#writer: karen lord

[shadow-words]

Book Review: The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

I really liked this romantic science fiction novel. This review is a repost, and can be found on Goodreads.

The Best of All Possible Worlds involves a science fiction setting vaguely reminiscent of Ursula LeGuin’s Hainish novels (mostly because the worldbuilding involves a loose federation of related humanoid species). Our protagonist is a woman named Delarua who has the task of assisting refugees settling on her home planet. During the course of the novel, she has various adventures and eventually…

[virgininorbit]

no man will never understand the importance of drying off at the end of ur bathtub after an everything shower and listening to the women of the 70s

[garfieldblunt]

Modern Jobs I think the VDL Gang would have

Dutch - Drug Lord Prolly - but as a real answer I feel like he would Definitely be the leader of a shitty MEGA church

Hosea - I imagine him either as a therapist or a preschool/elementary teacher - Or even better, Number one Bingo Player in the retirement home

Arthur - Funny enough, I can't see him being more than a ranch hand

John - He's a good ranch owner - He, Arthur, Abi, Jack, n a few others live on a big ranch and live happily ever after

Mary-Beth - She's a librarian, author, and frequent AO3 visitor - can't convince me other wise, She has one of the best fanfictions on WattPad I just know it

Abigail - My heart and soul tells me that Abi would be an illustrator for children's books - or a stay at home mom

Kieran - My little Princess Pupcup is getting his degree in Equine science and becoming a veterinarian for horsies

Micah - Hitman or Dishwasher no in between

Bill - Gas Station clerk - Or I can also imagine him working with Kieran with the horses

Javier - Performer, duh - He does a lot of side gigs and plays at cafes on the reg - I can also imagine him being a Spanish tutor for kids

Susan - Let's be honest, she's the principal of a high school or middle school - any other answer is wrong (/j)

Lenny - He's also a writer, but he's not a fanfiction writer like Mary-Beth - I can also imagine him visiting Mary-Beth's library and reading to the kids on Sundays <3

Sean - Youtuber/ Twitch Streamer - need I say more???

Swanson - AA leader - He's also probably trying to get people to stop joining Dutch's MEGA church

Pearson - He's a chef for the Retirement Home that Hosea is bound to - He also works for the local soup kitchen

Karen - I can see her being a dance performer - not like a stripper, but more like ballet or even musical theater

Charles - State trooper at a National Park - No further questions

Tilly - I just imagine her as such a good lawyer like her husband - She's defiantly someone who can talk her client out of the death penalty if needed

Uncle - His job is to park his ass in a rocking chair and Bother John til the day he dies

[specialagentartemis]

Black Women writing SFF

The post about Octavia Butler also made me think about the injustice we do both Butler, SFF readers, and Black women SFF writers by holding her up as the one Black Woman Writing Sci-Fi. She occupies an important place in the genre, for her creativity, the beauty and impact of her writing, and her prolific work... but she's still just one writer, and no one writer works for everybody.

So whether you liked Octavia Butler's books or didn't, here are some of the (many!!! this list is just the authors I've read and liked, or been recommended and been wanting to read) other Black women writing speculative fiction aimed at adults, who might be writing something within your interest:

N. K. Jemisin - a prolific powerhouse of modern sff. Will probably have something you'll like. Won three Hugo awards in a row for her Broken Earth trilogy. I’ve only read her book of short stories, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? and it is absolutely story after story of bangers. Creative, chilling, beautifully written, make you think. They’re so good and I highly recommend the collection. Several of her novels have spun out of premises she first explored through these short stories, most recently “The City Born Great” giving rise to her novel The City We Became. Leans more fantasy than sci-fi, but has a lot of both, in various permutations. 

Nisi Shawl - EDIT: I have been informed that Nisi Shawl identifies as genderfluid, not as a woman. They primarily write short stories that lean literary. Their one novel that I’ve read, Everfair, is an alternate-history 19th century that asks, what if the Congo had fought off European colonization and became a free and independent African state? Told in vignettes spanning decades of political organization, political movements, war tactics, and social development, among an ensemble of local African people, Black Americans coming to the new country, white and mixed-race Brits, and Chinese immigrants who came as British laborers.

Nnedi Okorafor - American-Nigerian writer of Africanfuturism, sci-fi stories emphasizing life in present, future, and alternate-magical Africa. She has range! From Binti, a trilogy of novellas about a teenage girl in Namibia encountering aliens and balancing her newfound connection to space with expectations of her family; to Akata Witch, a middle-grade series about a Nigerian-American girl moving to Nigeria and learning to use magic powers she didn’t know she had; to Who Fears Death, a brutal depiction of magical-realism in a futuristic, post-war Sudan; to short stories like "Africanfuturism 419", about that poor Nigerian prince who’s desperately sending out those emails looking for help (but with a sci-fi twist), and "Mother of Invention" about a smart house taking care of its human and her baby… she’s done a little bit of everything, but always emphasizes the future, the science, and the magic of (usually western) Africa.

Karen Lord - an Afro-Caribbean author.  I actually didn’t particularly like the one novel by her I’ve read, The Best of All Possible Worlds, but Martha Wells did, so. Lord has more novels set in this world—a Star Trek-esque multicultural, multispecies spacefuture set on a planet that has welcomed immigrants and refugees for a long time, and become a vibrant multicultural planet. I find her stories rooted in near-future Caribbean socio-climatic concerns like "Haven" and "Cities of the Sun" and her folktale-fantasy style Redemption in Indigo more compelling.  And more short stories here.

