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[isekai-ed]

"Curate your space!" and "just use filters!" re: AO3 only works if there are robust *and evolving* tools to do so and an active content moderation team willing AND able to enforce the proper implementation of those tools.

Things are already shaky when most of these moderation tools are opt-in by content creators (tagging and warnings) so you have to trust that the author understands the content that they've written, which... does not work when we're talking about implicit biases (like bigotry), but not having access to some tools (natively) on ao3 that will automatically save and then filter out a logged-in user's triggers & such every time they search, AND having a moderation team do very little to enforce the rules about warnings &tc means that you literally can't curate effectively ever.

"Just read the tags" and I once got blindsided by a fic that had had 30 accurate tags on it (this not violating the tag spam rule) including every sex act depicted. Blindsided how? I missed that one of the tags in the middle of the very large wall of text was "b*stiality." That kind of content isn't regularly featured in that fandom, so I didn't think to filter. The author followed the rules to the letter, but I missed the tag in the wall of text (easy mistake). I don't think the work should be erased/banned (and I'm not at all blaming the author, because they did things correctly), but the tools for me to avoid that work were insufficient.

IF AO3 had a "saved search settings" option (many, many websites can save filters for later use nowadays), I would have been able to curate my experience a little better. And people who DO want certain content can save their searches FOR that content, netting authors more readers! Win win!

This also applies to minor things like tropes, squicks, and readerfic/self-inserts/OC fic, larger things like NOTPs, common "shibboleth" tags (dead dove), and even filtering out the myriad tags used for genAI content (which I refuse to call fanwork).

The issue is not "AO3 is terrible" but "AO3 is slow & unwilling to change, in ways that are behind the curve & detrimental to users" - f'r ex, their pretty half-assed blocking/muting functions are relatively recent, coming WELL AFTER they became a standard feature of most other websites. And tools to enable readers to filter their search results more effectively should be relatively noncontroversial, requiring little to no change to the way the website functions (as a fic repository with a robust tagging feature). No stories would be removed/censored/banned. In fact, these kinds of features would ENHANCE the function of the site, again enabling readers to avoid fic they don't want to see and find the fic they do, and enabling authors to find audiences that will enjoy their work.

A big issue is that ANY suggested change to the website is automatically Suspect according to the org's rabid defenders, and even if it would be a popular change, it would get mired in the opaque and complex bureaucracy of the org. A site that hosts a ton of sensitive info/content should not also be opaque & molasses-slow to change, even just to keep pace w/contemporary Internet standards & user behaviors. The fact that those latter things are considered features to be rabidly defended, not debilitating bugs, is Worrisome.

There are other features similar to those offered by major platforms - my kingdom for a native & filterable subscription feed page on AO3 itself instead of checking my email for updates! - that would also be uncontroversial (again, no bans/moderation needed) but are impossible as things stand rn. People have also been clamoring for a "main ships" / "additional ships" split for decades now but they'll never do it despite it making things so much less aggravating for, say, femslashers. But. Y'know. Who cares about THEM amirite? (I know that last suggestion would mean millions of fics would need their tags to be fixed/changed, but it COULD be an opt-in option and folks can adopt it at their own pace. As someone with over 100 works on the Archive, that's effort I'd gladly make to make readers happy.)

AO3 and the OTW were born from a dream to improve fanspace - to create structures & spaces tailored to fans' needs based on community discussion. So why is improving the Archive/org itself and discussing changes to it so anathema? Dreams change. Needs evolve. So should the Archive/OTW.

I don't think the Archive/org are awful and deserve burning down. They have major issues, for sure, but deep down, I still want them to exist, just *better.* Some people will say that's a naive hope and I shouldn't hold my breath, but let a girl dream.

[isekai-ed]

Historical fiction to check out, listed by region

PART 1

Historical fiction doesn’t get as much love here as SFF which I get. Realism isn’t for everyone, and revisiting violent history isn’t exactly escapism. But please, give it another chance especially the amazing work from writers beyond the Anglo-Euro sphere.

And so, here’s my first set of recommendations for historical fiction. I say ‘first’ because if I included every book I like, this post would be way too long and some regions are lacking for that very reason! I promise that the next set of recommendations will cover other countries!

There’s no special formula behind these picks. The only real criterion is that I like them. That’s it. I did try to avoid super-popular authors, but as you’ll see, one or two still slipped in!

AFRICA

The Theocrat by Bensalem Himmich

When I first read The Theocrat by Bensalem Himmich, I had no idea it was one of the most popular Arab novels in the 20th century. It tells the story of a Fatimid caliph popularly known to some as the Nero of Egypt, tracing his rise to power, his ruthless rule exacerbated by his own mental illness, and his eventual downfall. It's a truly fascinating work because it doesn't really tell the story in a conventional, straightforward manner.

River Spirit by Leila Aboulela

Set in 1880s Sudan during the Mahdist War against Anglo-Turkish forces, the novel follows key figures in the fight for independence and the women who witnessed the turmoil. It’s surprisingly underrated, I spotted copies in a remainder bookshop.

ASIA

Silence by Shusaku Endo

I’ve raved about this book and yes, I cried over it but it still doesn’t get the love it deserves in my opinion, even after Scorsese made it a film. Silence follows a young Jesuit priest in 17th-century Japan, searching for his mentor while enduring brutal persecution and a crisis of faith.

Insurrecto by Gina Apostol

I was a bit hesitant to include Gina Apostol’s Insurrecto here because it’s technically about modern-day Filipino filmmakers trying to make a movie about the genocide Americans committed in the Philippines. But the story flashes back to those bloody events so often that I’m counting it as historical fiction and a very important one at that.

