#I volunteered to do the historical background summary thing

[writtenfoxscreams]

Me on my way to ruin the thanksgiving meal with a "brief historical summary".

[phoenixyfriend]

👀 PLease tell us your thoughts about the Jedi babies re-growing up among different cultural contexts.

Oh fuck okay

Context: original post, chrono The specific post this ask is referencing: here

Summary of the AU: Disaster lineage got tossed back in time. Anakin stayed 21-ish, but Obi-Wan and Ahsoka got deaged, took new names for time-travel reasons (Ylliben and Sokanth, or Ben and Soka), are now staying with the True Mandalorians under Jaster Mereel because the Force said to, go back to the Temple after about a decade. They grabbed Shmi about three months after arriving.

So as far as the cultural background goes, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had similar upbringings. She spent a few years on Shili first, but both spent the majority of their childhoods up to age 13/14 being raised in the creche. So that's the basis that they would default to, in a vacuum.

Nobody is raised in a vacuum.

Along with the Jedi cultural background, they're being raised by Tatooine natives in a Mandalorian environment.

Shmi and Anakin are both former slaves who have desert survival baked into their bones. The longer Anakin spends around her, the more his accent slips, the more he talks about old folktales, the more he uses idioms that don't exist on a cityplanet like Coruscant. All the things that he tamped down to be a Jedi come floating back to the surface, and Shmi's never known anything else. Anakin's knowledge of slave customs make her feel more comfortable, which in turn makes him feel better, and so on.

Mandalore is just... the culture they're living in. You don't grow up in a new culture with a new language without picking up on it personally. (Source: I moved to the US when I was a little under two years old.)

I think the thing I'm going to focus on as an example is the way each of these cultures approaches family, and then maybe how they approach the keeping of peace/what peace means.

Jedi: Where you come from means little, only the legacy you leave behind in your students. Mandalore: You protect your clan and your children; adoption is a major cultural value, if not actually practiced consistently. Tatooine: You can lose your family at any time, so you value what you have in all its forms. You don’t forget where and who you came from, to family of blood and family of choice alike. You cling to your memories and what little you still have of them, to what your master cannot take away.

These are all valid ways to approach family, and each of these approaches can have significant meaning to different people. But they do all, to a certain degree, conflict with one another, despite all three being fairly communal cultures.

The Jedi have a culture, one that’s built on a shared ability and religion over thousands of years. It’s not just an organization, but a continuous community with legends and traditions and art and records. But it’s one that is built on new blood coming in from the outside, volunteers who join because the religion speaks to them (near literally, given the nature of Force Sensitivity), given up by families who couldn’t or wouldn’t teach them in a way that let their talents flourish instead of pushing it all down.

For the Jedi, a culture built on people coming together due to something they have in common intrinsically that their families of blood do not, it makes sense to put emphasis on letting go of that past when they can, and to place importance on teaching lineages. It’s not just the official master-padawan pairs, either, but that’s the most obvious and easily paralleled element. Moreover, a lot of the Jedi culture is about gaining knowledge, so obviously spreading it is good, and also on supporting the galaxy to make it a better place; to view the Jedi order as a heavily communal culture would make sense, since their values are all about selfless betterment of the universe, which on a larger scale is about the galactic conflicts, but on a smaller scale is about supporting their own community, the children and the ill and elderly.

So that is the specific culture that Obi-Wan and Ahsoka grew up in, one that holds blood family as relevant but not particularly crucial to one’s identity, but is structured so people leave behind legacies through education in a manner that often becomes adoptive family (depending on your definition, I guess). Jedi are encouraged to connect to their home cultures, if not their families, with practices like the coming of age hunt for Togruta leading to the young Jedi taking a trip out to Shili to engage in that cultural milestone. This can also be viewed as a way for the Jedi to maintain personal connections to the wider universe, a (not entirely successful, but certainly attempted) way of keeping them from becoming too isolated and insular from the universe at large, and losing touch from what the galaxy actually needs of them.

They’re now growing up with two cultures that do place emphasis on blood and found family.

Mandalore, as presented in The Mandalorian, has their traditional values set as being heavily associated with their armor, battle skills, and childcare. While that’s clearly a set of values that aren’t actually followed by everyone with full sincerity, we can assume that these stated cultural values do have at least some impact on the way the society is structured, since we do see more traditional characters (Jaster, Din) adopt orphaned children and then have the Mandalorian elements of their immediate circles support that claim.

(We’ll ignore Jango and the whole clone army thing because the amount of Sith influence is up for debate and also holy trauma, Batman.)

However, we also see that a lot of Mandalorian culture is built on their family histories. On the New Mandalorian side, we see emphasis placed on the fact that Satine is House Kryze and that she’s a duchess. Her bloodline is relevant, though not the most important thing about her. On the Death Watch side, we have Pre and Tor placing emphasis on the fact that they’re Clan Vizsla, descended from Tarre, that this is important to why they deserve what the darksaber represents, this is part of why they not only deserve to lead, but should for the good of Mandalore.

Bo-Katan’s armor is a family heirloom. Boba’s armor was Jango’s, but before being Jango’s, it was Jaster’s. Armor is important enough to pass to family, but the family can be adopted. This all tracks.

The resol’nare specifies loyalty and care for the clan/tribe among the six tenets.

These two elements seem relatively well-balanced: the importance of adoption and the importance of family as a larger unit on the level of a house or clan.

And then you have Tatooine, which also balances blood and adoption, but for entirely different reasons, that being this: it can always be taken from you.

For all that a Mandalorian could historically expect their family to die in battle, and a Jedi could expect to lose their master the same way if things went poorly, those were usually choices. A Mandalorian was raised to walk into battle, and then they could make that choice to do so. It wasn’t often much of a choice, but they could feasibly turn their back and choose to be a farmer or a doctor or something, and support the people who went out to do battle instead of being the one on the field themselves. A Jedi could choose to be a healer or an archivist or join one of the Corps.

A slave does not get that choice. A slave can be killed or sold on a whim from their master. It’s not a one-time trauma, but an ever-present fear. Your parent, your child, your sibling, your spouse, all of them can be separated from you at any time. You can always lose them, and you have no choice but to grin and bear it, or try to run and die before you reach freedom.

In a context like that, I imagine Tatooine places a very heavy emphasis on family, both of blood and of choice, and on treasuring what you have while you have it. A person is always aware that they can lose whoever they have in their life, and so they make the most of their times together, have clear and consistent ways of expressing that love (I imagine primarily direct verbal confirmations and physical contact, practical gifts like water and fruit). Childcare is important, elders are venerated. Those who survived that far have valuable wisdom, and the children are to be given what happiness they can have before reality wipes that ability from them.

The family ‘networks’ among Tatooine slaves are smaller and tighter knit. There’s less trust for outsiders, but once you’re in, you’re in until you are taken away. Still, families are torn apart regularly, and often can’t contact each other after being separated if they’re sold far enough away, so families stay small because they’re always being broken up. Unlike Mandalore’s tribe/clan system, or the Jedi’s wide, loosely-structured community, Tatooine’s slaves form smaller groups that cling for as long as they can, and try to support each other. (There are selfish ones, of course, especially the newbies, but... well. Most try.)

Tatooine is also much more likely to assign a familial role (e.g. referring to an elder as ‘grandmother’). It’s not uncommon in the others (multiple Jedi refer to their masters as a parent or sibling, like Anakin’s “you’re like a father to me” line), but it’s not as baked-in that such a role should be given.

So on a structural level, we have two people from a community culture with little emphasis on blood family or formal familial roles are now being raised in a community that has them asking “what can you do for the people around you first, and then the wider world?” by people who tell them “your family, blood and found, is the most important thing you have; never let anyone take more from you than they possibly can.”

And that shit has an effect.

For all that Sokanth and Ylliben were once raised with a knowledge that their duty, their goal, was to better the galaxy as a whole, they are now being told that the community that raises them asks their loyalty back, because societies are built on support networks, and if you support the tribe, it will support you. There are parallels to that kind of thinking among Jedi, because it is basic social theory, but it’s not presented as the same kind of cultural value. It’s not given as something to strive for, just a basic fact.

This, for instance, means that once they’re back at the Temple, they have a tendency towards suggesting study groups and other ways of supporting people in their immediate circle, often structured in very unfamiliar ways. Again, this isn’t uncommon among Jedi, but it’s not done in the same way, or with the same emphasis. The Jedi also often approach problem-solving in a different order, so the step of “meditate on it and you may find your solution” often comes before “gather information from people who know more about it than you do,” while Ben and Soka have by this point learned to do it the other way around, because that’s what the Mandalorian system taught them: rely on your family first.

Meanwhile, the Tatooine element of their upbringing has them being much more willing to just... casually refer to ‘my dad’ and ‘my sister’ and so on. They use those words. It’s not just “my master is like a father to me,” but “this is my father.” They don’t hesitate to talk about the family they had and still have in Mandalorian space. None of the Jedi begrudge them it, really, but it’s always a shock to hear for the first time, and between the Tatooine refusal to pretend the connection is gone and the Mandalorian tendency to err on the side of roughhousing as affection, they’re just... odd. It’s not like none of the other Jedi know family outside the Order--some of the old books had Obi-Wan visiting his brother on Stewjon once in a while--or like none of the active Jedi are loud or boisterous, but the specific manner in which Soka and Ben interact with the Order, especially when their dad is around, is very weird.

More Soka than Ben, really, but that’s mostly just because Ben’s a very quiet person until he gets a little older, so it’s harder to notice on him.

Point is, while they still hold to their duty to the wider galaxy and will continue to keep that duty above almost anything else in their lives, the way they talk and act about the subject of family, especially in private, is heavily influenced by their new cultures.

This is already very long but I promised I’d talk about peace so let’s go:

The Jedi seek peace as an absence of war and conflict in the portion of the galaxy under their purview, in hopes that they will prevent as much suffering and death as they can.

The Mandalorians are varied, but Jaster Mereel’s group (which is the community the Skywalkers are with) is likely to view peace as unrealistic to achieve in the long term. They do not seek war, but they know the world they live in, and are prepared to protect against violence as their first resort. They always expect an attack, even if they don’t seek it.

The Slaves of Tatooine view peace as the calm in a storm. It is the status quo. Nobody has escaped tonight, for the guards aren’t searching, but neither is anyone dead. The Master you have is in a good enough mood to not sell you, to not kill you, to not beat you. Peace as an absence of suffering is impossible, so you seek for your master to be peaceful, that is to say: not raging at you.

The scope of each of these narrows significantly. From the known galaxy, to the wars that meet Mandalorian space, to the household one serves.

A community like the Jedi can choose to address peace as something to be sought on a large scale as an absence of war. They primarily function within the borders of the Republic, which has its problems but is largely structured to prevent such things from occurring until the Sith interfere. The Jedi have a structure that allows them to address peace as an ideal to be sought, at least within the borders of the territory they serve.

Mandalore, meanwhile, has been at war on and off for... ever. When they are not at war with themselves, they’re at war with someone else. ‘Peace’ is just the time between wars, and they know that if they do not attack first, they will be forced to defend. Jaster Mereel was known as the Reformer, and part of that was that instituting a code of honor, one that was intended to prevent Mandalorian warriors from acting as raiders and brigands, but rather acting as honorable hired soldiers, or taking roles such as the Journeyman Protectors. Given that, I imagine that he views war as something inevitable, but also something that can be mitigated.

War doesn’t touch Tatooine.

Oh, it might raise taxes and import rates. It might prevent visitors who come for the races. It can do a lot of things.

But to a slave, these are nothing. The only thing war does is affect the master, the person who chooses when their slaves get water, when they get beaten, when they are no longer useful enough to keep around or keep alive.

The peace of a slave’s live is dictated by how much abuse they are subjected to by the person who owns them.

What this means for Soka and Ben is... well, they are viewed as war-hungry by the people who don’t know them very well. They have armor. They focus on fighting, both with and without their sabers. They know tactics better than most masters. They claim that war is coming, and don’t seem too sad about it.

(It is a fact to them. War will come. All they can do is meet it. They’ve already done their mourning once.)

They also... well, Shmi tells them things in hidden corners. How to duck their head to hide the hate or fear in their eyes. How to watch for the anger in the tendons of a hand. The laugh of someone who enjoys the pain they’ve caused, not just the adrenaline of a fight. She is free, and so are they, but she has not forgotten how to hide in the shadows until the master’s ire has turned elsewhere. How to be small and quiet and unseen until the danger passes.

A Jedi’s first resort is words. Their second is their saber. But the Jeedai hold their heads high, and the Mandalorians do the same.

“You rely on the Force, and you have your pride,” she tells them, her hands on their own. “But there will come a time when you will not be able to remind people that you are free. You will not be able to say that you are a person, that you deserve the respect of a living sentient. Perhaps it will be a politician who treats everyone like that. Perhaps you will be captured by an enemy. Perhaps you will be undercover. You will not be able to fight, with words or with weapons, and you will have to know how to survive.”

Tatooine does not have peace. Tatooine only has survival.

And while Jedi fight for the survival and peace of the universe, they are refined and composed. Mando’ade fight like warriors of old, and Tatooine slaves fight like cornered, rabid anooba.

