of our schedule can be found HERE. While a simplified, static overview, organized by track, can be found HERE. Our LinkTree can be found HERE. We would especially value your support this year, as Philcon’s Covid-19 policy in previous years (which required both mandatory masking and proof of vaccination in an attempt to avoid becoming a super-spreader event as several other conventions had) has led to a slow but noticeable decline in attendance. While masking in public spaces is still heavily encouraged, neither proof of vaccination nor masking are required to attend the convention in 2024. We’d love your help in making this year a success, so that we’re in a good position to bring you all something really fantastic for our upcoming 90th anniversary. We’d also love to give you a great weekend right now, for reasons I doubt we need to explain. Here’s to surviving the next few years! ~ Lynati Head of Programming, Philcon 2024

[emeryhall]

Thank you @run-for-chamo-miles for the tag!

In 2024, I posted 9 fics totaling 339,207 words, which is fucking batshit even if some of those words were written in 2023. My most popular fic in terms of kudos is arsonist Baz and firefighter Simon 🔥. But in terms of bookmarks, it's Blood Sugar Sex Moony (wolfstar), which includes my favorite bookmark ever ⬇️

Fics listed below the cut, plus a heartfelt PSA ❤️

January

Blood Sugar Sex Moony (wolfstar, E, 63.6K)

A vengeance-fueled, Buffy-inspired, 90s high school AU with a 17-person body count, featuring amazing art by @spikesteaseasalt.

A Little Bit Deadly (snowbaz, E, 48.9K)

New York City firefighter Simon Snow mistakenly downloads Grindr instead of Tinder and falls for British arsonist Baz Pitch. Featuring DEREK JETER and the most heart-warming art by @letraspal.

March

The Tale of a Magic-Sucking Hoover and a Rat-Drinking Monster (snowbaz, E, 38.7K)

Ghost mums, sentient buildings, and sex toys. Oh my!

June

Only Creatures (snowbaz, E, 88K)

Sad poet Baz Pitch and dragon camboy Simon Snow. Featuring Baz's beard, the hybrid-creatures camming site, OnlyCreatures, and a cameo by Taylor Swift, as well as absolutely gorgeous art by @artsyunderstudy.

October

Sidney Snow Grimm-Pitch (snowbaz, M, 43.7K)

My delightful collaboration with @artsyunderstudy, and a gift for @cutestkilla whose fic What's Left inspired this getting together later in life mpreg. Yes, mpreg.

whatever beats beneath (firstprince, E, 5.1K)

My foray into the RWRB fandom, when I thought I was writing an omarashi fic for a Kinktober prompt, but instead wrote an exploration of grief.

November

Pink Salt (Saltburn, E, 23.1K)

Sometimes the greatest love story is between an undead baker and the man who didn't realize he was a necromancer when he fucked his grave.

Bound Together in Five Dimensions (snowbaz, E, WIP, 4.7K and growing)

My CORB collab with @stardustasincocaine! I won't say anymore because we're posting the next chapter very, very soon 🩷

December

Out of the Game (firstprince, E, WIP, 23.9K and growing)

Another RWRB, this time scratching my itch to write in the detective/spy thriller genre. In the spirit of the Will Darling Adventures, and featuring truly inspired literary works by Henry, and an Alex who is perhaps not to be trusted. But then again, maybe Henry needs a little chaos in his life.

And finally, a PSA, written as much as a reminder to myself, as to anyone else who feels like their writing doesn't quite fit anywhere:

When I posted my first fanfic (wolfstar), no one read me. We’re talking like four kudos in a fandom where fics go viral. And at some point I thought, maybe I should attempt to write things that people actually want to read? 

I love writing deeply romantic stories, but I love stories like True Romance or The Shape of Water. Two people who are perfect for each other, but one is mute and the other is a fish god from Brazil. One stabs Tony Soprano in the foot with a corkscrew and the other communicates with an hallucination of Elvis. 

Finally, I found the Carry On fandom who enthusiastically embraced my Baz who excelled "at both deep-throating cock and scorching motherfuckers like a vengeance demon in floral Tom Ford." And then finally, finally, almost a year after it posted, people in the wolfstar fandom started reading Blood Sugar Sex Moony. Now, almost every day, I get kudos and (sometimes delightfully unhinged) comments on my wolfstar too. 

I don’t imagine I’ll ever be really, really popular, but I’ve found a group of readers — or they’ve found me — who appreciate the way my brain works, and little old high school me, who always believed that the best love stories are the strangest ones, knows that they are not alone. 

So my PSA to everyone out there who feels like Nora Ephron trapped in David Lynch trapped in Wes Craven — or whatever your unmarketable combo may be — keep on doing you. One day you will find your people 🩷

Also, thank you to everyone who read, kudos-ed, and commented on my fics, and a special shout out to all of the wonderful friends I've made in the Carry On fandom. Y'all have brightened my 2024.

And now, tags!

@bookish-bogwitch @monbons @roomwithanopenfire @fiend-for-culture @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

@thewholelemon @mooncello @iamamythologicalcreature @rimeswithpurple @orange-peony

@messofthejess @alexalexinii @best--dress @ileadacharmedlife @ic3que3n

@hushed-chorus @rbkzz @noblecorgi @facewithoutheart @larkral

@euripidestrousers @r33sespieces @artsyunderstudy @cutestkilla @letraspal

Plus anyone who wants to play. (I imagine this can be done for art too. Or dolls!)

[rodger-eyeballis]

” HELLO EVERYONE, GUYS!! DO NOT PASS ㅤㅤㅤㅤ BY, THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT ㅤㅤㅤㅤ FOR A LITERARY CLUB!

I have the honor to introduce you: the first and most ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ important president of the circle associated with ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ ㅤ librarianship and preserving the memory of various ㅤ ㅤ ㅤexcellent authors — Brightney the Lamp! And also, a ㅤ ㅤ beautiful girl with good taste and a very high mind. Yes, yes, this is a very important part! I like to sit at books late at night, learn from the works and write my own stories. I ㅤdon't like loafing, loud noises, and bad behavior in the library. Now, we are fully acquainted, so we can begin your ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ little enlightenment into my affairs!

Introduction: ㅤDon't worry, Rodger wasn't hacked and he didn't delete his account (otherwise I see that there haven't been any posts from him for a long time because of my intrusion).. It's just that this Sir befriendly lent me his blog on Tumblr so that your sweet Brigtney could talk about our shared comfortable library circle (why you should definitely visit it and what we will do) and about the participants you can meet in it! Yes, yes, even so! And since this part is, for the most part, my introduction and excerpt.. I would like to add that. YES, I ALSO CONSIDER RODGER TOON TO BE A NON-TRADITIONAL ORIENTATION, YOU GUYS ARE NOT ALONE. I can feel it from afar, it's not for nothing that I've read huge collections about relationships —… Oh, I'm sorry, we'll talk about this later, Rodger started looking at me menacingly (HOWEVER, if you do join the club, we can discuss the mental analysis of this Sir with examples from the literature in one of the sessions, if he doesn't come there.. Just keep it quiet, it's a secret)

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤTHE MAIN PART :

ㅤYou won't regret joining our literary club! It's a place ㅤㅤwhere books come to life and discussions become real journeys into the world of literature. We read a variety of ㅤㅤ genres, from classics to modern prose, and each participant can offer their book for discussion. Every week we gather to share our thoughts and impressions, and it ㅤalways leads to interesting and deep conversations. In addition, we have meetings with our local ‘stars’ (I MEAN VEE, SHE AGREED TO VISIT US SOMETIMES), which will ㅤgreatly increase the excitement in the circle. We also organize creative events such as literary contests and workshops where you can develop your writing skills. Our club has a friendly atmosphere, and you are sure to find like-minded people and new friends. If you love literature and want to discover something new, come to us! We will be glad to see you and create a unique atmosphere of ㅤㅤㅤㅤ communication and inspiration together.

ㅤ Also, by becoming a member of the circle, you automatically get unlimited access to my library! That is, at any time and hour, even when I'm not there, you can relax on cool and soft ottomans or sip Teagan tea at the table (just be careful! Don't spill it on yourself or on the ㅤbooks). Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Participants also get access to unlimited tea and coffee, and all thanks to the ㅤㅤ misis Mug! So, don't forget to thank her for it :b

And a little new vision in the circle! Now each participant can receive their own personal logo with a bow, made and sewn from.. A DRUM ROLL.. from GLISTEN! Oh, he's such a good guy! It's only recently that we got the Mirror, even ㅤthough I've been inviting it to our club all the time.. I'm talking too much. IN SHORT! By joining the circle, you can approach this boy and officially order our beautiful logo. ㅤㅤHowever, keep in mind that the ribbon will always be GREEN, so choose the colors and the thing that will be on the emblem more carefully. For example, I have a Feather ㅤㅤㅤㅤ sewn here! — Yeah, it's very beautiful.

Summary results for the lazy (Although, ㅤㅤwhat's the point of joining a LITERARY circle if you're ㅤㅤㅤㅤ even too lazy to read a short text??):

(By joining the club, you will receive..)

A reading experience and a good atmosphere!!!

Unlimited access to the Library (and yes, I forgot to tell you. It's on the ground floor of the third elevator!)

