#why did you resend ones you sent last month as well LOL

[stealingpotatoes]

@ the anon who just sent me like 30 asks all at once like 15 minutes ago: chill bro chill

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Chimerical

Chimerical’s stories aren’t at Gossamer, but you can now find them at AO3. If you have not read them, are you in for a treat! For instance, Regular People and Regular People Still are some of the X-Files fics I have read and re-read. You may also know Chimerical from her site Chimerical Publications, which was an extensive Mulder and David Duchovny fansite. Big thanks to Chimerical for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I’m not surprised at all that X-Files fandom is still popular, it was an amazing, creative show with iconic characters. Aside from just being entertaining, like all good Sci-Fi it asked deep, profound questions about the nature of relationships and humanity. It’s these things that people remember more than the MOWs.

However, I’m surprised to hear that my stories are still read, mostly because there is always something new, someone has a new take, and of course, we have the more recent episodes which provides all new fodder for writers, which is wonderful. But it’s super nice to hear that stories from the classic show still mean something. Also, I wasn’t a prolific writer, there are only 12 stories, but perhaps they struck a chord and people like to revisit them the way you like to re-watch a favorite episode or movie.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

Fanfic is certainly not new, but The X-Files was absolutely at the right place, at the right time. The internet was just really taking off, and it enabled fans to connect instantly in ways that hadn’t before. I remember that Fox used to send out Cease & Desist letters in an ill-considered attempt to stem fanfic because the Suits just didn’t understand what it was. Nowadays, of course, they embrace much of it, encourage it, even. Supernatural wrote whole episodes about it. But in the early days they were really stupid about it.

But what I took away from it was that great community can exist with people you have never met in person. There is a great sharing of ideas and love of great characters.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

It’s true, no Facebook, twitter, tiktok – it seems strange!

But I connected to fandom though the old Usenet message boards, you couldn’t wait until the episode was over until you could leap on and start discussing the episode. And it was painful if you were on the west coast as I was because you would get spoiled. In truth, it wasn’t must different than Twitter, just without the character limitation. But it was rather the wild, wild, west, no moderators and no terms of service. It could be a free-for-all, and some of the disagreements were legendary! For writing, certainly ATXC was the big dog for fic, and of course alt.tv.x-files for discussion. There were many different Yahoo Groups and AOL mailing lists, that catered to interests in fanfic (Friendship/Adult/Slash) or to the characters and/or actors.

But frankly, the main thing I remember was what a complete PITA it was to just get anything posted. There were all these size limitations and ASCII issues that don’t exist today, you had font and formatting limitations, which cause people to get weirdly creative with italics, bolding, quotes and so on. And you had to break your story up in weird way simply to jam it into the email because there were size limitations. And it never failed that no matter how many Beta Reads you had, you didn’t see that last damn typo until AFTER you hit the send button. There was no edit button, all you could do resend the whole damn thing. It was the fanfic version of the 20 mile walk to school through the snow……Kids today have it so easy!  LOL….

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Actors are, and always will be, the face of the show. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are amazing actors, and the nuance they brought each week was a wonder.

But one of the things that the X-Files also did was make people aware of the people behind the scenes, the showrunners, the writers, the directors. This was also something new. For most TV dramas, most people couldn’t tell you who wrote an episode if you had a gun to their head.

But people knew the writers like Vince Gilligan, James Wong, Darin Morgan, and of course Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. And they knew the directors, Rob, Chris and the late great, Kim Manners.. It was like a repertory company. You could count on Morgan & Wong for the creepy, you could count of Vince Gilligan for the humor and relationship stuff, you could count on Darin Morgan for the “what the hell was that, but I loved it.”