Bethany C. Morrow - only has one novella (short novel?) for adults, Mem, but it was creative and fascinating and good and I’d be remiss not to shout it out. In an alternate-history 1920s Toronto, scientists have discovered how to extract specific memories from a person—but then those memories are embodied as physical, cloned manifestations of the person at the moment the memory was made. The main character is one such “Mem,” struggling to determine who she is if she was created from and defined by one single traumatic memory that her original-self wanted to remove. It’s mostly quiet, contemplative, and very interesting.  (Morrow has some YA novels too. I read one of them and thought it was okay.)

Rebecca Roanhorse - Afro-Indigenous, Black and "Spanish Indian" and married into Diné (Navajo). I’ve read her ongoing post-apocalyptic fantasy series starting with Trail of Lightning, and am liking it a lot; after a climate catastrophe, the spirits and magic of the Diné awakened to protect Dinetah (the Navajo Nation) from the onslaught; and now magic and monsters are part of life in this fundamentally changed world. Coyote is there and he is only sometimes helpful. She also has a more traditional second-world epic high fantasy, Black Sun, an elaborate fantasy world with quests and prophecies and seafaring adventure that draws inspiration from Indigenous cultures of the US and Mexico rather than Europe. She also has bitingly satirical and very incisive short stories like “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” about virtual reality and cultural tourism, and the fantasy-horror "Harvest."

Micaiah Johnson - her multiverse-hopping novel The Space Between Worlds plays with alternate universes and alternate selves in a continuously creative and interesting way! The setup doesn’t take the easy premise that one universe is our own recognizable one that opens up onto strange alternate universes—even the main character’s home universe is wildly different in speculative ways, with the MC coming from a Mad Max-esque desert community abandoned to the elements, while working for the universe-travel company within the climate-controlled walled city where the rich and well-connected live and work. Also, it’s unabashedly gay. 

And if you like audiobooks and audio fiction (I listened to The Space Between Worlds as an audiobook, it’s good), then Jordan Cobb is someone you should check out. She does sci-fi/horror/thriller audio drama. Her works include Janus Descending, a lyrical and eerie sci-fi horror about a small research expedition to a distant planet and how it went so, so wrong; and Descendants, the sequel about its aftermath. She also has Primordial Deep, about a research expedition to the deep undersea, to investigate the apparent re-emergence of a lot of extinct prehistoric sea creatures. She’s a writer/producer I like, and always follow her new releases. Her detailed prose, minimal casts  (especially in Janus Descending), good audio quality, and full-series supercuts make these welcoming to audiobook fans. 

-

Nalo Hopkinson - a writer who should be considered nearly as foundational as Octavia Butler, honestly. A novelist and short story writer with a wide variety of sci-fi, dystopian futures, fairy-tale horror, gods and epics, and space Carnival, drawing heavily from her Caribbean experiences and aesthetics.

Tananarive Due - fantastical/horror. Immortals, vampires, curses, altered reality, unnerving mystery. Also has written a lot of books.

Andrea Hairston - creative and otherworldly, weird and bisexual, with mindscapes and magic and aliens. 

Helen Oyeyemi - I haven’t read her work but she comes highly recommended by a friend. A novelist and short story writer, most of her work leans fairytale fantastical-horror. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a collection of short fiction and recc’ed to me as her best work. White is for Witching is a well-regarded haunted house novel. 

Ashia Monet - indie author, writer of The Black Veins, pitched as “the no-love-interest, found family adventure you’ve been searching for.” Magic road trip! Possibly YA? I’m not positive. 

-

This also doesn’t include Black non-binary sff authors I’ve read and liked like An Owomoyela, C. L. Polk, and Rivers Solomon. And this is specifically about adult sff books, so I didn’t include Black women YA sff authors like Kalynn Bayron, Tomi Adeyemi, Tracy Deonn, Justina Ireland, or Alechia Dow, though they’re writing fantasy and sci-fi in the YA world too.

And a lot of short stories are out there in the online magazine world, where so many up and coming authors get their start, and established ones explore offbeat and new ideas.  Pick up an issue (or a subscription!) of FIYAH magazine for the most current Black speculative writing.

[c0rvidfagg0try]

Wishlist for 9-1-1 S8:

Ravi Begins plz plz plz hes so clearly a member of the family now PLEASE

just more ravi in general tbh

Bucktommy thriving

Bucktommy fade to black sex scene like Buck’s had with the other ppl hes been with

Tommy comforting Buck through a hard day

Tommy and the rest of the 118 bonding (specifically Chim and Hen)

Christopher gone for like the first half or less of the season while Eddie finds himself (possible Eddie gay but also just eddie gets a hobby besides punching ppl)

The 118 annoying the fuck out of Gerrard

MAY GRANT PLEASE COME BACK YOU ARE EVERYTHING TO MEEEE

We learn what May’s doing in college and it is in fact that shes trying to become a doctor (personal HC i have cuz of tsunami arc)

Possible Buck Pride Month things

Bathena not going through anymore trauma plz dear lord

I want Michael and David back so bad this is probably just wishful thinking but i want it

BOBBY AND BUCK TALK ABT THEM BEING FATHER AND SON PLEASE GOD

Possible acknowledgment of Chris being Bucks other dad

Possible Buddie divorce era 2.0 becuz chris talks to buck and not eddie

BRING THE WILL BACK UP PPL WE HVE SAT ON THIS FOR TOO LONG!!!!

