strings-of-a-different-nature

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“how can you be intimate with someone if you’re aromantic??”

sharing secrets, trusting them with your life, telling them about that stupid thing you did when you were 14 and haven’t told anyone else since, being there for them any time day or night, talking til three in the morning, letting yourself cry around them, sharing grief, sharing joy, getting excited about the things they’re excited about just because you love to see them so happy about something

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It’s Ace Awareness week so I’m just sharin’ my personal ace-as-hell Bilbo Baggins headcanon. I just see Bilbo ace and aro as a hobbit could be, the most ace of all aces in Middle-Earth

like he tried courting as a young hobbit once for, like, a week, and then he was like “nah actually I think I’m just gonna go live in my giant house full of all my awesome stuff and tend this garden and write this book and study this Elvish and cook this food and raise this nephew and give zero fucks”

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moodboards for asexual awareness week: Dr. Sally Grissom, asexual protagonist of ars PARADOXICA

“I’m asexual, I get it.”

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One of the things that makes me happy about the aroace Luke Skywalker headcanon I’m so fond of is that it subverts the old trope about the ultimate expression of love being romance and ergo sex.

His capacity to love is a major point in Luke’s journey. Hell, he managed to redeem Darth Vader thanks to his ability to love ol’ Vader despite his flaws. (And while I love Anakin dearly, there is bad decision-making and then there is Anakin Skywalker a few kilometres out. It’s a lot easier to feel sorry for the guy when your galaxy isn’t the one he made scrambled eggs of.)

And if Luke’s love and compassion for Vader aren’t a pretty significant display of the Power of Love, I don’t know what is. We are talking about pulling an entire galaxy out of two decades of tyranny here, just by reminding one guy that he isn’t irredeemably unlovable.

But if Luke is aroace (and my headcanon has him be aroace in much the way I am, because my headcanon), it makes the way he loves and expresses love deviate from what our amatonormative world assumes. Obviously in dealing with his father, everything’s based in familial love, but hey, let’s not pretend like folks who are none the wiser don’t occasionally assume that no romantic/sexual love is the same as no love at all.

Personally, I’m still deeply uncomfortable using the word ‘love’ to describe my feelings about people (unless it’s about fictional characters, because they’re not here to take it the wrong way). We do not live in a world that recognises any significant feelings about other people that I might have as legitimate or important, because the things regarded as the ultimate expressions of love are both beyond my experience. (I’m still cranky about that assembly one teacher gave where he got onto the importance and beauty of romance.) It’s isolating, and perhaps more importantly, embittering. And bitterness is an emotional paralytic.

Luke being able to express his own love without it looking like what Western culture often reserves the word ‘love’ for makes the galaxy far far away much more welcoming to people like me. And hey, it’s fantasy-with-science-words media, escapism is kind of the idea! It also gives back a bit of the emotional agency that stereotypes painting people like me as ‘heartless’ try to take away.

Plus Mark Hamill said that Luke Skywalker can be whatever fans want him to be. So there’s that.

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Author Spotlight - natalunasans

Doctor Who author @natalunasans sent us in some of her acefic for Ace Week! Check them out.

in vulnerability, .. Ace Character: Alison Cheney, the Doctor (also, nonbinary Doctor) Summary: The TARDIS really likes Alison. Alison becomes ill and circumstances prevent the Doctor from taking care of her. The Master displays some previously unknown skills. Alison learns just enough about her travelling companions to be even more intrigued. (aug. 2016 drabbles) Ace Character: Alison Cheney, the Doctor A series of drabbles set in various Doctor Who eras. The last three are explicitly acefic, but the other drabbles are implied.

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       | headcanon asexuals

all your faves are ace part 1

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Ace Week Fic Recs 2016

Here’s all of the fanfiction I’ve come across since I posted my last acefic list that feature an asexual character, that I liked enough to bookmark for future reference. I’ll post the link, some info, and then my own thoughts on the fic. Favourites will be marked with a ♥. Fics that feature sexual content will be marked with ‡, with details in the comments. If you would like anything else tagged please feel free to let me know. Fandoms: Borderlands Brooklyn 99 Daredevil Dragon Age Jurassic Park Sherlock BBC Stargate Atlantis

Keep reading

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nerdy ace who went to space

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hey!! mod post here because i can’t find another one that thoroughly talks about this 

for a little while now, i have been listening to a wonderful time-travel drama called ars paradoxica. in the most recent episode, “greenhouse”, the protagonist -- dr. sally grissom, a scientist who was sent back in time to the 1940s due to an accident with a time machine -- was confirmed as canonically asexual. i would highly recommend this podcast regardless, as i’ve been enjoying it already, so for anyone interested in material with representation in it, this one has my seal of approval!