So I guess what I took away was a deep appreciation for the craft, for the work. This carried over to other fandoms. I’m more aware of the creative team beyond the actors.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

Believe it not, I didn’t watch at the beginning. I’ve always been a Sci-Fi fan but for some reason this wasn’t on my radar. I came in about the middle of Season 1. I was channel surfing and stopped the X-Files, it was the episode “Ice.”  I won’t lie, I stopped because I saw David Duchovny in a henley and I’m never one to pass by an attractive man. But as I watched, I became intrigued by these two characters, and their conflicted relationship with each other, even though I didn’t really know what was really going on. But I had to know more. That’s good writing, where you can walk in half-way through an episode and be captured.

I immediately checked out the old AOL Service forums and found a group. Of course, back then, there was no streaming, there was no BitTorrent. So, you just had to wait until when and if the network decided to show a repeat, which meant you were screwed if you were trying to catch up. But someone on one of the boards offered to send me VHS tapes of the episodes of missed. That’s fandom as its best - I’m excited about this and I want to share it with you. So in about a week I was caught up and hooked. I had to see how these two people’s story turned out.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I’ve always written as a hobby, taken many writing classes, have always written short stories, worked on a novel or two. I’ve got friends who are writers by profession. But the closest I ever came to doing it professionally was co-writing a play that ran for a month off Broadway many years ago, so I’m a dabbler, at best. I’m a big reader, and good stories always make me think, “well, what if this happened….”

So, X-Files wasn’t my first fanfic rodeo. I had been involved in Quantum Leap fandom and Beauty and the Beast, some Star Trek. Once I good hooked on the show, I immediately began searching out fanfic. But it took me a long time before I wrote anything. I’m not sure why, perhaps I was waiting to see where the story went. But X-Files was different in that it blended one of my favorite genres with a truly compelling relationship story. And I don’t just mean romance, it was a melding of two entirely different ways of looking at the world that was captivating. Scully was so strong and Mulder so complex, how could you not love them.

So, I enjoy writing, I learn from it. I learn from the feedback, both good and bad. I’ve never understood fanfic writers who say “just sent me nice feedback.”  No one loves criticism, and not all criticism is valid. But you learn from it. I’ve had people tell me they hadn’t looked at an episode from that point of view and they like it - and I’ve had people tell me that I didn’t know what I was doing, everyone knew that Scully would never cuss (to which I say, please, she grew up on military bases!)  But it helps you improve.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

It was a period of my life I cherish because I met some friends who are still my friends to this day, all these years later because we found other things in common besides a show. It was great to share ideas and debate storylines. And it was a fun, creative, and exciting time. Each episode was must-see and then talking to my friends about it later was the best part.

I started to drift away when David Duchovny left the show. I thought then, and still think, they should have called it a day because the beating heart of that show was Mulder and Scully together. You can’t rip out half the heart and expect the patient to live. On an intellectual level, I got why Duchovny left, I got why Anderson stayed and I got that Fox was a fledging network back then and XF was a cash cow. But on an emotional level, it all turned upside down, especially when the much-promised “search for Mulder” never really happened.

Fans got angry. They were angry at David for leaving, they were angry at Gillian for staying, and they were angry at poor Robert Patrick, perfectly decent person, for merely existing. It got ugly and I got up caught up in that. Frankly, I was as much to blame as anyone in carrying on stupid arguments about crap that didn’t matter. And one day I just realized I’d let all the joy be sucked away, and this just wasn’t who I wanted to be, or how I wanted to spend my time. So, I took a break, I still watched the show as it limped on, but I disconnected from the fandom part of it. And by the time I’d had my break, the show was done!

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I’m always a fan. There are many shows I’ve followed and liked, Supernatural, Fringe, Walking Dead, but I don’t get involved in the internet drama. So, I don’t get as invested.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I assume you mean besides Mulder and Scully!  In literature, My favorite writer is John Steinbeck and every character he created was indelible and singular. East of Eden is my favorite book and the characters of Adam & Caleb Trask, as well as Cathy Ames are so well drawn.  Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, they’re all perfect.  Another favorite book and character is Alexandre’s Demas, The Count of Monte Cristo.  The arc that Edmond Dantès’ life take is quite Mulder-esque.  And of course, Harry Potter, I’m a sucker for a character fighting against overwhelming odds.

