#Project: Liesmyth

[blradley]

A powerpoint introduction to Liesmyth!

(I swear the next one will actually be in Comic Sans... shout out to @incandescent-creativity for popularizing this medium!)

Anyway...

Do you wanna read a dark, Norse-inspired Adult Fantasy?

Do you wanna read about queer gods causing mayhem?

(literally every single character is queer lmaooooo)

Do you wanna support a queer, multiply disabled author?

Look no further than Liesmyth! We're out on subs at the moment - so, pretty-please reblog this powerpoint if you like the concept! Let's prove to all those prospective publishers that there's an audience for my book!

Image IDs:

All eleven images are power point slides.

Image 1: Title card reading 'Liesmyth: or, how Sigyn ruined everything, by B. L. Radley'. The words are displayed over a person in (...vaguely) Viking-era garb, against a green background. Only a slice of their torso is visible.

Image 2: A picture of an ash tree against a green, cool, mountainous scene. In a yellow text box, words read: Welcome to a world inspired by Norse mythology, where witches can climb through the cosmos using the boughs of an ancient ash tree, and any magic is possible, so long as it is cast with a suitable sacrifice. Yes, it’s basically a Viking Isekai. Shoot me. Then, a quote in italics: I know an ash tree named Yggdrasil, Nine realms cradled in its loamy arms… Prophecy of the Voluspa, verse 19

Image 3: Meet the characters! An image shows a white woman in Viking-era dress, leaning against a fence, looking pensieve. She is introduced as Sigyn Narisdottir. Her quote is: “It’s a God-eat-God world out there…” Below this, there is a description of Sigyn, reading: Just a nice, normal Christian woman from a nice, normal Christian village. (Totally not a gay witch, haha no, why would you suggest such a thing.) After her father is killed by his own God, Þórr, Sigyn has only one chance to free his trapped ghost from eternal torment. She must confront Þórr and slay him in combat. But how can a mortal defeat a God? Traits are bullet pointed at the bottom of the page. Hers are: Ruthless, ambitious, cunning, and desperate.

Image 4: The next character description is of Loki. His quote is “Monsters lost their menace when they huddled crying in the corner. And when you might use them for your own ends.” His image shows a clean-shaven half-naked man sat against a scandinavian-esque backdrop of rugged rocks and dried grass. He is white, with curly red hair, and is looking curiously off to one side. His description reads: The savior of the Gods, or their bane? A framed innocent, or a prophesized murderer? A victim, or a monster? Loki is a man of juxtaposed polarities, not least of which being that he isn’t a man at all. At least, not when it doesn’t suit him. Sigyn knows he’s dangerous. But in the viper nest of Ásgarð’s royal court, he might be her only ally… or her downfall. His traits are: Sly, wily, and 'not to be trusted'.

Image 5: The two characters introduced on this slide are Freyja and Thor. Freyja's image is of an Arab woman staring directly at the camera, expression serene, curly hair falling around her face. Her quote is: “Goddess of beauty. Goddess of desire. All who saw Freyja fell a little in love—but though silken longing stirred in my belly, I wrung it dead, reminding myself that Freyja was a goddess of bloodshed, too.” Her description reads: Queen of the Vanir, Freyja is an ancient and powerful goddess who takes Sigyn as her indentured servant. Her traits are: Proud, cold, and vicious. On the opposite side of the page, Thor's image shows a white, bearded man in an iron helmet glaring into the camera, viking sigils scrawled across his face in charcoal. He is shadowy and menacing. His quote is: “I saw a rainbow flash over a church. I saw a broken sky. I saw the end of everything.” His description is: Eldest prince of the Æsir. Murderer of Sigyn’s father, and countless more beside. The living embodiment of berserker rage, he is the strongest god around – and next to inherit Ásgarð’s throne. Unless Sigyn can stop him. His traits are: Violent, mighty, and 'a storm made flesh'

Image 6: introduces Angrboda and Baldr. Angrboda's image shows a white woman with blonde braids, wearing chain mail and warpaint (black streaks over her face), with a huge axe over one shoulder. Her quote is: “ ‘Sigyn, meet Angrboða: witch of the Ironwoods, god of a lost nation, relic of an elder age, master of magics that not even my darling brother dares dabble in, cosmopolitan worldwalker, mother and father of my children, and—if I might say so—a practitioner of truly superlative strap-game.’ ” Baldr's image is of Assad Zaman, looking wistfully, beautifully, into the camera. His quote is: “Out strode the most beautiful man in all the Nine Worlds. His gentle smile, his topaz eyes, his black curls, the fawn velvet of his cheeks… Oh, warmth radiated from him. I looked at him and felt, for the first time in oh-so-very-long, safe.”

