#and it is truly excellent gothic fiction

[katanashipping]

When you read a book and the katanashipping feels come out of nowhere to punch you in the chest

[palmviolet]

true detective s1 rewatch: thoughts on the finale

— our theme for this final masterpiece of an episode is: fiction. the series has skated near this before, of course, with its context themes of seeing and image, but this is the episode that really dives into an awareness of genre and storytelling. we begin with an in-depth look at errol childress and his home, the way he lives. he truly inhabits the southern gothic archetype — the grand, decaying house, the incestuous dynamic with reference to the 'cane fields' (something i haven't really discussed yet is the role of louisiana's history of slavery, which hangs over the narrative most conspicuous by its absence; angola, for example, that fabled threat used most often to imply sexual violence, is named after the slave plantation that once occupied the same plot; the place they filmed carcosa was an old civil war fort), the faceless dolls and the mummified father kept in a shack with horrors literally inscribed on the walls (including 'cassilda', another reference to the chambers work).

— childress also watches the television and apes the aristocratic british accents on display. he absorbs fiction and inhabits it, in the same way that he puts on an irish accent to flirt with betty, in the same way that he has her tell him the story of her assault while they are 'making flowers' (a metaphor that once again suggests we are beyond the realm of reality). he and betty are deliberately, exaggeratedly gothic, full of rot — they are designed not as fleshed-out characters, as most of TD's cast is, but as avatars for a gnawing belief in the void that consumes all in its path.

— this is the crux of rust's own beliefs about the futility of selfhood — that identities are illusory defence mechanisms against the void, that all we are is 'sentient meat'. (will be talking more about this line in my reply to an excellent ask by @queixumes, so look out for that.) that life is just a story we tell ourselves. and so with the childresses the veil grows thin: as rust follows childress into carcosa, childress's impossible taunts ("come die with me, little priest") echo around him less as character moments and more as authorial interjections, a manifestation of rust's own nihilistic belief and suicidal ideation. thus when rust does not complete the narrative ("take off your mask"; rust doesn't say the corresponding, "i wear no mask") he is breaking type, paradoxically defying the vacant literary formula in which he's trapped by expressing a self.

— the final scenes of the series entail rust's struggle with this newfound self. he has turned away the offering of the cosmic void; more than that, he has been to the void and found it not as empty and personality-less as he thought, but rather a void 'like a substance', a darkness that held the love of his daughter and his father in one. their selves persevered after death — and now finally he begins to recognise his own selfhood as well.

— this is reified by marty as a sounding board. for the first time, rust experiences recognition through the other with marty as that other — marty who listens to him cry ("talk to me, rust"), marty who encourages him to tell his stories of the stars. this is the other side of storytelling — the side that is not corrupt or empty, the side that has meaning because it is sincere, because it is earnest and with feeling. childress's storytelling is directly opposed to rust's, with childress an empty caricature of the rotten southern gothic and rust as a person looking to the stars: storytelling that does not suck inward to the void but looks outward to the world.

— i think it's significant that our final image of marty and rust is marty helping rust escape the hospital several days early. marty reifies rust's selfhood by something so simple as recognising what he likes — buying him his brand of cigarettes. but this is also in opposition to the medical institution. should someone with a hole in their guts be smoking? doubtful. but that's not the point — the point is that they have to "get out from under this [hospital] roof" in order to see the stars, that rust's lasting glimpse of hope ("the light's winning") is as he flees the institution, propped up not by its mechanics, in the form of the wheelchair, but by marty himself.

— as i've discussed in the past, TD's implications of the medical institution as a further corrupt branch of the state are very veiled, but they are present. there's a further signal of this in one of the hazy, slowly cross-fading shots towards the end: we see a doctor in the hospital hallway, carrying the image of a human body, fading into a shot of the childress shack with a human body drawn on it.

placed directly one after another, this is a juxtaposition that only associates the two. the shack is where childress keeps his desiccated father, talks about bringing him water, hosing him down — in some perverse way, treating him as a patient. this isn't designed to say explicitly that the hospital is involved in the conspiracy to the same degree as the tuttles, but it implies a broader institutional sweep of wrongness. within the medical institution is where most of us will experience ourselves at our most powerless; out of necessity, medical treatment strips identity and agency away, regimenting schedules and meals and visiting hours, labelling patients with identifying bracelets. in the same way that childress's narratives of southern gothic were a seductive call to the void of nothing, the absence of selfhood, the hospital, too, denies personality and self.