The galaxy comes first, but when the chips are down and the Sith come out to play, Soka and Ben do not need refinement, because they know how to toss aside their pride and live.

[populationtyre]

Why do you reblog pride post’s while also posting transphobic and transmisogynist posts? Pride was started by TRANS WOMEN throwing bricks at cops. Maybe do some research before blindly following terfs? I feel like maybe you’re better than that but I could be wrong. Idk do some soul searching

pride absolutely was NOT “started by trans women”. that’s a MYTH that has been debunked multiple times. Marsha P. Johnson wasn’t even THERE at the start. He showed up after the riots had already started (yes, he. He self-identified as a GAY MAN who was also a radical drag queen). Sylvia Rivera was also not there at the start either.

It was a BLACK BUTCH LESBIAN —believed to be Stormé — who kicked it off by resisting arrest, and the GAY MEN in the bar threw bottles and drinks in protest (the bricks also came later).

i know you think i might be uneducated and have no idea what i’m talking about, but i actually used to believe the gender stuff too when i was younger. i believed it and wholeheartedly tried to spread it FOR YEARS. in fact, i myself was on the verge of transitioning as a teenager when i did some SOUL SEARCHING and found that i had just been regurgitating absolute horseshit, and took it upon myself to rethink some things about my feminism. 

then i ACTUALLY looked into the information out there, i looked at the research and i listened to the stories and i read the books and had real life discussions with real people. i questioned what i was being told and i drew my own conclusions. and it wasn’t just an overnight change of heart. it took at least a couple years while i came to terms with the new information i was being exposed to and took my time to consider it and mull it over.

like, my dude, i come from a family of academics, and i have a degree in psychological sciences. i think i’ve got a pretty good handle on research.

further than that, i’ve been an active, passionate feminist for over a decade now. i’ve been writing essays and learning and exploring this topic for years. i’ve been exposed to a variety of feminist movements, attended a variety of feminist gatherings and consciousness raising meetings, and been involved in a variety of feminist circles. I’ve met with women from all over the world, from all kinds of backgrounds, and listened to their experiences. I also came out as same-sex attracted when i was twelve, and attended a bunch of groups and volunteered with a bunch of events for the alphabet community. we had our own dances and camps and trivia nights and regular meetings to talk about our experiences and learn from eachother and our elders. i’ve watched how this community has treated eachother, I’ve seen it first hand.

this is not some new hobby i just picked up in lockdown. this is not some passive interest. i have been active and involved and i come from a place of actually being informed, and continue to learn new things every day. if you think i’m just blindly following others, you clearly don’t actually know anything about me.

ANYWAY, if you’d like to do your own research, there’s some wonderful resources out there.

I have a few recommendations but I encourage you to seek more out yourself.

I’ll start with my favourite. It’s an incredible analysis of the mythologising of Stonewall, looking at the derailing question of “who threw the first brick?”, challenging the ahistorical reporting of who was there and how they were involved, and remembering the significance of homosexuality’s criminalisation.

«If Johnson and Rivera didn’t throw the first brick — who did?[...] Maybe we simply don’t know. It was a collective effort by a group of angry homosexuals.

All the Stonewall rioters, they had no reason to riot if homosexuality wasn’t criminalized. They would not have lived the lives they did if homosexuality wasn’t criminalized. Yet today, the hagiography of Stonewall is weaponized against homosexuals, used to say that homosexuals ‘owe’ transgender people their time, movement, and rights.

The brick-thrower, whoever they may be or even if they exist, did not then single-handedly create fifty years worth of LGBT activism. That was a collective project. It’s okay to acknowledge that. We do not need to mythologize the brick-thrower. I feel that any attempt to find the ‘first brick thrower’ or the one person who started Stonewall, or doling out credit for Stonewall marks a departure from historiography [source-based accounts and facts] into hagiography [mythologisation and idolisation]. No single figure was responsible for Stonewall, nor any single demographic, group, or social class. But one thing united them. At that moment, the moment the lesbian fought back, the moment the first objects were thrown, that one thing was their homosexuality — their love for the same sex. It’s time to re-establish that historical fact.» via Sue Donym’s ‘Stonewasn’t’ https://archive.is/tn6tl

More resources under the break.

Sue Donym also has an incredible archive of well-researched, sourced articles that are a valuable asset to the feminist movement. She got banned from Medium.com, but you can find her archive here: https://archive.is/eUOLD

Here’s a masterpost of TRA lies about stonewall: https://transgenderlies.tumblr.com/post/165438110827/countering-transgender-lies-about-stonewall

Here’s another masterpost of more resources you can look at: https://auntiewanda.tumblr.com/post/178824977986/feminism-what-kinda-terf-y-bullshit-all-that

And here’s a few neat little summaries regarding Stonewall, if you don’t feel like reading actual articles. But i do recommend you come back at a later time and actually read the articles, because it’s important for you to be able to engage with the literature and draw your own conclusions instead of having it spoonfed to you.

Here’s a masterpost of receipts regarding things the TRA movement has stolen and been disingenuous about.

Here’s the masterpost of all masterposts, on a wide variety of feminist topics, so you can look at resources and receipts to your heart’s content https://evil-wrongthink-lesbian.tumblr.com/post/652918840174460928/masterpost-of-masterposts

Here’s yet another masterpost: https://radfemhancock.tumblr.com/post/620852335187542016/masterpost-links-gendercrit-trans-people

Mind, you don’t have to read any of those links. It’s your choice what you read and what you look into and what you consume. I’m just trying to suggest that you maybe consider that you possibly haven’t looked at all the facts necessary in order to take an informed stance. If you read all these resources and still hold the same beliefs, then okay. I just ask that you try to look at some perspectives outside of your own.

Anyway it’s almost midnight and this is the longest thing i’ve written in quite a while so I’m gonna go tf to bed now peace XX

[olderthannetfic]

Hey, sorry to ask this, but a few days ago I saw a post/discussion about the history of original work on ao3 (i.e. how and when it was allowed). I thought it was in my likes, but it's not, and I thought you had reblogged it recently, but I didn't find it. I was wondering if you have seen this discussion around? Or where I can find more about it? This specific post talked abt how who defended original work on ao3 were not the BNFs, if that helps.

That was me running my mouth in the reblogs of something or other. It’s just the one comment.

But what’s that you say? Some tl;dr about a pet topic? Don’t mind if I do! ;) (To be honest, most of this debate happened years ago, and a lot of the long meta was by me back then too, so…)

Okay, so, the situation with Original Works is actually super interesting and a microcosm of early years OTW wank.

This is going to be even more tl;dr than my usual. To try to summarize very briefly:

There were two big cultural factions. One thought “original” was the opposite of “fan”. That one was in charge of OTW. It was hard to get voices from the other side into the debate because they already felt excluded from OTW.

This divide broke down more or less into Ye Olde Slash Fandom on the “it’s the opposite” side and anime fandom on the “WTF?” side. Americans on one side and a lot of non-US, non-English language fandom on the other.

I. Media Fandom, Anime Fandom, and Early OTW

I went to that first fundraising party that astolat threw in New York City back in… god… 2007? 2008? I wasn’t on the Board or any official position until the committees got started later, but I was around right from the very beginning.

Whether you’re looking at volunteers or at people who commented on astolat’s original post, there were always a variety of fans from a variety of fannish backgrounds. People aren’t absolutely in one camp or another, and fannish interests change over time. If you go dig through Dreamwidth posts to find who was actually participating in this debate at the time, half of them are probably in the other camp now.

If you think like that sounds like a preamble to me making a bunch of offensively sweeping generalizations and divvying fans up into little groups, you’d be right! Haha.

I.a. Ye Olde Media Fandom

There are a lot of camps of people who like fanfic. One of the biggest divisions has been Ye Olde Media Fandom vs. anime fandom. Astolat’s social circle–my LJ social circle–was filled with people with decades of fannish experience and a deep knowledge of the Media Fandom side of things.

Those fandom history treatises that start with K/S zines in Star Trek fandom in the 70s and move on through the mainstream buddy cops like Starsky & Hutch to the more niche, sff buddy cops like Fraser and Ray or Jim and Blair are talking about Media Fandom. I try to always capitalize it because the name is lulzy and bizarre to me unless it’s a proper noun for a specific historical thing. It was coined as a rude term for “mass media” fandom aka dumb people who like, ughhhh, Star Trek, ughhh, instead of books. This is a very ancient slapfight from the type of fandom you find at Worldcon, often called “SF fandom” or plain “fandom”.

(Yes, this leads to mega confusion on the part of some old dudes when they find Fanlore and fail to understand that “fandom” there refers to what these people would call “Media Fandom”. They think only they get the unmarked form. But I digress…)

Media Fandom is a specific flavor of fandom. It’s where the slash zines were. It’s where the fans of live action US TV shows were. It’s the history that acafans have laid out well and that tends to get used to defend the idea of a female subculture writing transgressive and transformative fanfic. On the video side, Media Fandom is where Kandy Fong invented vidding by making Star Trek slideshows.

(Kandy’s still around, BTW. She’s usually at Escapade in L.A. Ask her to tell you about the dancing penises sketch in person. She’s hilarious.)

Astolat and friends had been going to slash cons for years. They founded Vividcon. And Yuletide. That meant that when astolat said “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” we all jumped to help. This is a lady who gets things done.

From a Worldcon perspective, or even from an older Media Fandom perspective, this group was comparatively young, hip, and welcoming. Their fandom interests were comparatively broad. Just look at Yuletide!

In fact, yes, let us look at Yuletide… [ominous music]

I.b. Yuletide sucks at anime

From the very first year (2003), Yuletide mods have asked for help with anime fandoms, been confused about anime fandoms, or made bad judgment calls about anime fandoms. They’ve fucked up on Superhero comics and plenty of other things over the years, but anime has been the most consistent (well, and JRPGs, but there’s so much overlap in those fic fandoms).

There was already bad feeling about this. There were years of bad feeling about this.

I.c. Where are the historians?

Academic study of fanficcy things pretty much got started with Textual Poachers and Enterprising Women. Other acafans who are well known to LJ and later Tumblr are people like Francesca Coppa who wrote a very nice summary of the history of Media Fandom. These are not the only academics who exist, these academics themselves have written about many other things, and by now, OTW’s own journal has covered a lot of other territory, but to this day I see complaints on Tumblr that “acafans” only care about K/S and oldschool slash fandom.

There were years of bad feeling about this as well.

I.d. What kind of fan was I?

Now, by the time OTW got started, I’d moseyed over to not only a lot of live action US TV but a lot of old-as-fuck US TV that is squarely in the Media Fandom camp. But once upon a time, I was a weeaboo hanging out with my weeaboo friends in college. I learned Japanese (sort of). I moved to Japan. Livin’ the weeaboo dream!

More importantly, I used to be a member of a lot of anime mailing lists back in the Yahoo Groups days. I didn’t realize what a cultural gap that would cause until the original works issue came up on AO3.

I.e. Anime Fandom, German-language Fandom, Original M/M

Once upon a time–namely in that Yahoo Groups era–there was an archive called Boys in Chains. It was where you found The Good Stuff™. Heavy kink and power exchange galore! It was extremely well known in the parts of fandom I was in, even if you weren’t on the associated mailing list. It contained lots of fic, but it also had lots of original work.

Around that same era, I was on a critique list called Crimson Ink, which was mixed fic and original. The “original slash” and “original yaoi” crowds mixed freely and were in fanfic spaces. Remember, this is like 2003. You’re never going to get your gay fantasy novel published in English in the US. A couple of fangirl presses started around then, but they died an ignominious death after their first print run.

Fanfiction.net used to allow original work before it spun that off into FictionPress. We forget this today, but if you were an early FFN person, the separation wasn’t so great either.

Meanwhile, German-language fandom was hanging out on sites like Animexx.de, a big-ass fic archive that prominently mentions also including original work. I have the impression that Spanish-language fandom was similar too.

Shousetsu Bang*Bang was founded in 2005. It was a webzine for original m/m, but it was entirely populated by fanfic fandom types.

In all of those kinds of spaces, there was a lot of “original” work that was kind of slash or BL-ish and seen as fannish if it was posted in the fannish space. These weren’t anime-only spaces. They were multifandom spaces where it was seen as obvious and normal that a couple of huge fandoms like Harry Potter would dominate but that everything else big would naturally be anime.

While fans from every background are everywhere, I found that the concentration of EFL fans living in Continental Europe, South America, and Asia was much higher in this kind of space, even the exclusively English language part of it, than in my US TV fandoms.

II. AO3 Early Adopters

AO3 went into closed beta in 2009. In 2010, it was open to the general public (albeit with the invitation queue it still has). But not everyone was interested yet. Just like fandom is loath to leave the dying, shambling mess of Tumblr, fandom was loath to leave dwindling LJ/DW circles or was happy enough on Fanfiction.net. I used to see a lot of posts like “Why are you guys trying to STEAL fanfic from the original! FFN is enough!”

I literally could not give away the invitations I had. No one wanted them.

So who was on AO3? Obviously enough, it was all of us who built it and our friends. So that means a bunch of oldschool Livejournal slashers coming from fandoms like Due South or Stargate Atlantis.