Image 7: introduces Saga and Menglod. Saga's image shows a Black woman in darkness, with facial tattoos and a nose ring. She raises her eyes to the camera, pulling back a dark hood, her expression difficult to read. Her quote is: “In another version of this tale, I stayed with Sága. We travelled to Ljósálfheim every winter—one for every six of Vanaheim’s years—and raised foundlings as our own (for ever were the elvish freer with their loves than those of my world). But in this tale, we reached Freyja’s palace, and I had a dream.” Her description is: Prophet, witch, worldwalker. The woman Sigyn left behind. Menglod's image shows a Black woman smiling slightly, slyly, as she looks back over her shoulder, her natural hair framing her face. Her quote is: “If I tended the hearth in Freyja’s chamber, I left ash on her floors. If I swept the ash, I left streaks invisible to any eyes but Menglǫð’s. If I breathed, I did so far too loudly and regularly, and if I were a considerate soul, I would stop.” Her description is: Freyja’s attendant, and Sigyn’s main rival for her favor.

Image 8: So, like, wtf happens? Set against a background of dramatic red-on-black fire is a description of the book's plot, as follows: Crumbling kingdoms. Hungering Gods. One woman who will end the worlds. Loki, Norse god of fire and mischief, will be tortured until the end of time. And he shall deserve every minute. At least, that’s how the story goes. Behind every great man is a great woman, and behind every genderfluid trickster-god is a spouse who darns his socks, plots his victories and keeps his secrets, as well as her own. After a thousand years of agony, Loki looks to the woman who kneels by his side – his jailer, his torturer, his wife – and asks for a different story. Hers.

Image 9: a continuation of the plot from the previous slide, this time with a cool blue lake as the background, with a viking-style ship floating atop its surface. The image feels less calming, more unnerving in its stillness and the lack of human life. The description reads as follows: Down with the gods. So swore Sigyn, a young mortal woman, after watching her father die at godly hands. One millennium later, she has joined the same pantheon she once despised. Now, as Ragnarǫk approaches – the end of all Nine Worlds – Sigyn narrates the tale of the Norse Gods’ fall, and her own.

Image 10: Themes. A picture of two crossed axes accompanies a list of themes, which are: 1) Revenge. What is a life worth? And what would you give up, to avenge the life of someone you love? 2) Corruption. Can you ever fix a broken system from the inside? Or will it, inevitably, consume you? and 3) Divinity. What does it mean, to become a god? What might you lose along the way?

Image 11: A picture of Loki as a woman, with red hair, dressed in a Viking-style dress and sat on the edge of a Scandinavian dock, accompanies text that reads: This book is for you if you like... Queer-led, queer-written fantasy, with main wlw and nonbinary characters! Court drama and political intrigue, mixed with a sizzling dash of mythology! A prophecy that cannot be averted; a tragedy that cannot be outrun…

[radley-rambles]

[the two 'cover' images were generated with AI then edited by myself; the others were free from Unsplash or Canva. IDs in alt text.]

Introducing...

LIESMYTH

a project from B. L. Radley

Crumbling kingdoms. Hungering gods. One woman who will end the worlds.

Loki, Norse god of fire and mischief, will be tortured until the end of time. And he shall deserve every minute.

At least, that’s how the story goes.

Behind every great man is a great woman, and behind every genderfluid trickster-god is a spouse who darns his socks, plots his victories, and keeps his secrets, as well as her own. After a thousand years of agony, Loki looks to the woman who kneels by his side – his jailer, his torturer, his wife – and asks for a different story. Hers.

Down with the gods.

So swore Sigyn, a young mortal woman, after watching her father die at godly hands. A millennia later, she has joined the same pantheon she once despised. Now, as Ragnarok approaches – the end of all Nine Worlds – Sigyn narrates the tale of the Norse Gods’ fall, and her own.