Meeting with the star of the quiz program — Vee

Masterclasses and contests

Excellent tea and coffee from Teagan (who will always be sitting in the library for you.. She really liked it there)

Special official logos to order from Glisten

And I'd like to add on my own: A handsome, muscularly attractive detective who comes to our club once every few weeks. Although, no. I'm not letting you look at sexy guys instead of reading 😤—

Well, that's it, guys! I hope you are at least interested in ㅤㅤsomething and you have a desire to join the club.. Although, this is more specific to toons, which makes me extremely upset. But don't worry, if I ever have my own ㅤㅤㅤblog, we can set up an online literary club, but in the meantime, you can get some information from Rodger about books! He's certainly not me, but the detective's ㅤㅤㅤ reading experience is more than good^^

ㅤㅤㅤ————————————————

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ Members: (This section was created to show my favorites and their wishes for you! And maybe your personal opinion about ㅤㅤㅤㅤ the club.. For this reason, read to the end)

Razzle and Dazzle, comedy and drama specials at the same time! Deputy head of the club, keeps order in the ㅤㅤㅤㅤ library (puts books in their place, etc)🌙☀️

— Yes, that's us!!! Hello country, hello world, we are ready to work for the benefit of the club and you wonderful persons!!

— (Oh, you're at it again.. Be more calm, brother, you can't make noise in the library.. Don't set a bad example for them. Be quiet and calm, literary works require diligent thoughtfulness and understanding to understand the deep essence of it to the end.. This does not apply to comedi—)

— Hey! You're belittling me in public again!

Astro, the second headman, runs the library exclusively at night (if you take a late meal or have a nightmare, then go to him for sure!). He is also an expert in everything, but his ㅤㅤ favorite genre is science fiction about space ✉️

( I'm sorry, I didn't have time to interview him because he... he.. Um, too busy! Yes! This one's definitely not because he's missing or something.. )

Our beautiful Teagan! She has recently joined our team, but she is always ready to offer you interesting fashion ㅤㅤㅤㅤ magazines, as well as sad romantic novels 🍃

— Oh, my dear little darlings, I must confess that I have yet to fully immerse myself in the enchanting realm of literature, much like the illustrious Brigtney. However, I would be absolutely delighted to share a delightful cup of spiced tea with you, accompanied by a captivating book. Please, do not hesitate to approach me; I have a splendid tea set that is perfect for such serene and cozy moments. One can only hope that the mischievous dog-girl refrains from nibbling on it once more... Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Rodger?

This is my favorite duo! Rodger and Toodles (who also ㅤ ㅤㅤjoined here not long ago) are ardent fans of ㅤㅤDetective Stories, especially if they contain a bit of psychological horror.. Are you sure children can read this?.. Although, I know for sure that when this little girl learns to analyze the text under my guidance, she will not ㅤㅤㅤㅤ only read such works, heh^^⭐️💫

— Wait a minute, when did Toodles manage to devour the tea set.. ahem. Yes, when I have a little free time, I spend most of my time reading a book. However, at this point in time, I'm not only reading a detective story, so it would be extremely helpful if you would recommend some work. Only normal.. I've had enough of Brigtney as it is (I'll read romance with Glisten, he just seems to like this genre.. Although, after the death of Romeo and Juliet, he has not yet recovered..)

— VEEE! VEE iS comINg! SHE's cOMing, SHESs COOMing! I reALLy waNT to see hEr, I'm heR faN. I hOPe she liKESs dETECctive boOKks toO.

ps: I did not choose the logo for the bow, but this star on the bow is extremely good.. I think Mirror did a good job. My daughter liked it too, that's the most important thing.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ Glisten stars (???):

Yeah, I made a separate paragraph for Glisten because ㅤㅤhe... he.. The coolest, most beautiful, awesome and attractive toon in the whole center! It's impossible not to ㅤㅤgive Mirror a special place of honor when he not only visited me, but also bothered to help me upgrade the ㅤㅤㅤㅤ club.. God, do I have to write all this? 🎀

— Oh, yes, it's me! Come on, stop applauding! I know that you all love me, but there should be silence on the stage. That's it, thanks. Your wonderful Glisten has finally decided to join the club, after several pleading requests from Brightney. However, I'm not going to go to the library often beca— WAIT A MINUTE! Will Teagan be there? Wait, where is she from.. together with Rodg? In the same room? She's a two-faced fuc—... Mmm, anyway, this Lamp inspired me to improve and I will gladly go to the literary club every day. So wait for me there, my beloved fans��

ㅤㅤㅤ————————————————

Phew, it was hard, but we got through it.. More precisely, I ㅤdid it! Thank you for reading, and I hope you didn't get bored my presentation. Maybe we'll see each other on the blog someday, if I need anything else from Mr. Rodger, but ㅤㅤㅤㅤ for now, see you again^^ ”

[baby-yongbok]

Poetry

Chapter Two - It's a Date

Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff, dare I say slow burn? The type that tickles your heart.

Word Count: 2,661

A/N: Ya'll voted for a part 2 but I honestly would've probably made this a mini series regardless 😭. I love this story with my whole heart and I hope you do too. I decided that I'll be uploading the chapters for this series on Thursdays at 6pm EST. Anyway, Enjoy! Any and all feedback is appreciated!

Summary: That cute stranger that you met at your favorite bookstore cafe is anything but a stranger now.

Part One

✧Poetry Series Masterlist✧

✧Main Masterlist✧

(Reading part one before reading this is highly recommended)

“Six o’clock on the dot. We should start paying you for coming here.” Amanda, the cafe owner, joked as you walked through the doors of the small bookstore. 

“Yeah? I think I’d like that, I could use the extra money.” You smiled at her as you clutched a stack of books to your chest. “Oh, these are donations by the way. All brand new, my brother is cleaning out his office and business management isn’t exactly my cup of tea.”

You place the stack of books neatly on the counter in front of Amanda and she flashes you a genuine smile. “This is why you’re my favorite customer. Here, your next drink is on us.”

Amanda hands you a coupon that you gratefully accept. You’ve learned a long time ago that declining her offers is futile. “Oh and I think that someone is here for you.” 

She wiggles her eyebrows teasingly and you furrow yours. You turn around and a soft smile spreads across your face. Your eyes land on Hyunjin’s tall frame sitting cross legged at one of the free tables in the nearly empty cafe. An iced americano in one hand and a book in the other. 

“He’s been here for thirty minutes.” Amanda whispers over to you and your smile spreads wider. 

“Of course he’s early.” You shake your head, chuckling a bit. “Thanks for the coupon.” 

You wave your goodbye to Amanda and start to make your way over to Hyunjin who seems to be completely engrossed in his book. You steal a glance at the cover and raise your eyebrows at his current literary choice. 

“Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.” Your voice catches his attention causing him to sit up straighter as he takes you in with a smile. 

“You’ve read it?” He asks, referring to your quote as he places his bookmark and closes the novel. 

“I’m a bit of a Charlotte Brontë connoisseur.” You reply with a shrug. “I did my thesis on that novel for my senior year of college.”

“I’ll have to pick your brain about it once I’ve finished it.” 

You watch him as he stands and stretches a bit. You take a second to drink in his appearance, his orange and black crocodile print sweater and black slacks fitting his frame perfectly. You have no doubt that it’s expensive just like everything else that he’s worn during your Thursday evening meetings. Once he’s satisfied with his stretch he pushes in his chair and circles the table to stand in front of you. He holds a hand out to you and you slip your fingers over his slender ones. He brings your hand up to his mouth and kisses the back of it gently, a grin pulling at his lips. 

“You look lovely tonight.” He looks you over slowly, taking in the form fitting glory of your black pencil skirt and the contrast it has to your baggy maroon sweater tucked in just in the front. 

“You say that every Thursday.” You playfully roll your eyes and Hyunjin smiles, shaking his head in agreement. 

“Because you look stunning every Thursday. I can’t wait to see you on a Monday or a Tuesday.” You blush a bit, looking away from him in an attempt to hide your reaction. 

The two of you have been meeting at this bookstore cafe, Adore, for two weeks now, today being the third. You’ve found yourself planning your outfit for this day of the week as soon as you wake up on Friday. Each time that the two of you say goodbye you can’t help but to think about the next time that you’ll see him and all of the questions that you’ll ask him. Hyunjin was no different, he found himself thinking about you like a teenager who just asked their crush to prom. His roommates started teasing him for the extra work that he’d been putting into his appearance. Every Thursday he’d spend an extra thirty minutes in the bathroom making sure that his hair looked just right since you complement it every time you see him. He’d gone on for about an hour asking his roommate Felix for his opinion on different colognes even though he normally doesn’t bother to wear any. He even took on an earlier work schedule so he’d be available for your meetings. Anything to see you again. 

“Thank you.” You whisper and he nods in response. He grabs his bag from the back of his chair and packs his novel away before grabbing his drink. 

“Shall we browse?” You nod your head, lacing your fingers together behind your back before taking a step forward. It seems that you both had the same idea since the two of you bump into each other softly. You both chuckle lightly and Hyunjin moves his free hand to the small of your back to guide you in front of him. “Ladies first.” 

His words come out in such a whisper that you could barely hear him but that could also be due to your heart thumping in your ears as a chill runs over you. You shake your head trying to play off your reaction to the small physical contact but you can’t help it, his touch is electric. The two of you trail off into the poetry section and you know exactly what you’re looking for. 

“I take it that you have someone in mind?” Hyunjin asks with a curious glance as you browse the shelves. You nod, your gaze never leaving the organized spines lined up on the shelves. 