The queue was open. Anyone could make an account. Everyone was welcome. In theory…

But more and more, there started to be these posts about how “AO3 Hates Anime Fandom” and “FFN is for anime. AO3 is for Western fandoms.” and “If you guys actually wanted anime fandom on there, you’d invite us better and make us more welcome.”

At the time, I found these posts obnoxious. People aren’t purely in one sort of fandom or the other. No one was stopping anime fandom from making accounts. No one was banning anime fandom. If there wasn’t much from old fandoms, that was because old fandoms seldom move.

Things began to change. Trolls on FFN forced the Twilight porn writers out, creating enough fuss and brouhaha to mobilize people who would rather have stayed put. AO3 got big enough that randos found it by accident. Original work started to pop up, posted by people who’d never looked at the rules and had no idea it was not allowed.

III. History of AO3’s Policy

I had argued for allowing “original work” during the initial discussions about the ToS. On one side of this issue was me. On the other, everyone else on the committee.

I was overruled.

Open Door started importing old archives to save them. Boys in Chains was hugely important to fandom history from my point of view. It was slated to be imported… maybe. Except that Boys in Chains is half original. AO3 was happy to grandfather in those stories, but the final archive owner felt, quite rightly, that it would be unfair to tell half of the authors they were welcome in the new space while spitting on the other half.

I was pissed. I had been pissed since being overruled the first time. To me, the fact that it should be allowed was so blatantly obvious that it was hard to even explain why.

(To be honest, this difficulty in explaining why and the even greater difficulty in figuring out the source of that difficulty is what held the discussion back for so long. When every assumption on either side is completely opposite, it’s hard to communicate.)

I felt betrayed. It would be like if you helped build something, and everyone was suddenly like “Well, obviously, we can’t allow m/m. It’s not normal fanfic.”

So we discussed it again and, again, it was me vs. literally everyone else. And still the “AO3 is only for Western slash fandom” bitching rose in volume and more and more people complained of feeling excluded from the new fandom hub. Finally, the committee agreed to open the issue up for public comment and get some more input. I was a fool and neither wrote nor proofread the post. It went out phrasing the question as allowing “non fannish” work or something of that sort.

I was furious. The entire point of the whole debate was that I saw some original work, the original work that belongs on AO3, as inherently fannish. And now this had been presented to the AO3 audience as something completely different. Think pieces were popping up in the journals of everyone I knew about diluting AO3’s mission and how we needed to save AO3 from encroachment. Public opinion was very negative. That’s both because of how the post was phrased and because OTW die hards at the time were mostly from the same fannish background. This tidal wave of negativity meant that there was virtually no chance of changing this poisonous rule. And if the rule didn’t change, the people who wanted the rule change were never going to show up to explain why it mattered.

If you’ve been reading my tumblr, I think you can guess what happened next.

I posted a long post to my Dreamwidth. It was a masterwork of passive aggression. In it, I wrung my hands about how simply tragic it would be if AO3 had to delete all of the original work… like anthropomorfic.

Now, I think anthropomorfic counts as fanfic as much as anything else, but I also knew that it fails most rigorous “based on a canon” type definitions of fic and, more importantly, it’s a favorite Yuletide fandom of many of the people on the side that wanted to ban original work.

That’s a nice fandom of yours. It would be a pity if something happened to it. 

Yup. Passive aggressive blackmail. Go me. Suddenly, there was a lot of awkward backtracking and confused running in circles in various journals. The committee agreed to table the idea for a while but not rule out the idea of allowing original works in the future. We agreed to halt all deletions of original work. If a fan posted it, the Abuse Committee (which I was also head of at the time) would not delete that work even though it was technically against the rules.

Time passed. The people on the negative side got tired. I wanted off that committee and had wanted off for ages, but I was damned if I was going to leave before ramming through this piece of policy. Grudgematch till I die! (Look, I never said I wasn’t a wanker.)

After a while, some other fans came forward with more types of “original work” as evidence that it should be allowed. These were from parts of fandom none of us on the committee knew a damn thing about.

This new evidence combined with the gradual accretion of original stuff on AO3 without the sky falling eventually led us to quietly rule Original Work a valid fandom. There was never even a big announcement post. I slipped a word to the Boys in Chains mod myself.

IV. What Were They So Afraid Of Anyway?

So why were people so resistant? Seems like a dick move, right?

Not exactly.

I mean, I was enraged and waged a one-woman war to change the rules, but the other side wasn’t nuts. The objections were usually the following:

I just don’t get why it would be allowed. It never was in my fannish spaces.

Most of our members don’t want this.

Most of the examples of things that ought to be included are m/m. We are privileging m/m if we allow it, and AO3 already has a m/m-centric reputation that can feel exclusionary to some fans.

AO3 is a young, shaky platform that can barely handle the load and content we already have. If we open to original work, we’ll be opening the floodgates. The volume of posting will be so high, it will drown out the fic we’re actually here to protect.

Protecting stuff that doesn’t need protection because it’s not an IP issue would dilute OTW’s mission.

If we allow it, idiots will try to turn AO3 into advertising space, posting only the first chapter and a link to where you can pay to read the rest.

If we add another category of text before we add fan art, that’s a slap in the face of the fan artists we are already failing.

These arguments all make perfect sense in context.

Obvously, the issue with the first two is that different fannish communities have different norms. I knew that a very large community disagreed with the then current AO3 policy, but since so few of them were around to comment, it seemed like a tiny fringe minority.

The m/m thing is… complex. M/M content with zero IP issues is at risk. It is always at risk in a way that even f/f is not (though f/f is also always at risk). Asking for m/m to be exactly equivalent to f/f or m/f in numbers, tropes, whatever is ignoring the historical realities. In our current moment of queer activism in the West, we treat all types of queerness as part of one community with one set of goals, but once you get to culture and art or even more specific activism, this forced homogenization is neither useful nor healthy.

OTOH, AO3 really did have PR problems related to the perception that we gave m/m fandom the kid glove treatment. That objection wasn’t coming from nowhere.

AO3 was shaky. It was tiny when I first brought up this argument. Hell, it wasn’t even in closed beta the first time we discussed this. Part of what made the quiet rules change possible was AO3 organically getting much bigger and OTW having to buy many more servers for unrelated reasons.

The “floodgates” thing was put to rest by tacitly allowing original work before the rules change. We had a period to study how fans actually behaved, and as I predicted, only a small amount of original work got posted. It was indeed mostly things like original BL-ish stories or original work that had been part of a mixed original/fic fest, exchange, zine, etc. Currently, the “Original Work” fandom on AO3 only has 76,348 works. That’s pretty big compared to individual fandoms but tiny compared to AO3’s current size.

The commercial argument was spurious because commercial spam had been against the rules from the very beginning. OH THE IRONY that nowadays AO3 has all these idiots trying to post the first chapter of their fanfic and then direct you to where you can buy the rest.

AO3 has plenty of fanfic of public domain works. One of the problems with gatekeeping original work is that any way you try to distinguish it (not based on a specific canon, not an IP issue, etc.) will apply to some set of obviously allowable fandoms.

As for fan art… OTW has failed fan artists. They needed protection as much as or even more than fic writers. Just look at Tumblr! If we had succeeded at making DeviantArt but allowing boners, fan art fandom could have been safe all these years. Or when Tumblr inevitably shat the bed, we could have scooped up all those people instead of them scattering to twitter and god knows where.

OTW has failed vidders too, at least in terms of preservation. I know I’m not the only one who thinks this. Other major people from like the first Board and shit have discussed this with me offline. Doing some kind of vidding project, possibly outside of OTW is on a lot of our to-do lists. But at least one of OTW’s biggest victories has been that copyright exemption. OTW has demonstrably done really positive things for vidders that other organizations and sites have not. As a vidder, I never expected to see good hosting for the actual video files, and I’m quite content.

But fan artists… yeah. That argument makes sense at least from a place of frustration.

BTW, for the love of god, if you’re a n00b to OTW stuff, please do not reblog this post excitedly telling me that hosting fan art is on OTW’s road map, so yay, good news. Someone always does that, and it’s so irritating. I haven’t been involved in OTW in years, but I used to be, and I know what is on the roadmap. The couple of you who do heavy lifting on sysadmin and coding and policy things are welcome to weigh in as usual. I know none of us like that we can’t host fan art. It’s not what we intended.

Nonetheless, I found this argument to be the perfect being the enemy of the good. If we can save more text now without losing much of anything, we should do it. The fact that we’re fucking up on the fan art front is not a reason to spread the misery around.

V. Is “Original” the Opposite of “Fanfic”?

Okay, so that tl;dr above is why “BNFs” were on one side and “nobodies” were on the other. BNFs from one cultural background founded OTW. BNFs from the other cultural background weren’t even aware that the debate was going on.

But what was the underlying philosophical problem in even having the conversation?

It took me a long time, but I finally worked it out: We had two completely different ways of categorizing writing, and they were so baked into how we phrased questions that everything ended up being unanswerable to the other side. Here is what I came up with:

Schema 1

Fanfic - based on someone else’s IP

Original Work - the opposite

Schema 2

Non-Fannish Work - School essays, stories you are writing to try to sell to a mainstream publisher

Fannish Work Type 1 - based on other people’s characters directly (i.e. fanfic) Type 2 - based on tropes or whatever (“original slash” and the like)

Now, in the current moment when half of Tumblr just got into Chinese webnovels and the m/m ebook industry is thriving in English, original, tropey, BL-ish work is no longer different from “things I am trying to sell”. But this is how the divide was circa 2005 on fannish websites, and it’s the divide that was driving this internal OTW debate.

VI. Let’s Summarize the Camps One More Time

So, again, the debate makes perfect sense if you understand who was involved.

On the mainstream “But that’s not fanfic? I’m confused?” side:

Big US TV fandoms in English

Fandom historians of K/S–>buddy cop slash–>SGA, etc.

Americans

On the other side:

Anime fandom

“Original slash” fandom that had already been chased off of everywhere

People upset that AO3 wasn’t farther on translating the interface and supporting non-English language fandom.

People upset about US-centrism in fandom

Yes, I am very white, very American, and by now very into old buddy cop shows, but this was basically how the breakdown worked. It meant that something that looked like a minor quibble to one side was really, really not.

[katemarley]

fanfiction: before the battle

Fandom: Hetalia - Axis Powers Pairing: Austria/Spain Characters: Austria, Spain; mentions of Bavaria, Sweden, and the Imperial City of Nördlingen as Hetalia characters; historical figures Rating: T

Summary: August (Julian calendar)/September (Gregorian calendar) 1634: Thirty Years’ War. Imperial and Bavarian troops are about to besiege the Protestant Imperial City of Nördlingen and its Swedish garrison. The siege gets delayed when Austria and the Imperial commander Ferdinand of Hungary learn about the arrival of the long awaited Spanish army with Spain and its commander, Don Fernando. Antonio inspires his war-weary husband with some much-needed reassurance.

Some basic information in advance:

The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), one of the most gruesome wars in the history of mankind, was prompted by a revolt of Protestant Bohemians against the dominion of Habsburg Austria. It was fuelled by increasing religious and political disagreement between Catholic and Protestant countries within the Holy Roman Empire. Soon, it transformed into a European war that was predominantly fought within the HRE. In the early 1830s, the Swedes intervened in order to support the Protestant powers in the HRE.

Nördlingen, situated to the north of the river Danube, was an Imperial City at the time. It was close to Protestant Württemberg as well as to the Catholic powers of (Further) Austria and Bavaria. Despite being Protestant itself, Nördlingen remained loyal to Emperor Ferdinand II (of the House of Habsburg) for a long time. When it was faced with a large Swedish army in 1632, the city defected to the Protestant/Swedish side—a logical decision without viable alternatives, but also one that was largely welcomed by the townsfolk.

Since their names may become a bit confusing:

Ferdinand of Hungary (1608-1657) is Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia, son of Emperor Ferdinand II who was to become Emperor Ferdinand III in 1637.

Don Fernando (1609 or 1610-1641) is Cardinal-Infante Fernando de Austria, Archbishop of Toledo, Ferdinand of Hungary’s brother-in-law. He is commonly called “Ferdinand” in English (and German) too but I wanted to avoid confusion with the other Ferdinand.

Austria’s ears hurt from the thunder of the artillery he heard in the distance. He had been suspecting he was getting an ear infection, but the pain he had felt had lessened soon after the cannonade had paused for a while two days ago. So perhaps it was just that he was feeling exhausted from this long war and tense from their preparations to take Nördlingen by storm. The background noise from the ordnance was giving him a headache on top of that.

He liked the quiet. He liked melodic sounds. Music. Not the barbaric noise of war.

It was at least some consolation that his commander actually shared his passion for music. Ferdinand was an educated person; sophisticated; more willing to compromise than his father, the Emperor—or so it seemed. War had the potential to bring out the best and the worst in people; Austria had witnessed this numerous times during his long life. He hoped it would bring out the best in Ferdinand because he found he actually liked the man. Perhaps Ferdinand had the potential to become a better ruler than his father because he seemed to understand that conflicts were never settled by crushing the enemy but always during talks with one’s former enemy.