— this is why we finish with marty bringing rust his cigarettes against medical advice; this is why rust leaves the hospital, if not exactly on his own terms then at least on his and marty's. it is a final reclamation of the selfhood he has been denying himself all along — and an escape into a world that contains only one story, "light versus dark", as our final shot is of the stars winking into light. he is beyond our (potentially corrupting, as sight and image has been throughout the series) interpretation; he is in the void, yes, but it is a void with substance, a void with love.

[keplercryptids]

Queer Books for Spooky Season!

i have read and enjoyed all of these, and have organized them in such a way that makes sense to me and hopefully peaks your interest! most are straight-up horror, but some just have horror / spooky themes.

[please note, not all these books have overtly queer characters / relationships, but are included because they have queer authors and/or queer characters, plots or themes. don’t want people to go into any of these books expecting romance.]

Spooky & Sapphic

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. everyone on tumblr knows about this series. it’s a science-fantasy, it’s got lesbian necromancers in space, it’s got mysteries and intrigue, and i would describe it as a “fun” read but please know my idea of fun includes body horror, grief and spooky vibes.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. the vibes of this one are off the charts. story is told from the perspective of a lone caver on a foreign planet, as she communicates with her dive suit’s handler. it’s tense and suspenseful, lots of survival-fiction vibes, and it’s exactly how i want characters to flirt: via coms only, as one fights for their life.

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling. this one’s a weird little gothic novella about a shipping magnate who’s confined to her creepy estate as a mysterious plague runs rampant through the city.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca. this novella is told via early-2000s chat logs and emails between two women as they develop one of the most unnerving relationships i’ve ever read. gross things happen! this one’s polarizing! but i loved it so much. absolutely unhinged vibes.

Parasites, but Goth

Leech by Hiron Ennes. most of this book is told from the POV of a parasitic hivemind called the Institute, which uses host bodies to act as physicians for the rest of society in a post-apocalyptic, gothic setting. and it gets weirder from there. it’s an honestly quite beautiful exploration of bodily autonomy, identity, and trauma.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. this is a retelling of the fall of the house of usher, and includes a spooky manor, fungal parasites, possessed wildlife, and the exact kind of unsettling atmosphere that i love in a horror book.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon. this story follows a teen mother who’s escaped from a cult and is now undergoing a fungal metamorphosis in the forest. big thriller/survival vibes and some truly excellent commentary about oppression, trauma and societal secrets.

Could Vampirism be Gayer? (yes, actually)

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. "dracula’s polycule” is what sold me on this book, and while yes, it’s got polyamorous vampires, the heart of the story is about the dynamics of an abusive relationship, with a strong thread of hope throughout.

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate, transl. by David Bowles. i’m not usually one to categorize a book as Important (TM) but this novella definitely is that. it was originally published in the 90s by a mexican author, and it’s a reimagining of dracula’s voyage to england from the POV of the captain, a closeted gay man full of queer yearning. this book is beautiful and painful and challenging and yes, important. it’s also horny as hell so like, you’ve been warned lol. only recently has it been made available in english, too!

Science as Horror

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. a short novel about a woman who’s recently separated from her husband, who in turn started a relationship with a clone of her. loved the character exploration in this, and it’s definitely got mystery/thriller vibes if you’re into that.

You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca. this is a vibe-heavy, kind of trippy novella which features a story-within-a-story. don’t want to give away too much of the plot here because it’s a wild ride.

and finally, here’s some honorable mentions, at the end here because i didn’t love them. but you might!

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey (haunted house personified, exploration of dysfunctional family)

The Seep by Chana Porter (post-apocalyptic quest)

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (killer mermaids)

Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (creepy mansion, corpse bride)

[tyrantisterror]

what do you like about vampires that appeals to you?

Man, it's hard to articulate my answer to this. There's just so much to like!

Vampires have this quintessential Gothic Horror spookiness to them - all those motifs of decay and things that were lost or forgotten rising from the grave to remind us of their terrible presence, lingering well past the point where they should have left. Their almost the personification of that genre in my mind, really - sentimental and melodramatic, tragic and camp and terrifying and alluring.