“There!” You reach forward quickly, plucking the book from the neat stack and holding it up to show Hyunjin. 

“Rupi Kaur, I can’t say that I’m familiar with her.” Your face twists in disapproval causing a small chuckle to fall from Hyunjins blushed lips. “Why don’t you introduce me to her work.” 

“ If you like R.H. Sin then you’ll love her.” You look down the aisle both ways to make sure that no one is around before kneeling down and sitting on the dark carpet. Hyunjin looks down at you with furrowed brows as you take off your bag and place it next to you. Once you’re settled you look up at him returning his confused expression. “Are you coming?”

You pat the carpeted floor next to you and Hyunjins confused stare quickly melts into a gentle look of admiration. He nods his head before joining you on the floor, sitting next to you with his back resting lightly on the book shelf. He glances over at you as you study the hardcover book in your hands, your fingers tracing over the embossed words. He takes in the steadiness of your breath and the way you hum ever so slightly when you notice a new detail on the cover. He doesn’t notice the grin that’s creeped across his lips until you look up at him, he looks away quickly as a blush creeps across his cheeks. You mimic his actions, blushing a bit yourself. A few seconds of quiet surround the two of you before Hyunjin breaks the barrier. 

“May I?” He asks, gesturing towards the hardcover in your hands. You let out a deep relieved sigh and nod at him. You hand the book over to him, the tips of your fingers brush lightly against his and you both still momentarily at the contact. You both had to have felt that shock run up your spines right? The two of you decide to shake it off quickly, concluding that it was merely a case of static electricity. Hyunjin looks down at the book in his hands, turning it over and taking in the words on the back cover. He clears his throat a bit before reading the text on the back.

“This is the recipe of life, said my mother as she held me in her arms as I wept…” You listen closely to each word that his voice carries. Sinking into your own little bubble, this time that the two of you reserved every Thursday served as a calming ground for the both of you. Nothing else mattered right now, the only thing that exists is the two of you and the poetry that you shared. 

“The sun and her flowers.” Hyunjin read the title as he flipped the book back over to its front. “I have to admit that I’m very interested.” 

He opens the book to its contents and reads off the name of each section. “ Wilting, Falling, Rooting, Rising, Blooming.”

You nod as you look over the grayed out page with him. “Which section do you think you belong in?”

Hyunjin looks over at you, a bit taken back by your question. Your large doe eyes stared back at his shining narrow ones patiently waiting for his response. “Uh, I don't really know.”

You nod, catching on to his hesitance. You look forward for a second, your eyes mindlessly scanning the spines of the books in front of you before you do what you wanted to do last Thursday. Slowly and carefully you lean your head to the side gently resting your temple on his shoulder. You feel him tense a bit at the sudden contact but he quickly relaxes into your touch even leaning over a bit to give you better access to his shoulder. 

“I think that right now I belong in falling.” You watch as Hyunjin silently flips through the pages before landing on the first page of the section you mentioned. He licks his lips before reading the poem. 

“I notice everything I do not have and decide it is beautiful.” He lets out a deep sigh that he wasn’t aware that he was holding before shaking his head. 

“I think that maybe I belong here too.” 

His fingers run over the picture placed under the poem, imitating pencil strokes as he studies it. You turn slightly to look up at him, studying his slow blinks as his brown orbs focus on the page. The gentle air escaping his nose tickles your lashes as he exhales but you don’t dare blink, too afraid that you’ll miss a moment of him. What is this that you’re feeling? 

“But I don’t think that I can say that everything that I don’t have is beautiful, not yet.” His eyes don’t leave the page as he continues to imitate the abstract strokes. “Well, there is one thing that I don’t have.” 

His words come out in a whisper and his gaze suddenly shifts over to you. His brown orbs are looking deep into yours. Your breathing picks up slightly as you will yourself not to look away.

“And it’s definitely beautiful.” His gaze is intense yet soft as he looks over your features. You notice that his eyes wander over your lips a bit longer than everything else before meeting your eyes again. “I guess I have to convince myself that I deserve beautiful things.” 

He lets out a light sigh and you can’t help but to bring your hand to lay on top of his. 

“You are more than worthy of beautiful things, Hyunjin.” He grins down at you gently before tearing his gaze away from yours. 

“Perhaps I am.” He whispers more to himself than to you. Suddenly he lets out a deeper sigh as he closes the book. “Have you eaten yet?”

You return his sigh as you lift your head from his shoulder. You can’t help but to wonder what he meant, why would he think that he doesn’t deserve to indulge in beauty? You shake the thoughts from your mind, not wanting to ruin your Thursday night with him. “I haven’t”

“Would you like something?”

“I can make something when I get back to my place, money is a bit tight for me right now.” 

“My treat.” He hums out simply as he studies the spine of the hardcover in his hands.

“I’m alright.” You chuckle and he looks over at you with a bit of concern drawn on his features.

“Really it’s no problem. I know that I pay every Thursday but it makes me happy that I can provide you with something as small as refreshments every week. It gives me peace of mind.” You blush a bit at his confession, so he does think about you as much as you think about him.

“Well if it means that much to you..” He smiles down at you with a nod.

“It does.” He shifts suddenly as he moves to stand. He holds his hand out to you and you take it, allowing him to help you up. “They make an amazing tomato caprese sandwich here.” 

“I’ll try it.” He nods at you happily before taking the lead out of the aisle. You follow closely behind him when suddenly you remember something. “Oh!”

You catch Hyunjin’s attention as you walk up a bit faster to stand beside him. You rummage through your bag until you find what you’re looking for.

“I have a coupon for a free drink!” You muse excitedly and Hyunjin can’t help but to laugh at your sudden elation. 

“Keep it, I appreciate it but I’ve got this.”

“Oh come on! Let me help.” You pout a bit as the two of you reach the register and Hyunjin puts in the order for the two of you, he’s already memorized your drink order so little discussion is needed. Once your order is placed and paid he turns to your pouting face with a warm smile.

“You know what? There is a way that you can help.” He slides his hands into the pockets of his slacks and you perk up a bit as you listen to him. 

“Anything.” You smile up at him, wide eyed and eager to be of use. 

“How about next Thursday we… meet outside of this place. Maybe I could take you on a date?” 

A deep blush creeps onto your swarthy cheeks as his question sinks in. Your lips pressed together in a thin line and you shift the position of your feet slightly. Hyunjin looks down at the dark tile nervously as he waits for you to say something, anything. His nerves began to creep up his spine, spewing doubt into his mind. Just as he was about to retract his offer and apologize you let out a breathy chuckle. 

“I’d really like that.” A toothy smile spreads across his face once he hears your response and you instantly wear one to match once you take in his reaction. 

“Uh, great! I’ll text you the details.” He takes his hand out of his pocket, offering his phone to you. “I can’t believe we haven’t exchanged numbers yet.” 

A shy chuckle escapes him as the two of you exchange phones and input your numbers.

“There you go.” You hand his phone back to him, your giddy smile still present on your red painted lips. 

“Alright, well um, I’ll text you everything you need to know once I plan it.” He says as he stares down at your contact for a second too long, he bites his lip slightly to try and hold back his smile. 

“It’s a date.” You both stand in front of each other smiling like enliven children at an ice cream parlor. “I’ll go grab us a table.” 

Hyunjin nods at you as you turn on your heels and make your way to your usual booth. He watches you as you walk away from him with awestruck eyes. He allows himself to smile now that you aren’t looking, his eyes turning into shining crescents as excitement builds inside of him. He glances down at your contact one last time before locking his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket, He glances over at you before turning to face the cafe counter and whispers to himself.

“It’s a date.”

← Previous Chapter ♡ Next Chapter →

[walks-the-ages]

Hey nanowrimo, what the fuck does this mean. What is this article about.

Why do you have an article that sounds like an angry tumblr post that is *clearly* about some incredibly serious allegations, but you're trying to sidestep them by..... acting like people questioning your endorsements of clearly shitty people/company is somehow the same thing as belittling the romance genre or people who became published authors after starting out with fanfic??

Full text from September 2nd, 2024 so they can't edit it later:

"I can't believe NaNoWriMo is endorsing a person/company who does ______________!"

3 days ago Updated Not yet followed by anyone NaNoWriMo is not in the business of telling writers how to (or how not to) write, taking a position on what approaches to writing are legitimate vs. illegitimate, or placing value judgments on personal decisions that are a matter of free choice. Opinions about "correct" ways to write or "right" vs. "wrong" kinds of writers should not be brought into our spaces. Our priority is creating a welcoming environment for all writers. There is no place for that kind of virtue signaling within NaNoWriMo. This position extends to our partnerships with sponsors and affiliates, with authors who we invite to write pep talks or serve as camp counselors, and to people who we invite to participate in events. NaNoWriMo is a global community of more than 550,000 writers who we fully expect to have different values, different needs, different preferences, and different curiosities. Because Wrimos are not a monolith, we don't cater to a specific author archetyope or ideology.  We take this position firmly, and we take it seriously. NaNoWriMo is a 25-year-old organization with staff that has been in the writing community for a very long time. We've seen tremendous harm done over the years by writers who choose to pick at others' methods. We've seen indie authors delegitimized by traditionally published authors, highbrow literary types look down their noses at romance authors, fanfiction writers shamed for everything from plagiarism to lack of originality; the list goes on. Not only is this sort of shaming unnecessary and often mean. It's proven itself to be short-sighted. Some of the most shamed groups within the writing community are also the most successful (e.g., Romance is one of the highest-grossing genres; an increasing body of data shows that indie authors do better than trad-pub authors, and some of the biggest names in publishing started out in fanfic). NaNoWriMo's mission is to "provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page." We fulfill our mission by supporting the humans doing the writing. That means not judging them and not allowing judgmental dynamics to enter into our spaces. 

this just reads like an angry, desperate attempt to downplay a serious issue by pretending people are just being misogynystic or looking down on indie authors when clearly that's not what they're responding to lmao, considering probably 99% of Nanowrimo's participants are aspiring writers who probably started out with fanfiction and are probably going to be self published?????

