#Join in on Writers Podcasts

[jolenes-book-journey]

Getting the Word Out on Your Books

Getting the Word Out on Your Books is hard for all authors. As a self-published author, you know that marketing your book is essential to its success. But with so many places to share your book online, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are some of the most popular places to share your self-published book and increase your sales: Continue reading Untitled

[wam-my]

"This too shall pass." Alright, writer of Malevolent!!! I'm going to need you to hand me a few hundred bucks to pay for my therapy bills!!!😊😊😊😆

[cremn-podcast]

CREMN

Hello! this is a personal project of mine [ @kitsunebite ] it is a horror podcast set in a run-down diner in the middle of no-where arizona this is my first ever public project and I am super excited [and scared] If I ever make a mistake or represent anyone wrong please let me know! I will try to work on this as much as possible and try to keep this blog up to date but I am one person with one insanity enabler [ @vasebirddoodles ] EDIT: I have made a discord server I do not expect this to gain any traction at all but I need a better way to communicate with the ones that do care

please dm me if this link does not work https://discord.gg/DjMbdthjk9

[writing-fanics]

Playful Banter ‘Stayed Gone’

Alastor x Reader

[a/n: I’m not a song writer don’t be mean if the lyrics don’t match up I’m sorry I tried! I haven’t written for Alastor since I think 2020. The entire song isn’t here in lyrics it opens when Alastor and you are walking down the stairs]

Song

Alastor and You, walked down the stairs and noticed sinners gathers around the Voxtech television. You glanced up at him knowingly, and you couldn’t help put clip your heels together. As you made you swiftly made your way, to the radio tower.

‘While they’ve hid in radio, we've pivoted to video’

‘Now their medium is getting bloody rare.’

‘Hell's been better since they’ve split’

You grinned dusting off your clothes; bringing the cup of tea taking a sip. As you glanced ver at Alastor smiling, “Let’s have some fun shall we, darling?” He asked, and you lifted your head with an upturned smile. “We shall.” You chuckle, as you turned on the broadcast. Leaning in closer into the mic.

‘Where's they’ve been? Who gives a shit?!’

You had a devilish smile plastered on your face, “Salutations!” You and Alastor said into the microphone, grinning ear to ear. “Good to be back on the air,” You smiled, holding your cup of tea in hand.

You were ready for some fun, excited, Vox didn’t know what he was getting into with you two.“Yes, we know it's been a while.” You two sang, into the microphone.

“Since someone with style treated Hell to a broadcast” You two said into the mic, “Sinners, rejoice!” Alastor and You exclaimed, as the crowd seemed to gather around the old timey radio.

The sinners gathered in front of both, glancing back and forth between the two. “What a dated voice!” Vox spat, and You could only chuckle as you brought the mic closer.

“Instead of a clout-chasing mediocre video podcast.” You and Alastor sang, smiling

“Come on!” Vox shouted, angrily annoyed. As the two went on, “Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure?” Alastor sang, and making fun of Vox.

“Fitting between this fad and that, is nothing working?” You sang, smirking and standing beside Alastor.

“Ignore their chirping!” Vox spat.

“Every day, he's got a new format!” Alastor sang, grinning. Vox groaned in annoyance.

‘You're looking at the future, he's the shit that comes before that!’

Alastor sang, “Is Vox as strong as he purports?” as other sinners listened in the feud, “Or is it based on his support?” You sang.

“He'd be powerless without the other Vees,” Alastor sang, then leaning closer into your respective microphones. You couldn’t help but chuckle.

“And here's the sugar on the cream,”Alastor sang, leaning closer into his microphone a a devilish smile on his face.

“He asked us to join his team!” Alastor sang, revealing the truth. “H-hold on!” Vox stammered, nervously. You smiled grinning ear to ear leaning closer holding; your microphone close to you.

A devilish grin grew across your face, “A jealous one he surely is!” You sang, stifling back a laugh. Remembering when Vox asked if you wanted to go out. As in start a relationship with you. You couldn’t help but laugh back then. And still laugh even now.

You chuckled slightly,“years ago he asked if we could court!” You sang, into the microphone. You could only imagine the horrified and embarrassed looked, on Vox’s face right now and thought alone. Made your grin wider.

“I said no, and now he's pissy.” You say down in your chair, next to Alastor and smiled. “That's the tea!” Alastor and You sang, sitting back into your respective chairs smiling. Leaning back in them kicking your legs back, as you two sang.

“You two old-timey pricks, I'll show you suf-ffering,” Vox stammered, as his screen started to buffer. “Uh oh, the TV is buffering!” You and Alastor sang into the microphone, with you adding slight coo at the end.

Vox stammered as he started to shorting out, his screen buffering continuously as he was about to lose single. “I'll destroy you, yo-ou lit-tle—” He stammered, suddenly all power across Pentagram City went out. The only source of power coming from the radio tower, attached to the Hazbin Hotel.

Alastor chuckled statically, “I'm afraid you've lost your signal,” You said, grinning. You looked down for a moment before looking up. Your eyes glowing a bright red.

“Let's begin.” Alastor sang into staff, as he slowly transformed into his demon form. Placing down bis staff as his eyes glowed bright red, and his antlers grew bigger. His form slowly started to resemble that of a wendigo.

“We’re gonna make you wish that we’d stayed gone, tune on in,” you two sang, as you slowly transformed. Your body stretching and neck becoming longer.

As your body stretched, into its demonic form. An ‘X’ revealed itself on the side of your neck. As your nails became sharp claws, as you gripped the control board. “When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run,” You two sang leaning closer, as your eyes and body grew longer.

“Oh, this will be fun,” You and Alastor sang, smiling. Vox stared at the screen in disbelief, as it went blank and fell back into his seat, “Fuck!” he whined, their laughter continuing to taunt him. Leaning back into your chair you smiled, “We still got it.” You said, smiling of course the two of you would. Nothing beats, radio. “I couldn’t ask for a better co-host.” said Alastor, as he smiled at you. “And I couldn’t ask for a better husband,” You said, blowing a kiss his way a smile on your face.

Wonder what Vox’s reaction would be since he still hasn’t moved on, from you rejecting him. To him noticing a ring on your finger.. hmm I’d imagine he’d be buffering

a/n: I did my best with this.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: "In #DragonAge: Vows and Vengeance, you'll get to meet all our companions before they joined the Veilguard - including a gentleman necromancer 💀 Subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Premieres August 29: [link]" [source]

This tweet mentions that the moments of the companions' lives depicted in the podcast are from times prior to them joining the Veilguard and therefore the events of the game.

Text in the notebook reads:

"Something's gone wrong. The dead stir more easily than they should."

Maybe we are looking at Emmrich's notebook here? ^^ it sounds like something isn't right in the Grand Necropolis and with the Veil/the dead in general. (I wonder if this is part of the reason why in the release date reveal trailer, there are giant undead skeletons causing a stir). In Nevarra/the Mortalitasi, they believe that when someone dies a spirit is pushed out of the Fade into the mortal world. In exchange, they invite those spirits to inhabit the empty bodies left behind. This is common orthodoxy for the Nevarran populace. when a spirit leaves the Fade, it crosses the Veil. when the Veil is thin (or weak or damaged..), demons and spirits can escape more easily into the waking world. once they do, they sometimes possess corpses. since we need to guard the Veil in this game and there's a Veil-tearing Lyrium dagger around (plus who knows what else Ghil and Elgar'nan and whatever else are doing to it..), it makes sense that if the Veil is damaged/at risk, more dead would stir and more easily than they should do. (in TN, Lord Penrick Karn's funeral procession was interrupted by his corpse's premature possession). you can see why a Mourn Watcher like Emmrich would be motivated to join a group dedicated to guarding the Veil.

The anatomical drawings here track, Nevarra has unrivalled knowledge of anatomy. <- DA:TV spoilers at link.

The notebook also reminds me of Grim Anatomy.

These numbers look to appear twice on the pages:

"7197 | 3.85715 7198 | 3.85721 7199 | 3.85727 | 6 7200 | 3.85733 | 6"

What do they mean? could it be a calculation, or a code?