That was, if Ferdinand lived for long enough, and if there would ever be an end to all this. After sixteen years of war, right in the middle of a siege, peace was a thing that seemed hard to imagine. But Austria needed to imagine it from time to time; needed to remember that there had always been periods of peace and periods of war before this specific war had begun. It was what gave him the energy to pull through the next day; to be the positive and reassuring figure his troops needed to see. He had never been particularly strong physically, but he made up for that shortcoming with tenaciousness, strategic thinking, and skilled fencing on horseback. It was tough, but he was able to do it.

He tried not to think about how it had to be for young people who had possibly never known anything but this war. How many sixteen-year-olds were there in their army? How was it for them? Would they become old enough to see this war end? Perhaps they would live to loathe war, and there would be a period of peace after this one had ended … whenever that might be. It was a hope Austria clung to like a drowning man.

He was interrupted in his fantasies when he sensed someone approaching him. Looking up, he saw Johann Christoph von Adelshofen, one of the colonels of his army.

“Mylord!” he called. “The Spaniards are here!”

“Oh, thank God!” Austria exclaimed. He started to move immediately, mounting his horse with an energy he hadn’t expected have in himself mere moments ago.

Together with Adelshofen, Ferdinand, and a large part of their army, Austria rode to the south of the Schönefeld, a terrain near Nördlingen where their army’s encampment was situated. His heart started to beat faster when, without even consciously intending to do so, his eyes first fell on one knight in shining armour who rode near Don Fernando, the Spanish commander.

The only reason why the Spanish armaments seemed so clean was probably because they had marched through drizzly weather not long ago. Regardless, Austria didn’t want to moderate his inward excitement at the sight of his husband. Spain was beautiful even if he seemed weary from the long ride and even if Austria spotted dark rings under his eyes as he came closer. The mere knowledge that he had come with Don Fernando’s troops sufficed to lift a weight from Austria’s heart and to inspire it with new confidence.

If he could have acted the way he wanted, he would have rushed to Spain and embraced him, but of course that wasn’t possible. Apart from the need to keep face, they also felt the need to downplay the fact that their marriage wasn’t a mere symbol for their shared ruling family, the Habsburgs. The inner circle of their rulers tended to turn a blind eye on their love because they saw it as a vehicle to strengthen the symbolic bond between their family branches. The vast majority of their armies, however—mercenaries, predominantly—were unlikely to do the same.

That was why their greeting remained cordial but formal: The inevitable Spanish kisses on the cheek; the usual courtesies; a short embrace between two warriors, clapping each other on the shoulder. It was something, at the least, but what Austria actually wanted was for him to rest his head against his husband’s shoulder while Spain held him. He wanted to forget his worries about the large Swedish army they knew was advancing on them for just a little while.

Ferdinand, Don Fernando, their commanders, and the two countries retreated to Ferdinand’s command tent where the Imperial commanders gave a short review of their current situation. They explained their maps and plans of the terrain, informing Don Fernando of their hope that Nördlingen would surrender to them before Gustav Horn and Bernard of Saxe-Weimar arrived with the grand Swedish army.

“We were getting ready to storm the city when you arrived,” Ferdinand explained to Don Fernando. “The Bavarians are going to start with that tomorrow now.” He nodded to Maximilian of Bavaria and Theodor, Austria’s brother, who had arrived a little later than the others.

“We should give them one last chance to surrender,” Austria suggested. “The situation has changed. Now they are facing many more besiegers than before. Perhaps they will be more willing to give up now.” They knew the people in the city were almost starved, and there was a disease spreading within it. Maybe they were more willing to surrender once they knew how futile their resistance was.

There was also a part in Austria that wanted to acknowledge Nördlingen had been loyal to the Emperor until he was faced with Sweden’s superior forces. He knew that, in Nördlingen’s stead, he would have done the exact same thing in order to ensure his own survival. Yes, perhaps the decision had been easier for Nördlingen because he was a Lutheran. But the fact remained that he had been loyal to him until two years ago.

“It is worth one last try,” Ferdinand agreed. “Volunteers?”

Adelshofen took one step forward. Ferdinand nodded, and the matter was settled.

Why am I not surprised? thought Austria. Somehow, it always seemed to be Adelshofen who was there when things needed to get done. He appreciated that.

Austria overviewed the Bavarian siege on Nördlingen from a wooded hill. Adelshofen’s attempt to convince Nördlingen to give in had been unsuccessful, and that was why the siege had only been delayed for one day rather than getting cancelled.

“It’s not that the people of this city are unwilling to yield,” Adelshofen had told them. “It’s the Swedish garrison who won’t let them surrender. They’re expecting the Swedish army to come to their aid at any time now.”

And that was precisely why Austria was standing where he was now: To overview the siege but also to keep watch for Horn and Saxe-Weimar’s joint army. The afternoon sun was beclouded by dust from the artillery and smoke from fires at the city wall. Watching a siege was always a grim sight, and Austria knew how it was to be on the other side too; to defend his city, his heart, while cannons were hitting the houses near the wall.

Things needed to get done, he remembered his thoughts from the day before. Laying siege to Nördlingen and eventually storming it was one of these things. Sweden’s army had inflicted the south of the Empire with war, and the only way to stop that was reconquering cities held by the Swedes … and, eventually, facing them in open battle.

That last prospect scared him, but things needed to get done. He sighed. So I better be prepared.

“Rodrigo?” a voice close to him said softly. He wasn’t surprised. He had noticed Spain coming closer for a while, drawing on the strange circumstance that, in times of war, his senses seemed to sharpen themselves without his own doing.

Of course that impression wasn’t true. He had been trained to focus in these kinds of situations since he was little, but it was a thing that came back to him effortlessly, and he was glad about that.

“Antonio.” He sighed again when Spain wrapped his arms around him from behind, this time out of relief. “It’s good to have you here. You shouldn’t have come, but I’m glad you did.”

“There was so little time yesterday,” Spain whispered, ignoring his statement. His lips were pressing little kisses on the nape of Austria’s neck, and Austria was trembling. “I wanted to see you.” Spain’s hands started to roam over Austria’s body greedily, but the only thing he said was: “You’re way too thin.” Austria snorted.

“There’s a war going on,” he said sardonically. “What do you expect.”

“You should still try to pay more attention to your health,” Spain replied dryly. “I don’t think it will be helping matters if you faint on the battlefield out of exhaustion. You have to set a good example and fight.”

“I know that,” said Austria, trying to free himself from Spain’s embrace.

“I’m just worried,” Spain said gently, holding him more securely. “You always eat too less when you’re strung up, regardless of the supply situation.” His kisses became more firmly, extending to the base of his spouse’s neck and to his shoulder. “I just want you to be healthy, and happy.”

Austria wanted to give a bitter laugh—Happy? How could I possibly be happy now?—but he knew Spain was only trying to cheer him up. And in spite of his thoughts, he noticed his body relax into Spain’s embrace too. Perhaps it remembered the staggering love he felt for that man better than he did in this situation. He stopped looking out, turned and wrapped his arms around Spain’s shoulders, clinging to him with a force that surprised even him.

“Oh, Rodri.” Spain kissed his temple. “You’re so smart and so brave, but you sometimes forget that I’m there, too. You don’t have to push trough everything all by yourself.”

So that’s why you’ve come, Austria thought. He didn’t dare to say it because he was afraid he would start crying tears of emotion, and he didn’t want to show Spain how vulnerable he really felt. His husband had turned out to be the best thing that had happened to him in a long time, but he was also the less composed person among the two of them. He didn’t want to throw him off by starting to sob.

“You’re a godsend,” he told his husband solemnly as soon as he had brought his voice back under control. Spain avoided looking into his eyes with a sheepishness that was so adorable it made Austria smile.

“You were right though,” Spain said, still looking away.

“Huh?” Austria took a step back, hands still on his spouse’s shoulders. “What do you mean?”

“Fernando and me are planning to move on towards the Spanish Netherlands as soon as possible,” his husband confided to him. “He is to become Governor-General there, and I have the feeling I should show my face there once again, too.” Austria nodded.

“I’m sure Ferdinand would rather you stayed with us because Heaven knows we need your support, but I know you must not neglect your own lands.” He smiled. “You’re here now, and that’s already more than I could have hoped for.” He took his hands from Spain’s shoulders only to grip his husband’s hands and squeeze them firmly. “Thank you. You don’t know how much your presence means to me.”

“I think I do,” replied Spain with a smirk. “Don’t underestimate me.”

“I don’t.” Austria smiled back at him. It was a tense but sincere smile. “But I hope our enemies will.”

 Notes:

They did indeed: Bernard of Saxe-Weimar underestimated the sheer weight of numbers of the Spanish forces drastically, by about 10,000 men. The Swedish also suffered from errors of judgment and some bad luck, and in the end—after two days of fighting—they took to flight. The Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 was one of the severest defeats of the Swedish/Protestant army, and the Swedes had to retreat northward in order to recuperate.

Consequently, this gave the Imperial/Bavarian/Catholic side time to make a treaty with Protestant princes—the Peace of Prague (30 May 1635). The chief Imperial negotiator was Ferdinand of Hungary who acknowledged he needed to make concessions to the Protestant side for the peace treaty to be successful. Actually, many terms of the Treaty of Prague anticipated terms negotiated for the Holy Roman Empire in the Treaties of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. However, it did not bring an end to fighting within the lands of the HRE because it did not incorporate Sweden—and Catholic France that joined the war on the side of the Protestant Swedes shortly after the Peace of Prague was made. In fact, the fourth phase of the Thirty Years’ War (after the Peace of Prague) was the most gruesome one of the whole decades-long war.

[thestuckylibrary-bigbang]

AU

Part Two

This post contains works from sbb2017 that are alternate universe rather than canon compliant. It has the following categories:

Historical AU

Kid Fic

Magical Realism

Misc. No Powers AU

Modern Veteran AU

Neighbours AU

Sci-Fi

Take a look at the amazing works contributors have made!

Also check out Canon ‘Verse | AU Part One | AU Part Three | Masterpost

Historical AU

A Kiss Through A Veil by princeofprinces (tumblr)

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death

Words: 27K

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Alternate Universe - Renaissance, Alternate Universe - Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Romani Bucky, Trans Male Character, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Torture, Abusive Parents, Racism

Summary: “Don’t be afraid.” The performer knelt next to the pillory and removed his red shawl from his shoulders, using it to wipe away the tomato and egg mixture that had dried on Estienne’s cheek. “I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Art by rancorousrocker

Art by juliabizarre

Anatomy of a Scandal by Rena (AO3 | Tumblr)

Artists: @theprinceofprinces    Art Post

          @king-of-moose​            Art Post

Rating: E

No Archive Warnings Apply  

Pairings: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes

Characters: Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Peggy Carter, Angie Martinelli, Arnim Zola

Tags: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Alternate Universe - Regency, Mutual Pining, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers

Summary: When Steve Rogers returns to Brooklyn, the marriage arranged for him having proven to be a sham, he is desperate; desperate to regain his footing in Society, desperate to secure a wealthy spouse capable of paying the costly treatments that keep his mother alive and settling his family’s debts. But how is he to do that when people view him as nothing more than damaged goods, someone to be sneered at, ridiculed, looked down upon, or pitied at best?

An opportunity presents itself when Lord Barnes, the renowned carefree Casanova of Brooklyn, forgets himself during one night of drunken stupor, sending Steve a letter that flouts all laws of common decency. An agreement is soon made: in return for Steve’s discretion, Lord Barnes will pretend to court him, taking him to the most fancy events of the season where Steve can be introduced to potential suitors. It all works out perfectly, until Steve comes to understand that Lord Barnes is not as pompous and self-absorbed as he believed….

“I won’t let go (at any price)” by @fuckyfarnes​

Rating: M

Words:32k

Archive Warnings: None Apply

Tags:Alternate Universe - 1980s, Drag Queens ball culture HIV/AIDS, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Non-Graphic Violence, Gay Bashing, Gay Rights, Original Character Death(s, )Major Original Character(s), Eventual Romance, Slow Burn, Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Self-Acceptance, Implied Sexual Content, Self-Discovery, references to the get down

Summary:

It's the summer of 1981 in New York and Bucky is trying, really trying. He's working hard as a line cook to support himself and struggling to stay in contact with his sister in L.A., all while fighting to suppress his sexuality. He meets Stevie that summer and falls into the world he's been hiding from his entire life; enter ball culture, new wave music, and Aqua Net. Through music, self expression, and Stevie, Bucky finds the freedom that comes with self acceptance. In the midst of it all, the AIDS epidemic breaks out and with it comes a surge in the persecution of the LGBT community. Nothing is easy, and the cost of being yourself is high.

Art by @stuckypocketguide​

swallows still sing by icoulddothisallday

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence  

Words: 54k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Holocaust, Period Typical Attitudes, Religious Themes, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Medical Experimentation, Loss of Limb, Family Separation, Death of a Family Member, PTSD

Summary:

They move through the doorway and the sun hits Bucky’s face. His eyes flinch closed involuntarily, but the warmth on his face is more than enough. There’s a breeze too, the freshest air Bucky has breathed in months. It’s chaos outside, a clamor of voices in languages both familiar and foreign. Bucky is glad to ignore it, glad to trust that the Captain will take him to safety. He dares to open his eyes. Everything is fuzzy around the edges, like a waking dream.