They're creatures who straddle two different worlds and belong to neither - between life and death, human and maneater, person and monster. They have to pretend to be what they once were to continue their current and often miserable existence as something quite different.

I like them best when their nature as shapeshifters is highlighted - Stoker went off when he gave them, like, fifty fucking different forms. Particles dancing in moonlight, creeping green fog, bats, wolves, swarms of rats, all excellent, allowing vampires to be truly versatile threats despite their many weaknesses, and playing with the idea of them as ambush predators. Always hiding behind a new mask, waiting for you to get close so they can strike.

They have the guile to look human until they're ready to sink their teeth into you, and that's terrifying.

But there's also a pathos inherent to them, a tragedy. Whether they know it or not, vampires are, for all their power, pathetic. They can never be what they once were, their humanity stolen from them. Many of them are reduced to acting as parasites, hiding on the fringes as they struggle to maintain their existence in a world that (often rightly) hates them for it. Many are cursed with the memory of what it was to be human, which makes the inescapable nature of their current cursed half-life all the more tragic.

And all of that is really juicy from a writing/drawing perspective... but, more importantly given the discussion that prompted this ask, it's really fucking hot.

They're basically orchid mantises, after all - predators in an alluring shape by design, meant to lure you close so they can fucking get you. Vampires have been sexualized so heavily in fiction in part because that works with their monster concept - they are predators who wear human faces to catch their prey (which is probably why they're so often put up against their sibling monster archetype, werewolves, who are their opposite - predators that strip themselves of human skin to hunt), so it only makes sense for that face to be hot. And there's something enticing about being lured into something pleasingly dangerous - erotically life-threatening.

I mean, so long as it stays strictly fantasy, of course. Which, vampires being not real, it kind of has to.

It also helps that a lot of vampires - not all or even most, but a lot - seem to have so much fucking fun being vampires. I think the appeal of rooting for monster characters lies in feeling monstrous yourself, and in that case there is something so appealing about the vampire's transgressive existence - that yes, they are predators of humans and enemies of the species they once belonged to, but that's a problem for the normies, not the vampire.

They're lonely and wicked and tragic and maniacal, and they want to hold you down firmly but perhaps a bit gently as they tenderly move your head to one side and lean in for a deadly kiss that is almost always portrayed as more sexual than painful despite its lethal consequences... like, it's perilous, yes, but it's romantically perilous, right? Especially since they often seem very keen to let you join them, to share eternal cursed life as part of their deadly embrace... it's a dark, fucked up sort of fantasy, but it's one that can seem really appealing if you have the right things wrong with you.

Also, fangs, goth wardrobe, red or yellow eyes with slit nocturnal pupils, nosferatu claws... like I'm not going to justify it those things are just hot to me.

[zannolin]

hello! sorry to bother you, but I saw you said you're reading your book number 91 (!!!! That's impressive) and I've been looking for book recommendations lately, so if you don't mind, would you share some book recs you have? (of fiction if it's possible). thank you!

haha yeah i tend to spend most of my free time when i'm not writing (or doing fiber crafts) reading books. absolutely so happy to give recs!!! all the time!! will talk ceaselessly about the books i'm reading!!

anything by ann patchett ever but my favs by her are bel canto, the magician's assistant, and commonwealth. she's litfic and very very good, even her nonfiction stuff

the scorpio races by maggie stiefvater is my fav book of ALL time. it's ya urbanish fantasy. lifechanging.

the locked tomb series by tamsyn muir. lesbians abound. sci-fi/fantasy absolutely gorgeous in every way. cuts me to the bone

jurassic park by michael crichton. yep there's a book! i am almost done reading it right now (it is in fact book number 91) and i seriously love it like could not recommend more.