EUROPE

The Throne by Franco Bernini

The Throne, written by the screenwriter of The Grey Zone, has the rich, political vibe of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy but instead of Tudors, it explores the complicated relationship between Machiavelli and Borgia. It’s the first in a planned trilogy.

Like a Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan

Knowing that Ahmet Altan was imprisoned in Turkey for criticizing Erdogan, advocating for Kurdish rights, and memorializing the Armenian Genocide is reason enough for me to pick up this book. The first novel in Ahmet Altan’s Ottoman Quartet, this immersive epic is set in the final decades of the Ottoman Empire and follows an unforgettable cast of characters who not only witness but also help drive the empire’s unstoppable decline.

AMERICAS

James by Percival Everett

This is one of those rare recent books that actually deserves the hype and the awards. It retells the Mississippi journey from Jim’s point of view. And yes, James is the same Jim from Huckleberry Finn, finally getting his own story.

Hilda Hurricane by Robert Drummond

I loved the telenovela, so I read the novel and it’s just as good as the famous TV adaptation. Told through the eyes of a communist narrator clearly modeled after the author, it follows his involvement with a popular sex worker who falls in love with his friar friend in the years leading up to Brazil’s 1964 coup d’état.

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How did you read and watch the Apothecary Diaries with all the interesting women on the series and end up fangirling over Jinshi

I'm gonna beat you up

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It kills me. White supremacists will say being a minority is the worst most tragic most awful thing that can happen to a person. Then turn around and claim brown n black folks have nothing to complain about. Racism is not rooted in logic. Authors of fantasy oppression please take note—

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white people find All sorts of colonial and imperial violences sexy, but when you come from the race of the supposed cannibals, the ones who were skinned for furniture and eaten (there's still a recipe book floating around, best ways to cook your nigger), the ones whose bones were trophies, whose corpses to this day are permitted no rest, you tend not to have different views about cannibalism.

I can't help but returning to the concept of "purity culture" in literature. I'm a horror author, I adore the morbid and I am disgustingly curious about why we humans act the way we do. I'm also Black and lesbian and disabled, so I know for certain that most things (if not all things) in society are rooted in white supremacy. It doesn't dim my love for the genre,it just makes me see it through a different lens.

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Incomplete combustion reads like a typical bl erotica which it is but the mc is stupidly annoying. Why does he move like that? Does he ever pause to think? Can someone please introduce him to the concept of implications and maybe even consequences? Can the writer invest in more thought bubbles?

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"go to hell." basic. weaksauce shit. "i hope that character you really like gets an uber-popular yaoi ship and you have to watch in real time as they get sanded down into a toothless, barely-recognizable version of themself that's become little more than a vessel for bland tropes and OOC fluff, and that's just the permanent fandom consensus view of that character now." now THAT'S a threat. that cuts right to the bone. that's real. that's happening to me as we speak.

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purity culture KILLS fandom thats why we have to make sure all victims of sexual assault of any kind know how little people care about them. for #fandom

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Doesn’t matter if authors get paid from library checkouts, if libraries exist, if piracy’s illegal, if it cuts into authors’ earnings, or if any religion calls it wrong— media piracy should be allowed, and downloading books shouldn’t be a crime.

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being a poc sucks because sometimes a movie comes out about discrimination and they'll have The Racist Guy, a character who's clearly meant to embody oppression and prejudice against minorities. and then you open up tumblr and everybody's like omg i could totally fix Racist Guy trust me guys!!! Racist Guy x reader 20k spicy slowburn #canoniswhatimakeit here's a massive gifset for Racist Guy he's just soooooooooooooo hot. you guys look like this

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My MIL was in town, and so I recommended IWTV to her. And there's nothing like rewatching the first episode of IWTV and realizing wow, all this good writing and it didn't matter, did it. All the antiblackness that was written right in my face just went right over the heads of the Demographic Awaiting Season 3.

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Actually, I didn't like that latest Ghibli movie either fr. Not as bad as tla, but I certainly didn't walk out feeling impressed. Visually stunning as all Ghibli movies are, but.... I felt uncomfortable fr, and not in the good, "makes you think about things" way, but in the "why do I care about the family that supports the axis via plane making" and more importantly "why is his aunt becoming his stepmom and he brought her home already pregnant to meet his son is that not weird to everyone else involved" way

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i want to read a good history of indira gandhi's time in power/the factors that led to her prominence and that contributed to her fall. anyone have recs?

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White people love creating stories where racism is Right. Which could mean anything, really

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Persia and Babylon, the old gods who longed for blood. A Romanian tract on "vampirs." A strange old Hungarian text, "Masticatione Mortuorum," the "chewing dead." 📚₊✧

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inspired by René Gruau's Woman With A Fur (original under cut)

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all this conversation around louis abusing armand by calling him arun or rashid or armand cosplaying as a servant in the household he runs but i haven't seen anyone really lay out armand's abuse of louis throughout their relationship and how deeply calculated it all was

EPISODE 9: louis says he was happy in paris bc he did not fear being lynched, bc he could go to a cafe and not be forced out or into the back EPISODE 14: armand orchestrates his lynching at a cafe (one catering to gay people at that)

EPISODE 1: paul commits suicide in front of louis by falling from the roof EPISODE 11: armand makes claudia perform my baby loves windows 500 times and tries to guilt louis into attending the performances more often EPISODE 12: armand mocks louis' pain over his brother's suicide and tells him claudia doesn't love him

EPISODE 6: grace symbolically buries louis alive before leaving him forever EPISODE 12: armand mocks him for still being hurt by this EPISODE 14: we find out armand had louis buried alive