[sofipitch]

1,3,4,12,13 and 24 for book asks

1. How many books did you read this year?

93 but I am reading 3 books RN and will likely finish them before the end of the year

3. What were your top five books of the year?

No particular order:

Metal from Heaven by August Clarke

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker Chan

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

My reviews of all are just read them. House of Leaves may not be for everyone but otherwise

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

No particular order

Shelley Parker Chan, Delilah Dawson, Yoss, Ellen Kushner, August Clarke, Micaiah Johnson, C J Leede

All authors I plan to read more of!

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel: I really loved Fun Home but this one was not on par. Bechdel really got into Freudian psychoanalysis before writing this one and it's pretty excruciating to read about a dream about hiking or whatever that actually represents her troubled relationship with her mother

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: This book was VERY conservative Christian. Dostoevsky would be saying it was wrong to shoot that CEO, that's basically the book actually

13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca: VERY poorly written. All women in this also only had one personality trait: wanting to be pregnant

Most of the books I disliked are in the dnf category actually which is next and quite long

24.Did you DNF anything? Why?

Oof going through storygraph and there is a fair amount:

John dies at the end by Jason Pargin: Too stupid to keep reading. It was a webnovel first so it does the nonstop cliffhanger thing I hate about webnovels but doesn't have anything else really going for it. The humor got old fast

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda: The subtitle was "A literary vampire novel" which should have been a warning. MFA book about a depressed vampire getting frustrated with a FedEx employee. This is a good example of "write what you know" can be the worst advice to give to boring ppl

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder: Another example of a literary horror book (see above) that sucks bc the literary author thinks they are doing something very unique and elevating stinky dumb genre fiction

Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer: Honestly just kind of boring. Short stories are easier to dnf bc it's easier to find out if it's not going anywhere you care for

The Infinite and the Divine by Robert Rath: This is a Warhammer book, my partner is really into Warhammer and he listened to all of TLT so it only seemed fair but I think I needed more than a passing familiarity with the lore, way too confusing

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling: Being gay doesn't save it from being boring as shit

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera: I was excited for a Latine wlw historical romance, any Latine genre fiction that isn't YA or short stories excites me bc YA or short stories feels 90% of the Latine genre fiction available in the States. But this just was too poorly written to enjoy

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn: Sometimes the adaptation is MUCH better. Also poorly written

Dawn by Octavia Butler: Okay before you throw stones at me, I was REALLY enjoying this one. I just have a phobia of something that was introduced and had to stop. Scifi hates me personally bc it loves this trope. This one would actually be my biggest disappointment of the year but in a "how could you do this to me" kind of way

Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang: My frustration with this book cannot be quickly summarized, a cool concept very poorly rendered

Witch King by Martha Wells: This is like if you stripped Murderbot to only the characters talking about the plot. It is painfully boring

[encrucijada]

PÍA RAMBLES #8

you might have seen this post or this wip intro. i'm here to talk about this book because i think it's really cool @teddywriting and i wrote almost 40k words by simply playing dolls with our ocs.

(yes i will be using screencaps of before sunrise, 1995 for any and all subsequent updates regarding this project thank you very much)

what's weird about this book in particular is that, despite maripaz and theo taking up way too much space in my brain, it's also incredibly hard to talk about them?? i know every single detail about them down to what they might order to eat at a mcdonald's, and yet i feel no one outside from teddy and i really knows these characters. their lore is weird and a bit convoluted and explaining it feels like i'm trying to explain the plot of a television show with like 18 seasons of character development you just had to be there to witness to understand even a fraction of it.

but first some basics about the actual book

title: babylon boy (book 1 of the home habitat duology)

genre: literary fiction

category: i say adult because there will be no censoring of topics but in this first installment our protagonists are around eighteen years old. you might consider that ya but i wouldn't

a small summary: having independently run away from home for their own reasons, theo and maripaz meet while homeless on the streets and form an alliance of convenience to survive. while theo vehemently denies the drug addiction he’s nursing, maripaz tries to deal with the way both want and revulsion seem to exist in her at the same time. falling in love is probably the easiest thing they do.

teddy and i are co-authoring, as in we both write the words. they will be primarily working on theo's chapters and i will be primarily working on maripaz's chapters but we'll both be involved in fully crafting this story.

talking about your book is hard when all that happens in it is character work so even whether someone gets sick at one point feels like a spoiler you want people to be surprised by.

we created mari and theo in 2020 on a whim. i can't even remember what prompted it exactly. we wanted a new pair of characters to play with and we decided to make two assholes to bicker and be mean to each other. this iteration saw three reincarnations before we put the characters on the shelf and almost resigned ourselves to them being a miss... if not for one important detail... i really, really believed they should have kissed. this first version of them would eventually be known as the homeless au.

looking back it's Wild thinking about how different mari and theo used to be. we moved onto new aus to play around with, landing on a superhero-type beat that became their new canon for a while. we had fantasy and sci-fi and musicians and hadestown and the raven cycle (that last one did so much for us it's insane). every new thing we tried shaped them more and more until they were unrecognisable from their original versions. one day i really want to go through their threads from start to finish and look at that change in real time.

there was a new thesis to their characters and it was no longer "what if two awful guys with issues were forced together and tried to bite each other's heads off". instead we were looking at two characters that through every new incarnation became more sincere and gentle. they had meta-narrative character development.

(every new au also gave us more characters to populate the world including but not limited to theo's twin sister, maripaz's seven siblings, alex, philip, a whole lot of parental figures, a quirky cast of friends... but i'll talk about them some other time)

then i did it again. in the 2.0 version of the homeless au there was one scene i loved beyond words where an argument between our two protagonists resulted in maripaz punching theo right on the mouth. when she tried to swing a second time he stopped her hand and warned her that if she wanted to hit him he would hit back. they fought and the scene ended. i said to teddy: they should have kissed. we laughed and imagined how homeless au would go now that their characters had changed so much. we started thinking about it more and more until we were moving the pieces of their cinematic universe around to fit this new idea... and suddenly we had plot for a book that would revamp that original homeless au... and a sequel too! (but more on that second one another time)

teddy started a rp thread of what came right after the opening scene of babylon boy, where theo and maripaz would shoplift and he would steal the angel necklace she wore (<- this is important)... and we just kept going... and going. we'd already had a few keys scenes to work towards, one those being that punching scene that started it all, as well as the ending. teddy added two new scenes we began calling the halo scene and the church scene, and we moved something we called the pool scene into this book from another au. we just had to fill in the blanks... fill in the blanks we did.

these right here are the names i gave each individual thread of the roleplay-ification of babylon boy. their purpose is not so much to be chapter titles but to make specific scenes easy to find for future reference. though obviously i had to be a bit artistic about it.

i don't know if babylon boy will have chapter titles, and if they will have some sort of theme going on (usually i like just putting two words together to create some imagery). "angel face" is probably what i would title chapter 1, but i also hesitate on that decision because i think i would like to save angel for later.

these threads are less of a draft and more the skeleton of a draft, that's why i called it a draft 0. its purpose is to give teddy and i direction and reading through them i already know how i want to shift the timeline and how i'd rewrite some of the scenes to make them a lot better, but it did give us a great cause and effect look of things. the way teddy and i approach our roleplay threads is more loose than what i do with @on-the-river-lethe (with whom i'm currently roleplaying draft 1 of our book lupine trail and also a giant hunger games au). fluffy and i write responses between 1k-4k words, they are basically chapters. teddy and i instead do a quick call and response, mostly focused on dialogue, we build on top of each other and neither of us really knows where a thread will go when we start.

there are no actual non-roleplay words written for babylon boy thus far. teddy is in charge of chapter 1 as we open with theo's pov but we are both busy or focused on other things. right now we're enjoying the playing around stage of the process (which i don't see going away even once we start seriously writing, i know for a fact we'll probably do various roleplay-type passes to babylon boy).

you've probably noticed the christian imagery is rampant here. it happened kind of by accident and the already mentioned halo scene is entirely to blame for it. like i said, teddy and i have this very "yes, and," approach to storytelling together where we kinda build on top of what the other puts down. teddy gave me the description of one (1) scene where theo sees a halo of light around maripaz's head and i decided "well, this is now i thing that is here to stay". church scene really brought it all together and there is a scene in book 2 adeptly nicknamed the angel scene that is kind of the culmination of this.

the imagery is almost exclusive to theo's pov as mari is more the subject of the imagery than the one pushing it forward. teddy and i will be doing our most to fill this book with visuals: characters lined with stained glass windows, lights shaped like hearts, signs and graffiti that say meaningful stuff.