(Let me know if you wanna be on the tag list! I will, um, actually try to keep a record this time. Prommy.)

Meet Sigyn (she/her)

Human. Powerless. Weak. At least, that's what everyone tells her - and what she would have the Gods believe. Conning her way into the heart of the Gods' court, a young Sigyn must navigate the treacherous thorns of Aesir politics if she wants to live long enough to avenge her father's murder and allow his vengeful draug to find peace. Fearing to love and lose again, as she lost her father, she shuns connections or intimacy, honing herself into a weapon of vengeance against the strongest men in all the worlds.

Meet Loki (any/all)

Ancient and unknowable, yet frightfully immature, Loki plays many roles: the Gods' jester, their monstrous pet, their simultaneous saboteur and saviour. He (or she, or they) is the most unpredictable thing about the Aesir's deadly courts. That makes him dangerous. Sigyn should avoid him, especially as a fragmented prophecy warns that their fates are intertwined. But as that prophecy unfurls into a plot to destroy the Gods and the Nine Worlds they inhabit, with Loki at its heart, Sigyn must venture close enough to the Liesmith to risk being burnt.

Quote: I was neither tall nor beautiful. I lacked the soulful eyes and luscious figure of a Vanir, or a Ljósálf’s slender limbs and sugar-spun features. My mousy-brown hair was my thinnest attribute, and I wore it in a sensible bun, which, by dint of its roundness, rather resembled the rest of me. But of all my many unremarkable qualities, most mundane by far was my face. With its weak jaw and beaky nose, a kind skald might call it ‘homely’, a crueller one, ‘huckery’. Yet all would agree on one thing: Sigyn Narisdottir was utterly forgettable. Who would see me in Queen Freyja’s shadow? Having conned my way into her service, it would be easy to journey to Ásgarð in her company. Then I would find the god who slew my father, and have my revenge.

[gayferrari]

here's pregnant Lando to celebrate the holidays. happy Christmas you freaks!!!

Lando/Oscar, rated E, 3k

mpreg as body horror. rancid vibes all around

written for @f1-fic-secret-santa for the amazing @antspaul. heyyyyyyyy 👉 👈🥰💕

[tallfroggieart]

The World

A secret santa gift I made for the lovely, wonderful @liesmyth ! So excited to get to finally share it!!! :D

(Tarot meanings for the World card and some extra ramblings beneath the cut for those who are interested)

The World

Upright: Success, achievement, accomplishment, travel, completion, fulfilment, sense of belonging, wholeness

Reversed: Shortcuts, delays, seeking closure, incompletion, emptiness

"To encounter the World in your cards is to encounter a great unity and wholeness. It symbolizes the moment when the inner and the outer worlds - self and other - become a single entity. In some traditions, this state is described as enlightenment, or nirvana. There is a recognition that the individual self is profoundly linked with all other things, and that we all dance and sway along the flow of life to one rhythm. Not only do you hear this rhythm, but you participate in it - following the dips and the rises, the joys and the sorrows.

The meaning of the World card is fulfillment, achievement, and completion. This shows that all the efforts that you have been putting in place are starting to pay off. It reflects that you have completed a major milestone in your life and you have built the resilience to withstand challenges. The World may indicate completion of a long-term project, study or any other major event in your life. It may also mean the birth of a child, marriage, graduation or any other thing that you have accomplished.

The World card shows that you have a desire to give back to the community in various ways. You have a commitment to make the world a better place because you understand that everything is connected."

- Labyrinthos, The World

Ok and now for my unhinged rambling about Jamie motherfucking Tartt. Ahem.

Like. GUYS HES LITERALLY THIS CARD IN HIS S3 ERA AND IM NOT KIDDING. he’s the central cog!!! He’s the fulcrum of the triangle!! He’s total football! He’s the world’s most specialest puppydog-coded central attacking midfielder!! He’s the conductor, the playmaker, the literal heart and soul of AFC Richmond’s whole tactic!!!!! He means soooo fucking much to me you don’t even understand.

Yes I did take the bisexual Fibonacci spiral from Sunflowers and make it a key part of this card. If the universe didn’t want me to do that then it would have killed Jason Sudeikis before he could make that scene because my molecules have been forever altered.