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Summary: Rey is Luke’s daughter, although not in the way you might expect. Featuring aro/ace!Luke, and actual asexual reproduction.

I finally have chapter three up! This chapter is from Leia’s perspective.  If you want to start from the beginning, the first chapter is here.

Thank you to @aroford and @brassmama for betaing!

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*insert unpopular hera sexuality headcanon here*

oh yeah

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They wandered over to a stall where the object was to throw darts into playing cards stuck to a board. ACES WIN PRIZES announced the sign overhead. ʻTry your luck, buddy?ʼ said a portly man in a chequered coat and bow tie. Distractedly the Doctor picked up a dart and threw it without really looking. It flew straight as an arrow and hit the Ace of Spades dead centre.

Ten, Forever Autumn (Mark Morris)

……..aroace dr who #confirmed

(via aromantic-eight)

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Kanan and Hera left the kids at Pride and came back to the ship to celebrate some queerplatonic alone time.  Hera does not regret letting Sabine paint on her lekku. She might regret it a little more later when she finds purple skin-paint smeared all over her flightsuit, though.

Aroace Hera and aro pansexual Kanan.

More Star Wars characters at Pride here.

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Hey, i'd be interested if you have any book rec's with ace/aro protagonists? I'm struggling to find many good ones.

Hey!

So I’ll level with you here, depression’s been beating my ass for the longest time, and even though I know there’s good stuff out there, I’ve not had the energy to go delving into the nooks and crannies of the fiction world to find it, because…… y’know, it’s hard, there’s fudge all out there, I’m tired

But I’m so glad you sent this ask because it’s given me the motivation to sit my butt down and make this happen and this is IMPORTANT to me. So this ask has been an adventure for the both of us, anon friend~

Here’s what I found in my search! I’ve only read a few of them, for the above reason, but I’ve tried to collect stuff that’s been written by aro/ace authors or has received positive reviews from aro/ace people!! Here goes!!! I hope it’s not too lengthy, I got excited!!

The Bone People by Keri Hulme is a mystery novel featuring an asexual protagonist, the reclusive artist Kerewin. It’s set in New Zealand and focuses a lot on Maori culture (the author herself is of Maori descent, as well as openly asexual and aromantic). Trigger warnings for physical abuse, suicide and illness.

We Awaken by Calista Lynne ( @calista-lynne ) features two asexual protagonists, girls who love girls, paranormal shenanigans, and the most beautiful glorious amazing cover I’ve ever seen. It’s also published by Harmony Ink Press, who do positive LGBTQ+ stories and are all round awesome in general. I think this one is available for preorder now, but releasing soon.

Sydney West by Rebecca McKinsey is a mystery/thriller I’ve seen some really great reviews on, which features a canon aromantic protagonist, and also has minimal profanity and minimal graphic description, if that’s not your kinda thing.

How To Be A Normal Person by TJ Klune features an asexual stoner hipster and honestly I don’t even know what else to say about it but this book looks like a wild and very weird ride to say the least.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire has an asexual protagonist and creepy stuff and secret doors and other worlds. Also has a trans character! Seems like a neat premise, I’m keen to read it.

Cold Ennaline by RJ Astruc is paranormal novella also published by Harmony Ink Press, featuring an asexual (and by the sounds of the description quite possibly aromantic) protagonist.

Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith is an epic high fantasy with an asexual protagonist and a POC princess and lots of awesome worldbuilding and politics and yeah!

After I Wake by Emma Griffiths features an asexual protagonist and several queer side characters and is also published by Harmony Ink Press! Hooray! Trigger warnings for suicide and mental illness (though the story itself focuses on recovery).

Sinners by Eka Waterfield is a dark fantasy about an asexual sidhe drug dealer, so what else does a person need, really. But yeah! It’s got thumbs-ups from several ace reviewers on goodreads! Trigger warnings for drug use and violence.