MARA BACK WITH THE WILSONS AND COUNCILWOMAN ORTIZ THROWN IN JAILLLLL

Maddie and Chim being happy and in loveeee and also more Jee

Karen and Eddie bonding im begging u writers

Might add more to this at a later date i have so many wishes

[verlierer-is-lost]

I have looked past so many issues concerning Tommy. I tried. I tried so damn hard to like him. Hell I was even willing to tolerate him as a love interest. Is he way more boring than Abby and Taylor combined? Maybe. Am I annoyed they brought back a character who was complicit in racism and sexism? Oh 100%. But I was willing to accept that maybe he could change. I mean I do love a good shipping war, a little bit of drama gives us character development. I’ve been in fandoms that are way more toxic than this one.

And you know what, to a certain extent I get BuckTommy shippers. I too have been a fan of the lesser popular ship in a fandom, and I’ve had to fight for it with my dying breath. I mean a lot of y’all are crazy, but hey who doesn’t get a little insane during a shipping war.

But holy mother of Jesus tonight was a hard watch. I mean I REALLY tried to ignore the parts of BuckTommy I didn’t like. At this point I’ve stopped trying to convince myself to enjoy it, and rather to tolerate it. But like… a daddy kink joke? Really?? I’m not even trying to kink shame here, it was just such horrible timing. Not to mention is there relationship even developed enough to justify it? The worst part about the BuckTommy situation is that I don’t think it’d be such a disliked ship if the writers would just commit to giving him some better writing, rather than letting him say weird lines that feel undeserved.

Look… i honestly want Tommy gone by next season. If he stays(which he’s probably going to) can the writers make him worth our time?? Are they giving him so little screen time because he’s gay? It can’t be that, Hen and Karen are lesbians and they’re the most interesting canon couple in the show. So what is it??? I’m not even asking for Tommy to be perfect, he can have flaws(lord knows Eddie has enough flaws to go around). So if he has to stay, give us an actual reason to like him. If BuckTommy has to be endgame, don’t waste my fucking time with weird ass jokes. Either give him better writing for S8, or just cut him out of the show.

[laddersofsweetmisery]

My former English professor is retiring and gave away a bunch of the books in her office. She's a gem. I giddily returned to campus just to sort through her collection. Super excited about the ones I brought home with me. I thought someone else might appreciate some of the books I found.

I've already began poring over the poetry collections, but what should I read first? Are there any that you guys have read that you highly recommend?

Books included in Photo 1:

● Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Alta Edition includin Persuasion)

● Robert Burns by David Daiches

● Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

● Leigh Hunt's What is Poetry? by Albert S. Cook

● Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister by Aphra Behn

● Virginia Woolf: A Biography by Quentin Bell

● Holy Madness: Romantics, Patriots, and Revolutionaries 1776-1871 by Adam Zamoyski

● Earnest Victorians by Robert A. Rosenbaum

● Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals by Lord Byron, Leslie A. Marchand (Editor)

Books Included in Photo 2:

● Orlando by Virginia Woolf

● Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

● The Portable Irish Reader, (The Viking portable library) by Diarmuid Russell

● The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

● Becoming a Heroine by Rachel M. Brownstein

● To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf

● East Lynne by Ellen Wood, writing as Mrs Henry Wood

● Poetry and Prose of Alexander Pope edited by Aubrey Williams

● In Memoriam; An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism (Norton Critical Editions) by Alfred Tennyson

● Daughters and Fathers by Lynda E. Boose, Betty S. Flowers

Books Included in Photo 3:

● Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

● A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne

● Goblin Market and Other Poems by Christina Rossetti (Dover Thrift Editions)

● Sound the Deep Waters: Women's Romantic Poetry in the Victorian Age includes works by Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, Alice Meynell, and Edith Nesbit

● The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

● The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Thomas Hoobler and Dorothy Hoobler

● Wordsworth and the Poetry of Human Suffering by James H. Averill

● Victorian Ghost Stories: By Eminent Women Writers (Part of the The Virago Book Series) edited by Richard Dalby

● The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

● Victorian Poetry and Poetics by Walter E. Houghton G. Robert

[andreabaideas]

First impression of each DJATS character after reading and watching?

Well interesting!

Let's see :

Warren

Book : chill funny one. Nice. Liked him. 8

Show: chill funny one. Nice. Good ethnicity change. Cool looks. Liked him. 8

Eddie

Book : Annoying but dignified on the end and understandable. 7

Show : Annoying, childish and rancorous. Didn't like the Camila's Affair. Without dignity. 4

Graham

Book: seemed rancorous and was later an incel. Didn't get over Karen even after 40 years. 4 .

Show: nice, cute, understandable, a good man there that you could marry happily tbh (Warren is like that too, Eddie IS pathetic, and Billy IS an unfaithfull toxic drunkard, as much as i like him, and IS in LOVE with many people at once...the logic choice for a boyfriend IS Graham, lets be honest). 9.

Teddy

Book : bossy. Kinda bitchy. Meh. 5

Show: father like figure, nice. I liked him better here. Ethnicity change works too. 8.

Rod :

Book : chill awesome and gay/bi. 9

Show: chill awesome . Sexuality non mentioned. 8 ( Its the scripters fault)

Karen

Book : feminist brunette tomboy rock star tired of everyone's shit. Not as good friend of Camila as you would think tbh. Did get over with Graham. Tough chick. 8

Show : Barbie Rock star. Feminist. Better friend to Camila at least she seemed to feel genuelly guilty about knowing but non telling Cami. Still in love with Graham. Less tough and nicer. I liked her better I guess? 9.