(ps: ahem. stay tuned for some more AFC Richmond tarot! I’ve got a Roy in the works and plans for the rest of the main cast, though idk how far I’d follow it through. you could follow me and see what happens if you want 👉👈)

[liesmyth]

Sexy EVIL COUGAR MINDFUCKS handsome YOUNG VIRGIN butch through the power of ROMANCE NOVELS.

Or: Gideon gets to kiss Dulcinea Septimus, and then some. And then she kind of wishes she hadn't.

Rated E, 4k, Cytherea-typical manipulation and dubcon galore

Cytherea/Gideon, Cytherea-as-Dulcinea

Tagged: Praise Kink, Manipulation, Coercion, Pussy Spanking, Object Penetration, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, Cytherea's Romance Novels, GtN Era

“Are all Ninth House girls like you? Strong, silent… chivalrous.” Dulcinea dimpled and shifted on the cushions that Gideon had arranged for her. She grinned, bright and breathless. “So devout.”

(written for consent issues exchange 2023 for the one and only @augustmourn)

[muqingapologist]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "muqingapologist "?

i go through phases with fanfiction, wavering between never reading any and then reading it consistently over a period of time. so my ao3 account only has bookmarks from the last year or so, so i’ll just include those! i did read some reeeally good fics for pairings that i was really into in the past, but i won’t include them here

as for my username, i used to have the apologist format with another character for my finsta, and i because obsessed over mu qing in my recent read through of tgcf. so i’ll defend him from the haters heh.

ok fics. no particular order.

1. Resurrection by heyholmesletsgo

one thing about me is that im going to eat up every songxiao fix-it fic i come across. this one i think follows the logic of the untamed rather than just mdzs, but i don’t think it’s a big change either way. this fic is so beautiful i thought about it for weeks afterward. it’s pretty short, but the slow, gentle pining as xiao xingchen returns to the world, the way they figure out communication, it’s all so good.

2. some new beginning by liesmyth

i got into good omens after season 2 being released this past summer, and i have to say the fics have been very hit or miss for me. the characterizations in fics are always some strange combination of characterizations of season 2 crowley and season 1 crowley and book crowley. this is post-season 1 though so this isn’t really an issue. i loved this one. i think my favorite form of aziracrow is when they’re both just idiots following the momentum of their feelings without really realizing the significance of their actions until, well, they live together hahah. highly recommend this one for that dynamic! it’s also pretty short.

3. Protagonist Rehabilitation Programme by cinnamonsnaps

this one i actually read entirely on my flight from japan last week after randomly stumbling across it. it’s an SVSSS AU where the original luo binghe transmigrates(?) into shen yuan’s world. im not usually a fan of AU fiction because i think much of the time, the events of the source material are very much what shape the personalities of the characters, but this one works for me. it’s so good at matching the tone and writing style of mxtx while being funny in its own way too.

4. hometown comforts by nyoomerr

this is another bingqiu one, post-canon, and it’s an identity reveal. it’s my ideal identity reveal fic because it’s incredibly low stakes and binghe is just curious about shen yuan’s world. no system warnings and stuff. just bonding. im a simple gal.

5. still waters by marichen

went through a beefleaf phase where i read a bunch of fics. this was the best one by far. unmatched. beefleaf, imo, is a very difficult couple to write for. there’s so much to unpack. it’s hard to make their relationship feel genuine because so much care needs to go into shi qingxuan trusting he xuan again. in this fic, it is the classic he xuan lingering around, but also we see sqx building his own life back up on his own, as well. it’s he xuan pov. so good so good.

6. Bring it back, bring it back [don’t take it away from me] by wednesdaisy

another good omens fic, also post-season 1, aziraphale pov. in this one, crowley fucks off to new zealand because he thinks his relationship with aziraphale is fantasy and it’s too painful to keep seeing him after everything they’ve been through. and aziraphale tracks him down and has to convince crowley that he does indeed want him in his life and loves him and ah, it’s really sweet.