On April 29th, 1945, US forces liberate the concentration camp Dachau. But Captain Steve Rogers and his Howling Commandos have a more specific mission - the rescue and rehabilitation of prisoners experimented on by Arnim Zola, among them, a man named Bucky.

In light of recent events in Charlottesville and the political climate of the US right now, I want to quote Elie Weisel, a Holocaust survivor who told us, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Art abd banner by @stuckypocketguide  and  Art by ewburnthatshit

The North Star  by littleblackfox  @thelittleblackfox

Rating: E Warning: Graphic Depiction of Violence Words: 60k Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanov & Clint Barton Tags:  Alternate Universe - Pirate, Romani Bucky, Swashbuckling, Historical AU, Because I didn’t suffer enough last time, Adventure on the High Seas, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Smut, Angst, Slow Burn, I will quite literally go down with this ship, Brief mentions of torture, Swordfighting, Brock Rumlow gets stabbed, It’s Pirates okay there’s going to be blood and guts, But also whales and manta rays, and beach sex

Summary:

“I heard rumour that William Fly is swinging from a gibbet in Boston harbour. They say the age of piracy is ending,” Steve utters softly, rubbing the tip of his thumb across his lower lip. Sam glances at him. “You got plans to retire, Cap? Find a nice little beach in the Indies and a good supply of rum? Couple of pretty girls in grass skirts to dance for you.” “Sam,” Steve mumbles, covering his face with his hand. “I’m sorry, a couple of pretty boys?” Sam grins wickedly. “Sam!” Steve looks scandalised, which gets him nothing but laughter from his Quartermaster. “You’re fired. Go throw yourself overboard this instant.”

Art by @brooklyn-bisexual

Art by @rohkeutta

Art by @frau-argh

Art by @frau-argh

The Scottish Boy by Bette Noire

Rating: E

Warnings: Graphic Violence

Words: 120K

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Medieval AU, Alternate Universe – No Powers, knights, angst, enemies to lovers, slow build, Hundred Years War, thriller, bamf!steve, bamf!bucky

Summary: The year is 1333. The English are at war with Scotland. 19-year-old West Country knight Sir Steven excels at jousting, but yearns to prove himself in real action. So he jumps when his sponsor, Baron Alexander Pierce, invites him on a secret mission with a dozen elite knights. They ride north to a crumbling Scottish keep, capturing the feral, half-starved boy within and putting the other inhabitants to the sword. And nobody knows, or nobody is saying, why the flower of English knighthood snuck over the border to capture a savage, dirty teenage boy. Pierce gives the boy to Steve as his squire, with only two rules: don’t let the boy escape, and convert him to the English cause.

At first, it’s hopeless. The Scottish boy is surly, violent, hoards sharp objects, and eats anything that isn’t nailed down. Then Steve begins to notice things: that, as well as Gaelic, the boy speaks flawless French, far better than Steve’s own. That he can read it – Latin, too. That he isn’t small so much as desperately under-fed. That when Steve finally convinces the boy – James Buchanan, Bucky – to cut his filthy, matted curtain of hair, the face revealed is the most beautiful thing Steve has ever seen.

Art by maichan | Art by tsumi | Playlist by Penny

Kid Fic

Blurry by MonalisaMontauk Tumblr

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: None

Words: 27k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes

Tags: Implied reference Child abuse, Implied reference Domestic Violence, Alternate Universe-Modern Setting, Use of Homophobic slur, Police Officer Steve, Minor Angst, Fluff, Minor Smut, Domestic Fluff, first dates

Summary: Bucky, a single father who only gets to see his son on weekends, finds out his ex’s new boyfriend is abusing him. Fueled with rage Bucky sets out on a mission to track him down. Finding him at a sleazy bar leads to a showdown with terrible consequences for Bucky. The police are called and it just so happens that the cop arresting him is a former one night stand. Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe the situation.

Art by Kay Maeryn @kaym-art

Pas de Deux by rhysiana

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 20,767

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, (past Steve/Peggy, background Clint/Natasha)

Tags: single dad!Steve, artist!Steve, ballet!Bucky, ballet!Natasha, Badly Healed Shoulder Injury, The Realization That Life in One’s 30s Doesn’t Always Look Like One Expected in One’s 20s

Summary: Steve was pretty sure he fell in love with Peggy Carter the first time she called him a “jumped-up colonial” after a surprisingly heated debate on the first day of their shared history seminar during his semester abroad. He never really stopped. Which was really kind of the main problem he was having now, as he stood there next to her grave under gray skies full of ominous clouds that nonetheless refused to actually rain, as if they, too, knew this was fake. *** In which Steve is a newly single father indulging his daughter’s new obsession with ballet, Bucky and Nat are former stars of the Bolshoi now teaching at a DC ballet school, and no one is really quite as normal as they appear.

Art by @barnessergeant (Please go admire her cute art for this story!)

Banner by @dizzy-redhead, who volunteered to make it out of sheer awesomeness!

Seahorses by Tinzelda (AO3) and Poppyfields13fic (AO3)

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 31k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: Post-Captain America Civil War - Freeform, BuckyCap - Freeform, Kidfic, Dad Steve, Fluff, Domestic

Summary: Now that Bucky’s taken over the role of Captain America, Steve feels like it’s finally the time to start a family. Bucky doesn’t know what to feel when Steve breaks the news he’s going to adopt a baby. He wants Steve to be happy, but he’s worried it will affect their friendship. Once Steve becomes a dad though, Bucky can’t help falling in love with the baby. And maybe Steve will finally see Bucky in a different light.

Art by CapCarterandSarge (AO3)

Magical Realism

Deep as the Ocean by themirrordarkly (starmaki)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Words: 20k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Tags: AU Modern and AU Magical Realism, Fisherman Steve and Merman Bucky, Magic and Fairytale elements, Sexual Content, Soulbond, Touch-Starved, Memory loss, Serious Injury and Trauma, Angst, Depression  

Summary:

The newly established charter boat business is booming for ex-military man, Steve Rogers. Being the captain of the charter boat ‘End Of The Line’ is a dream come true–but he doesn’t have anyone to share in his success and good fortune. Everything changes when he finds a sexy, mysterious stranger washed up on the beach. The chemistry is undeniable, like two old souls connecting. But Bucky Barnes isn’t the man he claims to be, having only three months to achieve his goal or suffer the terrible consequences. Can he succeed and claim what he lost? Steve and Bucky’s worlds will collide, changing both their lives forever. A modern retelling of a fairytale, with a twist!

Story by @starmaki (themirrordarkly)

Art by @elendrien

Fourth Floor by @dirtybinary, art by @cbolle & @mithborien

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 41,805

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, minor Sharon Carter/Natasha Romanoff

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Shrinkyclinks, Magical Realism, Tentacle Monsters

Summary:

Steve has his life in order, okay. He goes to wizard college, even if he can’t technically do magic. He has his own apartment, even though it’s small and dinky and kind of gross, and forgets to exist sometimes, and might also be alive? Plus, he has a crush on the hot cyborg in unit 404 who cooks fiendishly good breakfast foods, and may or may not have some kind of weird connection to the sentient building they live in. He’s not sure.

He’s dealing, all right, his life is in tip-top condition, or it was until an eldritch monstrosity called the Hydra started posing as a real estate company to try and buy over his new home.

He’s really pissed about that.

(The one where Steve is an angry millennial wizard, Sam is a Disney prince, Natasha is a shapeshifter, and Bucky is a spoiler.)

Illustrations

[x] by @cbolle​ [x] and above banner by @mithborien

Freshwater Memories by @resinonao3 (Ao3)

A collaboration for the Stucky Big Bang 2017!

Header Art by @koreanrage (Tumblr) Papercraft Art by @milollita (Tumblr)

Artwork rating: G Fic rating: Explicit Word count: 50,903 Relationship: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Archive Warnings: None

Summary:

Steve hasn’t been back to his family’s cottage for years, ever since the car accident took both his parents and his childhood memories. His therapist seems to think it’s a good idea for him to get out of the city for a while, so Steve decides it’s time to fix it up. He remembers a lot of things when he’s finally arrives, smells the fresh grass, hears the whisper of the trees, and the familiar warmth of a home away from home. The river outside is familiar too, only Steve can’t quite remember the imaginary friend he invented from it, when he needed one the most.

The river remembers him though, and will be damned if it watches his old friend sulk in loneliness instead of play with him, like he used to.

Check out @resinonao3‘s amazing fic on AO3!

From Dirty Paws and Creatures of Snow by goldenraeofsun

Rating: Teen and up

Words: 106k

Archive Warnings: Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings

Tags: Modern AU, Magic AU, Witch Steve Rogers, Familiar Bucky Barnes, Temporary Character Death

Summary

Bullies had mocked Steve's lack of magic for years, emboldened as Steve cast spell after spell that fizzled and died.

Steve didn't believe a word out of Bucky's mouth when he said that Steve was the most powerful witch he'd ever seen, but at least Bucky had until they reached Bonding age to convince him of the truth.

Amazing art by lunalittlelunatic is available here!

I See Fire by MooseKing, samwise_baggins, Steve-Bucky-Stucky (Chemical30)

Rating: E

Words:72k

Archive Warnings: Rape/Noncon

Tags: Hydra Agents, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Mpreg, Rape/Non-con Elements, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Graphic Sex, Minor Character Death, Illegal Activities

Summary:

Steve, an elf, has always wanted to see the fabled dragons, rumored to have been hunted into extinction. He dares enter their domain where he meets Bucky, an actual dragon. But this isn’t all fairy tales and happy endings. Hydra, a group of humans bent on genetic control and manipulation, threaten the existence of all creatures, and it is up to an elf, a dragon, and a handful of other magically inclined creatures to put an end to the kidnapping, abuse, experimentation, and murder . . . if they can.

Repaid, by @waffilicious,

Rating: T

Archive warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 20k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Identity Issues, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Recovery, Mind Manipulation, Emotional Manipulation, Hurt/Comfort    

Summary: Bucky, having been freed from his captivity in Faerie, finds it difficult to readjust to life on Earth. Steve and Sam do their best to help, but it’s not until Bucky meets Wanda and she tells him about the Wakandan Magical Rehabilitation Program that progress is made. Meanwhile, a hidden threat may get in the way of Bucky’s recovery.

Art by @alishawinky

Art by @samthebirdbae

Saying Your Name by brideofquiet Art by @sorrowingsoldier

Rated E

Archive Warnings No Archive Warnings Apply Word Count 43k Relationships Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Tags  Surreality, Magic realism, Religous imagery & symbolism, Homesickness, Pre- and post-serum everybody, suicide ideation, medical trauma,  Post-TWS, Not CW compliant

Glancing back up, Steve realizes that there’s something off about what he’s seeing. It takes him a moment to place it, overcome as he is with seeing his home—and it is his home, the Brooklyn he grew up in.

But the longer he stares, the more the image starts to distort. His own memories layer over top, a perfect duplication, but it’s like a layer of paint. He scrubs a hand over his eyes, stares harder and—there! The colors flicker out like cheap lights, fading away into grayscale till the sky is off-white, the East River churning charcoal below him.It’s eerie, uncanny, the not-quite-rightness of it all. If he doesn’t focus on anything in particular, the image snaps back into place, right again.

It unsettles him, making him nervous and flighty in place of the warm familiarity he’d felt only moments before.

Then he remembers: Hadn’t Bucky called to him, from just this spot?

Read the story here, and see the art here!

Misc. No Powers AU

Brave Boy by rooonil_waazlib with art by kissuru

37663 words Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: James “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Sarah Rogers, Clint Barton, Riley (Captain America movies) Additional Tags: Witness Protection AU, Stucky Big Bang 2017 Summary:

“CHORUS: Brave girl. KASSANDRA: People never say that to a lucky person, do they?” -“Agamemnon”, Aeschylus (trans. Anne Carson)

-

Steve’s always wanted to see Madrid: to have the chance to wander through Retiro Park; to explore the Museo del Prado and the Royal Palace and the Reina Sofía; maybe to light a candle at the Almudena Cathedral; to drink wine and eat tapas at all hours of the night and go dancing until the sun comes up, just once or twice.

Never in his entire life had he expected it might happen this way, though: a terrible memory ground into his brain; a scar the size of his fist knotted over his shoulder; his friends convinced he’s dead; his hair dyed dark; and a bodyguard next to him that’s pretending to be his new husband.

COFFEE AND COMICS by @mmouse15

Rating: Teen and up Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 23k Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Tags: coffee shop AU, modern AU, pre-serum Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes needs a hug Summary: A coffee shop AU that’s not about coffee, but about writing and life, and how a person’s value system influences the choices they make. It just so happens to (mostly) take place in a coffee shop.