Daisy

Book : genious but also insane. Very selfish and a bitch, not very lovable, in fact sometimes you may hate her, charismatic but annoying. Camila wakes her conscience. Doesn't really know what she wants. She's said to have ethereal beauty and essence about her that's intoxicating and IS a beautiful redhead with Big blue eyes. 7.

Show : nicer, less selfish , she's not a bitch she is bitchy, but she isn't one you hate, she IS more like misguided but relatable main character with whimsical energy, Creative, artistic, she wants to be loved and a family aka what Camila have, her conscience wakes Itself, she regaings power and dignity in the end by walking away by herself tbh. Genious, slightly crazy, she also has ethereal beauty and essence about her that's intoxicating and IS a beautiful redhead with Big blue eyes. I loved her. 10.

Billy

Book : Hot and a decent dad. I didn't believe a Word he said about anything of the story..He was full of bullshit tbh. I found him unreliable, and a liar . But He was very truly charismatic. His Only reedeming quality was being a good dad apart of being a good musician. Suppossedly adores Camila with cute details like gifts , ice cream...etc But then threats her like crap cheating, falling for another and letting her raise 3 kids mostly by herself (playing with kids and being cute doesn't count, you should do the ugly parts too...Which he didn't do ever, first as a musician then as a composer/ song writer)

Something that bothered me a lot while reading was...If he truly wanted Daisy to find her "Camila" aka her water...why he messed with her??? Why he didn't throw her out the band ? Uh?

Cause he was a Liar!!!! He wanted to have her without the obvious repercussions (and Camila's complaints). Hadn't she left the way she did, prompted by Camila...They would had fallen into the affair hard.

Its just not real and It annoyed me a lot. No man is Schrodinger's cat unfaithfull (like unfaithfull and faithfull at once) , come on!! At least he IS entertaining to read XD . 7'5.

Show : im too biased here cause I love Sam. Hot and moderately decent dad, also a liar , but we saw what he did so...we are ready for his bullshit already XD.

Charismatic as fuck .

His true reedeming qualities are : Sam Claflin, Sam Claflin's singing voice, his fatherhood tiny moments with baby and kid Julia...and did i mention Sam Claflin being a hot rockstar?!...thats It. Whoever casted him did the Lord's job, cause had Billy been played by another actor everyone wouldn't be so in love or rooting for pairings ( Daisily or Camilly) everyone would hate him.

Sam has the talent to make you root for problematic people ( exceptions are in Nightingale and Peaky Blinders... for obvious reasons).

I liked that he relapses, I found It realistic. At least here he Only fuck Up (at the beginning, then he redeems) with one kid, not 3... If the bar for being a good dad consist in being there for the birth and to play a bit with your kid...Then the bar Its more than fucking under the ground, It IS as deep as the metro train!!! . He gets the 9, just because of Sam, excluding my Sam fangirlism... then 7'5 , and being generous, and Its for the relapse and the realistic infidelity approach...

Simone

Book : barely there. Super anecdotic. 6.

Show : my God, It was the best thing ever they did...They give her a soul!!! And interests outside Daisy!!! And a cool story. And a girlfriend...10. I couldn't love her more.

Camila...Brace yourself.

Book: Oh boy, I loved her. Patient , saintly, amazing strong traditional wife , awesome Mom. Good wife...not perfect (unfaithfull too and slightly manipulative) but very good overall. I loved her , so chill, strong and bossy. Tiny force to be reckoned with. 9.

Show: they sucked Camila's energy like vampires suck Blood ugh. They bared her of her strenght and made her say the cringiest quotes of the show , half of her dialogues were pure cringe. Camila Morrone Its so talented she Worked with that and made the changes watchable..

Taller and prettier, model like...it doesn't work as It should, as Camila was supposed to be less pretty than Daisy, here they are on the same level physically . Also Cami comes off as less cool and sometimes could come off even as bland. Her character IS now more realistic but IS the scorned wife™ , that here It doesn't really work, her peacefull confident behaviour with the literal quote "I hope I never see you again" as a prove translates as "I am the Queen and the King IS mine suck It Up bitch I won , go away"... I wish they respected her as she was , even with everything that they changed.

Had they kept her just like she was It would've been epic. But It wasn't. 7 . (For Camila Morrone's acting, not for her script).

Lisa and Julia are barely there, so i like them better in the show, as i'm seeing them, I guess? 7-8.

Nicky...i hated both versions, so yeah XD. - 10.

Thats It!!

[horizon-verizon]

Alicent was delusional and thought she was the exception to the rule but found out she wasn’t. It’s like the council said, she “ruled” during the times of peace and prosperity that Jaehaerys gave them, so it was easy to allow her do her thing.

I also enjoyed seeing Larys openly call out the hypocrisy of making Alicent regent over Aemond. How would it look to the realm if we place a woman as regent, when our entire argument is based on the first son being the true heir and the ? Especially when Aegon has two male heirs in Aemond and Daeron.

One thing you know these HotD writers are going to do? They will only establish the hypocrisy of a character in the in-world's own time if it means it's an opportunity for them to make them actively practice sexism. Kudos.