7. the round moon by orphan_account and the hazy sun by orphan_account

this is a 2 part quanyin fic (pre-canon qyz for part 1, post-canon yin yu pov for part 2). i’m also incredibly picky about quanyin fics. this one was so beautifully done. it didn’t make quan yizhen feel overly-childish as an adult like many others do, and it made yin yu’s conflicting feelings about him so vivid and believable. highly recommend for quanyin nation out there.

8. This Is Me Trying by Piper_Emerald

another post-canon identity reveal. this one is a little more angsty than the one above but also so well done! a deep part of me needs an identity reveal to happen for them at some point hahaha…like binghe is smart ok…he suspects already.

9. some good mistakes by Lise

everyone forgive me for not really having any wangxian recs. my post-untamed fic phase was on my old ao3 account i can’t find. anyway, i remember this one being really good. wei wuxian goes missing. jiang cheng pov, teaming up with lan zhan to find wwx. post-canon untamed. personal preference but i love post-canon untamed wangxian fics the most because i just reading about all the ways they might get together.

10. Not Easily Conquered by dropdeaddream, WhatAreFears

(i keep getting error when i post the link but it’s on ao3)

i’m including this one because i’d be lying if it wasn’t always in my top 10. i never think about stevebucky these days and cannot stand marvel, but damn this fic holds up like 8 years later!! 3-parter, AU where steve never gets frozen but bucky is still the winter soldier. told over decades. some cringe US cold war propaganda but ignoring that…a beautiful story. if you ever carried any attachment for these two, worth the read.

so that’s my very inaccurate too 10 fics. thank you for asking so i have an excuse to discuss hahaha.

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

@staghunters tagged me to list the top ten of my repeat—but since my music habits are so old-fashioned and so much of what I listen to is offline formats, I'll just list randomly ten songs I've been listening to a lot lately instead:

Hole, "Violet"

"Mira il tuo popolo, bella Signora," which is a hymn

"Now the green blade riseth," which is also a hymn

Steeleye Span, "The Blackleg Miner"

Renato Carosone, "Maruzzella"

Nakamori Akina, "I Know Kodoku no Sei"

Kate Bush, "There Goes a Tenner"

Bruce Springsteen, "It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City"

Ali Project, "Otome no Inori"

The Lonely Island, "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)"

Tagging @itsallwearecalledtodo, @eucatastrophicblues, @mayasaura, @infinitelytheheartexpands, @liesmyth, @thatlowdoorinthewall, @whodoesnataliehave, and @lais-a-ramos!

[saiditallbefore]

Out of Context WIPs

Rules: Pick a bunch of your WIPs and summarize them as badly as possible, then ask your followers to vote on which one they’d be most likely to read. Multiple/all/none options are completely optional.

Tagged by @tavina-writes

Tagging: @73chn1c0l0rr3v3l , @brigdh , @augustmourn , @liesmyth , @sharpestasp & anyone else who wants to participate!

[cowboylikeekatie]

THE EDDIE KASPBRAK FIX-IT REDDIT POST THINGY IS MY FAV FIC EVER ITS A MUST READ!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22394368

[zombified-queer]

Work In Progress Title Ask Meme

I got tagged by the lovely @jeejyboard (everyone say “Hi, jeejyboard!”)

Prompt: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive of ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

From my loose documents in my 2024 projects folder:

Art School AU – Aud and her gf

Parlour AU – [title] (Steward/Groundskeeper)

Parlour AU – [title] (The Valet/The Chambermaid)

The Hotel – Kult Scenario

The Hotel – LB and the Ladies

The Hotel – The Cave (mockisode)

The Hotel – Whale and Albatross v. 2.0

TLT – [title] (Magnus Quinn/Colum Asht)

TLT – Cytherea and Alecto min. 3k

And I have a billion WIPs in the wings so I’m going to tag @liesmyth and @smokedapplecores as well as anyone else who wants to!

[possibility-left]

Good Omens fic recs #16

The Best Of Both Worlds by entanglednow - A/C, 11k words.  A TV AU or bookverse fic in which after Armageddidn't, Crowley and Aziraphale aren't fired by their respective sides, and hatch a plan to be together: Crowley would seek approval to seduce an angel for Hell, and Aziraphale would do something similar.  This is sweet and very funny.

An Object At Rest by entanglednow - A/C, 4k words. - Crowley wakes up from one of his long naps, post S1, and finds Aziraphale in his flat, where the angel has been making himself comfortable.  This is so softly romantic.