ART by @izulkowa

Dreaming of Him by Loneliness_of_Evening

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 36K

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Recreational Drug Use, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Mobster Bucky, Nanny Steve, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Modern AU

Summary: New York City hosts millions of different people living vastly different lives. Some people are nannies who dream of being artists, and some are mobsters who dream of being more than the big guys’ drivers. A chance meeting—rather a chance game of nose goes—brings these two people together, and a simple knock at the door becomes fate. But can fate avoid disaster? Or will they both be left alone with only dreams?

Art by @sundaecherries (NSFW)

Art by @happylaune

I Do (please say you want me) by ceeainthereforthat Ao3 / tumblr

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: None

Words: 84k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: No Powers Modern AU, Fake Engagement/Marriage, BDSM, RACK, CBT, TopDom Steve Rogers, BottomSub Bucky Barnes

Summary:  Steve Rogers wants to be President of the United States. That’s why Bucky should tell him no when Steve asks him out on a date…but he doesn’t, and the story about the son of former Vice President Joe Rogers and a high ticket BDSM dominant going out on the town is in the media days later. When Steve won’t throw Bucky under the bus to save his reputation–and his popularity ratings–they’re offered Plan B: Love at First Sight. A Whirlwind Courtship. A Fairytale Wedding, and an amicable divorce five years later.

Sure. That’s gonna work

.Say Goodnight and Go by gingertintedglasses

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings

Words:  26,586

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Tags: Boston snowpocalypse 2015, fluff, copywriter!Bucky, graphic designer!steve, panic attacks and past self-harm mentions, unexpectedly sharing space, pining, bisexual bucky barnes, sarah rogers and rebecca barnes are treasures, super background natasha/sharon that I want to expand in some one-shot follow ups at some point

Summary: Bucky and Steve work for SSR Marketing in Boston. It’s January 2015 and it’s starting to snow in Boston, faster than can be kept up with. Bucky ends up with few transport options to get home and Steve offers to let Bucky crash on his couch until the MBTA is running reliably again. Mutual pining, close quarters, some weather-related mishaps, and some well-timed meddling from a mischievous, well-meaning Sarah Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Rebecca Barnes, do their level best to help Steve and Bucky own up to their feelings. Lots of awkward flirting, second-guessing, coffee, snow, and a puppy.

Art by @whatasaur​  

Art by @comedicdrama​  

The Greatest Show on Earth by youngavengersfeels

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 25K

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Circus AU

Summary: When Steve’s mother dies he runs away to join a circus to escape the debt left behind. He finds himself part of something much larger than himself as he falls for an acrobat known only as the Winter Solider.

Art by Brooklyn-bisexual

Art by @buckybarnesbutt

That Would Be Enough by MarcellaBianca Tumblr

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Words: 62K

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: AU: private school, AU: Teachers, Pining, Angst with a happy ending, Fluff and Smut, These Two Are Idiots, Brunch, Gym, Bucky Barnes Needs A Hug CW: Eating disorders, references to emotional and psychological abuse, and attempted dub-con sex

Summary: Bucky Barnes, a Columbia University graduate with a Masters Degree in Education, is in his fourth year of teaching AP US History at Shield Academy, a private school in the very heart of the Connecticut valley in the bucolic town of Barkstead. He also helps run the Russian Club with his colleague and best friend, Natasha Romanov. He’s got amazing friends, three nephews he adores, and a beautiful little apartment. The only thing Bucky would change about his life? His luck in love. It’s been two years since Bucky ended an emotionally abusive relationship and he’s just now starting to feel that his heart has healed enough to try dating again. Then, a new Art History and English teacher arrives with tattoos he doesn’t like talking about, a body like a Greek god, and some secrets of his own, and Bucky knows he’s done for. Cue pining, sass, and a TON of geeking out over Hamilton.

Art by alienswearsunglasses

Political Submissive by Samwise_baggins & Steve-Bucky-Stucky

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-con

Word Count: 87,963

Relationships: Steve Rogers/James “Bucky” Barnes, Johnny Storm/ Thomas ‘TJ’ Hammond, Jack Benjamin/David Shepherd

Tags: BDSM, Graphic Sex, Prostitution, PTSD, Rape/Non-con, Abuse, Pre-Serum, Post-Serum

Summary:  Steve’s always struggled with owning a Submissive because of his size, and Bucky with his missing arm doesn’t have a lot of Dominant buyers/suitors. TJ, Bucky’s twin, would be a popular Submissive, though he’s never settled down, mostly one night stands. One night when attending an art show, the twins meet Steve and the world changes!

Artist: Colbaltmoony ( tumblr)

The Selection by worrisomeme

Rating: Mature Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 20k Tags: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage (kind of), panic attacks, PTSD, disabled Bucky, disabled Steve, tattoo artist Steve, writer Bucky

Summary:

The Department of Spousal Selection. Anyone not married by age 25 gets a spouse assigned to them by the government. And it’s fine, really. The matches are almost always a perfect fit. Steve Rogers is a successful tattoo artist who’s about to have his world turned upside down when he’s matched with a one Bucky Barnes. As they navigate their new life together and learn to deal with each other’s baggage, will their match prove successful, or will their inner demons tear them apart?

[art] by @lasenbyphoenix

Modern Veteran AU

All or Nothing Days by Lacanthrope

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Words: 20K

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/ Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes & Wanda Maximoff

Tags: Amputee Bucky Barnes, War Vetran Bucky Barnes, Pre-serum Steve, Alternate Universe- No powers

Summary: Sleeping rough in a big city was a shitty way to live, but Bucky knew it was better than he deserved after what he had done. What he had been asked to do and then did. He didn’t deserve the neatly-packaged leftovers from Wanda, the girl who lived in the apartment building he slept outside of, or the smokes she always shared with him. Most of all, he definitely didn’t deserve Steve, the completely fearless volunteer at St. Benedict’s, looking at Bucky the way he did. But when Wanda goes missing and the cops don’t seem to be doing anything about it, Bucky goes stumbling into the dark underbelly of the city to find her. He also happens to stumble right into Steve, who sticks his nose right where it shouldn’t go and insists on helping Bucky get to the bottom of Wanda’s disappearance. All they have to do is survive stirring up the largest criminal organization in the city and all of the unsavoury characters who come with it.

Art by dire-situations

Getting to the Groot of the Problem by Werewolfinthetardis

Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 32,798 Relationships: Bobby Drake/Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers Tags: Friends to Lovers, kid fic (kinda), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Depression, Angst, Explicit Language, Mentions/Depictions of various types of sex and foreplay, Modern Setting- No Powers AU, Amputee Veteran Bucky Barnes, Post-Serum Steve With life winding down new problems pop up, and Steve and Bucky are left struggling with their own personal demons. Steve is trying to figure out what being bisexual really means, while Bucky deals with depression, PTSD, and life with only one arm. Their friendship on the verge of collapse, their lives only get weirder when everyone’s favorite Guardian of the Galaxy, Baby Groot, ends up living in Steve’s apartment. Will the little hell-raiser help fix the problems or will he just create new ones? Amazing Art done by the incredible cancerousmonkey

Shelter from the Storm by ironmanspanties

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Words: 63k

Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers

Tags: Depression, Self-Esteem Issues, Minor Character Death, minor description of violence, PTSD, Slow Burn, Mention of infidelity (not Steve/Bucky), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bucky’s arm Sucks, Mention of Child Abuse, Past Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Bucky Barnes/Jake Jensen

Summary: To lessen the pain from his wife’s betrayal, Steve Rogers is headed as far from his problems as he can get. Though he’d reached the Oregon coast, he still felt broken, empty, and alone. When circumstances leave him stranded on the coast during a summer storm, he sought refuge with the local War vet, who was no haggard old man, but rather a handsome recluse with stormy past of his own. What was it about James Barnes that kept Steve from returning to wandering?

Art by laufcysons

You Belong in a Gallery by gr8escap tumblr

Archive Warnings: Chose not to Use Archive Warnings

Relationship: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes

Word count: 55K

Tags:  Modern AU, Artist Steve Rogers, skinny Steve, veteran amputee Bucky, PTSD, mention of past suicide ideation, mention of past drunken non-con, partial deafness/hoh steve

Summary:  Brooklyn gallery owner and successful comic artist Skinny!Steve Rogers has overcome a lot in his life. He just hasn’t figured out the dating scene. Veteran!Bucky Barnes returned home from Afghanistan minus an arm, but after a rough patch, he has goals to become a graphic designer and even a video game developer. He just has to get through his temporary work as a construction worker so he can get back to school. The pair meets and works to overcome their personal struggles at the same time exploring whatever this is between them that’s moving so fast.

Art 1; Art 2; (& header) by @linguastrata

Neighbours AU

i wish i knew you when i was young by bagels-and-seagulls AO3

Rating: G

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 21k

Relationships: Steve Rogers / Bucky Barnes

Tags: Art History Professor Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, Kebab the therapy dog, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Slow Build

Summary:

“You can pet her. I mean, if you want to that is. I’m not, like, demanding that you pet my dog or anything. I’m just saying that you can, if you want. I know that the, uh, vest says not to, but, like, it’s okay, if I say it’s okay. Which I do, so you can, if you want…” What the fuck, Steve? Does your brain to mouth filter really suck that much?

Bucky blinked at him slightly before scrunching his nose up slightly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

or the one where Steve doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut around his new neighbor and his dog thinks it’s hilarious

Art by starlingzinc

To Have or Have Not by blue_pointer on ao3

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 56k

Relationships: Steve/Bucky, Bucky/Falsworth, Steve/Peggy, Steve/Bucky/Falsworth, Steve/Bucky/Peggy, Peggy/Falsworth, Bucky/Tony (poly)

Tags: Boy Next Door, Infidelity, Romance, Fluff and Smut, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Pregnancy, threesomes, Stucky dads, First Times

Summary: Having a little crush on your hunky new neighbor is totally harmless…unless that hunk has set his sights on you. Fidelity is easy when Steve Rogers isn’t doing his best to seduce you.The second Steve sets eyes on Bucky, he knows he’s the one. Peggy’s left it up to him to choose the father of their child. Now how to break it to him…Bucky believes that cheating is wrong. When he discovers love isn’t limited to the confines of a single relationship, can he accept what his heart is telling him?

Art #1 by @drowningbydegrees (NSFW)

Art #2 by @drowningbydegrees (NSFW)

Sci-Fi

Anything But Circumstance by Crave

Rating: M

Archive Warnings: Graphic Descriptions of Violence

Words: 20k

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers/Other Character(s) (minor)

Tags: Science Fiction, Action, Space Opera, Alternate Universe - Space, Original Character(s), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Humor, Aliens, Identity Porn, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Torture, Panic Attacks, Nightmares, so much sass, IN SPACE!

Summary:

“You are talking to me,” the voice said.

“And who are you?”

There was a pause. “It is probably best if I show you,” the voice said.

One of the walls, the one Steve had been inspecting, began to slide up and up into the ceiling. Steve dashed forward, only to collide with the solid sheet of glass behind the wall. The glass didn’t break, even when Steve pounded it with his fists.

“No need to get hysterical,” the voice said. “Why not step back and admire the view?”

Art by shutupimcreating

The Saughteling by Claudia_flies and zilia

Rating: E

Archive Warnings: Graphic Violence

Important Tags: Star Wars AU, explicit sexual content, past-trauma, references to torture, action adventure, psychic connections, dream sharing, epic lightsaber battles, angst, internalized homophobia, violating the Jedi code, accidental voyeurism, MCU Star Wars AU, Old Republic

Summary: James Buchanan Barnes and Steve Grant Rogers arrive at the Jedi Temple just over twelve months apart.

Many years later, a disillusioned Jedi Knight Steve Rogers returns to the Core Worlds at the summoning of the Jedi Council. Instead of following the will of the Council, Steve chooses a different path. His quest will lead Steve to confront a specter from his past and finally open himself up to the will of the Force

The most amazing art by @hopeless–geek here and @this-simple-mind here (NSFW) and here

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by OktaviaMiki (pandasubaru)

Rating:M

Archive Warnings: Choose Not To Use Warnings

Words: 39k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes (minor Sam Wilson & Natasha Romanoff)

Tags: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Robot/Human Relationships, Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Slow Burn, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, AvertedNonCon

Summary: Two years have passed since Bucky was honorably discharged from the army, and still he’s plagued by the scars and memories. While coping by means of drinking, he orders a persocom, a popular humanoid computer, who arrives (naked) the following morning and he names “Steve”. Bucky wants nothing to do with Steve at first, but because of Steve’s kind influence he begins to open up and his outlook on life changes for the better. Lines are blurred when Bucky realizes his feelings for Steve go beyond that of an owner and machine, feelings Steve might return

Art by @frau-argh

Art by @comedicdrama

Art by @10ftalice

Warhawk by Unicornologist

Rating: T

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 43k

Relationships: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes

Tags: Space AU, Stark Strek AU, canon typical violence, war of 1812 au, slow burn, swearing, enemies to lovers

Summary: Twelve years ago, the Terran Revolution ended. Nicky Fury swore an oath to himself and the known universe that he would never return to the empty void of space again. He vowed that he would rather be tried for treason than set foot on another warship. Yet somehow, all these years later, here he stands in front of his captain’s chair watching the endless black surge past his ship. He watched his crew readying for the battle to come; he could hear Rogers and Barnes bickering over strategy while Romanov and Stark readied the long range blaster cannons and checked the shields. “The universe has a sick sense of humor.” He muttered to himself with a sigh.