Clariel by Garth Nix features a protagonist who’s pretty much 100% absolutely aroace and amazing, and from what I can see many of the aces/aros who’ve read this book strongly identify with her and her experiences and the general consensus is that it’s awesome.  

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld features a demisexual WOC and a lesbian love interest and I’ve heard pretty good things about it, though I haven’t read it myself.Quicksilver by RJ Anderson is a YA sci-fi with an asexual protagonist and lots of decent discussions on asexuality in the book, like the coming out scene, etc.

Interface: inSight by Lucy Mihajlich is another one maybe worth looking out for? It has a kickstarter going, and features a hearing-impaired aroace protagonist, nonbinary representation, and female and POC characters doing cool stuff and not dying… also has, like, cool edgy futuristic dystopia vibes~

A Word and a Bullet by Rachel Sharp has a very very very explicitly-stated aroace character. 100% aroace and cool with it. Also, quirky apocalypse stories are always fun, yeah?

And here’s some other neat stuff I found:

From Under the Mountain by Cait Spivey (panromantic asexual author, F/F high fantasy, lots of POC and women characters)

Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge (zero romance, cool premise)

The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan (ace character, not protagonist)

Radio Silence by Alice Osman (honest and open discussions of asexuality and demisexuality, female mixed-race bisexual protagonist, male and female leads do not fall in love)

Make Much Of Me by Kayla Bashe (lots of queer rep, including asexual and nonbinary, super positive feelgood themes)

Mindtouch and Mindline by M.C.A Hogarth (non-human asexual characters, queerplatonic life-partnership, sounds hELLA CUTE)

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey (asexual POC leading character, not protagonist)

And I added like a billion things to my TBR lmao help me anon

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OH MY GOSH GUYS I JUST READ THIS AND WHY ISN’T EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT IT

Imagine, if you will: 

A boarding school for children who went to magical worlds like Narnia and Wonderland…and came back and now have to adjust to being stuck in the Real World again. Ever wonder what Alice, Dorothy, and the Pevensie kids went through afterwards? It was probably something like this.

The main character, Nancy, is openly asexual. RED ALERT RED ALERT AN ACTUAL FANTASY BOOK BY AN ACCLAIMED AUTHOR WITH A CANONICAL ASEXUAL HEROINE WHOSE ASEXUALITY IS OPENLY DISCUSSED BUT IS NOT CENTRAL TO HER PLOTLINE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

The deuteragonist is a trans boy*. His name is Kade; he’s really cool. (He’s a former Goblin Prince-in-Waiting, I want his story so much, come on Seanan McGuire give us a prequel about him). 

There’s also a creepy murder mystery because why the heck not. 

Basically, it’s everything I ever wanted in a book. And did I mention actual asexual representation…I swear, if I’d had this book as a teenager, my life would have been so different. 

And the author is demi/bisexual. 

(The kindle book is like $2.99 over at Amazon right now, if you want to go check it out.)

*(Trigger warning for some transphobist comments made by one character that are refuted by literally everyone else)

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Have I mentioned that I headcanon TV!Eobard as aroace? Because it’s one of my favourite Flash headcanons, and it’s made even better by the fact that his suit looks pretty snazzy in both ace and aro pride colours.

(I re-purposed some of my old art for this, and the original can be found here.)

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Welcome to Aggressively Arospec Week!

#AggressivelyArospecWeek is a week-long event that aims to promote the creation of fancontent relating to the aromanticism-spectrum by arospec creators.

Have you ever felt, as an arospec person, that fandom was only interested in romance? That it didn’t care about arospec characters? That it didn’t care about your own experiences? Well, WE care. WE are interested.

From June 20 to June 26, submit your fanfictions, fanarts, fanvids, headcanons, playlists,… that feature your favorite arospec characters by tagging them as #AggressivelyArospecWeek (in the first five tags) and we will reblog them on our blog.

We deserve representation. We create our own experiences. We are talented people. But most of all: we want to have fun. So go wild!

(For more information, check out our About page or our FAQ section.)

A note:  We want our blog to be a safe place where people can talk about aromanticism without being brushed off so… Please don’t make it all about (a)sexuality. Arospec people can have all kinds of sexual orientations, and we welcome all kinds of representation, but for once we would like to focus on (a)romantic orientations. We’re trusting you guys on this!