Choose Your Faces Wisely by Poetry - A/C, 5k words.  Good Omens but everyone has daemons (the His Dark Materials one, where your soul is an animal you can talk to).  Angels and demons don't have them.  Maybe.  This is a terrible summary for a fic that was so beautiful it nearly made me cry.

good old-fashioned lover boy by liesmyth - A/C, 4k words.  This is an oddly very sweet and romantic story about Aziraphale and Crowley easing their way into a physical relationship.

is that your flaming sword (or are you just pleased to see me) by Deputychairman - A/C, 6k words.  After Armageddidn't, Aziraphale and Crowley are settling into a new romantic and sexual relationship, but Not Talking About It in their trademark way, until Crowley mentions the flaming sword again.  There's some very lovely relationship talk and a sweet sex scene as well.

[radley-rambles]

Heads Up 7 Up

Tagged by @cwritesfiction!

This excerpt is called 'how Sigyn cunningly convinced Óðin’s ravens to betray him, using only a crust of stale bread'

Ravens circled overhead, chipped from the night itself, visible only when silhouetted against the moon. I knew their names were Hugin and Munin, though I couldn’t tell one from the other. It hardly mattered. Both were tattletales, whispering secrets into Óðin’s ears. Why then had the spies alerted me to their presence? Unless… I paused mid-chew. Looked down at the remnants of my dinner. Sighed.

Corvids never forget a friendly face - or an offer of food.

Tagging @quilloftheclouds, @gingerly-writing, @castironbitch, @ellierenae, @adorhauer, @albatris ! No pressure, of course.

[chaos-has-theories]

WIP Ask Game

In a new post, list the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

It has been a WHILE but thank you @aidanchaser I love doing these even if technically there hasn't been much change since the last time. But hey! Since there's no way I can list all of them anyway I get to mix it up a little.

Here's my last version of this game - feel free to send me asks about those, too, I've worked on some of them and I always like to talk about them - but in a fun little twist for me personally I'm going to list only Original Works this time :D

Alice and April

Allies or Enemies

Apocalypse Come

Black Raven

Chiaroscuro Coffee Alchemy

Chosen

Darling

Devil's Tango

Esmeralda's Tower

Gap

Good Enough

Isabelle

Lettere

Mari Tessa

Maxim and Alexej

Mischief

Queen's Own

Tell my Tale

The Library of the Longest Night

Westwindaffäre

Who we are

This is.... not all of them. But it is all of the ones who have their own Scrivener file in my Originals folder. Some are relatively new, some are teenaged concoctions and some of them I haven't worked on for years; but they are all active projects in one way or another.

No way I can tag 21 people, buuuut..... @echo-has-queries @septimus-heap @lovelyisadora @liesmyth @a-nano-bit-of-everything and of course @ anyone who feels like it!

[griseldagimpel]

#once again always and forever endlessly fascinated by whatever went on in John's mind as he built his empire#(or got his lyctors to build it for him? who's to say)#he renamed the sun after his old alma mater's motto. but the prestigious one mind you. not otagu or auckland#the latin. the biblical references in the lyctors names. the western literary canon#the fact that the he likely resurrected NZ / oceania and cast off the global north with the dregs under the tower...#but everyone in the Houses speak English and he MUST have made a conscious effort to preserve the language artificially for a myriad#he had the whole of human history at his disposal but when he looked at a framework for an empire went with what he knew#consciously or unconsciously#renaming his newfound daughter kiriona.... the public (westernised / anglo) sphere vs the private sphere#I wonder if John even could speak Māori when he was human and I think not very well#I wonder if he speaks it now#I'm always thinking about what it meant to him when Wake spoke her full name to him and she had no reference for what she was saying#anyway mmm. I don't think Alecto == Barbie. John namedropped Galatea and Frankenstein and Adam and Eve too#I understand why the fandom latched on it! It's cool and meme worthy and fun#but personally I'm much more interested in how John playing with hand me down barbies as a kid says SO MUCH#about the guy who's now god and all the things that shaped him#Tamsyn really does THE MOST with so little godbless#tlt thoughts#tlt#ejg (@liesmyth)

Something I noticed though is that with all the parallels in Nona the Ninth between John's backstory and the present, John becoming a force of colonization isn't what's emphasized.