Besides that, she "ruled" not bc it was a peacetime Jaehaerys thing, not in truth. She ruled bc she had both Viserys and then Otto allowing her to at the time. And even then, after Viserys loses most of his mobility and faculties, Otto is the one who actually determines her moves aside form maybe how she deals with servants. This Jaehaerys thing is just an excuse as much as Rhaenyra being held back from riding her dragon by "monarchs don't go into battle themselves or they might die and the whole thing goes to shit"...or as the show want s to make that reasoning. I don't think it works on Rhaenyra's end bc she is the monarch while Alicent was a monarch's consort, then his widow and another's mother. Aegon is grown, though so before he got flamed he had no need of her. Aemond is also grown, so yeah...

tbh it still doesn't make sense that she'd press. bc as a woman of a society that usually has mothers of too-young lords become regent, she should not already know that even with Viserys allowing her to "rule", bc that came with conditions of his inability and her having no real authority or source of power (like soldiers) apart from him or her sons.

I know she's supposed to be all "woman for Trump" and some sort of Karen or Serena Joy (haven't watched the show and I barely remember the book)...but there is a difference b/t totally expecting men to accept you after the losses of such support and trying to get them to listen but at the same time knowing that they probably won't anyway. she was too shocked by this development for me to believed she is as observant as some people claimed. this sort of Karen stupidity is out of place for Alicent Hightower.

Not sure if I'm making sense here.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Doctor Who, but Chronologically: 33

It has happened a few times, so far, that we've seen episodes that, whether good or bad, had little impact on the series: they answered no questions, and posed no new ones.

This, however, is the first we've watched this way that suddenly answers a shit-ton of arc while offering new elements, and also hints at a whole bunch of vital story we haven't seen yet, and is completely fucking batshit to the point of near-incomprehensibility.

It's 1938, and the episode is Let's Kill Hitler.

We open with a "Previously On" that contains nothing we've previously seen LMAO ALMOST AS IF OUR WATCH ORDER IS DEEPLY FUCKING STUPID but it turns out Amy was pregnant after all, her baby was promptly stolen by a one-eyed woman fighting a war against the Doctor that the Doctor was apparently unaware of (insert Don Draper "I don't think of you at all" meme), the baby is called Melody and has Time Lord DNA because... well that wasn't explained but maybe it's why Amy's pregnancy test was inconclusive, and there are some aliens called the Silents. Oh, and at some point Amy was melted. Is Rory still plastic? Not sure.

Anyway, we open with Amy and Rory trying to get the Doctor's attention by writing his name in crop circles in a scene that made me wonder how much they had to pay the farmer to film it. "Have you found Melody yet?" Amy begs of her missing baby, except she doesn't, because Karen Gillan imbues the scene with the urgency of a housemate asking if you remembered to check if Shell or British Gas will give you cheaper bills.

Then Amy and Rory's BESTEST FRIEND MELS turns up. The show then has to introduce us to Mels, because in spite of being presented as an indispensable part of their lives, even people watching the normal way have never even heard of this woman before now. Then she pulls out a GUN from somewhere and insists they all go to kill Hitler, which... I'm on board, actually.

Except a shapeshifting justice robot staffed with tiny people (I love the shapeshifting justice robot staffed with tiny people btw they should get their own spin-off) is already here and trying to kill Hitler, so the TARDIS smashes in and accidentally saves his life. There is a genuinely very funny and enjoyable scene where they punch Hitler and put him in a cupboard.

And then the episode just fucking nosedives in quality. Mels was accidentally shot by Hitler, and regenerates - into River!!! We know her, she was a criminal who could fly the TARDIS. What this means, though, is that Amy and Rory - new parents, who are desperate to reclaim their kidnapped baby - find out in that moment that their baby... will never come back to them. They're never going to see her again. They're never going to get to raise her, never going to see her take her first steps, never teach her to identify trees or swim or dance. A whole childhood and adolescence of memories and experiences, stolen away. They're to be grateful, they're told, that they knew her as their childhood tearaway friend Mels - because that's just like raising her after all. Except prior to being Mels, she was raised and abused and brainwashed into being an assassin - a "psychopath", because the writers don't know what that word means. They will never be able to protect her from that.

That is a horrifying thing to realise; the sort of thing that will mean you're in therapy forever.

And the episode considers it to be so unimportant that Amy and Rory are IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE SHOT WHEN IT'S REVEALED.

Who gets our focus?!? Why, the Doctor of course! Who else but the Specialest Man. This is obviously deeply relevant to him the most. Jesus fucking wept. Also I should mention this is easily the most misogynistic episode we've seen yet. The Doctor asks and receives permission to hug Amy - from her husband. River regenerates while yelling "I'm trying to focus on a dress size!" and makes another three fatphobic comments within the same scene. When Amy says "But River's not a psychopath in the future! What's wrong with her right now?" the Doctor responds "She's been brainwashed and also she can't help it because she's a woman."

(That's not an exaggeration. "She's a woman" is literally given as the reason she's a "psychopath". In a scene in which said woman has spent half her lines stressing how thin and fuckable she is.)

Anyway, the rest of the plot is what you'd expect, probably - River tries and succeeds in killing him with slow poison, Amy manages to be useful inside the shapeshifting justice robot staffed with tiny people, there's a showdown where River decides to save him by using up all her regenerations on him. At the point the Doctor dies, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darville literally forget to cry. It's an utterly sterile scene where you're just waiting for them to hurry up and resolve it. At the end, the Doctor now knows that he's going to be killed by River (dressed as an astronaut! A plot answer!) in Utah in 2011, which he hides from Amy and Rory for no clear reason given that they already know. We learn the Silents aren't an alien race but a religious sect who believe that Silence Will Fall when the first question is finally answered, though why they want that silence is a mystery (technically so is the question but I'mma be real with you all, lads, I remember watching this series when it was first on and immediately guessing so lol). Hitler is still in a cupboard.