And can anyone make out what the flowing script on the left hand page says? ^^ I wonder what language it's in? Whether it corresponds to a spell? it also reminds me of this exchange from the 'Meet The Companions' panel at SDCC, as it relates to Emmrich:

"Lucy: And I hear as well that Emmrich gets, I mean, you’re all gonna get some fantastic lines, but I hear that Emmrich has some quite spectacular ones. You, Nick, you and Ashley, I would love to hear about the process of, was it difficult to get like some of those tongue-twisters, and? Ashley: Yeah, Sylvia the lead writer basically was like, ‘Ash, you’re gonna need a dictionary for all of the sessions with Emmrich’, it’s like, 'Okay!’. And we get there, you just nailed them all, like 'shduhfejdkjjdhdjdhfjehfjkhehe into the Fade’. Nick: Well, I don’t know if I nailed them all, that’s very kind of you. But, there was some serious tongue-twisters there, and, but it’s great, it’s great to be in the booth, and to be given a challenge like that, and. Yeah, it’s fantastic, I mean that’s what I love to do, so it was great to be just gifted that."

[source]

[gleafer]

My favorite Reddit sub has turned ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!

If you haven’t yet found your way to the nicest and SAUCIEST fandom fan page in this part of the GOOD OMENSVERSE, now is your cue!

Join us and have fun with amazing writers, wonderful artists, podcasters, voice actors, musicians and HILARIOUS mods and commenters in a supportive community making our goblin lives better every day.

Good Omens After Dark is where thick thighs save lives and Pootie bird reigns supreme.

PINKIES UP, BEEOTCHES!

@goodomensafterdark

[visceral-viscera]

hey guys if you want to hear more of whatever the fuck that last ep was but with more cursing and sound effects, check out malevolent, the podcast written, produced and voiced by Harlan Guthrie, episode 23's writer!!!

come on down, we've got

body sharing protags with a complicated ambiguous toxic possesive situationship friendship worst enemies relationship who hold hands

a protag thats more scars than skin at this point

body horror that will make your stomach hurt

alternative universes

alternative dimensions

a guy who sings while he kills people

cannibalism

eldritch entities of unknown intents

fun 1930s aesthetics

non-obtrusive ttrpg mechanics

musical motifs

eye motifs

a silly little guy whose hands are always covered in gore whos always just kinda watching whats going on

and more!!! you can even vote on what our protag will do if you join the patreon!!! its so fun!!

i know u tma/tmagp people would like it just give us a chance pls pls pls

[webs4ribs]

Chillin’ with the Lads™ at Camp Magnus

(Heads up that the TMA discord that I mod for is hosting a “Camp Week” packed full of super cool daily events hosted from July 1st to July 7th and if you’re interested, you should definitely join! The link and more information can be found below the cut.)

Welcome to The Magnus Institute!

We’re a 15+ TMA community and daily live-listen discord server with over 350 members that’s here for you to make friends, chill out, and prepare you for The Magnus Protocol!

Our goal is to foster a community that can involve anyone and everyone: from hardcore TMA veterans to those who have never listened to the podcast before. We've got some epic channels that create fun spaces for artists, writers, gamers, and theorists, along with those who’re just into chilling out.

The start of Camp Week means lots of events! Feel free to join the server to check out the full schedule, but here’s a short list of some events we’ll be hosting from Saturday July 1st to Friday July 7th;

An art contest, a writing contest, quiplash games, trivia nights, presentation nights, daily campfire stories, Gartic Phone games, bracelet making, DJ sets, karaoke, a Bob Ross painting sesh, daily YouTube movie nights, among us, green screen edits, a frantic fanfic sesh, tarot readings, and more!

We’ve also set up cabins to create a little bit of camp spirit and competition! By participating in events, you’ll be able to win points for your cabin which will be tallied at the end of the week to determine who reigns supreme! You’ll be able to choose to join 1 of 4 cabins; Gertrude’s Goobers, Leitner’s Losers, Mikaele’s Malewives, and Smirke’s Seniors.

We also have a Minecraft Server dropping on the 1st along with the start of camp week! So if you’re into mining or crafting, make sure to check out the server.

I should also note that a big part of our server’s draw is the daily live listens. We’ve been listening to an episode of TMA every day since March, and as of today (the 26th), we’re on MAG 92 - Nothing Beside Remains. So, if you’d like to join us (or catch up) and listen to the last half of the podcast alongside a live chat every day at 6pm BST and 6pm PT, then we’d love to have you!

That’s about as much condensed information as I can give you without making this wall of text even thicker. If for any reason the discord link doesn’t work for you, or you’re having trouble accessing the server, just send me a DM and I’ll be happy to help you out!

Can’t wait to meet you guys! Have fun!

[potatoofdefiance]

My two cents and a rant on the allegations and Good Omens

(I will probably regret this later)

This has been eating at me for a while now, ever since the news broke that Neil Gaiman was a sex pest (see infamous TERF-adjacent podcast by Tortoise media) and I have been consciously and unconsciously ruminating over it for weeks now, so here goes.

I think the news of Neil Gaiman hit me harder than I was expecting, and certainly harder than I would have liked.

I didn’t (and certainly do not now) consider myself a “true fan”. I was never a hard-core fan, one that goes to signings or book fairs or cons to meet my favourite author. Partly because I never latched that much on any of the authors of the books or movies I loved, and partly (maybe for the best now that I think about it) because I never had the money, or wasn’t located in a geographically favored area. Meaning I never lived anywhere near wherever events with Neil Gaiman were happening.

So, with all this in mind, how is it that the news managed to hit me so hard?

I thought (read: ruminated) about it, and I think it is because of Good Omens. And the latest times. In my life, and I think a good chunk of other people’s lives too, these last few years have been a roller-coaster. You choose which particular scenario the roller-coaster is set into; mine is on fire, running through a sea of shit and we are being slapped by gooey flaming eels hard in the face.

Maybe someone might enjoy this. That someone isn’t me.

But the point is: I have been struggling. With my life, with a mental health condition, with the world and my place in it.

Enter Good Omens. In an effort to actively expose myself to “nice” stuff, stuff that would, if not make me feel better, at least make me laugh, I started tapping more into the fandom.

I’m not a fandom person. Again, never latched onto anything that had a fandom big enough (where are the Ann Halam fans? No one is making cosplays of Sloe from Siberia, are they?).

But with Good Omens, it seemed perfect for me. I wasn’t invested so much, it didn’t make me feel like I was “lacking” something in order to be part of it. I just felt like I didn’t care enough to really be vulnerable to it, I felt like it could have been a nice innocuous hobby.

But that’s the point. Thinking it was innocuous made me let down my guard enough to actually fall in love with the fandom. Fall in love with those two weirdos of characters (which by the way, I’ll say this now: I think Aziraphale and Crowley as portrayed in the series are more a product of fans and Tennant and Sheen than they are a product of Gaiman and Pratchett. And this is not a bad thing per se, I think, but let’s give credit where credit is due).

And let me be clear: I gained so so much from joining the fandom. It has positively affected so many seemingly unrelated parts of my life, and I’m so grateful to so many kind strangers on the internet who have shared such wholesome art with me, and have gifted me so much, that even putting it into words is simply not enough to explain all of it.

And one of the results of this “wave of wholesomeness” is I also started following Gaiman more closely.

Like so many, I loved Coraline. Gaiman seemed a genuinely nice person. An old guy who had wisdom to share, and who seemed to be fascinatingly non-stereotypical? If that makes sense. What I mean is that he was everything my father warned me against. A goth, weird, a writer therefore an artist (and in my family we know artists are fools who end up on the street jobless and homeless). And yet, to me now he seemed such a normal guy. Yes maybe someone who enjoyed that fashion style, but otherwise very far away from the usual excess of a rockstar. Of course I was too young when he was at the peak of his rockstar years. English is not my first language, and when he was 40 I was in elementary school and just learning about him, and you know, they do not write about his fans passing out at signings or his groupies on the back cover of children’s books.