Like, in the backstory, you've got the compound being raided by the authorities. And in the New Rho portions, there's a parallel raid. But the parallel raid is being perpetrated by the Blood of Eden against Nona and her found family. Of them, Nona and Pyrrha helped found the Empire. And while the Sixth House (Camilla and Palamedes) have seceded, they're still seen by the New Rho populace as House. They aren't colonized victims of the Empire. We aren't even shown the Empire doing raids. (Does it do raids? Probably! It's an Empire. But we don't see that.)

Then you've got John killing the cops in his backstory, which is framed as him being drunk on the power of magic. And the parallel there is Camilla and Palamedes working together to kill a bunch of cops in the New Rho portion and being a bit drunk on the power of magic with them working as a proto-Paul. Are the cops agents of the Empire? Well, they probably started as such, but the Empire isn't in control of New Rho anymore. (NtN is very vague about the socio-political situation of New Rho, since Nona doesn't care about that on account of it not being a dog lol.) And again, Camilla and Palamedes aren't colonized victims of the Empire.

Or look at the exploitation of the Earth, which John is fighting against. There's a strong parallel with the Blood of Eden seeing Nona only as something they can use and exploit for their Lyctor project, while it is Pyrrha, Palamedes, Camilla, and later Paul who care about protecting her. (John absolutely wronged Alecto, but locking the Earth away to please your lovers is a different category of wrongness than the exploitation of Earth for its resources.)

The parallels in Nona the Ninth feel very deliberate. I'd bet Muir sat down in the outline phase of writing and planned out what they were going to be. But they don't exist in the service of a 'John recreated colonialism and imperialism he himself suffered under' theme, for all that John did, in fact, go on to make an imperialist Empire.

(As always, I so hope that Alecto the Ninth gives us more flashbacks, this time to the early days of the Empire. I want to know what John was thinking!)

I wish the take I see most often on hollywood barbie alecto wasn't that john chose that because he wanted a sex symbol because it's missing out on a lot of thematic resonance about how john cannot help but return to frameworks of western imperialism and even at the moment he is seeking comfort in his childhood he ends up with one the symbols of western capitalism and how that relates to him recreating the same systems that harmed him and were destroying the world when he becomes god

[liesmyth]

It's finally here... the fic that posits to answer the burning question: how are REVEREND BABIES made?

Featuring the breakdown of a longstanding marriage, small-scale genocide, a vengeful ghost of the MILF persuasion, and a normal amount of bones.

Rated M, 10k, Canon-typical everything

Characters: Pelleamena Novenarius, Anastasia the First, Priamhark Noniusvianus, Various Ninth House Characters

Tagged: Worldbuilding, Pre-Canon, Ninth House Extinction Event, Necromancy, Mad Science, WOMEN'S WRONGS

“Harrowhark—you are a walking miracle. A unique theorem. A natural wonder.” You looked at God, and you said: “I have just told you that I am the product of my parents’ genocide.” Harrow the Ninth, Chapter 14

[possibility-left]

Good Omens fic recs #13

the first week of the rest of their lives by Deputychairman - A/C, 4k words. After the Apocalypse didn't happen, Crowley and Aziraphale go on dates, and then come together romantically, and it's wonderfully easy.  It's nice to have a mostly non-angsty get together fic once in a while and this one is very well done.

some new beginning by liesmyth - A/C, 5k words.  A very sweet fic in which Crowley kind of slowly begins moving into the bookshop without talking about it too much, although they do eventually.

Seven by chamyl - A/C, 3k words.  An extremely hot established relationship fic in which Aziraphale gives Crowley divine ecstasy aka a lot of orgasms.

I'll Come When You Call Me, or, The Rent Boy's Tale by CopperBeech - A/C, 5k words.  A really personable outsider POV fic in which Aziraphale hires a red-headed sex worker (the outsider POV) because he thinks it's as close as he's going to get to Crowley, and Crowley finds out.

Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by orphan_account - A/C, 2k words.  A light-hearted fic in which Aziraphale tells Crowley he won't have sex unless they get married, and they decide to solve the problem.  It's very cute, dialogue-heavy.