any of kristen arnett's books but mostly dead things by her is my fav! it's about a lesbian taxidermist

it's middle grade but the beyonders trilogy by brandon mull is so so so good and i love it deeply

lockwood & co by jonathan stroud is a fun ghost/paranormal series; literally the best ghost series i have read bar none

if you like peter pan, fairytale retellings, or having the heart ripped out of your chest by the concept of loneliness and growing up or the lack thereof, the peter and the starcatchers series by dave barry & ridley pearson is a really good peter pan retelling. if you're willing to overlook how some aspects of the peter pan story as a whole have not aged very well. book four is so fucking good tho

i don't often recommend ya fantasy or romance of any kind but the folk of the air series by holly black is a really good fey series with enemies to lovers i actually liked

in a similar vein of the two above, the lunar chronicles series by marissa meyer is a really fun sci-fi retellings of fairytales; heartless by her is not connected in any way but is also a fairytale retelling i fucking LOVE

our wives under the sea by julia armfield is queer, excellent, and a little horrifying

authors i have only read a few from but highly recommend and need to read ALL of include octavia butler and toni morrison

her body & other parties by carmen maria machado is a life-changing collection of queer horror short stories; in the dream house by her is also incredible but it's a memoir and you should look up content warnings on it beforehand if you're a person who doesn't do well with heavy content

i've only read the first two books but the beartown series by fredrik backman is REALLY good; it's about hockey and friendship and living in small towns and stuff. it does deal with some heavy content as well so again w warnings etc but truly i'm obsessed

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia was another horror book i really liked

middle grade again but i adore the twistrose key by tone almhjell (it's fantasy and about like growing up and beloved pets and things) (i'm trying not to rec a ton of middle grade here because i know it's not for everyone but i am an enjoyer of a lot of middle grade series if you ever want recs lol i am like supreme lord of reading puzzle/mystery/adventure series)

i have only read one book by tj klune thus far but my friends swear by him

the princess bride by william goldman is unironically SO good

if you like vague horror, suspense, and having your mind boggled, mona awad is really good

the dead lands by benjamin percy is (stay with me here) a post-apocalyptic retelling of the journey of lewis & clark (yeah the guys from us history) and i'm gonna be real. i was shocked by how much i liked it. it's WILD.

babel by rf kuang is like. massive. but it's really good historical fantasy.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones is really good horror and i've heard really good things about the rest of his books

meddling kids by edgar cantero is this really funky scooby-doo inspired horror/mystery novel that i love. it is Very quirky.

not fiction but animal vegetable miracle (barbara kingsolver; about farming and american food culture and family and stuff), the shallows: what the internet is doing to our brains (nicholas carr; about information technology etc), long live the tribe of fatherless girls (t kira madden; memoir, trigger warnings again), and the radium girls (kate moore; us history) are just. so so so good. in many different ways. couldn't not rec them!!

thistlefoot by gennarose nethercott is really good fantasy; it's an urban fantasy take on the baba yaga mythos that i really loved

four treasures of the sky by jenny tinghui zhang is historical fiction with a tinge of fantasy; gorgeous writing

the girls at the kingfisher club by genevieve valentine is a flapper retelling of the 12 dancing princesses

tender is the flesh by agustina bazterrica is really really fucked up horror/dystopia about a world where cannibalism has been legalized; very graphic in a sense but like. WILD to read.

i hope that's a good range! i read allll sorts of books and i know not all of them appeal to everyone but those are the ones i've really really enjoyed within the last couple years. hope you find something you enjoy out of all of them!

[just-a-living-meat-thing]

Five questions for you:

1. Why do you like horror?

2. What genre/subgenre of horror is your favorite? (And why?)

3. What is your favorite why to interact with horror media? (Ie, do you have a preference between horror games, movies, books, podcasts, etc above other types of horror media?)

4. Five horror icks (if you have any)?

5. Horror recommendations?

I’ll go first:

1. I think it’s comforting and relatable in a weird way, and i also just really love analyzing the hell out of a good horror story. They also tend to make me melancholy but in a good way

2. Probably gothic horror, analog horror, and cozy horror. Though I am also a big fan of thrillers (esp psychological thrillers), quiet horror, monster horror, and found footage

3. Usually by watching other people play the scary games or explain the scary movies bc I’m a coward lol. But I also really like to read horror stories and listen to podcasts

4. To be clear, I haven’t really developed big icks when it comes to horror because I tend to enjoy the media I do choose to interact with. But one in particular recently rubbed me the wrong way, probably because the protagonist didn’t seem to learn anything at the end and the overall “twist” was disappointing. I’ll probably go more in depth about it later because it was otherwise a decent enough book, but I feel like it could’ve done more with its story