babylon boy, as the title suggests, is more theo's book. both he and maripaz have meaningful arcs but theo's is really at the core of it, mari takes centre stage in book 2 (titled gossamer girl). i think i talked about this somewhere before but the titles just kind of... happened. gossamer was relevant for that superhero au and it's just a word i really adore so i wanted to use it on the title. you can't go wrong with alliteration so gossamer girl it is. and because i love when books in a series match i had to do something with boy. like gossamer i adore babylon for some reason, and so we got babylon boy. i wasn't sure about that one because while gossamer girl made sense with the theme, what did "babylon boy" even mean, exactly? teddy came in clutch and analysed the title for me. they connected it to theo's drug addiction and now i can't think of any two titles that are more perfect for this series.

like i said, there are no actual words written for this book so sadly i cannot share any excerpts. but i will share

Festival was very much the result of teddy and i having just watched before sunrise, 1995

we watched before sunrise, 1995 because the mannerisms of the two leads reek of maripaz and theo

"until a miracle happens" became a recurring thing said in the draft and it wrecked me

Our Fears is probably my favourite thread both thematically and visually. followed closely by Church Angels, though that one is mostly visually

The Pool is the longest thread with about 90 responses and all of it is beautiful. i would probably consider it the companion to Our Fears

"mutual pining they're both just idiots"

the closing image is probably my favourite one of the book

the core themes are very much trust, love, and communal help. we've got such an array of npcs who simply... help. i love the human race.

i'll probably do another update before we start properly writing talking about maripaz and theo as characters specifically. a bit of a crash course on who they are, really.

anyway. i'm giving you a golden star if you read all of that ⭐ do ask me or teddy about this story!! we'd be happy to talk about it. or even just about the characters.

cheers, pía

[thehorrortree]

Deadline: August 1st, 2024 Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry Theme: Story must begin with: "When she was eight, Alice Henderson briefly held the world record for filling her mouth with marbles." Fall: When she was eight, Alice Henderson briefly held the world record for filling her mouth with marbles. Due date: August 1, 2024 We love that writers around the world are inspired by our first lines, and we know that not every story will be sent to us. However, we ask that you do not submit stories starting with our first lines to other journals (or post them online on public sites) until we've notified you as to our decision (usually four weeks after the deadline). When the entire premise of the publication revolves around one sentence, we don't want it to look as if we stole that sentence from another writer. If you have questions, feel free to drop us a line. Also, we understand that writers may add our first line to a story they are currently working on or have already completed, and that's cool. But please do not add our first line to a previously published story and submit it to us. We do not accept previously published stories, even if they have been repurposed for our first lines. And, just to be clear, we do not accept simultaneous submissions. One more thing while I've got you here: Writers compete against one another for magazine space, so, technically, every literary magazine is running a contest. There are, however, literary magazines that run traditional contests, where they charge entry fees and rank the winners. We do not - nor will we ever - charge a submission fee, nor do we rank our stories in order of importance. Occasionally, we run contests to help come up with new first lines, or we run fun, gimmicky competitions for free stuff, but the actual journal is not a contest in the traditional sense. Fiction: All stories must be written with the first line provided. The line cannot be altered in any way, unless otherwise noted by the editors. The story should be between 300 and 5,000 words (this is more like a guideline and not a hard-and-fast rule; going over or under the word count won't get your story tossed from the slush pile). The sentences can be found on the home page of The First Line's website, as well as in the prior issue. Note: We are open to all genres. We try to make TFL as eclectic as possible. Poetry: We do accept poetry, though rarely. We have no restrictions on form or line count, but all poems must begin with the first line provided. The line cannot be altered in any way. Non-Fiction: 500-800 word critical essays about your favorite first line from a literary work. All Submissions: Writers should include a two- to three-sentence biography of themselves that we can use in the journal should your story, poem, or essay be accepted. Multiple Submissions: We don't mind if you want to submit multiple submissions for the same issue. However, it is unlikely we will use more than one of your stories or poems in the same issue. Four-Part Stories: If you think you are up to the challenge, you can write a four-part story that uses the spring, summer, fall, and winter sentences (five parts, if you are brave enough to include a fifth story that ends with the last line). However, all parts must be submitted at once (a single e-mail or snail mail) before the February 1st deadline. (If selected, each part will be published in its respective issue.) Submissions: We prefer you send manuscripts via email to submission (@) thefirstline (dot) com. We accept stories in MS Word or Word Perfect format (we prefer attachments). Please do not send pdf versions of your story or links to Google docs. Make sure your name and contact information, as well as your bio, are part of the attachment. Stories also can be sent to The First Line's post office box. No manuscripts will be returned without an accompanying SASE with sufficient return postage. Notification: We don't make decisions about submissions until after each issue closes.

We typically send notices four to five weeks after the issue's deadline to everyone who submitted. You can also check the website's home page for each issue's production status. Payment: We pay on publication: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction (all U.S. dollars). We also send you a copy of the issue in which your piece appears. You'll receive your money and issue at the same time. Note to our international writers: Postage cost for sending author copies overseas is a little high, so we are reducing international author payment by the amount it would cost to send one author copy overseas. However, if you would like to receive an electronic version of the issue (PDF) instead of a hard copy, author payment will not change. Via: The First Line.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

My dislike to hatred of the European binary doesn't extend only to gender...

So apparently another Twitter battle broke out about PoV and which of TWO were the best. And I'm like but there are more than two and the combinations have different effects and they are all awesome. And the person delivering the news agreed with me and said they were tired of it. Then another Twitter battle broke out on if audiobooks are "really" "reading" which creates another what? fucking binary. You're with them, or you're with us, and no nuance in there or other options and urrgghhhh. I hate you for doing that.

Then people do this shit to sexuality and sexual orientation and then romantic attraction and sexual attraction, and if you cross the line from the imagined binary, welp, you have to be a specific category in that. Nuance, what? What do you mean nuance?

PINK or BLUE Shit, then what is I prefer the breath of color combinations through color theory? *Confused look* What? I'm not allowed to worship color theory more?

People justify these binary choices usually with conflict theory, but when I slap down the Jewish tradition of asking exploratory questions to add nuance and examine if the question is legitimate... That's SUPER rude. Or people have told me. (Screaming in the corner). You aren't supposed to examine the question in Christianity. Look, you took from Judaism, but 100% missed this part of it. Yes, you ask questions about the question and the lines of evidence. Anyone who has been in a Jewish debate session knows this. It makes it super pedantic at times, yes. It's literally baked into a seder. But in doing this, it means you demand evidence. Exploratory questions aren't the same as the Greek rhetorical questions that Christians seem to love. But you see, this brings me to the next bit in the binary: Asking questions is evil.

Wha~ Why?

The answers come back usually this way:

It's inherently weak

It makes you weak

It makes you vulnerable to attack.

You mean it makes you appear like a white female. (Since you hate the question form).

White women tend to use according to a study on an Italian American family, higher percentage of adverbs, adjectives, superlatives and placating questions.

Waiiiiittt... Isn't that what Writing manuals tell you not to use. There you go.

It also hates on Jews and other groups that use questions in another way... but then that's nuance. And nuance in this binary system is evil.

I love nuance, though. Trained as a Jew, and also as a Korean where the rhetoric is done differently, there isn't as much binary thinking in either.

I've spoken to people who didn't take their opinions 100% from TV, and when I ask questions, I try to find points that the television hasn't spoonfed them, to find nuance.

Is the basis of the question even valid? You're not supposed to ask that. Is the basis of the question, racist, sexist, ableist, etc, and maybe you should phrase it differently? Not supposed to ask that. Can I insert nuance and variety and greys into this question? No.

And you can start to see the flaws of binary thinking. Also why I tend to dislike it.

Also, have to point out, asking a question does not make you "weak" there are a ton of types and reasons for questions. Your thou shalt nots doesn't even invite seeing the glory of the world around us and your binaries mean even larger exclusions than what culture and experience offer.

"There are only two PoVs"

First person or third person. And if you use omniscient, WTF is wrong with you? What? Because a third option isn't supposed to exist and there aren't valid reasons to want to switch in a literary sense because the next binary is Literary fiction or Genre fiction and how dare you want to mix those. (Basically from what I can find of the early genre subscribers, white straight abled men v. everyone else).

Reading Writing manuals of this type stress me out. Why do we need a binary anyway in European texts. Can't greys and all of the colors inbetween ALSO be beautiful. But always texts try to slow it down as a competition or a conflict and I would think you all would be tired of the depression and anxiety that brings.

It's whites v. Blacks. Woah, Asians and Latines exists? How dare you. We have to take this one by one even if there is clear overlap. <-clearly sarcasm. And then Indigenous people... What are you saying here? Anyone else... we should forget they exist. ==;; You can only choose one. at. a. time. (though we are oppressing you in similar ways).

So I'm saying let go of the binary in everything, not only in gender. I've met people who were never Christian and atheist all their lives who 100% still bought binary thinking, but to me, that's an invitation to poke and prod and ask the more "invasive" question about if the binary thinking is valid in the first place.

TT Some NBs have let it go in gender, but religiously follow it elsewhere. But maybe do as the Jews do and first ask if the question creating a binary is valid first? Maybe I'm asking too much of the algorithm because it's constantly confused when I try to point it towards nuance.

BTW, Nuance to the audiobook question is (Excuse my Jewishness with exploratory questions):

What disabilities does the audiobook help or hinder?