What I mean is that I didn’t have access to all the media and information about him.

So I start seemingly connecting to this writer, whose works I have enjoyed for the most part, and who seems such a nice guy in how he interacts with his fans and people in general. Such an inoffensive, kind person. And kind seemingly to everyone.

I started liking him. To the point where I remember telling my partner: you know, Neil Gaiman is someone I’d take a coffee with (which in Italian culture is one of the greatest honors one can give you. Having a coffee while sitting at a café and chat for hours is what good friends do).

So, in my mind he had a special place now. He was someone I started to admire and look up to.

And this is, I think, where it hurts. It hurts because even if I wasn’t personally victimized, I never met him, he never acted creepy with me, he doesn’t even know me, it still felt like I, as part of the fandom, had been used for his clout. And also, it hurts to feel like someone you trusted because of how they presented themselves has lied to you.

And on top of that: it is so fucking disrespectful. The fact he thought he could get away with it. With hurting so many people (one is one too many by the way), and causing so much pain, while also enjoying crowds of adoring fans, both online and in person.

I find it personally difficult to reconcile my love of the GO fandom with all of this right now. And I think it’s for a number of reasons.

Firstly because the silence of institutions and people around these facts has opened some old wounds and made me angry again towards a system that I perceive as hostile towards me and people like me who might be vulnerable.

What I mean is: I know that Gaiman is a powerful person, and a lot of people need to bring money home and are tied to contracts and what not (yeah I’m looking at our favorite two male presenting british actors here) and I understand it. I do. And this is exactly why this stuff makes me angry again. Angry at the whole shitty system we live in, where if you happen to be in some kind of power imbalance you might end up having to eat shit and shut up while witnessing violence against you or others and not being able to utter a word about it. This sucks. It makes me angry. It makes me angry that Michael Sheen, someone I like to believe would be among the first to shout “I BELIEVE THE VICTIMS” if he was talking to friends at a bar, likely has to shut up and play nicely because Darth Amazon has some fucking clause written in Braille somewhere that says he has to sacrifice his firstborn if he ever dares to suggest he doesn’t like anyone related to the franchise.

It makes me soooo angry that we stay in the dark, and we only know from those people who are brave, and powerful enough to speak up about something that (allegedly) has been known for fucking years in the writing community. That this person was a creep. That he was treating people, mainly women and non-binary folks, if not bad, at least poorly.

And you know, this makes me even more angry because I have been in such shitty situations too! I was a victim of a system where exploitation and borderline abuse were normalized in a work setting.

And it wakes something deep in me to read that “it was an open secret bla bla bla” and again: I understand why people set up whisper networks instead of taking these giants down. I understand it. It still makes me angry because I simply do not want to live in such systems. Systems where I’m either the sacrificial lamb or I’m the one tying it on the table, or handing the axe over to the butcher, or a witness who has no power to stop the suffering.

I don’t want to live in such a system. But I have to. In my real life. I have to put up with so much shit sometimes, shit that makes me feel like I cannot stand up for my values because hey, I need to pay the bills too. And Good Omens was one of those few things where I could escape a bit into an alternative reality, where everything could be a bit better.

And I’m sure the fandom is still like this for most of the fans. I have witnessed first-hand how supportive and cheerful this fandom can be.

For me though, it still makes me think of all this...tsunami of shit.

I want to be able to enjoy the silly fanart, the memes, the wait for season 3 again. But I can’t. I can’t because my brain does not work like that. Good Omens still means Neil Gaiman too much to me. And I cannot go around talking cheerfully about Good Omens while feeling like I’m feeding into the clout of someone who used their power to coerce vulnerable people. Because (and I might be wrong) it feels like the message I’m sending is: my comfort show/book is more important than your pain or your life. And I can’t. This is not the truth.

I feel for the victims. Probably I feel even more than it would be healthy for me, or normal. But I don’t know, I feel like I connect to them. Maybe because I’ve been a victim of abuse perpetrated in clear power-imbalanced relationships, or because I felt like nobody cared about me and my wellbeing for so long, that eventually I stopped caring too.

And it is bad. It’s dehumanizing to a point where you really start believing you don’t matter. Your wellbeing doesn’t matter. There are more important things.

Ok so, I don’t want the victims, the survivors, to feel like this. They matter. They matter to me because if there’s one thing that is going to re-ignate the sacred fire of defiance in me is being able to stop this self-feeding cycle of self-loathing and misery. You matter. We matter. Vulnerable people who have been hurt matter to me. If there is one thing we can do to resist these systems of oppression and these people who abuse their power, that thing is believing that the people they hurt matter. If not more, at least as much as them.

And the way I show myself and others that the victims and their lives matter to me is by distancing myself from Neil Gaiman and his works, at least for now.

I feel bad for people who might have found themselves unwillingly tied to all of this. I feel bad for Sheen and Tennant, for all the wonderful artists and craft-people who have put so much of their work and love in Good Omens and I don’t want to let them down.

My two cents are that season 3 will not be canceled if they see there’s enough traction, and definitely won’t be canceled unless fans start a crusade against it, which won’t happen most likely.

The fandom loves Tennant and Sheen too much, and these are too much nice people to really hold a grudge against them, so I don’t think it will be canceled.

I’m afraid we (I say “we” meaning everyone who loves Good Omens) will be “held hostage” by Gaiman in the sense that he knows season 3 is not going to happen without him, so it’s either “we” or the majority of “we” behave, or it’s not going to happen. Which again, I don’t think he would lose the opportunity to make some money, and he also has contract duties to fulfill, but it still is worth it for him to try to leverage his power.

I wanted to end this rant on a positive note, somehow. But I don't know exactly what to say. Recently one of the things that has brought me laughs and joy has been the Channel 4 series “We are Lady Parts”.

In one of the episodes they quote a very beautiful poem, which came back to mind when I was listening to Claire (the latest woman who has come forward with allegations) on the “Am I Broken” podcast.

The poem is Speak by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, I will paste the version from the show, because I think it’s very powerful and beautiful.

Speak, for your two lips are free Speak, for your tongue is still your own This straight body still is yours. Speak, your life is still your own.

See how in the blacksmith’s forge flames leap high and steel glows red, padlocks opening wide their jaws. Every chain’s embrace outspread.

Time enough is this brief hour Until body and tongue lie dead. Speak, for truth is living yet. Speak, whatever must be said.

[if-whats-new]

What's New In IF? Issue 19 (2024)

By Marjorie, Axelle, and Noi

Now Available!

Itch.io. - Keep Reading below

If you read the zine, consider liking the post: it helps us see how many people sees it! And sharing is caring! <3

~ EDITORIAL ~

New faces for a new season!

This week, we had to say goodbye to Erika, who is returning to legal pastures after their incredible hard work with the zine. They were a core member of our team, digging through so many spots to help us find all the news for our readers!

With their departure leaving a big gap, we have been discussing the future of the zine, and have decided to add new faces to our roster!

If you would like to help us out in a more official capacity, shoot us a message!

~

For this issue, we talked with E. Jade Lomax, author of the beloved Stay? and More a Haunting than History, fan-fic writer (dirgewithoutmusic) and podcaster.

We got quite the scoop during our discussion, and dove quite a bit into spoiler territory… So you only get a tease today… and see the rest Wednesday!

Check out our interview with E. Jade Lomax on Small Talk…

We hope you enjoy this extra long issue!

MARJORIE, AXELLE, AND NOI

~ BE PART OF THE ZINE ~

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? HAS EXPANDED!

Since the release of issue #14, we've enacted some changes with the zine. It is now expanded with interviews of creators from all around the IF world, as well as direct contributions from you, our readers!

THIS ZINE ONLY HAPPENS WITH YOU!

Want to write 1-2 pages about a neat topic, or deep-dive into a game and review it in details? Share personal experiences or get all academic?

WRITE FOR THE COLUMN!

Prefer to be more low-key but still have something to share? Send us a Zine Letter or share a game title for Highlight on…!