On TV, Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap.  That was an amazingly well-crafted series, also featuring a female show runner, Deborah Pratt.  I love the character of Raymond Reddington on The Blacklist, there is something about a completely unapologetic bad guy. I would have once said Dean and Sam Winchester, but sadly that turned into a case of staying too long at the fair and I stopped watching a couple seasons ago - But the early seasons rocked. Literally every single character in M*A*S*H was golden, and they knew when to call it quits. Thomas Magnum from the original Magnum PI. (People my age will still remember the “Did you see the Sun Rise, Ivan” episode!)

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

Oddly enough, a few weeks before you reached out to me, I watched the X-Files movie again. I remembered the incredible excitement when it came out. Fox did this tour across the county; it was like a mini-con. But I remember they had the trailer on a loop and my friends and I sat through it so many times we could recite the entire thing by heart. TV shows, such as Star Trek, had made the leap to movie, but I don’t believe a TV show had ever made the leap to films while the show was still on TV. But damn, it was good.

I watched the two recent XF mini-series. They did much to revive the old feeling, especially the episodes by Darin Morgan, who is a national treasure. And it was wonderful to see David, Gillian and Mitch. I’m sorry there won’t be more.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I haven’t in quite a while. Mostly because real life has interfered (work, personal stuff, Covid) over this last year and I have trouble concentrating. But I would certainly return to it, you need the escape of a good story.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Oh yes! But they were all from the time I was writing. Lydia Bower, DashaK, BlueSwirl, XFBandit, Paula Graves, Taverl, Prufrock’s Love, and dozens of other are still on my PC.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Like children, they each have their virtues but some may be harder to love than others. While I love a good smutty MSR, I was also a big fan of conflict resolution. So, I’m going to cheat and split the baby here. Based on feedback, I’d have to day my most popular story was Regular People and its sequel. And I really enjoyed writing that. It’s simple, it’s sweet, it’s what I hope for Mulder and Scully. The chance to just BE, if only for a while.

I wanted to try a slash story, so Wind River. That story was inspired by the murder of Matthew Shepard. I have dear friends in the gay community and I was so angry that this could happen in this country, so that one was about the need to treat people compassionately and who better to do that than Mulder and Scully.

But in truth, my own favorite is one that didn’t get much attention, called Rock Bottom. I wanted to explore that the fact Mulder and Scully, were, on occasion, just truly awful to each other and yet still reason to come back together.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I have a couple unfinished stories. There’s one from Quantum Leap, I want to finish first and when that’s done, I would like to finish the two X-Files that are half-baked.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I do legal writing as a profession now, so I write all day long, but analyzing a case or a legal matter is not the same creatively and I do miss that, so I see returning someday, you need to feed your soul.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Well that’s all over the place, much like my mind! Often I was inspired by something I thought was unaddressed in the episodes. That’s where the Just One series came from. Or it’s a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern kind of thing -- That is, what’s happening off screen while the main action is going on. I find that intriguing, and that’s where Risking Everything came from. The incident in By Coincidence actually happened to a friend of a friend and I thought it would make good fodder. Pentimento came to me following a lecture I attended at a gallery, what happens when you peel back the layers you thought were true. You never know what’s going to connect.

What's the story behind your pen name?

“Chimerical” means existing  as the product of unchecked imagination, given to unrealistic flights of fantasy- which seemed right for a fiction writer, especially for XF. In the early days, it became the phonetic “KiMeriKal” when I was on the old AOL service simply because Chimerical wasn’t available as a screen name! But I’m finally Chimerical1975@gmail.com!

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

Yes, my friends are aware, some of them have been my betas over the years. My brother knows I write, but I don’t think he’s ever read anything because he would find the smut elements uncomfortable coming from his little sister!