However, it was very nice seeing Cardiff museum.

Plot threads!

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up  (unless she’s Missy)

The TARDIS has blown up  (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended  (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

What has happened to all these companions and where are the new ones coming from?

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Who is Captain Jack Harkness? (Is he the one who gave the companions a warning about the lone cyberman?)

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window? (NEW INFO: she's with the Silents, but we don't know why Amy saw her)

Why is Amy's pregancy inconclusive? (NEW INFO: because the baby had Time Lord DNA?)

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What’s with the Weeping Angel statues, and why can’t you blink at them?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory?

Is Rory plastic or not?

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras?

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?

How did Nardole die?

When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

Who was the Doctor’s wife?

What’s happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna’s ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said “The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?”

If Dalek Caan is the last Dalek left why are there more now?

How did the rest of the Time Lords die?

How and why did Amy melt?

What's the question that will make silence fall?

Why do the Silents... want silence to fall?

How and why are Silents at war with the Doctor when he... hasn't even heard of them?

How does Hitler get out of the cupboard?

[wrdlss]

INTRODUCTION POST

Hi, I’m Samantha! They/Them

I’m a 28 year old, non-binary bisexual autistic with Crohn’s disease living in Salt Lake City. I have a partner and am not looking to date anyone else 💕

If you’re a minor DNI

I really enjoy meeting/interacting with cool and interesting people! I’m not, however, very good at checking my inbox 😅

Formerly - [this will be where I put my previous @ when I change this one]

Secondary blog - @floraldeposits

More below the jump:

Some of the things I enjoy/blog about (in no order):

🧄🥩🫚 Cooking & food (I have a lot of dietary restrictions thanks to Crohn’s, but the biggest ones are that I can’t eat dairy or wheat and I severely limit my fiber consumption)

🛸⚔️ Speculative fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, etc.)

🎲 TTRPG (D&D, WH40K, homebrew, etc.)

📺 Anime/manga (Vinland Saga, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Hellsing, Claymore, Delicious in Dungeon, etc.)

🌾🌊Politics (I’m a disabled queer, existing is inherently political for me. If you’re not for the autonomy and liberation of marginalized people we ain’t got shit to say to each other)

📚📄 Books (Musashi Miyamoto, Audre Lorde and Terry Pratchett are some of my favorite writers)

🤔💭🌞 Philosophy/Spirituality (Less interested in what the things I’ve lived around my whole life have to offer than I am in the ideas and perspectives that come from people and places outside of where I live. If you’re a Nietzsche fan fuck you.)

Funny (funny)

Music I Listen To:

Rammstein, System of a Down, Death Grips

Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Willie Nelson

Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, Karen Dalton

Ramin Djwadi, Hiroyuki Sawano, Jesper Kyd

Tags:

#myface - Face pics

#personal - Anything I write or post myself

[hiitspath]

I don’t know why this is so funny to me cause Foggy has a date with Karen and begs Matt to essentially go for him. Like Foggy, my guy, Matt and Karen clearly like each other the fact that you got a date with Karen is…great, good for you, sucks she’s got the hots for Matt.

Ooooh boy don’t know how I feel about Matt’s blindness being the crux of this love triangle. I know that a lot of current writing of Matt’s disability can be good to bad depending on the writer (lord knows I still need to do some research on some of it.) but man it’s gotta be an improvement over the early 60’s.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

You know about the WAG strike and why people heavily dislike modern writers. I think the issues that a lot of writers (especially the female and non white ones) have unresolved issues from their pasts and project it into their works.

I know this might sound crazy, but the terrible handling of ips is because the left develop French/Russian revolutionaries style mindset to old shit. So burn down everything to prompt up their “enlightened” ways. And given lot of them proudly say their anti capitalist, yeah.

You can see it like how lot of non white characters (especially black ones) act like those activists with victim complexes yet are very racist and often treat other in their groups like shit.

Or the “snarky” female mcs who act more like Karens or my abusive stepmom. Aka cunts that are very likely to be abandoned at nursery homes in a few decades.

Imo I think we are often subjected to writers who have very very unresolved issues in life. I mean tumblr and twitter give a idea why these fuckers exist. Thoughts?

I mean, it's been shown in studies that leftists have more mental illness and general unhappiness than conservative, so I'm sure you're at least partially right. But a lot of the vandalism of IPs is just that, vandalism. People seeing things through the warped lens of their politics and instead of making something new that promotes their values, they need to tear down things that already exist and replace them with bargain basement copies. At the end of the day, why that's happening doesn't really matter. Someone destroying Lord of the Rings because they have unresolved daddy issues is little different than someone destroying Dungeons and Dragons because they think alienating their fanbase will make them more money. The beloved thing is still destroyed, and the mockery made of its corpse is still being sold to you. I just want it stopped. And I don't care how, tbh.

[kiriel123]

For fic writer appreciation day, here are some bangers I've read recently, across fandoms. Listed in alphabetical order:

Bad Thing Twice by Phnelt – https://archiveofourown.org/works/44101038/chapters/110890044

Fandom: Not Me. After the events of the show, Todd lightly blackmails Black into working for him and Black excels at his new job more than he’d like. The Black point of view was AMAZING. I’ve internalized this post canon fic as just a continuation of the series, and the Black/Todd angst is delicious!