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Excited as we are about next week's interview and have questions for our guest? Or want to see a certain author answer questions next? Message us!

SMALL TALK... IS WAITING!

Came across something interesting? Know a release or an update announced? Saw an event happening? Whether it's a game, an article, a podcast… Add any IF-related content to our mini-database!

EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS!

Contact us through Tumblr asks, Forum DMs, or even by email! And thank you for your help!!

~ EVENT SPOTLIGHT : Tales to Thrill Jam ~

Get your snacks, sit around the campfire, get thrills!

Hosted by Catsket (@catskets), who was interviewed in a previous issue of this Zine, the Tales to Thrill Jam is an unranked game jam with a focus on the Visual Novel medium all about stories.

Inspired by the campfire setting, the jam hopes participants would be inspired by this vibe: people gathering around a fire to tell stories, any kind of stories. No matter the genre, the aim is to give thrills to the players!

To help participants thinking of stories to tell, the jam includes different themes, from which at least one has to be chosen: Possessive Possessions, Lost & Found, and Forgotten Promise.

There is just a bit more than a week left to mess around and create a thrilling Visual Novel, with at least some plot, a conflict and an end!

And if you prefer experiencing thrills, there are already a couple of submitted entries!

~ ENDED ~

Two dozens entries were submitted to the Velox Fabula game jam. While it is a ranked jam, voting is restricted to entrants. But you can still check and cheer for the games submitted!

~ ONGOING (VOTING) ~

Though the winner of the IntroComp has already been decided, as only one project was submitted, consider checking it out and give it some feedback! The author will only receive its prize if the game is completed...

~ ONGOING (SUBMITTING) ~

For those who created an intent to participate at the IFComp, there is less than a week left to submit a full game... or wait for next year! (Or you can look our for beta-openings, create an account to vote when the games are released, or offer prizes!) @ifcomp

For the francophones, the French IF community is organizing a summer-long camp to create parsers. Join the Confiture de Parser if you're interested!

With just a bit over one week to go, the SuNoFes is still accepting narrative games, whether they be visual novels or more text-focused.

Do you have WIPs on indefinite hiatus? Projects you've started forced to be set aside? Bring Out Your Ghost is a jam to show off your ghosts (and maybe even spruce them up and finish them)! @neointeractives

On the CoG Forum, Halloween is already there! Until Oct 31st, submit to the Halloween Jam - it has funky themes!

Running until Halloween, the Phantasia Jam is a three months game jam to create a fantasy narrative game, with the theme of “Hidden Magic”. It accepts both VN and IF.

Do you understand or write Ukrainian? Until the end of the year, the Ukrainian IF Festival is happening on itch.io!

~ OTHER ~

There is only a short week left to participate in the Review-a-thon on the IntFiction Forum, whose initiative is to get more reviews for games. Check out this post by Tabitha! This is also a sponsored event, aiming to raise funds for one of the Forum members.

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is still running! If you have completed an IF piece this year, consider submitting it! It is happening only on itch!

~ SMALL TALK… ~

WITH E. JADE LOMAX (@ink-splotch)

Joining us this week is IF author, fanfic writer, and podcaster: E. Jade Lomax ~ Author of Stay? and More a Haunting than History

The interview below is not in its complete form, but it will be released in its entirety shortly. See at the end.

⟶ Hi E! Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and how you found IF?

I grew up playing very few video games (the city-builder Pharoah being a massive exception), and hardly any narrative-based ones. After college, one of my best friends started introducing me to some of his favorite games, all of which had strong narrative elements – I think we started with Witcher 3 – and GDC talks. Not just IF, but computer-games-with-stories in general were something I hadn't really gotten deeply into before.

As the pandemic trapped us inside, we mainlined sourdough and Emily Short blog posts, and I grew more and more intrigued by the idea of narrative with choice and exploration included. It was (and is) just really satisfying to my brain to think about breaking a story and a possibility space down to comprehensible units and stitching them back together to make a navigable whole. You always find something new in doing it.

I made an interactive quiz for my personality sorting system, sortinghatchats, as a small project just to learn the ink tool. (I genuinely don't remember how I found out about ink, but blessings to the inkle guys for sharing that with the world so freely. That sort of generosity, easy knowledge-sharing, and joy in others' creations is one of the things that's made the IF community, like fandom, so enjoyable to engage in). Then I wrote Stay? in a four month binge and I'm a little hooked.

⟶ For those who don't know Stay?, can you tell us more about this game?

Stay? is an IF game in which you play as a young adult attending a magical university, choosing your career path, your relationships, etc. About a decade later, unbeknownst to you, the world is meant to end.

But the morning before the world ends, your taciturn friend Jo pulls you aside and tells you that they've been working, living, and dying for hundreds of lives, trying to figure out how to save it. They've figured out how to stop the final cataclysm (a comet on collision course), but there's so many things that are still imperfect, war-torn, or poisoned in your world. Things Jo wishes they could fix.

But they're tired. And they're done. They don't think they can do any better than this. So Jo is passing the work on to you.

They give you a magical stone that sends you back to the start of the game, to a Jo that doesn't remember any of this, and your work begins.

Over the course of the many lives you lead, you have to figure out how to stop the comet that destroys your little country-- but after you manage to keep from dying and being forcibly re-set every time the comet hits ground, it's not a strict victory. You're offered a choice: do you re-set the world anyway, because you think you can do better, save more people, change more lives, fall in love a little differently if you're given another chance-- or do you decide that this life is the one you want to keep?

Do you choose to stay?

And that gameplay loop is really the heart of the story. It's one of the first things I knew about the game, when it was scribbles in a notebook, and of course it's where the name comes from. I knew that question was going to be the heart of it, and I think that held through in the final version.

⟶ Why center the game around this choice? What was interesting for you to explore in this gameplay?

Hm. Making that the final choice – to stay or to say I'm not done yet, I can do better, or I want something different – changes the focus of the story from being about a challenge or a victory and into a story about deciding who you want to be and deciding how you want to impact the world you live in. The world you will, eventually, have to stay in, to live in and die in for one final time.

It's not about saving the world from the comet – that's just a prerequisite. It's about deciding what the world will be, both on a personal level and at a more monumental scale, and what work you're willing to put in to change, shift, and shape it. What is your happy ending? (There are no wrong answers).

⟶ Stay? is a pretty beloved game in the IF community, often shared in recommendations lists, and ranking among the top 100 best rated games on IFDB. Have you received interesting returns from players?

That's very nice of you to say! And yes, there's been a lot of fun player feedback. I try to respond to most of the itch comments, and folks also write to me on my tumblr and other places. I really enjoy hearing about what their “lives” were like – folks who lived six happy marital lifetimes with Suzie before finally trying romancing someone else and learning about some of the alternate Suzie timelines; or who went back again and again to try to rescue a particular character or fix a particular wrong; who walked off into the hills and lived a quiet life, or found a revelation among the orange groves. There are so

many different orders, connections, conclusions, and most of all feelings that different folks find in their own playthroughs and I like hearing about them all – especially the ones I didn't intend! A couple folks have even written fanfiction, which is a delight to me. I also enjoy hearing from the folks who are new to IF, who knew me through my novels or fic, and tried Stay? anyways. I appreciate them following me into something new.

⟶ Do you have a particular scene or path from Stay? that is your favorite? and one that you found challenging to write/code?

I didn’t originally have a way to prevent the war, in the game. The only thing you could do was win it. That was an eleventh hour epiphany and I think eventually vital to what the game became, but I was all but done with everything else before I went in and added the long walk south, the orange groves, and the various ways to commit treason.

The ability to “fuck off into the hills” had existed from an early date, including the three “lives” you can lead in that little village. It was meant to be a respite or a distraction, but made a wonderful launching point for that final path once I realized I needed it— and realized that I had all the pieces (the poisoned land, the history of artifacts, the famine, the dam upstream, the beginning of the path south) to build players a place to walk there.

So that one still feels very satisfying to me.

Honorable mention also to Suzette’s overall arc, though. Her story has the greatest breadth— her highs and lows are the furthest apart while still being compatible with each other (I think), and I’m proud of pulling that off. I wasn’t sure it would hang true in the end, but it does to me at least.