5. If you’re into cozy horror at all, I highly recommend Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. It’s not really a “horror” book per se, but it’s very atmospheric and made me cry. So there’s that

I also highly suggest—for any gothic fiction enjoyers—What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo. Not a scary read, but genuinely enjoyable and subversive in fascinating ways, and remains one of my favorites to this day. Go check it out please I need people to brainrot about this book PLEASE 🙏

I also would probably recommend Salem’s Lot by Stephen King for any vampire likers out there? I’m not generally a King fan but I did really enjoy Salems Lot. It also made me tear up

Finally and most importantly I REALLY suggest checking out The Magnus Archives and/or The Magnus Protocol. It’s so so good and despite not being very spine-chilling, there are moments in it where I was genuinely disturbed and unsettled and couldn’t sleep very well for a bit. It’s got a great plot line, excellent characters, and fantastic—I mean truly amazing—writing and voice acting. Please go check this out I am begging you I am staring directly into your eyes and passing you a crumpled $5 bill to go listen to TMA. You will not regret it

Please reblog and tag your friends I wanna see your opinions and recommendations ahhhhhh!!!!!

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2024 MOVIE LIST

www.tumblr.com/theharpermovieblog

I re-watched Dark City: Director's Cut (1998)

I loved this movie when I was a kid.

A man with amnesia, who is wanted for murder, finds himself on the run from the police and a band of dark clothed men in a city of permanent night.

In March of 1999 "The Matrix" would hit theaters, conquer the box office, and define Science fiction for the new millennium. It also overshadowed the more contemplative and less action oriented Science fiction of the mid to late 1990's. Films like "Gattaca" "12 Monkeys" "Existenz" and "The City of Lost Children" are still considered classics, but "The Matrix" was a phenomenon, as it's effects were something audiences had truly never seen before.

In the middle of all this, was "Dark City". It was released a year before "The Matrix" and critics of the time considered it to be a visually striking film that blended science fiction and film noir to create an exciting and fresh experience. Maybe "Dark City" wasn't a perfect film, but it was a film which deserved to have its finer and more unique qualities recognized.

Directed by Alex Proyas', whom most people know best as the director of "The Crow", this film is a moody and atmosphere soaked mystery. It's design is gorgeously classic and dark. A grim toned 1940's aesthetic on the surface, and a cold Gothic underworld of the dead below.

It is excellently shot, which is where Proyas most excels as a director. His imagery is striking, and along with Director of Photography Dariusz Wolski and a great design team, a truly solid world is created in the film.

While it suffers from some bad ADR and a few clunky scenes, "Dark City", as a whole, is really a great piece of 1990's science fiction. My biggest complaint is the ending, in which a rather silly showdown takes place, complete with the use of "mind waves". It's an ending that feels unconnected to the rest of the film's tone.

"The Matrix" has always felt to me like a spectacular action film with science fiction elements. "Dark City" always felt like the opposite. A dark and brooding science fiction film with a few action scenes. While neither film is perfect, I think I'd rather have lived in the universe where "Dark City" was the film that influenced the future of sci-fi and blockbusters in general.

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

Thirty One Days of Horror Movies! Day Eighteen :D

Event Horizon! :

When the Event Horizon, a ship reported destroyed on its initial mission, unexpectedly re-appears years later a salvage and recue team are sent to investigate what became of it and its crew...learning that the ship was equipped with an experimental “Gravity drive” designed to allow it to fold space, they soon learn that the sip has been outside of the known universe...and may in fact have been to hell itself and back O.O

Sci Fi and Horror are genres that it can be difficult to sucessfully blend together sometimes but this movie does an excellent job of combining the two, creating a genuinely creepy and disturbing haunted house in space movie here.

I love the originality of the plot and the way it blends supernatural and science fiction tropes here to create something truly horrific. The film boasts some wonderfully horrifying imagery and moments that will genuinely have you going “Did I really just see that...” at just how fucked up things get.