Certain forms of ADHD. Visual impairment (obviously) and certain learning disabilities as well.

But it might hinder those who are deaf, have certain types of language processing disorders, or might be fixated on their imagination over the audio.

Sometimes when I write a book, I have very specific voices attached and will leave it in the text. (SPD, has that side effect FOR ME, not everyone. I tend to be fixated more on sound, etc). So if it's incongruous to the voice in my head, or said wrong I'll sometimes be editing the audiobook.

Do certain audiobooks sound better read than others because of a strong oral tradition in the community that the author grew up in? (Kwik Kwak, BTW, is an oral form, so the stories are always designed to be read out loud. Griot, Seanchaí (Irish storytellers), etc all have an oral form to them. Some South Pacific traditions also are designed to be told out loud and once you do, it flows magically. So demanding it only be in print might miss out on them.

Do you want to get rid of audiobooks altogether and this is why you're asking this inane question?

'cause to the visually impaired community, it sounds like a threat. And why are you even asking this question. Why can't you let it effing go already?

What if you are doing both at the same time?

Some people DO read and LISTEN to the audiobook at the same time. They might have a disability that makes it so. I know some people with ADHD that do both to help them concentrate and consume it more efficiently.

Your brain just broke. Good. !@#$

You care that deeply about how people consume books and want to invalidate the way they consume media because, frankly, invalidating entire populations, traditions of people, does exactly what for you, morally? What power trip do you exactly get by declaring this question in the first place? This is what a Jew would ask you. Because is it really that much of a difference that you need to spend hours on this making other people feel bad and bringing it up over and over again without any level of the nuance it deserves to create conflict and us v. them? Does that truly create any sense of community, cooperation, or is your entire existence as you see it is to create division and conflict? (I believe even the New Testament is against that, but sure, ignore that. I actually sat and read it. lol My favorites whom I wish there were sects for are Matthew and Luke [Granted both Jewish, which I found out after the fact, so I might be Jewish biased by accident]. But apparently writers/Christians like Paul, Peter and John more?).

And thus I really dislike binaries. They tend to create more us v. them and division and less cooperation and thought about the impact one creates in the world and how to cooperate. And truly from what I've read of the Bible, Torah, and some of the Qu'ran and a lot of other religious books as well, they spend like 80% at least trying to get people to cooperate and floating theories on how to do so. So why not let go of the binary?

[bradrcook]

Story Graphing: A Visual Editing Tool Brad R. Cook

In a workshop I give to young writers, I show the image of a standard story arc. The one we all know, starts low, builds through rising action to the peak of the climax, and then has a resolution on the other side. It looks like one side of a hill. In doing research, I came across a concept I’d seen years earlier – Kurt Vonnegut’s story graphs.

Kurt Vonnegut, an American literary giant who liked numbers and was a bit of a math guy came up with a theory that stories had different shapes, and those shapes were a good way of interpreting a plot. Now I will say, many have spoken out in favor and against this theory saying story graphing was too subjective to be real and similar stores will have wildly different shapes. Watch him graph Cinderella –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ

I think Vonnegut was on to something. Maybe not the end all, be all of breaking down a story, but graphing is good for showing a few things. First, stories do have wildly different shapes, but stories within genres tend to look similar. The graphs show if the writer’s story is similar to others in the same genre or style. Two, as an editing tool for visual learners a story graph can show what parts are doing well and which parts need more work.

I like it because it allows me to see the whole forest instead of only the trees. This isn’t some magic wand to solve all your plotting problems, but it is a tool that can be helpful.

What is story graphing? Simply, it is a visual representation of the positive and negative points of the story.

1 – Choose Points to Plot – Writers can go chapter by chapter, scene by scene, or by major plot points. More points mean more detail in the graph. If you’re looking for an overview do 10 points, if you want a detailed graph of the story, use 20-40 points or more. The number is determined by how many scenes are in the story.

2 – Make the Graph – The vertical line is for the good and bad things that happen in the story and the horizontal line represents the beginning to the end.

3 – Assign Values to the Points – I suggest a scale of +5 and a -5, you could use ten, and I often use half points for accuracy. The key is to be consistent. Pick the high point and the low point of the story, they become the +5 and -5 of the point spread. The third point is the starting point - where does the story begin. Is it a 0, a normal day, or are they enduring hardship so it’s a -1? Maybe start at a 1 because life is good. Now, the next point, is the next scene, but is the character’s life improving or getting more challenging? Do the same for each new point, does the story get better or worse than the scene before?

One note, I suggest only having one or two +5 and -5. There should only be a couple of truly amazing or heartbreaking scenes in a book.

4 – Connect the Dots – Once the story is graphed, it can be analyzed for several factors.

Peaks and Valleys – All the peaks should be good moments or the emotional highs of the book, and all the valleys should represent the character's struggles. What a writer doesn’t want are plateaus, which means nothing has changed in the story.

The Overall Shape – The shape should be similar to other stories in genre or the tropes of the story. Depending on the story it could look like a roller-coaster, a descending arc, or maybe a deep valley with a high ending. There are several shapes that Vonnegut outlined.

What Needs Editing – Not enough peaks and valleys, could be a muddy middle. Does the low moment come shortly before the climax? Is the action too close together? Look at the story’s structure because the graph is the story.

Now graph everything. I like to graph the main plot, the main characters emotional arc, the secondary characters arc, and the villain’s arc, but anything can be graphed.

When these graphs are laid over each other they show data as well. Where the dots all come together usually are the big moments of the story. When the lines parallel each other that means the story is in harmony. The differences can point to parts that need work or parts where the story might be confusing to readers. How do the emotional arcs compare to each other? Do the emotional arcs connect to the main plot at the right points?  

Things to Remember – Consistency is key. +1 has to mean the same throughout the whole story, but you are the one making these determinations. Be honest, don’t try and make a graph that fits some mold, plot the story, and see what it looks like.

Everything is relative. It’s the Whose Line Is It Anyway mentality, “It’s all made up and the points don’t matter.” What matters is that the writer knows what they mean.

Each new story will have a different set of values. For different graphs of the same story use the same scene point values. New points will be needed for different books though.

So why listen to Kurt Vonnegut and me? Story graphing can be fun, but it can also help edit, help plot, or help you see that your book is just like all those bestsellers and classics.

[coraniaid]

Some 2025 Goals (Books, Films, Etc.)

This is an utterly self-indulgent long post, sorry. I know that could describe a lot of my posts on here, but this one especially is really for (future) me more than anybody else.

I've decided it might be fun to set some targets for books / films / TV / music / games this year. Nothing especially flashy though: if you read this and think 'well, those should all be pretty easy, shouldn't they?' then thank you; this is exactly the point of the exercise.

Reading

Unlike most years, I'm not going to set a specific target for new books read in 2025.

Last year I read 51 books, which feels like a slightly strange number: it's bigger enough than average that bringing it up in casual conversation feels uncomfortably like bragging , but it's small enough compared to most people I know who read a lot that it also doesn't seem like anything actually worth bragging about. Also, my target for the year was 52. The thing is, I'm not sure having a target like this last year actually helped me read a wider range of books or enjoy reading more; I'm not even sure, honestly, that it helped encourage me to read more books than I would have otherwise.

So, while I am still going to track all the books I read this year, I'm not going to set an overall target. I am going to set some sub-targets though, namely:

Read more books (novels or short story collections both count; anything published in a single volume is 'a book' for this) in genres I don't usually try: at least three horror books; at least three romances; at least three historical fiction novels and at least three contemporary literary novels.

Read at least twelve books which won some kind of (distinct) award (the actual award doesn't matter so much, though it should be something with a bit of prestige in its field: the catch is that these twelve books have to represent twelve different awards)

Read at least twelve books first published before 1925 (since I notice that very few of the books I finished in 2024 were published more than one hundred years ago)

Read at least twelve books published in 2024 or 2025 (since I've also recently noticed that I practically didn't read any new releases last year either)

Somebody other than Adrian Tchaikovsky has to be my most read author in 2025. This is non-negotiable. (No offence to Tchaikovsky, whose work I -- obviously -- like a lot, but he was somehow my most read author in both 2023 and 2024 and it's got to stop at some point)

Watching

I don't really watch much in the way of film or TV. Or, rather, as regular readers of this blog might guess, I watch a lot of the same nearly thirty year old TV show repeatedly, but I don't watch a lot of new TV. So, goals here:

Finish The Americans. I started watching this show in 2023 and made it to the end of Season 3 last summer. The thing is: I'm honestly not sure whether I like it or not? The individual performances are really good (especially Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings), the premise is the right combination of absurd but just about played straight, but -- especially from the end of Season 2 onwards -- some of the writing choices are ... well, they are very odd to me. (Also, while I've never expected the politics of the show to be good, I think the fact Oliver North of all people gets a story credit for one episode is honestly pretty gross). But, that said, when the show is good it is good and I own physical copies of the next three seasons, so ...

Watch Season 2 of We Are Lady Parts. This should be easy (which is, of course, the point). I liked Season 1 when I watched it last year, and then I just ... didn't watch any more.

Watch Season 1 of Mr Robot. Of all the big critically acclaimed 2010s shows I've somehow managed not to watch -- and there are a lot of them -- I think this is the one that sounds most likely to interest me (without reading enough about it to spoil myself). Only committing myself to one season because ... well, maybe I'll hate it?