Is there a place online (Tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

The most recent versions of my stories are at AO3. If I ever get around to anything new it will be posted there as well.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Thanks for reading, thanks for remembering me, and it was a great time in my life. Fandoms are great communities as long as we can always remember there’s a human being at the other end of the keyboard.  Be kind, be compassionate, and never stop imagining the possibilities.

(Posted by Lilydale on February 23, 2021)

[shhhlikeme]

hii! i saw you’re a new writer and your style is frickin awesome!! could you write a tanaka x black reader who’s also a cheerleader on a lvl 4 team and it’s his first time seeing her compete?!?! please and thank you!

Tanaka Seeing His All-Star Cheerleader GF Compete For The First Time! (Fluff)

———————————

A/N: Thank you for resending this🥺🤍🤍🤍 of COURSE! Let’s go on a trip to the should-have-happened 2020 Cheerleading Worlds:

———————————

“Babe!!! I’m so excited to see you!!!” Your boyfriend exclaimed into the phone. You had to hold the phone a few centimetres away from your ear because his voice was just so loud when he was excited.

“Me too, baby. We are about to start warming up soon. Did you find a spot to sit? You’re not too far back, are you? Because you can buy a pair of binoculars-“

“NO NEED! Second row, baby.”

You gasped, surprised. “What?? But you came a bit late, didn’t you? Those seats would have been taken for hours!”

“Are you questioning the powers of your boyfriend, Y/N?! All we had to do was make our way to the front audience and before you knew it two seats just opened up—“

We. Oh, right.

You remembered that Tanaka had brought his best friend Noya to Florida with him for the Cheerleading Worlds. Being well aware of how your bf and his friend are together , you immediately understood how they were able to find two seats in the front.

“Now I get it. Nishinoya bothered the other girls so much they relocated...” You had seen it first-hand at outdoor concerts with Nishi and Tanaka. Nishinoya has become even more girl crazy since his friend got off the market, he really wanted a girlfriend so he could go on double dates with you two instead of feeling like the perpetual third wheel.

“Huh? What matters is that we got a spot, Y/N!” Called a distant voice that you knew was Noya’s.

You rolled your eyes even though they couldn’t see it.

“Babe, I’m so glad you came, you know that right? Thank you so much!!” Your heart swelled every time you thought about the fact that your man literally booked a surprise trip to Florida from Japan to see you at the biggest competition in your entire life! You found out he was here last night—in a hotel far away because they were all booked up for worlds—But, he was here nonetheless. He didn’t want to shock you at the actual competition in case it altered your mind.

“I told you I’d be there!” He said.

“Yes but I didn’t believe you!! It’s a 15-hour flight!”

“That’s exactly why I brought my Noya with me! We had a blast on the flight. I just can’t wait to see you compete!” Your boyfriend quieted then, and you could hear the smile in voice when he said, “Plus, Noya wanted to be here for [YBF/N aka Your Best Friends Name].”

Noya shouted: ‘shut up, Tanaka!” in the distance and you laughed.

This is the first time that your cheer gym has ever qualified for Worlds and when your team had been given an invitation the lot of you cried for a week straight. Your boyfriend had sent you a singing telegram in celebration. It was hilarious and you loved him for it.

“That silly crush still going strong, huh Yuu?”

There were sounds of bustling in the phone then you heard Yuu loud and clear.

“It’s not silly Y/N. I’ll tell you that for the last time!”

“Tanaka told me you just asked out the hotel receptionist last night!!!”

“Because YBF/N-chan rejects me every day! I gotta make her jealous somehow!”

You heard rustling again and and an ‘Ow!’ from Noya before your boyfriends comforting voice entered the phone speaker again.

“Babe. Don’t let Noya drag you into their drama again. I need you to focus on your cheer comp. You kill it out there. Tell them if they drop you they’re gonna hear from me and blow me a kiss if you can.”

You blushed. You felt so insanely happy every time he encouraged you because he knew you so well and he was the best at it. You literally adored the man.