It’s also got a good cast, especially Sam Neil and Laurence Fishburne who are both excellent in their respective roles. Sam Neil in particular does an excellent job of portraying the obsessed Dr Weir, creator of the Gravity Drive as he falls under the influence of what the ship has brought back with it and quicker than you can say

The film boasts plenty of memorably creepy moments both with the build up to the reveal of whats happened to the ship and the stomach churning grand guignol of its gorier scenes and moments. The design of the ship is impressively gothic and weird as well...the gravity drive itself in particular looks and feels like something you’d get if you asked Clive Barker to design a space ship for you

I recommend giving this one a watch...though maybe not while you’re eating. Especially during the scene where they decode the ships log O.O;

[mercy-misrule]

Content warning: discussion of fictional emotional incest, fictional domestic violence, general spoilers for the interview with the vampire show

Ok so one of the changes I was in awe of, how smart it was, was to have Claudia redefine her relationship with Lestat and Louis as sister.

Book readers know that as Claudia ages, her relationship with the two changes but it changed to the point of...I want to explain it as spiritual incest almost? Like, there is reference to Claudia as Louis lover, though obviously nothing physical happens, not vampire intimacy either, with blood drinking.

One of the horror themes of iwtv really echoes the vibes of a book written a few years later, Flowers in the Attic. Siblings trapped by an abusive, charismatic parental figure with power over them who end up having their platonic relationship warped by the pressure cooker of their environment.

Whereas the tv show has taken that concept and applied the idea of emotional incest.

Emotional incest is a real life phenomenon where a parent treats the child as a confidant, as an equal where they dump all their emotional baggage and expect the child to process that like an adult would. It's referred to as incest because it's the parent expecting the same level of support as they would get from a partner.

So in the tv show Claudia redefines herself as sister and then the power dynamic is all over the place. Because she and Louis are a type of sibling, created by the same vampire. Because they did have a parent child relationship, but as she mentally ages she no longer seeks that support.

Also, an aside, I am a domestic violence and child abuse survivor, and I was genuinely impressed with the way they incorporated the fullness of a toxic family vibe.

Claudia stepping up to defend Louis like she was an equal, Claudia frustrated with Louis being passive, and not understanding how a power imbalance between romantic partners works, so not understanding why Louis lets Lestat back in.

Louis defending Lestat to her, Louis making excuses for his behaviour when Lestat hasn't truly demonstrated any significant efforts to change.

And Claudia gets to live out every abused child's darkest fantasy: kill your parent.

(Please don't think I'm speaking for every survivor, everyone's experience is unique and just because it resonates with me doesn't mean that others feel that way)

Book readers tend to not talk about this part of the story because it's uncomfortable, and because as an Anne Rice fan, there are plenty of times where it's like, Anne what the fuck is this. Anne, I'm mentally editing this out because if you'd had an editor they would have taken it out.

But that's not the case with the Claudia relationship, honestly. Interview is gothic horror, and a staple part of the genre is the way the dark, oppressive environments and relationships destroy and warp characters.

Nothing else in the series is fully gothic horror romance, which I also think makes it harder to accept as part of the story.

Anyway, this post is so long lmao. I have a lot of feelings and they can be summed up as: the writers did an excellent and nuanced change up of the bond between the little family coven, while still remaining true to the book, even the parts a lot of fans pretend don't exist

[gardensandtaverns]

When Players Commit to the Bit

My last post talked a little about player buy-in, and its impact. Again, as far as game design goes, my experience is limited to personal experience playing games and the experience I have as a Game Master for tabletop RPGs, but especially in those varieties of fiction, player buy-in matters. I'm going to address two particular games where this made all the difference.

To start with a group of players that has really knocked my socks off, I'll tell this first story from the players' perspective, as I was one in this rare occurrence. Any D&D5e veteran knows that the system was built for medieval power fantasy; the existence of the spell fireball is enough justification on its own, but should you need a few additional examples from a DM's perspective:

The 1st-level spell heroism completely negates the frightened condition, regardless of its source, and is available to any divine caster at 1st level. At higher levels this is the solution to fear effects from creatures like dragons, who often have DCs that creatures lacking the appropriate save proficiency could never succeed on.

The game itself has a terrible exploration and social interaction system, just look at the memes. There's a reason the homebrew community is so strong when it comes to additional or revamped mechanics.

The game also has a terrible inability to run Battle of Helm's Deep-esque situations because it is precariously balanced in the system of action economy - assuming that players will always be up against enemy groups of similar size and strength to their own.