⟶ You mentioned getting into IF during the pandemic, but what brought on Stay? specifically? How did it come to be?

Outer Wilds. If you haven’t played this game, I highly recommend it. We played through it, and the story is lovely of course, but I was fascinated by how well it was able to maintain a feeling of forward momentum and exploration. I wanted to understand how and why it worked so well. And one of the best ways to see if you understand how a system works is to try to build it yourself.

There’s a few fascinating things that Outer Wilds does, some of which I didn’t implement. For example, they hide secret areas or solutions behind fear. It’s a really interesting pattern. They teach you specifically to avoid or fear a certain danger; and over and over again the puzzle secret is to step into the fear. It doesn’t get old! And it ties so well into the overall narrative themes.

I didn’t do that — with non-parser IF, I don’t think there’s an easy way to lean into that. Instead, I tried to key into one of their other design patterns: concentric secrets.

Outer Wilds is built around a few core secrets; specifically three final secrets that gate your access to the climax/final area. Putting those three secrets together enables you to gain access to that final climax. The path to each of those three final secrets have barriers that are passable if you know certain other secrets. It’s this repeated pattern of “gather secrets → have epiphany → use new conclusions to access new areas and gain new secrets”. This is not in itself novel or groundbreaking, though the repeated, nested patterns of Outer Wilds have a particularly satisfying beauty.

What I tried to hone into and replicate in Stay? was the way Outer Wilds seeds their secrets and the hints that lead to them. Along the path to Secret A, you have to bypass various barriers; same with B, same with C. But after the first barrier on the way to Secret A, you stumble across a hint that points you to something that will help with Secret C, or a secret/key that opens up new possibilities for getting to Secret B. Outer Wilds is filled with distractions – that’s one way to look at it. It’s also filled with constant signposts and will o’ th’ wisps and reminders such that wherever you go, wherever you wish to explore, wander, or wonder, you will find something to answer you and something to lead you on. And what you find almost never immediately points you to what’s ahead of you – it points you somewhere else, over another horizon, almost always.

I loved that feeling and I loved that play space. I wanted to see if I could build it in words. I didn’t make Outer Wilds, of course (and I wouldn’t want to – it already exists!) but I think I captured something of that feeling I was after, and I’m glad of that.

⟶ Were there other sources that inspired the making of Stay?

Nothing as direct as that, though I find Emily Short’s blog posts very influential, and for the aesthetics of Stay? I drew on a childhood trip to the Mediterranean. I can’t think of anything else specific…

⟶ Your next game, More a Haunting than History, has been coined as an emotional sequel to Stay?. Can you tell us a bit more about how that game came to be?

...

READ HER ANSWER AND MORE IN THE FULL INTERVIEW! (to be) RELEASED ON WEDNESDAY!

~ NEW RELEASE ~

LITHOBREAKERS - Defenestration is a collection of 10 short games from multiple interactive anonymous authors, inspired by the secret jam of the same name.

Parser author Ryan Veeder recently published two games: another sequel to the LMG series, The Little Match Girl and His Holiness Pope Pius IX (Inform 7), and the experimental standalone Welcome (Inform 7).

Jerusalem (Twine) is a Twine port of the text-adventure Talos Principle: Road to Gehenna.

Fairweather Friends (Twine) is a thriller game where you can play different characters going through the sadistic Killing Game.

You Are Out of Gas (Decker) is a short horror game set in a gas station.

Rabbitat (Twine) follows the adventures of a rabbit named Paige, trying to go home.

life without honey (VideotomeSuper) is a short conversation about love and life.

Deek's Deed (Adventuron) is a remastered sci-fi text-adventure from the 90s with extra elements.

The Super Tiny Pirate Tale (Unity) is a tiny CYOA story where you play as a pirate captain.

Miss Concepcion's Mysteries and Rumors (Ren’Py) follows Maria, a child-detective on a case to find a missing students and reveal secrets.

Through the Storm (Twine) is a short sim game where you play as a therapist, trying to make your patient open up.

The Last Rays of Autumn (Twine) is a slice-of-life about an average person living an average life.

Concoeur (Custom) lets you play as an emotional king, whose choice may literally break your heart.

A Date to Remember (Ren’Py) is a dating-sim about the highs and lows of online dating.

Maus House (Ren’Py) is a cute slice-of-life visual novel where you play as a mouse.

As always, don't forget to check out the submitted entries to the events mentioned in the previous pages. They deserve some love too!

~ NEW RELEASE (WIP) ~

Lost in Limbo (Ren’Py) is a dark fantasy otome mystery project where you must face your fears to reveal the truth and find your way home. @ravenstargames

Azrael (CScript) is a thriller project where you play as a former legendary assassin.

Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector (Twine) is a high fantasy following your progression from a helpless child to the all powerful Silver Protector. @tales-of-wocdes

Viatica (Twine) is a post-apocalyptic romance project where you play a healer named H-313.

Texas Hold’em (CScript) is an experimental game where you can play the said card game.

Scale the Scale with Scale between Scale (Unity) is a surreal humorous VN about ocean life.

~ GAMES UPDATES ~

Dragon Kin (CScript) updated the demo with Chapter 4.

Drink Your Villain Juice (CScript) added the first part of Chapter 7 to the Patreon demo. @drinkyourvillainjuice

Adoriel's Tears (Twine) added extra content to the demo. @adoriels-tears-if

Chains of Destiny (CScript) updated the demo with the second part of Chapter 2. @chains-of-destiny

Blood Moon (CScript)'s demo now includes extra content for Chapter 11. @barbwritesstuff

Vendetta (CScript) made its latest update available to all. @vendetta-if

Crown of Ashes and Flames (Twine) added Chapter 4 to the Patreon demo. @coeluvr

Blood Legacies (CScript) updated the demo with extra content. @bloodlegacies

Starless (Twine) returned with re-writes of its first Chapter. @cheryl-writes

Peninsula Campaign (CScript) updated the Patreon demo with extra content.

Aesemyr: The Withering (CScript) added the second part of Chapter 2 to the demo. @wiz-writes

After the end (Twine) completed Chapter 1. @albywritesfiction

Weeping Gods (CScript) added extra content to the demo. @jcollinswrites

~ OTHER ~

Leas: City of the Sun (CScript) has started the beta testing process. The last version is available to all patrons, but you can request a spot as a beta tester here. @sailingshellsgames

Until next Thursday (Aug-29th), ChoiceofGames is having a sale on all its games with management mechanics. See more here. @choiceofgames

The author of Love the guard - Be the king (Ren’Py) is doing a giveaway for game keys. Just fill in the survey to participate. @ligiawrites

~

As always, we apologize in advance for missing any update or release from the past week. We are only volunteers using their limited free time to find as much as we can - but sometimes things pass through the cracks.

If you think something should have been included in this week's zine but did not appear, please shoot us a message! We'll do our best to add it next week! And if you know oncoming news, add it here!

~ THE COLUMN ~

In Defense of ESL Authors

One of my favorite IF creators decided to call it quit recently, after the barrage of negative comments about their writing. This hadn't bothered them when they started: being ESL, they knew their writing wasn't perfect but still wanted to try their best. They used multiple spellcheckers, looked for beta-readers, asked players to send them any errors they would come across. And, in my opinion, it did pay off! Since the first version, their writing improved and flourished. It was a joy to see the progression of all their improvements.

But for some vocal readers, it wasn't enough; it never was enough Every update came with the same criticism: “fix your writing, there are too many typos, it's unreadable”. Like clock-work, they were there, for every update, only pointing out what was wrong with their project, with very little positive comments. The author even asked some if they'd want to be part of the beta-testing - none were actually interested. It was frustrating, for them to keep receiving the same thing over and over, and for us to see them struggle and still not get their due. Yet, they continued to push through, since the project meant a lot to them.

Except... the criticism got worse over time, more and more aggressive. One went as far as ‘advising’ the creator to find a native author to write the story for them instead, because they liked the premise but hated the writing. And when one told them they might as well use AI to write their project, the creator just... gave up.