After speaking a little longer, your loving goodbyes and hanging up, Tanaka left to get snacks for himself and Noya while Noya held their seats

Ryu loved junk food and he loved his girlfriend so today was a perfect day

He knew It was a great idea to surprise you in Florida for the most important day of your life because he wanted you to know that nothing was more special to him than your happiness

On the way to Worlds from the hotel, Tanaka had annoyed Yuu to no end because he had tried to empty out the gift shop in search for an after-competition present for you

Noya swatted everything out of his hands, telling him that you were not on your death bed so the ‘get well soon’ teddybear was a no no & that he’d look lame with it

Not caring but kind of listening, Tanaka settled on picking up a bouquet of yellow roses for you because that was your uniform colour and he got your favourite candy.

Noya rolled his eyes but deep down he was so happy that his best friend had found the greatest love the two of them had ever seen

Seeing Y/N and Tanaka together made Yuu actually want to feel the kind of love his best friend felt for you and stop being such a player.

He had seen how much Tanaka had changed since meeting you, and it was incredible that his high-spirited best friend even had more notches to ascend

After retrieving the snacks, Tanaka returned to the stands and handed Nishinoya’s his order

They watched about 4 other teams perform before the announcer announced your team as next!!!

Tanaka cheered so loudly like a proud father

Nishinoya like a proud uncle

Your team ran on stage and you were holding hands with your best friend while waving to the audience

when you caught sight of your buzz cut baby in the crowd you pointed to him and blew him a big kiss

He pointed to his shirt with a huge smile and you could see that he was wearing a white t-shirt with your face on it in a cheer selfie

Omg lol

Honestly, Did you expect anything less?

Tanaka’s heart soared when you pointed him out, though he would never admit it, and his cheeks were hurting from smiling so wide!!!

He had never seen you perform not once before and he couldn’t wait to see you in your element!

When the lights shut off the libero and wing spiker started chanting your name in unison and whooping like they do while watching NFL.

Tanaka’s heart was beating through his chest because he was so nervous for you! Cheerleading was nothing like volleyball— while his volleyball team had 3 sets and over an hour to win a game, his beautiful girlfriend only had 2 minutes to leave everything on the floor that’s she and her team had been practicing months for and then it was all over.

Ryūnosuke watched as your team got into position.

His eyes glued themselves to you in a dance position to the far right

Since videotaping at the Cheerleading Worlds was strictly prohibited, he had practiced not blinking staring competitions with Noya last night so he wouldn’t miss a second of your performance!

He stood on his toes as to not let you out of his sight. He wanted to see your big ponytail all the way down to your toes. The whole nine yards.

Noya tried standing on the chair but he got hissed at so he jumped back down lol

Tanaka cheered one last time when he saw you take one last deep breath

“Game Time, Y/N! YOU GOT THIS BABE”

In a beat, the up-beat loud music started and you were going.

Tanaka was in awe of you and the incredible sport

Everything went so fast he was sure if he tried he’d have a heart attack from working to hard

He saw you whip your body backwards in series of difficult flips

He watched you jump into your bases hands and get tossed so high in the air that his heart stopped

He watched you stand tall in the air with only one guy holding you up while holding your toes beside your ear flexibly (partner stunts)

He watched the team move into a triangle and jump all at once hearing the crowd go:

“Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit! Pull!”

Then, he watched your team make a human pyramid! But it was so much more elaborate than the 3-person one he’d seen on tv shows:

What Tanaka expected:

Vs. What Tanaka saw:

Finally, he got to watch you in his favourite part: the sassy high energy dance at the end

Tanaka was flabbergasted because he never knew you were so much of an athlete (no offence meant, that’s what most people think before they witness competitive cheerleading)

When your team finished he cheered so loudly for you and so did Nishi

The energy in the crowd was unbelievable!!!

You looked out of breath and beautiful standing in your end position

To Tanaka, Cheerleading looked harder than volleyball!

And more dangerous.

It was like watching a Cirque de Soleil performance if it was on steroids and fast forwarded.....he loved it!!!