Watch The Corner miniseries. I'm a big fan of The Wire and I've owned a physical copy of this for over three years which I've just never got around to. Should be easy enough to fix that.

Watch fifty new (to me) films this year. That's just under one a week, which should also be easy, right? Well, it'd be about twice what i managed last year, so maybe not. Films I tried last year but didn't finish count as new, I guess (there are quite a few of those).

Listening

One thing the last couple of years have taught me is that I don't listen to as much music as I'd like to beiieve I do. And my instinctive "well, I don't really use Spotify much..." excuse whenever Spotify Wrapped season comes around at the end of the year feels less convincing every time. So:

Either remember the details of my existing last.fm account or (more likely) create a new one; download/set-up the last.fm scrobbler.

Try to get back into the habit of listening to music while I do other things, as opposed to only listening to music when I have the time to focus on it exclusively. (I'm not entirely sure how to quantify that one, but it seems noticeable that, for example, I'm not listening to any music while writing this post...)

I want to have listened to at least thirty new (to me) albums by the end of the year, at least twelve of them by artists I've never listened to before and at least twelve (not necessarily a different twelve) in (sub)genres I don't normally listen to (I'm honestly not sure whether that's something I managed last year or not, but it feels like it should be pretty straightforward ... right?)

At least one of my Spotify Wrapped and last.fm Playback totals at the end of the year should be at least 10% higher than the equivalent figure for my 2024 Wrapped. (I don't think I ever posted that figure here, but ... yeah, this should also not be hard.)

Playing

Last year I set myself the goal of completing twelve video games. I thought that was pretty modest, but might be a good start to working through some of the backlog of games I owned but hadn't ever really properly played. Of that initial twelve, I managed a total of ... zero. That's not great!

So, no mere numbers here. I'm going to try to be specific. I want to complete (or put in enough hours/effort that I feel I can fairly give up on as beyond my abilities) at least four of Baba Is You, Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Disco Elysium, The Witness and one as yet unnamed game (which I can pick at any point during the year).

Will try to come back to this post periodically (but probably not as often as every month) to update my progress (if any).

[aerodaltonimperial]

Got some sads today.

I've written 12 books. I've been trying to be traditionally published since around 2008, give or take some spots of time where I wasn't writing. Book #10 is the only that finally got me a literary agent, and I got two offers on it. I chose wrong, but hindsight is 20/20.

During the time my ex-agent was actually doing much, which wasn't a lot, I almost got there. I got to second reads with an editor we had subbed to. Part of the rejection feedback that came back was that it "wasn't queer enough for readers looking for a queer romance." It was not a romance. My bisexual protagonist ended up in a M/F relationship. I'll never forget how it made me feel, as a bisexual woman. It was the closest to being trad published I've ever gotten, and it felt like I was being rejected as a person for not being "enough."

I left my agent last fall because they had stopped responding to emails or meeting deadlines or even doing anything with submissions. Once I left, that book was dead. My ex-agent had rejected book #11 I wrote and given me no feedback on what was wrong or how to change it. I had still not gotten feedback on book #12 when I terminated our contract.

I started querying with book #12 to try and find a new agent. One of the agents I reached out to was the agent who had offered rep on the other one, the agent whose offer I refused. They said to send it over so they could read. Today, they rejected it. The feedback was blunt. I guess I deserved that, for rejecting them two years ago. It was the last possibility for the book, as all the others have rejected it.

I think I'm a good writer, but trad publishing does not want anything that I write. I've spent so many years chasing this goal, and I've failed every time. Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe the industry just doesn't want my genre. Maybe I'm just unlucky. Maybe it's all three. In the end, this was the end for me. That should have been an easy offer, if the agent liked my writing to begin with, but it wasn't.

Part of me is relieved. I think I want to be done with this. I've spent a decade feeling like a huge failure. In truth, I just want to write fic, because at least people can read that. At least I feel like I can impact people with my words. Maybe I'm not good enough to be published. But I'm happy that people read my words here. I'm so grateful when people engage with me on my fics.

I put on one of my Hoodlum shirts today. I'm feeling scraped raw and flayed. It's hard to watch a life goal fizzle to a miserable end. But maybe, this was all I was ever meant to do: be in fandom. Maybe this is just all I was ever good enough to write. I still love writing fic. I want to create things for the people I care about, these silly, goofy, weird little people that I have parasocially attached myself to.

If you have read my fic, thank you. If you have left me feedback, thank you SO MUCH. I'm being serious when I say it is the only thing that has kept me writing. These were my only wins. Here, at least, I feel like my words mean something. Thank you for being here with me. Thank you for bringing a smile to my face. Thank you for flailing and capslocking and being full of excitement with me.

This is a hard day. I hope there is some sunshine on the horizon. I'm very grateful for you all.

[flowersofevilvn]

I'm reading flowers of evil because of you BTW. It's really good! I was never one for poetry because I thought I was just too stupid to understand it, but I feel I have been missing out.

How have you been? Any development or life issues that we can help with? I think your game is really something special. Take care. 💚

I'm so glad to hear that!! I'm a firm believer that art and writing is for everybody and it always makes me happy to hear people are expanding their genres and experiences :) there are lots of resources that provide annotated versions of classical poetry so flowers of evil is actually a great text to look at if you're wanting to break into the romantics a little bit more! Different translators also change the tone of the work significantly, I have 3 separate copies of Flowers of Evil in the printed English format by dofferent translators, some with and some without original french text and annotations, but my favorite of all time is Ruth White's 1969 early electronica album based on the text! your personal experience with the writing is more important than an "objective" truth some people may try to convince you is true of the thing- historical context and literary analysis only go so far. Your enjoyment of a text doesn't have to have anything to do with what is academically accepted. I like flowers of evil the poetry collection mostly because of the visceral descriptions! Other people might enjoy it more because of its peculiar place in its time period, its relevance in the modern goth scene or the classic gothic literary scene, its gorgeous bound editions in book collecting circles, its raunchiness, its holiness, whatever! all that is to say, I don't believe in stupid people, and I belive even less in a stupid way to approach poetry, writing, and art- art is for everyone, and there are lots of ways to feel and interpret an artists work!

I wish I had good news on the development front- I had a week off of work I was hoping to dedicate to working on the game but I mostly either slept or cleaned. Being disabled and working has. Significantly altered my trajectory on the game. I wasn't expecting to have to use my body to work and it's been affecting me pretty brutally. Unfortunately because it's been so long since I started it up I'm wondering if I should gut and reproduce it entirely into something newer and cleaner instead of continuing to roll with a framework I've come to find pretty flawed and hard to work with. I haven't dropped the project by any means but I'm struggling to find the motivation to finish it. In any case! I'm really hoping to have at least a major update by March. fingers crossed, and happy reading to you!

[likysbookshelf]

The Great Gatsby | Book Review

Title: The Great Gatsby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Published: 1925

Genre: tragedy, Literary fiction

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 6/10

As with any book, reading The Great Gatsby in my high school English class was quite the experience. My opinions on the book have changed so many times since I started reading and even continued to develop as I wrote this review. 

From the very first chapter of the book, all of the characters including Nick are frivolous and shallow. God has abandoned Long Island, and, in his absence, a new higher power has stepped in, money. 

The power money has over the characters is present in every scene and overarching theme, it’s especially obvious towards the end of the book when we get the revelation that the magic in Daisy’s voice that captivated Gatsby and basically drove the entire plot hasn’t ever been magic at all. It is just obscene wealth topped off with a pretty face and pretty words. Daisy is just as shiny on the outside and rotten on the inside as society at the time. 

Here's where my unpopular opinions start. I went into the book expecting to like Nick because of how all you people on Tumblr wax poetic about the unspoken gay subtext between Nick and Gatsby. Yeah, Nick had a little affair with that guy whose name I forgot at the start of the book, yeah Nick idolizes Gatsby, and yeah, he does have those nice paragraphs at the end of every chapter where he breaks away from the dull apathetic narration of the rest of the book and gets super philosophical (though let’s be honest these paragraphs are more F. Scott Fitzgerald than Nick). But that doesn’t make him a good person, to me it was painfully obvious during Nick’s scenes with Jordan that he is just as shallow as the characters. Nicholier-than-thou Carraway really just further pushes the point that Gatsby’s death at the end of the book was more of a kindness than a tragedy because if he had ever realized that Daisy was not the girl he thought she was, he also would have realized that his “Old Sport” would have better suited the nickname “Overly Sanctimonious”. He is the perfect narrator for the book because rather than being hopeful and honest (as he describes himself to be) he’s actually literature’s biggest hypocrite. 

For these reasons, as I was reading, I found that the previously mentioned Jordan Baker slowly became my favorite character by miles. I’m going to have to disagree with what Daisy said at the beginning of the book it appears that the best thing a girl can be in this world is not “a beautiful little fool”, instead Jordan gets farther by using lies and vanity against the other characters to protect herself from their cruelty. She is very much as spoiled and misguided as everyone else, the thing that ended up redeeming Jordan for me in the end is that she is extremely self-aware. She might be a liar and a cheat but at least she is doing it with the knowledge that it is wrong. Nick likes to pretend that he is ‘enlightened’ and undeceived by the splendor of the roaring 20s, but by now we should all know that Nick is an unreliable narrator. So, while I can’t honestly say that any character is fully 100% disillusioned, the only character that comes close is Jordan. 

“There was Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age.”