Been Giving it Time by Baby_Droll - https://archiveofourown.org/works/48744625

Fandom: Love in the Air. Sky and Prapai are just hooking up except Prapai keeps getting through the cracks in the wall around Sky’s heart with his affection and puppy eyes and love.  This is so sweet, everyone should read it, and not only because it was a gift for me <3

Coffee House Play by AirgiodSLV - https://archiveofourown.org/works/46938403/chapters/118240294

Fandom: Kinnporsche. Kim meets Porsche and Chay before Kinn does which changes both more and less than you’d expect. The family vibes were off the charts, I love complicated relationships so much and this fic more than delivered

Gordian Knot by avocadomoon - https://archiveofourown.org/works/48584386?view_full_work=true (WIP)

Fandom: Charmed. Chris dies in one timeline and wakes up in another where Prue lived and he is her son instead of Piper’s. Never thought I’d be reading Charmed fic in the year of our lord 2023 and yet here we are and I’m completely hooked

If you would only let you by HeylookGiraffes - https://archiveofourown.org/works/25137013/chapters/60905461

Fandom: MDZS/The Untamed. Modern Cultivation AU where trans Lan Wangji is in college and trying to figure out how to be himself.  When I tell you I cried at basically every chapter that’s not an exaggeration. Recently completed, and a perfect time to read it if you haven’t yet!

A Monster with Two Heads and One Heartbeat by timetoboldlygo  - https://archiveofourown.org/works/48131779/chapters/121372393 (WIP)

Fandom: Not Me. Canon divergence where White does return to his safe life with his father when Black demands it. Do you like pain (positive)? Do you like brothers who want to make each other happy and instead keep making things worse? If so, this is the fic for you!

Now Entering Incognito Mode by travelingneuritis - https://archiveofourown.org/works/48327853/chapters/121887097

Fandom: SVSSS. To try and temper Shen Qingqiu’s depression after pushing Luo Binghe into the Endless Abyss, the System offers the ability to enter “incognito mode” and escape his life for a little while. But Luo Binghe was never going to just accept his Shizun disappearing! Fun identity shenanigans abound, along with a little heartbreak

Only Fools by ineffmoth - https://archiveofourown.org/works/18095681?view_full_work=true

Fandom: Borderlands. Rhys is sent to Helios to spy on Handsome Jack and proceeds to fail spectacularly but does succeed in seducing him. Have I ever played Borderlands? No. But sometimes you are randomly scrolling through people’s bookmarks trying to find motivation to read and you click something that is laugh out loud funny and a gem of a good time!

Taming Jacob’s Angel by jukeboxhound - https://archiveofourown.org/works/49014019

Fandom: FFVII. Cloud is one of the lucky ones who gets possessed by a Guardian Angel but unfortunately for him, his angel is Sephiroth. They learn to llve with each other. So much fun!

Thirty Percent Chance it’s Already Raining by moonmoonsock – https://archiveofourown.org/works/33907066/chapters/84311464

Fandom: Mean Girls. Have you ever wanted to read a Mean Girls omegaverse fic with a Cady/Karen pairing? Even if your answer to that question is no, you should read this anyway!! The worldbuilding is amazing and the Cady/Karen sex scenes do not hold back. Basically if you are a fan of wlw omegaverse this is a can’t miss

Til Our Compass Stands Still by edenwolfie - https://archiveofourown.org/works/43583058/chapters/109582407

Fandom: TGCF. Xie Lian ends up in Ghost City and bargains years of his life away in a bad bet. He starts working in the Gambler’s Den, trying to keep a low profile but of course wherever Xie Lian is, eventually Hua Cheng will follow., especially in the heart of his city. I love a good romance

Tumbling aint the Same as Falling by badacts - https://archiveofourown.org/works/10678038/chapters/23641278 (WIP)

Fandom: All for the Game. Neil never gets recruited to Exy but he still ends up at Palmetto – only as a cheerleader instead of a Fox. His friendship with Katelyn and smart mouth attract attention anyway. I adore this fic and the Neil-Katelyn friendship so much

[aimfor-theheart]

hello dear Cielo <3 for the writer's ask game, there were so many good questions, but I am curious about 1, 11, and 15 :)

I hope today is treating you wonderfully 💓

hello elle!!! <333

thank you for asking!! i hope today is treating you wonderfully as well!!!

1.     Do you listen to music when you write?

yes omg. i have to or i can't focus. i have very intense playlists for everything i write because i need the Vibes. i'll also have my spotify playlist going and then 2-3 youtube atmospheric soundscapes going for the right vibes too. i need to be fully immersed in my weird daydream world fjdkslfjkl

11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

could fr talk about this forever. to just rattle some off: Octavia Butler, Shirley Jackson, Anne Carson, Ellen McLaughlin, Caryl Churchill, Ursula K. Le Guin, Mary Shelley, Audre Lorde.....as for books...Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russel, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, lots and lots of plays tbh...and so many more fjlskdfdk

15.  How do you deal with writer’s block?

I do not believe in it :))

JFKLDKLSF

i believe in like....being tired or not having time or energy or being unable to focus, or burn out, etc.....which i think is a form of "writer's block"

i tend to try and "write through it" tbh. typically i work on things that interest me rather than what i "should" work on, if that makes sense. go a little easier on myself and just follow interest rather than expectation, try to enjoy writing, rather than push through the harder, less interesting parts of writing.