Tanaka wanted to run on stage when your team finished but he kept his cool and waited

After the comp and award ceremony (your team didn’t place) Tanaka was the first to run and pick you up into his arms in a big bear hug

He told you how proud he was of you and squeezed you and kissed your cheek

Even though you were sad, you couldn’t help but giggle in his embrace

All of your teammates were jealous of how cute you two were and how amazing your bf was to come all the way to America just to see you

Especially when Noya handed Tanaka who handed you the beautiful yellow roses and candy he bought for you

Everyone wished they had a boyfriend like yours as you took cute pictures together (some with Ryu kissing your cheek, giving you a piggy back, and the two of you kissing)

All pic credits go to Nishinoya who takes it way too seriously but you love him anyway

Tanaka explained to you how awesome you guys did and it literally made you forget about your loss and just smile

It was important you were happy because that meant you could enjoy the rest of the Florida trip with your best boy !!

Even Noya had a pretty great happily ever after on this trip because YBF/N was so impressed by the shirt he made with her face on it.

Go big or go home was definitely your bf’s best friend’s speciality and your best friend actually agreed to go on a date with him after seeing it

Ryu gave his Libero a thumbs up before leaning down to kiss you

He held you lovingly in his strong arms

All in all, you were ecstatic to have your man at your competition and Ryu was even happier than you to be there.

[bookish-wanderer]

Hello, hello, hello!

It’s just the beginning of May and the month’s been promising already. Well…at least on my bookish notes. 😛

To begin with, bookish subscription boxes have been my ultimate kryptonite since I started trying out some of them and now I’m officially, uncontrollably, helplessly obsessed with them. As you can see, I’ve got a brand-new section on my blog dedicating to all the future bookish unboxing posts. THAT is the proof of my wholeheartedness. LOL

Therefore, please let me present you with my second and unfortunately, last box from Books that Matter, an U.K.-based bookish subscription box company. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still satisfied with everything in their boxes, but due to some personal reasons (I’ll elaborate later in the post), I won’t place any order from them.

April’s theme: Black Women’s History

According to Books that Matter’s cue card, April is widely recognized as Black Women’s History Month. Thus, everything curated in the box is inspired by the book, which I’ll be showing by the end of the unboxing. Aside from that, the biggest difference is the cardboard of the box. Starting from April, Books that Matter will use the brown cardboard as shown in the picture above because it’s more eco-friendly and recyclable. I don’t know you, but I prefer the original white box (the bottom one) since it’s more beautiful visually. Although I’ve seen white boxes floating around in others’ May unboxings, I’m not sure if the team’s changed their mind.

  Bird & Blend Tea Bag: Nearly Nirvana

The first thing included in the box is a tea bag from an U.K. indie tea company called Bird & Blend, and the flavor I got is Nearly Nirvana (what a cool name!), a “luxury white silver needle tea with spiritual spearmint & heavenly jasmine, to help you reach nirvana.” Huh, sounds quite appealing to me! I haven’t tried the tea yet but I certainly will do. 🙂

“Am I enough? I am enough.” Notebook

This notebook is created exclusively for this box and it’s inspired by the book of the month. Apparently, if you looked closer to the back of the notebook, you’d see the title of the book, which isn’t that mysterious anymore. :’D By the way, this is a small, blank pages notepad and I sure will use it someday. 🙂

“Nevertheless, she persisted.” Bookmark

“Nevertheless, she persisted.” is a quote I’m absolutely fond of even though I have no idea who said that initially. The only thing I know about this expression is that it’s adopted by the feminist movement, especially in the United States. I’ve seen many t-shirts, tote bags, bookmarks, mugs, and other merchandises with this quote printed on them and somehow, these words empower me. Hence, I love this adorable bookmark with the powerful quote and cute polka dots decoration. ❤

Books that Matter exclusive tote bag

Aye, if you’ve read my March Books that Matter Unboxing, you’d know that I sort of was determined NOT to get this April box because I wanted to save money for another bookish box. The main reason I changed my mind is because of this tote bag right here. I am a huge lover of bookish totes, especially if there were bookish quotes or illustration on them. As a result, when I saw the sneak peek of April’s supplier on Books that Matter Instagram, I knew I had to get my hands on this box. *sigh, no self-control whatsoever* Gladly, this tote bag is bigger than I imagined and I LOVE the design, which is the same as their front cover of the box!