Also, if Jordan isn’t enough to disprove Daisy’s famous beautiful little fool quote; Gatsby is the biggest most beautiful fool in the whole novel and look where that gets him. 

Moving away from the topic of characters, I really loved how Fitzgerald heightens the atmosphere of the book through the weather and the seasons. The deluge during Gatsby’s first interactions gives us one of the best scenes in the boom and the movie (2013), I could almost feel the sun beating down on my skin at the climax of the book adding to the tension in ways Nick’s narration could not, and when we learn of Gatsby’s death the image my brain conjured of dying leaves that floated in the pool solidified the cold desolate feeling that permeates the last chapter or so. Shifting of setting or background elements to fit plot points or the emotions of characters is honestly one of my favorite devices both in literature and film. For this reason, the 2013 adaptation of the book landed for me. It’s impossible for any movie to capture the full essence of any book, But! I do think that Baz Luhrmann’s use of modern party music, vivid colors, and over-the-top sets. Added another layer of imagery that helped me to fully understand the original text upon re-read. 

And just in case anything in this review pointed to the contrary, I really did love and enjoy this book. it is a potent analysis of society at the time, it's beautifully written, and contains some of the most complex characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading about.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”  ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I hope you guys enjoyed my first book review on Tumblr!! please follow my Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/101887960-lily-mortensen

i plan on posting video versions of my reviews on TikTok at some point, lmk if anyone is interested and i'll let you know as soon as that's set up

[preggo-ace]

hey there! :)

since i'm new here, i figured i'd introduce myself

y'all can call me A if you'd like, and this is an alt blog i'll use for rp and to just explore my more nsfw interests, which will for the most part include pregnancy and birth

if you'd like to rp with me, here's some guidelines before you drop me a message (keep in mind i'm new to this scene, so these may be subject to change as i discover more and get more comfy)

LIKES/OKAY RP'ING

literary rp ; lengths of replies might vary, i'm a writer though so i may get quite descriptive

fpreg, afab nbpreg (this includes ftm don't worry!!)

semi-difficult birth as long as it doesn't end up severely hurting carrier or baby/babies

fantasy scenarios (magic, witchcraft, deities, etc) so long as it's within the bounds of the established universe of our rp ; this can include rapid pregnancy, again as long as it's within established bounds

i'm comfortable playing either the carrier or the carrier's partner, or if we're both carrying simultaneously ; i'd prefer fem x nb/fem x fem in terms of coupling, but if your character is transmasc for example that's okay with me, or we can keep the relationship strictly non-romantic as well

homebirth/medically unassisted birth

birthing multiples ; for now, i'm only comfortable with twins if i'm the carrier, no more than that please

using ocs ; for the time being, i'll be creating entirely new character to better fit our specific plot theme, so i'll more than likely be making up their personality as we go ^^;

LIGHT sex during pregnancy/labor ; i've only recently gotten comfortable writing nsfw myself, so if we rp this, apologies if i'm not very good or am inaccurate, i'm asexual and a virgin please remember!

lengthy rps, though we can start with short scenes to get a feel for things if you'd prefer

long births ; like spending a good chunk of time pushing for example

romance/fluff, especially during birth ; the comfort and encouragement from the carrier's partner yes please!!

clothing birth under specific circumstances that we can discuss ooc

birth denial ; again, under specific circumstances that can be discussed

DISLIKES/WILL NOT RP

mpreg, amab nbpreg ; i'll read it depending on story, but i'm not comfortable rping it

egg laying of any form

monster/creature (mostly referring to aliens, i am down for vamps/werewolves as long as we establish how they work as a species within our rp's universe)

horror preg in general, i don't really care for horror as a genre (except artistic horror and video games)

r*pe/non-con ; absolutely cannot and will not, genuinely makes me sick

video/picture format rp ; i still live with family, plus as stated i'm new to this, and i've only ever done literary rp before, so this format is off the table

anything bdsm related ; i can't name any specific bdsm kinks off the top of my head right now, so i would say in general avoid it if you wanna rp with me

vore, unbirth, anything like that

stuffing, food-related inflation, honestly inflation in general

feces/scat, piss, etc (genuinely find it gross)

anything to do with minors being carriers, sorry not sorry but i won't do that under ANY circumstance ; this isn't to say our plots cannot include characters under 18 (i mean, it IS pregnancy after all), but it'll be a hard no from me if said -18 character is pregnant within our narrative (mentions of a past pregnancy by a character when they were -18 is fine, just don't make it a present plot point is what i'm saying basically)

anything sadistic, i will not do it i don't care

public birth ; idk why it just messes with me, that might be my autism tho lol

detailed gore/injuries ; this includes heavy blood loss, tearing, or anything else in that vein that has the potential to happen during birth (we can further discuss this ooc should the need arise due to our plot, but in general, i don't want it)

hyper-preg ; the 'tism only allows me to suspend my disbelief so much

GENERAL REMINDERS

please be patient with me as i try to gain my footing in this scene

constructive advice on how to create better responses or even drabble prompts are always welcome in my ask box

i am autistic/have adhd, so be aware of that in case i take some time between responses as i can get distracted very easily

^^^ adding to this, i am physically disabled, so if responses take longer from me, there's a good chance i might be at a doctors appointment or just simply don't have the energy to work my brain enough for responses (though i'll do my best to reply as soon as possible!)

i would prefer if we plan out a general plot beforehand, with a few basic beats we wanna hit through the course of rp, just to keep on track

if you want to rp anything i don't have listed in my likes/dislikes, be sure to ask me before implementing it! more than likely, i'll be willing to try it, but that may not always be the case

IF YOU'RE UNDER 18 OR DO NOT HAVE AN AGE IN YOUR BIO ANYWHERE, I WILL NOT RESPOND TO A MESSAGE YOU SEND ME. it's nothing personal, i'd just rather only speak to/rp with fellow known adults here

i live in CST and am unemployed (due to physical disability), so i'm active more often than not, however i tend to go to sleep around 1-1:30AM CST. my wake-up times vary, though it's usually around the 7:30-9AM CST range

i don't rp for kink/fetish reasons, which is ironic, i know. but that's not what i'm stepping into this scene for, i'm here because it genuinely fascinates me and i enjoy fantasizing/writing about it (not in a sexual sense) even if i never want to take part in it irl

if you'd like to rp with me, shoot me a message !! promise i don't bite, but i might be a bit awkward at first ^^;

[sempaigreg]

꧁༒☬𝓦𝓮𝓻𝓮𝔀𝓸𝓵𝓯 𝓣𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓻𝓼☬༒꧂

Are you afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

You should be.

You will be!

𝙄𝙇 𝙇𝙐𝙋𝙊 and 𝙆𝙄𝙇𝙇 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘾𝙐𝙍𝙀

Supernatural thrillers by Gregory Alexander Sharp, links and reviews below.

Get yours here:

Reviews

IL LUPO

A gripping supernatural thriller with deep messages!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 May 2023

Wow, I wasn't expecting all the things this novel throws at you and I loved it!

Supernatural thriller is not a genre I usually read but I'm glad I took the plunge with this as I thoroughly enjoyed all the vicissitudes of the protagonists and the various backgrounds between the UK and Italy.

We follow the story of Charlie and Nicholas (Nick), two friends that after losing touch for some years, get the chance to reconnect after the death of Nick's father. As Charlie is clearly struggling with anxiety whilst Nick wants to grief his dad properly, they launch into a journey to the Amalfi Coast where Nick's family owns a home where many holidays where spent during his childhood.

But during this journey is where the more serious problems begin and not only Charlie starts experiencing severe panick attacks but they both get involved in a series of accidents that will end up changing their lives forever!

Full of folklore and vivid descriptions of the places the characters end up, such as Pompeii and the Scottish Highlands, this was such a page turner and the story took always an unexpected turn whenever I felt confident of its direction.

I loved all the characters, and I felt sympathy even for the antagonist! The writer's ability to create such deep characters is what impressed me, together with the great description of the places and their atmosphere that it was like being there! As well as the writing flow, resembling a play with the action unfolding in front of my eyes as I was reading.

Thanks to the author for the opportunity to read it and this is my honest review.

What I enjoyed is also the deeper messages of this novel which explored mental health, grief and life's changes and the importance of addressing them and taking care of oneself, highlighting that anyone can be affected and money don't make you immune, but friendship can help, which really transpired through Charlie and Nick.

I really recommend this book and I hope for a sequel as we're left with a nice cliffhanger!

KILL AND CURE: IL LUPO 2.0

An edge of the seat ride

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2023

I read Il Lupo 2.0 with the idea that it would be like the first. I was looking forward to returning to the big sweeping storyline of the last book, a rolling literary piece. This was not the case at all. Il Lupo 2.0 was vastly different in so many ways. This, I have to add, was not a bad thing. This was great. I was constantly engaged constantly on the edge of my seat, trying to work out what was going to happen and did not guess all. The Author was now working with established characters and their relationships, and they worked through a new set of problems raised by the Werewolf curse. If you work out the twists, you are a better person than I. Especially the big one that got me totally.

This Author has written two great books with differing writing styles. What is so impressive is that he has done so, so very well. He realised that the two books needed these differing styles, and both worked so well.

He also shares a love of the subject material and brings personal experiences to his work. He deals brilliantly with personal interactions between his characters, the difficulty of friendships and mental health issues carefully and with an understanding whilst chucking a werewolf in the mix for furry fun.