This problem is further exhausted when specific genres, like horror or survival, come up. That's because, again, the game is balanced in the player's favor by default. Nothing should be scary until it is a definite loss for the party. Not to mention numerous background features and low-level spells immediately negate the concern of finding food, water, or medicine - as well as treating diseases and poisons.

So, dear reader, you may find it interesting when I say that my favorite experience as a player was in a modified version of the Curse of Strahd module. Curse of Strahd is a survival and gothic horror module that was heavily influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, for those unfamiliar. As I've already stated, the system of D&D5e is not well-suited to these types of challenges without using tactics that severely cripple players and their abilities. However, in a combination of excellence on the Game Master's part and the buy-in of all of the players, this game has been one hell of an experience.

Not only did every player come to the table with a self-motivated and layered, perhaps even somewhat corrupted, motivation - but those motives and characters have been well-played by the players in response to the appropriate types and levels of pressure applied by the DM, both on the characters in fiction but also on the players at the table. Every session ends in a cliffhanger, which only helps preserve the mindset from week to week of being in the game.

We also are tolerant, as a group, to making less-than-ideal decisions. Our characters may flee, even if nothing mechanically compels them to do so. They may make hasty decisions, or even evil things, and the characters themselves may create and relieve tensions throughout the group. Curse of Strahd has become gothic horror done right in D&D with this group because we as players let ourselves be afraid, be invested in our character's survival, and follow a narrative that is always changing and reacting.

Not quite in contrast, but certainly from another angle, I have had my best experiences and pride in my work as a DM when my players truly invest themselves in the world and connect with it. In my most recent, and possibly last ever, 5e campaign I had built a world that was embroiled in a continental war, specifically over the use of magic. At the outset of the game, I informed my players that this conflict had gone on for quite a long time, with many tenuous peace treaties over the decades, so the nation of origin for these characters would vastly influence how they perceived the world, due to various levels of propaganda, so they would have to choose together what nation they were loyal to, though that loyalty could change over the course of the campaign. The final composition of the party was a cloistered cleric, who would have had little opinion were it not for a raid on their church; a soldier, who deserted after being hunted for breaking laws regarding the use of magic in an attempt to save their ill father; a commoner, who knew little of the outside world but had grown up in a nation where the use of magic was free and unrestricted; and an ex-assassin, who had served in the interests of that same nation of free use of magic until they fell in love with a political target of a rival nation.

Now, they did not find their loyalties to change over the course of the campaign, but the beauty in this story was that none of the characters died (except for the time the wizard decided against the clear indication that this was a death wish to proceed). The players themselves asked for death to be uncommon and meaningful, and I was happy to comply. What this required me to do as a Game Master, however, was to find other means of motivating the party to action, as few of them had a moral or personal obligation to take any side in this war. For this, I used two strategies:

Threats to Security. I used the proximity of their home to contested territories to motivate their actions to protect their sense of security. Not only were some missions mandatory service, assigned by the local legislature, but there were also night raids from across the border that directly threatened the characters, and those they wished to protect. Which brings us to

Exploiting Relationships. I also used the NPCs the party cared about, most famously the two children of their patron, to drive direction and urgency in the narrative. In retrospect I used kids in general a lot to pull at heartstrings, but so does UNICEF and a number of other relief organizations.

To the players' credit, they went all-in and there were not only excellent inter-party relationships, but various party members had differing opinions on the societal needs in the future that were derived from their experiences and the NPCs they were most involved with by the end of the campaign.

I can't say I have a great way to close this one other than saying that sure, this is my experience and ymmv, but player buy-in can make a massive difference in gameplay and the options available to a designer to make a truly immersive and memorable experience.

[sevensistersofsussex]

9, 17 for asking game!❤

Who/what are your inspirations for truly fucked up content?

This might be a reality check moment for me, but I don't know that I have any? Or at least, I don't consider any of it truly fucked up.

I think sometimes people think that the angst I write is fucked up....and in that case the answer is, I just like to make myself cry thinking about the saddest possible scenario in any fictional story.

If you could steal one fic from any other writer and claim it as your own, what would you take?

Make It Holy by @katherineholmes

The vibes! They are excellent. Moody and gothic. The plot - innovative. The time jumping aspect. The past impacts on the future.