The problem is... this wasn't the first time or place I've seen this happening.

All over the IF space, ESL authors can't escape those comments. Replies in forum threads, comments on game pages, reviews, public asks... Time and time again, no matter their writing skills, someone publicly will point out that something in the writing doesn't sounds natural, that the structure of a sentence might be technically correct but still not right, that the wrong homonym was used... It's like we all look down on ESL writers for not reaching some unspecified level (that we keep raising every time they get close) of writing quality.

And, honestly, part of me sort of gets it. Interactive Fiction is almost exclusively textual (maybe there's a background or two, or some audio, or you're doing a VN), so the writing will make or break the story. Typos and awkward sentences will break a reader's immersion, the same way bugs and badly built puzzles would. It can be pretty frustrating to butt against every other page because a word is clearly missing or is wrongly spelled. No matter how great a story can be, if the writing is inconsistent, staying invested will be a challenge. Because you can't unsee those issues.

However, what I don't understand is the way the community has decided to deal with this as a whole. And I know, every commenter, every reviewer, every reader is different, and will convey their feelings about a work in different ways, some much kinder than others, some more constructive than others. There are obviously good apples out there, and the MVPs who will report all the typos or issues they've found to the author, unprompted (outside of beta), with a kind message with it should be given their flowers.

But as a whole, the community has not been kind when discussing issues with writings. Worse still, I've noticed a pretty substantial difference when native or ESL authors were on the receiving ends of those comments. People were much harsher to the latter group when reporting typos. While the former would more often get a passing comments or simply a list of found errors, ESL authors were more likely to get condescending comments about their writing to borderline insulting.

It is incredibly disheartening the tone many have taken when discussing someone's prose. From the downward-looking comments (“It's so obvious the author is not native, because the game is riddled with the most basic of errors.”) to the fake-nice ones (“Ah, I really don't want to sound like a dick for pointing it out again, but you really *need* some spellchecking.”), without touching upon the insulting ones (I will spare you an example), I can't blame authors for throwing in the towel and disappearing quietly. It's incredibly dismissive of their efforts, and demoralizing.

Take a moment, just to imagine this: you've spent weeks, maybe months or years, writing a story, to the best of your abilities, in another language than your mother tongue (do you know a second language and feel confident enough to create something with it?); you decided to take the plunge and share it with others, on a public platform, with maybe an invitation for readers to provide comments because you're not fluent. Feeling anxious yet?

Now, imagine getting the these kinds of comments. Imagine your efforts being completely dismissed because “I couldn't finish it, there were too many typos”. Imagine your work deemed unworthy of people's time because “you clearly didn't make any effort writing this, it's unreadable”. Imagine being told to “pay more attention to how you write, it's all just... so wrong”. Imagine having readers assume things about your process: “if I were you, I'd at least use a spellchecker”, “you know, there are plenty of people here who would proofread for you, you just need to ask”. All the while, none of those commenters provided a single concrete example of typos or wrong sentence structure. And if you asked, they'd reply “just read your text again, it's so obvious” or “oh, there were just too many to keep track”.

So, you put your heart out, all that blood, sweat, and tears into creating something, only to get a ‘Git Gud’ in return. How can you not be demoralized? Why would you want to be part of a community who is all too ready to punch down?

Over the years, I've my fair share of ESL authors abandoning their projects because of those unfiltered and unhelpful reactions. Some quit writing altogether, leaving behind a hobby that stopped bringing joy and fulfilment; others returned to their mother tongue and now exclusively write in that language; a few pushed through and continue releasing, regardless of the harsh environment. None ever really get the kudo’s they deserve for writing in another language (how many native English IF creator can say they wrote a game in another language?).

Maybe I'm a bit disillusioned by it all, but... I don't understand how, in our community, we are not trying to uplift each other, to help one another, to be kind to one another. Where in this darn community can we find actual empathy and compassion? Because I've seen enough of sweeping under the rug when an ESL author tries to raise their concerns and their feelings on the matter. You know, the “oh, but I do the same thing with native speakers”, or “if it makes you feel any better, I didn't realize you were ESL, so you should take those comments as praise”, or “but there are native speakers here who would totally help if you asked”, or “but there are ESL authors that have done really good work, like so-and-so”. None ever really address the crux of the issue, do they…

Sometimes, I wonder whether the English-speaking side of the IF community really realize how incredibly catered it is. Out of all the languages used to make IF, English is overwhelmingly the most used (it's the lingua franca of the Internet...). Not only are they getting a diverse library of stories from native authors, the community will find ESL giving extra efforts for theirs to be seen. Served on silver (maybe a bit banged up) platter, the community doesn't even need to spend time or energy learning a new language: it's already in English for them!

And plenty are obviously taking for granted this gift.

See, in trying to uphold rigid (and often unwritten) rules about what is proper and improper writing, we lose an incredible amount of diversity in language, of beauty in poetic prose that sings because the author's mother tongue is lyrical, of strange (good!) idioms translated word for word that actually make a scene more impactful than if its “proper” counterpart was used, of personality in writing stemming from the author's identity and background, of bringing forward unique phrasings to an ever-changing language, of flourishes and aesthetic that wouldn't exist otherwise. This is something that cannot be recreated by native speakers. And this is not something that should be suppressed either.

Honestly, if we continue like this, we would lose all these vibrant voices, diverse stories and perspectives, and variety in use of the language. Not just that, we'd also scare away any ESL newcomers.

So, before someone brings up the ‘awesome’ idea of making authors explicitly indicate their fluency in languages in their blurb so “we can all have the same expectation”, or tells us to “stop coddling people because if they can’t take it then they shouldn’t make it public”, or replies that “ESL should use GenAI to help improve their writing” (don't you fucking dare!), I just have one advice for people who comments on an author’s prose (and maybe forget about their tone): please, instead of generally say “there’s quite a bit of typos here” or “it could do with another round of spellcheck”, consider explaining a specific issue and how it affected your experience as the player. You know, the “it made me feel like…” rather than “you did something wrong”. Or reach out to the author with concrete examples of their errors. General passing comments don't help people improve their writing, but explanations and details do.

And for my ESL authors out there… You are truly awesome. The work you put into creating stories in a language that you had to learn, the constant effort put into writing with structures that might still be foreign to you, the commitment you made into creating and translating, it is mind-blowing. You are doing amazing, one word at a time!

ludatwilight

~ HIGHLIGHT ON ~

A couple of games that we thought were cool.

The Queen's Menagerie by Chandler Groover (Texture - IFDB)

“honestly, I really hate Texture as an engine, with its frustrating click-drag interactive. So there are very few Texture games that are worth it. And this one. Oh boy, this one is weirdly enjoyable. It's also pretty short (15min), that helps. IF you're into Gothic vibes and guilt, now, this game is going to be worth your time.”

//submitted by anonymous//

Invite the blackbird by ana.merzlaya (Unity - itch.io)

Invite the blackbird is an adorable interactive VN, with beautiful handdrawn watercolor illustrations, where you follow Sonya, a young girl, and a blackbird, enjoying a very chill day. The aesthetic is very charming and surprisingly emotional.

//recommended by Erika//

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich by Rex Mundane (Adventuron - itch.io - IFDB)

A funky nonsensical adventure where the goal is to make a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Except the game twist and turns, and gets pretty meta for a joke game.

If you are looking for a fun silly time, with fairly easy puzzles (it was made for the TALJ), you should try this one!

//recommended by Axelle [Team]//

Your favourite game here?

Do you have a favourite game that deserves some highlighting?

An old or recent game that wowed you so much you spam it to everyone?

Tell us about it! And it might appear here!

WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL! WHETHER IT'S GOOD OR BAD, OR EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN...

i loved your interview with Drew Cook (@golmac)!! All your interviews so far have been so expansive and interesting, full of useful info for gamemakers as well as context for players. This is a great project and I hope it continues. - @adz

so bummed class is starting soon... cause i won't have enough free time to enjoy all the cool IF games being updated every week :( - anonymous

hiiiii! this is for the shoutout bit! to Grayson (@if-30x30), hands-down the best sci-fi author and illustrator (if i wasn't super broke, you'd get all my money!) of this community. your stuff is insane <3 - a super shy fan

Have something to say? Send us a message titled: Zine Letter!

As we end this issue, we would like to thank:

@adz, a super shy fan, Erika, ludatwilight, SailingShellsGames @tabitha-writes, and a bunch of very helpful anonymous users!

For sending news, interview questions, helpful tips, cool links, filled form, written Sheet line, even emails... all these help us so much to make this Zine possible!

And as always, huge thanks to all you readers who liked, shared, and commented on last week's issue! What might be tiny actions are huge support and motivators to us! Thank you for cheering us on this journey!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We also hope you join us again next week, for we have a very special guest on the zine:

IFComp Organiser, Founder of ClubFloyd, and IF author : Jacqueline A. Lott is our guest next week!

Want to know more about her work? How she found IF? Or learn more about her community projects?

Send us all your burning questions!

And see you again next week!

MARJORIE, AXELLE, AND NOI

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? 2024-ISSUE 19

[allwaswell16]

All the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in March 2024. You can listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 including the fics on this month’s fic roundup [ @1dmonthlyficroundup ] which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #60 |  ko-fi | fic recs

- Louis/Harry -

☁️ you were in my dream by staybeautiful / @harruandlou

(E, 60k, acquaintances to lovers) Louis woke up after having a sexy dream about his best friend’s boyfriend’s best friend resolved to never think about it again. He hardly knew Harry, so what difference would it make? But when they are thrown together only a few days later, Louis had to admit, his subconscious might have been onto something.

☁️ Always a Bridesmaid by @kingsofeverything

(E, 29k, age difference) The night before his best friend’s wedding, Harry falls into bed with a silver haired stranger who makes him wonder what his own forever might look like.

☁️ Behind Smoke Stained Curtains by @jaerie

(E, 19k, omegaverse) The worlds align when Louis meets an alpha from the road with as many secrets as he holds himself.

☁️ The Room Thief by @2tiedships2

(NR, 15k, omegaverse) When Louis comes home and is confronted by his knothead alpha flatmates, he knows it won’t result in anything good, but he didn’t expect to be left homeless, effective immediately. He definitely didn’t expect to fall for the specific knothead who stole his room.

☁️ Simmer Down and Pucker Up by @silverstuff50

(E, 9k, exes) When Louis' sister invites his ex to her wedding Louis is not a happy bunny. But his friends are wankers and their meddling causes the sort of drama that Louis would usually beat the crap out of them for. Usually...

☁️ and then, i wait there for you by punk_pillow_princess / @punkpillowprincess

(M, 9k, established relationship) Harry has always dreamed of having his “happily ever after”, but hasn't found the right one yet. Suddenly, he meets Louis.

☁️ you can be my lover, i can be your love by @wildhalos

(M, 9k, canon m/f) the one where Louis may have accidentally fondled his best friend, and it's not weird unless they make it weird. Harry's almost positive. She swears.

☁️ What we parted ways with by louisismycat / @liminalkittyfics

(M, 6k, exes) Alpha Harry is surprised to see omega Louis at his matchmaker’s cocktail party for millionaires. Years ago when they were together, Louis loathed schmoozefests with rich people.

☁️ That’s the way love goes by bella28

(T, 4k, soulmate goose!) In a world, where soulmate geese are sent to the people who can't figure out who their soulmate is, Harry finds himself stuck with a goose when he is attending a concert of his favourite artist Louis Tomlinson.

☁️ Stand Not in Front or Behind by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(NR, 4k, omegaverse) Harry Styles always knew his purpose in life was to be a pawn in an arranged marriage to assure allegiances. He never actually put much thought into his future partner.

☁️ Pussy Juice by @homosociallyyours

(M, 4k, girl direction) While she manages to dodge the bar's "special" drink, the Pussy Juice shot, she can't avoid the feelings that come up when her former teacher (and teen crush), Louis joins her and her friends for the night.

☁️ pretty please? by @disgruntledkittenface

(E, 3k, girl direction) Harry gets impatient for her Valentine’s Day present.

☁️ Lipstick Like Dynamite by LetTheMusicMoveYou / @letthemusicmoveyou28

(E, 3k, established relationship)  the one where Louis is a professional football player who loves seeing his boyfriend in lipstick, a fact that Harry likes to use to his advantage

☁️ Green Coffee and Morning People by @insightfulinsomniac

(T, 3k, uni) Louis has a crush on the prettiest boy he’s ever seen — the curly-haired guy who sits next to him in his Community Psych class and brings strangely-colored drinks to class with him each day.

☁️ You are so gorgeous (it makes me so mad) by @dreaminrainbows

(M, 2k, pining) Louis is a hot bartender and Harry is pathetically in love with him

☁️ When you look at me like that, my darlin', what did you expect? by INnenaHeart / @thechavier

(M, 1k, sexuality crisis) Louis realizes he's into men because of a long hair, chelsea boots wearing, Harry

☁️ The Devil's Hour by silverkiiwii / @tomlinsins

(NR, 1k, established relationship) Harry and Louis are going on their first roadtrip and they have very different interpretations of what leaving in the morning means.

- Rare Pairs -

☁️ Unplanned Circumstances by @haztobegood

(E, 8k, Zayn/Louis) Zayn has worked his whole life to be one of the top spies in the Agency. When he returns from his latest mission, the unexpected reappearance of a one-night-stand could change everything. Part 1 of Unplanned Circumstances

☁️ Baby, I'm Right Here by @enchantedlandcoffee

(T, 1k, Zayn & Louis) The one where Zayn and Louis are best friends and, after much prompting from their family members, try and give dating a go.

☁️ if it feels like love (then it must be love) by localopa / @voulezloux

(G, 1k, Niall/Shawn Mendes) niall and shawn are in love. if they could both realize this, that would be lovely.

[jolenes-book-journey]

Join a Podcast and Blog Tour

Join a Podcast and Blog Tour

Join a Podcast and Blog Tour to help you get more exposure for your books and you, as an author. There are some book tours that are paid, like advertising and there are even some podcasts that you have to pay for to become a guest. However, as with most of us authors we have to spend our advertising budget very carefully. Yes, as an indie author and even a traditional author you will ahve to…

[zepskies]

Podcast Interview With Idling in the Impala: "Y/N and Let Y/N…"

Here we go! Sandra and Kasey, the lovely hosts of @idlingintheimpalapodcast — the podcast for all things SPN and fanfiction — invited me on the pod for an interview…

We chatted about Dean Winchester and Jensen Ackles’ early roles, the best and worst seasons of SPN, the joys and pains of writing Soldier Boy, and much, much more.

That’s right, there be some hot takes coming in this convo, and I had an absolute blast with these two! (And like I said in Sunday's announcement, I’m also putting my name and my voice out there for the first time! 😆)

So if any of that sounds interesting, feel free to dive in!

(**Important Note: Just to preface, we recorded this back in June, so it was before I posted certain stories or even started developing Lost on You. It was also when Tumblr activity/engagement was going through a spring/summer slowdown lol.

Links to all the fics and podfics we mentioned are at the end of this post.)

Have a listen: ⤵️

Interview Timestamps –

(Plus fic recs, SPN writer shoutouts, and more!)

1:44 – Who’s your guy: Sam or Dean?

3:35 – Getting into Supernatural for the first time (and seeing “Deanisms” in Jensen’s early roles).

10:15 – We debate the best and worst seasons of SPN: talking Mary Winchester, the British MOL, MOC Dean vs. Demon Dean, Chuck/God villainy, “jump the shark” moments, and that ending.

30:29 – Favorite SPN characters besides Sam and Dean.

32:34 – Writing fanfiction, joining Tumblr, and writing reader inserts vs. OCs.