Book of the Month: QUEENIE by Candice Carty-Williams

Lookie, lookie, everyone! It’s finally the book of the month and much to my surprise, A LOT OF PEOPLE have this one on their most anticipated TBR in 2019! I honestly haven’t heard anything about this book, not even the book itself, until I got this in the box. What shocked me most is the fact that this box included the first edition HARDCOVER of the book! I’m positive by the time the subscribers got their books, it wasn’t officially released yet, which was a huge privilege to most of us. 😀 The books in April’s box came in three colors, bright pink, orange, and blue. I’m truly happy that I have the blue one because I think it’s the prettiest among all three of them. ❤

Anyways, I’m still in awe how amazing this April Books that Matter box is because a) I actually used a discount code and only paid £18.8 rather than the typical £20 for this box and b) this hardback copy of the book costs pretty much the same price as the entire box so I honestly don’t know how everything functions over there. :O Once again, I’m amazed by the incredible curation for this box and I really appreciate that there’s nothing useless in Books that Matter box.

  Last Box from Books that Matter and this is why…

That being said, let’s talk about why I won’t get more boxes in the future. As you can see, I absolutely adore the items included in Books that Matter box and I’m devastated to make this decision. The biggest issue I have with this box (and their company) is their customer service. Their customer service representatives constantly show poor attitude when dealing with customers’ problems.

Earlier in April, I’ve tried contacted them via the email they provided on the website and received nothing. I then contacted them on Facebook (both the Facebook page AND their readers’ group) and still got no reply from anyone. I was asking for a tracking number since my box didn’t arrive at the usual delivery date and I wasn’t sure if my order was valid since I placed it quite late in March when they usually ship their boxes on the first day of the next month. And then I messaged them on Instagram, and FINALLY, the owner of the box replied to me…after a couple of days.

Untimely response aside, what I didn’t appreciate was the fact that she kept insisting on having sent an email regarding my problem days ago but I was 100% sure I didn’t receive it. She said “we definitely sent it” and somehow that sounded pretty defensive to me but whatever, I asked her to resend. I knew she read the message some time later that day, but I didn’t know if she actually did anything about it. Thankfully, I got my package before having to correspond with her again. *PHEW*

Interestingly, I was not the only one who’s disappointed by their customer service. I’ve seen other subscribers trying to reach out to them on social media platforms but to no avail. There were some complaints about their service on their Facebook page in that “Would you recommend this shop?” section (or is it called the “Reviews?”) and that part was taken down after the negative feedbacks were posted. *Dang it! I should’ve screenshotted it so I can better prove my point.*

I didn’t know why the company wouldn’t respect others’ opinions openly and instead, they chose to gaslight these people. *shrugs* Anyway, I personally value the customer service, the after-sales service much more than the products or creativity or popularity of the business. It makes no sense to me if everything is perfect in a book box when the team behind all the hard-work shows terrible attitude towards the customers with questions/unfavorable opinions. Therefore, this is why I won’t be getting any of Books that Matter’s future boxes, no matter how amazing they may seem. *Sealed the deal!*

  All in all, if you’re still here, thank you very much for being so patient with all my ramblings! Please let me know what you think about this box, the bookish merch inside, or your thought about my decision for not buying anything from them. All comments are welcome! ❤

Happy Sunday!

Jasmine 🙂

Bookish Unboxing | Books that Matter April: Black Women’s History Month (+why this is my last box from them) Hello, hello, hello! It's just the beginning of May and the month's been promising already. Well...at least on my bookish notes.