Art by @sundaecherries (Hannah)

[cymelia]

Sanadamaru ramblings #3

one hundred years later...

I finished Sanadamaru a few weeks ago so here are my final thoughts on it. In summary, not very impressed but there are a few points that I like.

Spoilerssssss but not much details because I haven’t been taking notes.

On characterisation:

- I like Masayuki a lot and his friendship with cinnamon roll Katsuyori but he kinda just faded into the background after Katsuyori’s death. He has a lot of depth that I wish was explored more and I also really wish they gave us more on his thoughts on Mitsunari and what Masayuki saw in him but that’s my bias speaking. He’s a complex character and I love his final cutscene which shows that he’s still conflicted over Katsuyori’s death and his reason for fighting.

- I unexpectedly like Sasuke a lot? I wasn’t impressed by his design or his initial appearance at all, but he just grew on me. I like his bickering with Kunoichi and his mentor/rival relationship with Hanzo, and how he’s pretty much like a lost puppy finding his forever home and being alternatively grouchy or baffled at how nice they all are. His character development and relationships aren’t novel but something about them just hits the right note with me and I think it’s also because he’s not the focus at all so there was just the right amount of him without pushing it into the annoyingly repetitive territory.

- Sasuke also has great cutscenes! They are mostly action cutscenes which I think Koei is great at. I really like the cutscene where Hanzo told him that he regretted taking Sasuke in. Because if he hadn’t, then maybe Sasuke would not have become a ninja (and thus go on this path of heartbreak and death™). And then Sasuke dies in Hanzo’s arms and I felt genuinely sad until they zoomed in on Hanzo’s face and the single sparkling tear rolling down his face and sorry but that was funny.

- I love Chacha’s reserved personality and her silent strength but the writing for her was disappointing at parts. I wasn’t really fond of the intense focus on how ~lonely and isolated~ she was at Osaka Castle and how Yukimura was the only one who could ~set her free~. Also, I’m not really convinced by how trapped Chacha feels (at one point you need to help her sneak past all the guards in the castle town and get out to advance the story) and at the same time, Hideyoshi and Nene are portrayed as being genuinely worried over and caring for her. I get that they probably don’t want to portray Hideyoshi and Nene in a negative light but maybe they should just sit down and talk it out. Communication! It is a good thing.

- More interaction between Chacha and Takatora or Yoshitsugu would have been awesome too.

- I would also have liked to see more of Chacha’s thoughts during the final part, like what she thought of the retainer controlling her moves, the inevitability of their defeat, what it means to her to take the final stand, etc.

The parallel between the castles burning down at the start and at the end of her story is great though.

- The build-up to Sekigahara feels weaker in this story than the previous ones. Honestly unimpressed with all sides.

- If anyone’s curious about how the Gracia’s hostage situation went down in this version, it’s like this: Mitsunari is going after Gracia, Chacha volunteers to help him look for Gracia and Mitsunari agrees readily. Yukimura’s also dragged into this. In the end, everything burns down and Chacha’s like ‘oh dear it seems like Gracia died in the fire :| how sad’. Sakon asks if Mitsunari wants to see the body and Mitsunari’s just like ‘nah it’s fine’.

I know people have said how Koei is bound to avoid portraying Mitsunari in a negative light for this event and I guess that’s what they’ve done here. It’s not something that bothers me a lot because 1) the writing for Mitsunari (and in general) in this game isn’t great, and 2) I don’t view the hostage thing (what I know about the historical version) as omg evil!!!!! anyway.

- This game is probably the one most critical of the Tokugawa so far and it does bring up a lot of good points re: sacrifice, honour and ambitions. Masayuki is a really good foil to Ieyasu and later, when Masayuki fades into the background, Hidetada takes up that role.

- Speaking of Hidetada, he’s a pretty interesting character! He appears pompous and seems to run his mouth off at the start, but he turns out to be pretty observant with a good grasp of what’s going on. I like the part where he... uhhh shit I don’t remember in detail but it was the pre-Sekigahara battle and he opted to retreat? back down? so that Nobuyuki wouldn’t have to fight his own father and I’m weak to stuff like that. He seems like a very good candidate to take over from Ieyasu and lead the country into an era of peace.

A lot of the stuff added in this game felt to me like good ideas with poor executions.

- The castle town is neat and looks really cool but after the nth time of running from one end to the other end to talk to people to get story expositions it just gets tiring.

- Farming and fishing minigames are so easy I can’t even count them as minigames. The sneaking around guards thing that happens occasionally is a pain but not too difficult. Just annoying.

- Having a tea house that you can invite people to and chat with would be a lot neater if they gave us nice graphics of the characters talking (yes these are my priorities) and if the conversations are actually meaningful.

- Gift-giving is a great idea but again, it doesn’t really do anything. You just gift them something and get a thanks line of varying levels of enthusiasm.

- I quite like the exploration missions in between battles but they would be better with more variety like different landscapes, or unique hidden enemies or treasures. They do have all those, but just... it could be better.

- I couldn’t bring myself to really care about the NPCs nor could I tell them apart and there’s so much dialogue with them. I just kinda... not bothered talking to them after a while.

The missions from the villagers are okay but not really exciting. Hmmm actually I think it would be better with the missions were from the NPCs and if the missions tell us something about what each NPC is like.

Other miscellaneous things:

- Why is the final battle easier than Sekigahara??

- Yukimura spends a large chunk of time in his fashion disaster stage, such a tragedy.

- So much time spent on loading oh my god this is seriously the most annoying thing about the game.

[chinellerussell-blog]

Trump for President... Really?

Having Donald Trump in office as President of the United States of America is like walking through a field with thousands of old land mines. Every night that the news comes on, I ask myself “What has Trump done today?” You wonder will the next thing that comes out of his mouth be the thing that ends the façade of peace here in America. When it comes to Donald Trump, I do not know where to start with all of the information that is available. With his personality and experience, is Donald Trump fit to be president of the USA?

Going into the 2016 presidential election I did not know who Donald Trump was, he stood out from the other candidates because he was not a politician and he did not have a filter when it came to his speeches. The repetition of phrases such as “build a wall and make them pay for it”, and “let’s make America great again” (Magazine, Politico). He is upsetting the Russians, Europeans, and North Koreans. He continues to speak to the American public without a written script, and when he speaks off script, he tends to say something offensive to someone. When he was running for presidency, he failed to explain what he was going to do when he was president and focus on addressing Hilary Clinton as a liar or accusing Obama of not being an American. He even went as far a mocking a disabled reporter and calling Haiti and Africa shithole countries. Will he ever stop putting the country in danger, with his dangerous threats to other countries? Now we know that Trump has no filter when he speaks, but what about his racist, sexist actions and remarks (Magazine, Politico).

How is it that a man that has such low respect for women was elected as the president of the United States? When Trump owned the Miss Universe franchise from 1996 to 2015, he has been accused of entering the dressing rooms while the contestants were in stages of undressing. He explained his actions that he is the “owner of the pageant and therefore I am inspecting it” (Taylor, Jessica). Mariah Bollado is one of the women who remembers putting on her dress quick because Trump had entered the dressing room. “Don’t worry ladies, I’ve seen it all before”, is what she remembered Trump saying (Taylor). Donald Trump of course denies these accusations, but how can he deny the video proof of him saying “I just start kissing them…I don’t even wait…when you’re a star you can do anything…grab them right in the pussy” (Billy Bush). When Trump said that he had never assaulted a women in October of 2016, multiple women spoke up to the public about the incidents with Donald Trump. He was assaulting people on planes; he was even described as an “octopus” because his hands were everywhere (Taylor). Women speak out about decades of abuse how he forced himself on them and stuck his hands up their pants. Trump responses by saying, “for this to become in the final month of a campaign for president should say it all”, calling dozens of women lairs (Redden, Molly). All of this information was known during the presidential election and the country choice to ignore it and make him the leader of this county.

         While I was researching Trumps racist actions, I was surprised by the countless quotes and videos on this one topic. Before the presidential election, a majority of trumps remarks went unnoticed to the general public. One-incident pre-elections was when he referred to one of the Hispanic Miss America contestants as “Miss Housekeeper” (Leonhardt). When trump was put in the public eye of America, he did not hesitate to voice his dislike for our neighbor to the south and the Muslims. Throughout his campaign, he referred to Mexicans as criminals and rapists. His goal as president was to build a wall to make America great again. With trump in office, he pushes hard to deport everyone. What is known as the Muslim ban, refused refugee’s access to America, for seven countries. Recently trump has said that America needs more immigrants from Norway and less from “shit hole country’s” like Haiti (Mark Wilson and Getty). Trumps opinion on the African American population is nothing but negative, saying that laziness is a trait in blacks. He encourages violence to not only African Americans but also anyone who is not a rich white man. In an interview, he said that police “should not be gentle when putting someone in the car, ruff them up a little bit” (Magazine, Politico). The most surprising thing to me when it comes to trump and his racist comments is connection to white supremacy groups. He says to America how the people marching the streets in Charlottesville are “ok people” and he was even sponsored by David Duke.

Throughout history, America has tried to stay out of the problems of other countries. Historically we help our allies in time of need and always keep the war away from the main land. That is why America is known as the greatest county in the world, because many of the citizens do not know how much America is really hated by other nations. With our current president Donald Trump, he is isolating America by undercutting our allies and insulting many nations. This is the opposite of his campaign slogan “let’s make America great again”. America was never great for everyone as a whole (Magazine, Politico). Was he talking about when the Englishman were killing off the Native America, or when anyone with dark skin was enslaved for 400 years, or when the country was segregated after slavery was demolished, or when the stock market crash and most of the country was starving, or the wars that killed millions of our citizens. Those are only the big problems that are in America’s history.

Donald Trump is added to the very short list of presidents to be elected with no political background. Those who have never run for office have a strong military background. Even though political experience is not a requirement to be president, it is good practice to know how to act in a political environment before you are elected president. Many presidents served as governors or U.S. senators before being elected. I am not going to say that trump has no experience; he just has no training in running a nation. Trump is trained in business, he can run a company. Trump continues to run the country as a business.

Trump has an inability to control his thoughts and often post on social media without thinking. Some believe that Trump displays all nine criteria for an individual with Narcissistic personality disorder (Christensen). A phycologist to the public’s knowledge has not seen trump but the rumors cannot be stopped when the signs are broadcast to the world. Trumps lack of concentration, delusional thinking, memory, and impaired judgement are symptoms for multiple mental disorders. With the brief medical summary, that he released it is unclear what exactly is wrong with Donald trump without an official psychological screening (Christensen).

From the information collected, the answer to my research question is No Donald Trump is not fit to be the president of the United States base experienced on his personality and experience. Being president used to be a position of honor and respect, but with trump in office, the standards have lowered. Kids used to say that when they grew up they wanted to be the president, but do we really want our children to grow up to be like Donald Trump, an individual that thinks it ok to sexual harassed women without consequences. Many lead by example by joining the military or volunteering in their community, but Trump avoided the Vietnam draft five times and continues to act as if he is above other because he is a billionaire. What was the county doing back during the presidential election that allowed someone as racist, bias and sexist to become the next president of the United States?

[mysteryshelf]

FRIDAY SF & FANTASY - The West Woods

  Welcome to

THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF!

DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by YA Bound Book Tours. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.

  The West Woods

by Suzy Vadori

Genre: YA Release Date: September 22nd 2017 Evil Alter Ego Press

Summary: Magic, sacrifice and the quest for freedom.

Courtney Wallis wants nothing more than to escape St. Augustus boarding school. After uncovering a well-kept secret about the school’s founder, Isaac Young, Courtney turns to the school’s magic to convince her dad to let her leave. Things take a turn when she meets Cole, who lives in the nearby town of Evergreen. He gives her hope that things might not be so bad. However, the school’s fountain has other ideas, and binds Courtney to her ambition, no matter the cost.

As Courtney struggles to keep the magic from taking over, she and her friends get drawn into the mystery woven into the school’s fabric. Everything seems to lead back to the forbidden West Woods. Together, she and her friends seek out the spirits of the past to ask for help, and find themselves in much deeper than they’d bargained for.  If they succeed, Courtney could be free of the magic. If they fail, she may never be the same. 

  Add to Goodreads

The Fountain on Goodreads (The West Woods is the prequel)

Buy Links:

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/West-Woods-Fountain-Book-ebook/dp/B074V3B7G1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505703590&sr=8-1&keywords=vadori

Amazon CA – https://www.amazon.ca/West-Woods-Fountain-Book-ebook/dp/B074V3B7G1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505703610&sr=8-1&keywords=vadori

B&N – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-west-woods-suzy-vadori/1126995781?ean=9781988361109

Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-west-woods

Interview with the Author

What initially got you interested in writing?

I’ve always been a writer. I like the challenge of choosing the words. Later, I enjoyed making the words evoke feelings. I always knew I would write books, but it wasn’t until I was on maternity leave with my third child that I finally sat down and finished the manuscript for The Fountain.