38:05 – To “Y/N” or not “Y/N,” and the power of 2nd person. (**Disclaimer: Despite my hot take on this, I’ve loved a lot of stories by authors who use Y/N in reader insert stories.

Also, if I’m remembering the book You and its characters incorrectly forgive me, it’s been like 5 years since I read it lol.) 

51:00 – Favorite fanfic tropes in romance, the joys and challenges of writing Soldier Boy (AKA: the Original Asshole), and attempting to humanize Ben in Break Me Down.

Shoutout to @deans-spinster-witch always for giving me the inspiration to write BMD. 💚

Why We Love The Boys – A review of Supes Ain’t Always Heroes

1:07:57 – Engaging with readers, tips on increasing engagement, optimizing your Tumblr blog, writing schedules and processes, and incorporating reader feedback into stories.

1:26:38 – Sandra graciously narrated Midnight Espresso (Dean Winchester x Plus-sized Latina!Reader). We chat about what sparked the idea for the ME-verse, self-representation in fanfic, feeding Dean, loving Dean, and writing about culture and ethnicity in the fandom space.

1:38:26 – Chatting about the inspirations behind Smoke Eater, a firefighter!Dean AU; law enforcement procedurals, House MD, and researching for stories.

1:44:30 – Which Jackles character is the easiest or most fun to write?

1:47:39 – The challenges of writing Sam vs. Dean.

1:53:15 – Shoutouts! To some of my favorite SPN authors. I could only remember a few people off the top of my head (stupid me), but I love all of you!!

@waynes-multiverse @dean-winchester-is-a-warrior @luci-in-trenchcoats @rizlowwritessortof @waywardxwords

@deanwinchesterswitch @deanbrainrotwritings @deanwritings @spnbabe67 @thatonewriter15

@justagirlinafandomworld @kaleldobrev @artyandink @princessmisery666 @wayward-dreamer (– and many more.)

2:00:40 – How I came up with my username.

2:05:04 – Kasey’s Secret Question…

2:07:38 – Advice to fanfic writers and creatives for inspiration and/or wisdom.

2:16:35 – Sandra and Kasey’s lovely outro: self-representation in fandom, escapism, diverse voices, and more. (“Reach out a hand. Touch somebody. …Not like that.”)

📖 Fics Mentioned:

Sandra: @talltalesandbedtimestories -

Some Sunny Day Series – Dean Winchester x OFC - (I'm in the process of reading this entire series and it's been a joy to read! 💜)

Past Due – Dean Winchester x Reader

The Iceman Cometh – Dean Winchester x Reader

Cowboy Canter (Original Fiction) – Inspired by cowboyish Dean/Jensen.

Kasey: @sam-is-my-safe-word -

English Cottage-verse – Sam Winchester x Reader (I've read it and it's fantastic! 💜)

(K)not for sale – Soldier Boy x Dean Winchester

Alex (Zep/Me) -

Break Me Down – Soldier Boy/Ben x F. Reader

Midnight Espresso (& the Series Masterlist) – Dean Winchester x Plus-sized Latina!Reader

Dream With Me – Dean Winchester x Plus-sized Latina!Reader

Smoke Eater – Firefighter!Dean Winchester x F. Reader

Every Second Counts – Russell Shaw x F. Reader

🎙️ Stories/Podfics Sandra has narrated for me:

Podfic Playlist

And please remember to check out all the other awesome interviews, narrated podfics, and fun topics covered by Sandra and Kasey on the Idling in the Impala Podcast!

[ex-libris-craux]

So Re: Dracula ended and has left a horror-themed-audiofiction-shaped hole in your life? Please allow me to recommend Shadows At The Door as your next listen! Some reasons you may be interested:

David Ault (Judge Moneybags, aka Lord Arthur Godalming) is, for the first couple of seasons, almost literally the entire cast. There are jokes about it. So many jokes. I think there are even T-shirts.

Karim Kronfli- you know, that Dracula dude? Is also a recurring VA, including for SatD's PHENOMENAL dramatisation of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Rahul Motherfucking Kohli - also a VA for SatD! Believe me when I say I screamed like a little girl and replayed the episode four times in a day.

Ever listened to The Magnus Archives? Did you like their sound design? Nico does the score for SatD as well and it's BREATHTAKING.

Jamie Flanagan wrote the script for an episode in the current season. Yes, THAT Jamie Flanagan. The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House Of Usher, Jamie Flanagan. You're welcome.

Two podcasts in one! Each episode features not just the horror fiction, but a post-episode discussion that is every bit as entertaining as the stories themselves. Mark Nixon (the showrunner) and David (Ault, yes), occasionally joined by VAs or writers, chat together thoughtfully, irreverently, frequently filthily, always entertainingly, sometimes even about the episode itself, lol (digressions are frequent, and frequently hilarious).

Drunk. Ghost. Stories. Trust me. TRUST ME.

The sound design is exquisite. Mark has a fantastically talented ear for effective and atmospheric foley and a flawless editor's touch.

An engaging blend of classic stories and new authors.

QUEER REP IN QUEER MEDIA MADE BY QUEER PEOPLE!!!!

Genuinely, Shadows at the Door is one of my favourite podcasts, full stop, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's just *so damn good*. Please consider giving it a listen!

[felassan]

A new BioWare Blog post:

"Journal #5 Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance A New Weekly Narrative Podcast Starting August 29th Hey everyone, We’re back with more Dragon Age: The Veilguard news! We know that you’re excited to get to know more about our companions and embark on your own adventure to save Thedas. Starting August 26th, we’ll be hosting Companions Week on our social media to give you a deeper dive on our seven allies. In addition to that, how about another little side quest? We’re happy to announce our upcoming immersive fantasy podcast series, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance, where you’ll meet a new pair of heroes, along with the 7 Veilguard Companions, brought together by fate as they embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love - all set in Thedas.  Beginning on August 29th, this eight part weekly narrative series stars podcast-exclusive characters voiced by Mae Whitman, Bridgette Lundy-Paine, and Armen Taylor, and also features all of our companions from Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Harding (Ali Hillis), Davrin (Ike Amadi), Bellara (Jee Young Han), Neve (Jessica Clark), Taash (Jin Maley), Emmrich (Nick Boraine) alongside Manfred (Matt Mercer), and Lucanis (Zach Mendez). Throughout the series, you’ll be able to learn more about each of their extraordinary backstories. This podcast is written by Will Melton and Jeremy Novick, with BioWare narrative support from Mary De Marle and John Epler. Check out the teaser for it here. When the first episode airs, you’ll meet Nadia, a retired thief unknowingly working for the Dread Wolf. Nadia and her lover, Elio, find themselves in the midst of something much greater than them - a threat to the entire world - until Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade. Enter: Drayden, a writer with an interesting connection to the Fade. Drayden and Nadia team up on an arduous adventure to rescue Elio from the Fade with a little help from some familiar friendly faces. Don’t miss a single episode - mark your calendars with the full podcast release schedule below: - 8/29 - Episode 1: Featuring Nadia, Elio, and Drayden - 9/5 - Episode 2: Featuring Harding - 9/12 - Episode 3: Featuring Davrin - 9/19 - Episode 4: Featuring Bellara - 9/26 - Episode 5: Featuring Taash - 10/3 - Episode 6: Featuring Lucanis - 10/10 - Episode 7: Featuring Emmrich - 10/17 - Episode 8: Featuring Neve Join us in the BioWare Discord Server for weekly “listening parties” in #Vows-and-Vengeance, where we’ll set up a discussion thread for each episode to listen and speculate together. Subscribe to Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance on your favorite platform so you don’t miss a single episode.  Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast Castbox Pocket Casts Podchaser Player FM See you for Episode 1 on August 29th; chat soon.   -The Dragon Age Team"

[source] [more info]

[writergeekrhw]

The Delta Flyers boys are starting a podcast with Terry and Armin to go through every episode of DS9. Any chance you're going to be one of their guests? You are hands down one of my favourite DS9 writers, and it would be great to hear your thoughts with Terry and Armin.

Hope you're doing great.

First I've heard of it to be honest, but I'd happily join if invited and if work allowed.