Ask me a question from this list about writing!

[blogger360ncislarules]

Everyone knows that a great book can take you on an amazing journey. For actress, author and producer Roma Downey, a gift from a friend led to the new TV series The Baxters, which launches the first 10 episodes March 28 on Prime Video.

“I came to the series really as a fan of the books,” Roma tells Woman’s World of the Karen Kingsbury series. “A friend had given me the first book, Redemption, and I was reading it on a flight from LA to New York. I just fell in love with the family. I fell in love with the characters. I thought the plots were exciting and dynamic and I just loved how relatable they all were.  It was telling the story of a family of faith. People who went to church, but not perfect people, not pious people. They are just regular people like you and me with the same problems and challenges that we all have, but they come together. Even when they don’t like each other, they always love each other. It is such a great portrayal of family.”

Roma admits as she was reading the book, the wheels started turning and she began thinking about bringing the books to the screen. “I had visuals in my mind. I thought this has to be a TV series,” Roma recalls. “So I reached out to Karen. I didn’t know her at the time, but I reached out to her and asked her if she would consider letting me have the rights to the books to bring it to the screen.”

As the two women discussed the project, Karen confided something that really touched Roma’s heart.

“Redemption was the first one I wrote about the Baxter family, and I have a picture of my dad reading it on a park bench,” Karen tells Woman’s World. “He was absorbed in it and when he got finished reading it and he said, ‘Karen, this is so good. This needs to be a TV show and you should call that Touched By an Angel woman, Roma Downey. I am confident that she would love to make a TV show on this.’ This was in 2001. I said, ‘Great idea Dad! Do you know her number because I don’t have her number?’ 

“Then fast forward. My dad had already gone to heaven, and it was maybe 2015 when I got a call from Roma Downey in that beautiful Irish voice and she said, ‘Hello Karen, I would like to have your blessing to make the Baxters into a TV show.’ I was hoping my dad had a definite window from heaven in that moment.”

Bringing The Baxters to life

“So Karen agreed to entrust me with the TV rights,” Roma continues, “and I set about gathering a fabulous team. Obviously, it takes a village to make a series and I brought in some great writers, directors and producers. Then we started casting. Karen was available for consulting whenever we needed her. She was very generous with her time and incredibly helpful during the process.

When it came to casting Elizabeth Baxter, Roma knew exactly who should play the matriarch. “I thought, I know this woman. I know her well. Maybe I should just step into this part myself,” she says. “Elizabeth has a mother’s heart, which I can relate to as a mom myself, and we see how compassionate and how much empathy she has for her children when they are going through heartache. We see how feisty she is and defensive if anybody from the outside is trying to harm any of her children.”

“Most of all what I love about her is she’s a prayer warrior,” Roma says. “She’s not afraid to stop what she’s doing and call on the Lord, call in prayer to bless her children and to watch over her family. I haven’t been on a series since I did Touched By an Angel and to be back in front of the camera, as well as behind it, was a lot of fun for me.”

Finding the perfect cast

Karen is pleased with how the show has come together. “It’s been a long journey, a long process, but I have been privileged to see everything that’s been created so far and it’s just so good,” she smiles.  “It’s griping and it’s real. There are five young adults. They are making some bad decisions. They are being human like we all are and so I feel like it’s a different kind of show where you have praying parents who are leaning in and loving and showing grace and young adults who are making their way and sometimes making the worst decision of their life, but finding the hope and grace that you only find through God and family.”

“Then when I read the book, it was just the sweet spirit of Reagan. And it was just so fun meeting Roma because I had known about Roma forever. She’s been friends with my mom [Kathie Lee Gifford], but I really appreciate the freedom that they gave me to make Reagan a little bit my own. That was wonderful.  You’re not always afforded that opportunity especially when something was adapted from a book. I just feel very, very blessed to be a part of it.”

Roma refers to the show as a “hope opera,” as opposed to a soap opera. “We see a family come together and that’s one of the lovely things about this series is that we see a family modeled well. The series plays out like a great hope opera,” she says. “We anticipate that Easter weekend there will be a lot of families across the United States curled up on their couch, in the comfort of their own homes, binging on The Baxters.

“When Karen wrote her books, she designed them in a way that you can’t wait to get to the next chapter,” Roma continues. “You want to know what happens next. You want to find out what happens next, so we obviously wanted to create that in the TV series as well that you would no sooner finish an episode then you’d want to see the next episode. With the streaming capabilities now, The Baxters will be there, already dropped and you’ll be able to binge and watch multiple episodes when it first goes up.”

The Baxters is a full family affair

Roma says over the years when fans have come up to her to talk to her about Touched By An Angel, they don’t just remember the show, but who they watched it with. It was a family affair for most people, and she’s hoping The Baxters will be as well.

“Our viewing habits have changed because people are watching things on their phone or their laptop so that family moment of coming together and watching something has altered slightly,” Roma says. “We’ve become more isolated in our viewing patterns, but my hope for The Baxters is that families will get together on the couch and make it a shared experience, and maybe say, ‘Mom, I’m coming over. Let’s watch The Baxters together,’ particularly because there are so many mother and daughter themes written into the story.”

Roma hopes the show will have broad-based appeal. “I think people of all faiths will enjoy the show because it’s relatable as a family drama,” she says. “I think that particularly people of faith will love to see our values reflected on the screen. Don’t they say the family that prays together, stays together? We’re going to see that sort of play out in The Baxters.”