What genres do you write in?

I write for Young Adults, though because my books have both romance and mystery in them, they are read by all ages, which has been lots of fun.

What drew you to writing these specific genres?

The world of Young Adult books has changed so much in the last decade and it’s exciting to be able to be a part of the new fiction. Teen fiction now challenges so much about the world in creative ways. I write books I think my own kids will find exciting.

How did you break into the field?

After my first novel was complete, I looked around to find a Young Adult writing community in Calgary, Alberta, where I live to figure out where to go next. I didn’t find what I was looking for with Young Adult writers, but I started volunteering with a multi-genre festival called When Words Collide. At the time, they put on 2-3 hours of Young Adult programming during the festival annually. I accepted the honor of becoming the Program Manager for Middle Grade/Young Adult, and five years later we’ve grown this part of the festival to thirty hours of programming during the weekend that the festival is held. I now have the community of authors I’d been looking for, and I am proud to have been part of building this amazing, supportive crew.

What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?

No matter what it is that I’m writing, I like to keep the readers guessing. If you think the plot is going to zig, it’ll probably zag. I find life is like that, and I like thinking about what would happen if everything wasn’t as it seems.

What do you find most rewarding about writing?

I love hearing from readers who’ve connected in some way with my books.

What do you find most challenging about writing?

I move at a warp speed pace in life, which I love. Publishing is an industry that doesn’t move like that, and I have to make an effort to accept the pace. I suppose it’s therapeutic for me to slow down every now and again. Also, time is a story’s best friend. As much as I’d like my writing to tick along as efficiently as everything else in my life, the writing and editing always gets better with time, as your mind works out the kinks in the plot. There is nothing better than coming back to a manuscript after stepping away for a month or two.

What advice would you give to people wanting to enter the field?

Do it! And do it your way. There are many different models of how to make a living as a writer. I haven’t met two authors who have structured their careers in exactly the same way. Build your writing career the way that will work best for you, and don’t let others tell you that you can’t. There’s room for all of us.

What type of books do you enjoy reading?

I love Young Adult novels. I like to read as many as I can to keep perspective on what’s out there and how the genre is changing. I also beta read for many friends and colleagues in different genres, which is lots of fun. I love reading books written by authors I know personally. Their books give a window into the way their minds work, which is always neat, no matter what genre they write. If there’s nothing in my “I’ve promised to read” pile (which is rare), then I choose either historical fiction for pure enjoyment, or the latest best seller, to try to understand what about it captured folks’ attention.

Is there anything else besides writing you think people would find interesting about you?

I like to set goals, and am always working on something new. I have my Sommelier’s license (wine connoisseur), run half marathons and do triathlons. I love to cook, and rarely follow a recipe or make the same thing twice.

What are the best ways to connect with you, or find out more about your work?

You can find me on my website, suzyvadori.wordpress.com, Twitter/@vadoris, Facebook/Suzy Vadori Author, Instagram/Suzy Vadori Author

  About the Author

Suzy Vadori is an Operations executive by day, Writer by night. The Fountain is her debut novel for Young Adults. Suzy is an involved member of the Calgary Writers’ community, service as Program Manager for Young Adult at When Words Collide (a Calgary festival for readers and Writers) since 2013. Suzy lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with her husband and three kids.

  Author Links:

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

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Blog Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

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FRIDAY SF & FANTASY – The West Woods was originally published on the Wordpress version of The Pulp and Mystery Shelf with Shannon Muir

[joann06g057164-blog]

Ideal Make educator You Will certainly Read This Year (in 2015).

What Can You Do Regarding teacher Today

Class monitoring was the greatest difficulty I faced as an alternative instructor. This suggests that artists as well as songs teachers have excellent possibilities to obtain a work anywhere. On the other hand, a volunteer called Happiness is attended to as a teacher for training and offering the children of a much country area. You have to describe teacher resume examples, adhere to the above provided suggestions as well as build a winning instructor resume to get hold of the wanted task. Songs educators locate an urgent need to multi-media mentor tools as it includes a full-length guitar lesson and also tutorial that strategically educates the students with chords, ranges, make-up, improvisation, technique research studies, and songs concepts. Functioning in museums or at historic websites could give pleasurable instructor works if you're a retired background teacher. In my experience, lots of school areas collaborate with Lot of money Institution to create their own instructors in scarcity locations like mathematics, scientific research as well as unique effect vs affect - try this, education. When to be a hard job manager and also are not forgiving, I concur with just what you claim concerning how the best educators know. My best instructors would certainly put the goal (metaphorically speaking), an inch past my reach. Because she offered of herself to each student, I understood that this teacher was various.

teacher Your Method To Success.

All trainees hold up cards (hand-written or pre-printed) in reaction to an educator punctual. Teachers are unable to control students throughout courses - they could even have the ability to play games on classes. Teachers start to even the having fun field" by revealing all students to a wide array of kids's literary works from the initial day of kindergarten. Perseverance can repay big time and can be the distinction between getting a training job or being back to trying to find even more instructor meetings. Most of guitar educators make the all-too-common psychological error of training arbitrary guitar playing information/licks/songs to their trainees because they believe this is just what they are intended to do as 'excellent instructors'.

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[batonrougefashioweek-blog]

Preview: Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Week 2017

by Lia Ramirez

When producer Brandon D. Campbell first conceived the idea of a Baton Rouge Fashion Week, he knew he had the opportunity to create something very special. The creator and executive producer of the then-five-years-old Little Rock Fashion Week (LRFW), Campbell had all the tools in his arsenal to deliver a product that – more than a fashion show – would be an avenue for new and emerging talent to connect with one another and grow their brands. All he needed was the support of a community already aching to have a fashion industry of its own. With those thoughts weighing heavily on his heart, Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Week (OBRFW) was born in 2013.

Initially a three-show event, OBRFW has grown thanks to Campbell’s relentlessness and the support of the community. The show is now comprised of five events featuring three unique fashion shows, sixty models, and a number of local and regional designers with different stories as well as looks from several local stores. Whilst the support of the community is fundamental to OBRFW, the show supplies an opportunity for the community to experience growth and development in a field vastly unexplored in the South.

Since its birth, OBRFW has provided many Louisiana residents with creative opportunities otherwise inaccessible in the immediate vicinity.  

‘‘It provided an avenue for people of all ages, genders, backgrounds, to have them all come together to celebrate each other, to celebrate culture and fashion,” says Campbell.  

For college freshman Rachel Key, OBRFW 2016 was a game changer. The Little Rock native was a freelance model who initially wanted to audition for LRFW. She missed the dates for the auditions so she traveled to Baton Rouge to audition for OBRFW. She was selected as one of the models for that year’s shows. Her big break came when, at just seventeen, she won Model of the Year. The OBRFW Model of the Year Award is given to one model who performs outstandingly and distinguishes herself throughout the week. As OBRRFW 2016’s Model of the Year, Key’s prize package included a contract with Oneofakind Talent, Campbell’s talent agency. Through them, she has had the opportunity to walk in several runway shows as well as do commercial work.  

Key, who is returning to walk the runways for OBRFW 2017, firmly believes that Baton Rouge has the capacity of becoming a frontrunner in the fashion world. She is proud of her southern roots.  

‘‘One of the things I enjoy about modeling in the South is that everyone is very diverse - different builds, different heights – and that’s started to become a little more of what our culture as a society is looking forward to,” said Keys.  

Jonesboro resident Keria Lewis, creator of the nineties-inspired brand oLd FVshUnZ (pronounced Old Fashion), embraces that diversity by making clothing for individuals with different backgrounds. As an African American, she understands the importance of feeling represented in the fashion industry.  

‘‘I have nieces and I feel it’s good for them to see African American models and know it’s okay to have an afro, it’s okay to have braids,” says Lewis.  

Lewis also understands the importance of having opportunities available to pursue your dreams. She faced many obstacles after dropping out of school to pursue her true passion of becoming a designer. Outside of family and friends, she received little to no support.  

‘‘It can be shocking that what inspires my line is not people but movies and nineties TV shows,” Lewis said.  

Her unique designs are based on children’s play clothes with nineties overtones, which challenges the more traditional southern styles. It took a lot of perseverance, but fashion had always provided a way for her to express herself. She knew fashion would provide a way for her to succeed doing something she loved if she believed in herself. Through her hard work and playful design aesthetic, she garnered the support of college-aged students. Her distinctive brand and powerful message eventually attracted OBRFWs attention. Lewis’ designs will be making their premiere walk down the OBRFW runway in this year’s BIG Night on February 18.

What to expect

OBRFW 2017 returns for its fourth year on February 16th with the promise of being the most spectacular one yet. The 2017 OBRFW will feature five staple events, three of which are runway shows: Kickoff Mixer, Community Day, For Kids by Kids Show, BARE Show, and the BIG Night.

The Kickoff Mixer, hosted by Bin 77 Bistro & Sidebar, will provide the opportunity to preview some of the fashions that will be featured in this year’s shows. It is also an opportunity to connect with the creators and participants of OBRFW4. Attendees can have fun dressing in their most fashion-forward attire. It is the only age-restricted event, requiring attendees to be 18 years or older.

During Community Day, OBRFW4’s staff members, designers, and models will visit the Dufrocq Magnet Elementary School to read to the students. The focus of this event is to inspire and motivate young children who may or may not grow up to be models and designers to read. The students will have the opportunity to interact with the staff, designers, and models. They will also be able to hear OBRFW members’ stories about the fashion and their careers.  

The For Kids by Kids (FKBK) Show is the first runway event of the week. It is a children’s fashion show produced solely by kids. This year’s show will feature looks from GAP, Once Upon A Child, REFinery Kids, B Kids, and children designer Ms Smitty. This show is no child’s play; dress up in your favorite suit and tie or dress.

Perhaps the most unique event, the BARE Fashion Show celebrates the natural beauty and uniqueness of individuals. Models will walk down the runway without makeup and in their natural hairstyles. This show will feature neutral-tone and provocative looks from The Impeccable Pig, Divas & Diamonds, H Kyle and The GAP among others. Dress in your sexiest cocktail attire for this celebration of natural beauty.

All the previous events will lead up to the climactic finale BIG Night, held at the Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel. Attendees will watch the creations of designers Cupani Fashions, iME, oLD FVshUnZ, On8.16, Richie Clark Clothing, and Rosavrai, debut their spring/summer collections down the OBRFW runway while enjoying hors d’oeuvres, a complimentary drink, and VIP swag bag. The BIG Night Fashion Show will be hosted by Rachel Spangenthal of NBC 33. Green formalwear attire is requested. This year’s BIG Night Show will be a very heartfelt one as part of the proceeds will benefit OBRFW alumni affected by the August 2016 Historic Flood.  

An ensemble cast of designers, models, and artists will come together this February to deliver what is to be the biggest, boldest, and FRESHEST OBRFW yet. Tickets are already selling for community members wishing to be a part of this one-of-a-kind experience.  

For show-goers wondering what to expect, Campbell teases that, ‘‘this season of Fashion Week is all about freshness – fresh fashion, fresh faces, fresh hosts, and fresh atmosphere. To see what it’s all about, you’ll have to come check it out.’’

Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Show 2017 Information Summary:

Media, Industry & VIP Kickoff Mixer Fundraiser Bin 77 Bistro & Sidebar | 7PM | Feb 15, 2017 | Advanced tickets: $10 Preview some of the fashion, meet, greet, and network with the makers of OBRFW 4. Ages 18 and older. Fashion forward attire.

OBRFW Goes to School Dufrocq Magnet Elementary School | 9AM | Feb 16, 2017 OBRFW staff, designers, and models visit school to surprise students and read their favorite children’s books to classes.

For Kids by Kids Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel | 7PM | Feb 16, 2018 | Advanced tickets: $30 A fashion produced solely by kids. Arrive dressed up in your favorite suit and dress.  

BARE Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel | 7PM | Feb 17, 2017 | Advanced tickets: $30 Experience an all ‘‘natural’’ fashion show. Dress in your sexiest cocktail attire.

BIG Night Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel | 7PM | Feb 18, 2017 | Advanced ticket: $50 Witness the creations of designers Cupani Fashions, Divas & Diamonds, iME, oLD FVshUnZ, On8.16, Richie Clark Clothing, and Rosavrai, debut their spring/summer collections down the OBRFW runway while enjoying hors d’oeuvres, a complimentary drink, and VIP swag bag. Hosted by Rachel Spangenthal of NBC 33. Green Formal Wear Attire. A portion of the proceeds to benefit OBRFW alumni flood victims.

Oneofakind Baton Rouge Fashion Week 2017 is made possible by the constant support and involvement of its sponsors: Oneofakind Talent, iME, Belle of Baton Rouge, Visit Baton Rouge, Bin 77 Bistro, Chef Charles Wilfrod Sr Enterprise, Divas & Diamonds, Crowne Plaza Baton Rouge, Fashion United, Fabulous Channyn.

If you are interested in getting involved as a sponsor, vendor, or volunteer contact OBRFW via joinus@batonrougefashionweek.com for more information. For media inquiries and to schedule interviews or appearances, contact Lia Ramirez at pr@batonrougefashionweek.com.