[itsthenovelteafactor]

Favorite Books 2023

I had a really good reading year in 2023, and was lucky enough to find some new favorites. I thought I’d share some recommendations here, and would love to hear some of yours! (If you are reading this, I mean you, specifically💛 ) 

The Postscript Murders (Elly Griffiths): This is the sequel to The Stranger Diaries, which was also one of my favorite books the year I first read it. Harbinder Kaur is a detective I could follow endlessly, the kind I seek to read mysteries about. She’s nuanced and clever and messy and deeply compassionate (even against her better judgement). Honestly, the character work throughout this book is excellent; the characters have such richly drawn personalities that feel fully developed, and the mystery is clever and well paced. 

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup (John Carreyrou): I watched the documentary on HBO (The Inventor - also fantastic) about Elizabeth Holmes and fell down a bit of a rabbit hole. It’s a bit terrifying to see how far someone could get on lies and connections to powerful people, but Carreyrou is also quick to point out all the people striving to do the right thing against all odds. There’s some fascinating discussions of science and technology, but the core always comes back to the people involved. This account manages to make this true story that feels larger than fiction grounded in individuals and their decisions; it’s well-researched, deliberately written, and absolutely engrossing. 

The Sea of Tranquility (Emily St. John Mandel): Mandel’s writing constantly inspires me; there is a deep precision to her descriptions that manages to still feel like it’s gliding, and a moving amount of compassion for the characters who inhabit the story, however flawed they may be. This book combines different timelines, moving from perspective to perspective in a way that only truly makes sense when it all comes together (and it comes together with a gut punch). 

What Moves the Dead (T. Kingfisher): A retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher with sinister fungi, I don’t think it’d be possible to make a better book for me on purpose. The writing is twisted, but lyrical, and the take on the story brings a powerful source of dread. Inter-spliced with this is a surprising and fascinating discussion of how culture and language shape ideas of gender. This is a contender for my favorite horror book of all time, and would highly recommend in particular to fans of Mexican Gothic. 

Plain Bad Heroines (Emily M. Danforth): This is a gothic boarding school ghost story turned Hollywood satire that is, at its heart, a sapphic love story. With an omniscient narrator (a lá Lemony Snicket, dear readers) this book tells the complicated history of an all girls’ school, and the women, past and present connected to it. It’s dark and grotesque and moving and funny and I could not put it down once I started. 

The House of Rust (Khadija Abdalla Bajabar): This is a magical realism coming-of-age story incorporating elements of diasporic Hadrami culture, following a girl’s quest to recover her father from the sea, who accidentally discovers herself along the way. The prose is gorgeous and even, making reading it feel like listening to a particularly well-told bedtime story. Aisha herself is a complicated and delightful character to follow, she’s allowed the messiness of adolescence and the way her journey ends is both surprising and necessary.  We also get the perspectives of crows with their own social hierarchy and politics, and a talking cat for whom I’d lay down my life. 

This World Does Not Belong to Us (Natalia García Friere, translated by Victor Meadowcroft): This is the kind of book you can’t annotate, because every single line would be highlighted. There is a delightful menage to the prose, to the garden which has a mind of its own, and to the slow and deliberate way the story begins to come together. This is a story about a lot of things, but primarily the dynamic between a father whose allowance of cruelty has made him cruel, and a son who cannot make allowances any more. It is poignant, and somehow both very simple and very deep. 

Never The Wind (Francesco Dimitri): This is a gothic coming of age story set in southern Italy, and following a recently blind thirteen year old, who begins to suspect a creature is stalking the farmhouse his parents are renovating into a hotel. There are a lot of things to love about this book – the prose, the characters, the discussion of a layered family history where digging leaves you with more questions than answers – but the friendship that blossoms between the two leads is a highlight. There is something incredibly moving about the first person to fight for you against the world.

The Watcher in the Shadows (Carlos Ruiz Zafón): Zafón is perhaps my favorite writer of all time, and the fact that I’ve almost read through his entire backlog would be saddening if it didn’t mean I also got to read stories like this one. The Watcher in the Shadows is one of his young adult novels, following a girl who moves with her family to the coast of Normandy, where a reclusive toymaker builds a labyrinth of mechanical puppets in his mansion on the hill. It’s as twisted and terrifying as that premise would lead one to suspect, but also beautiful and lush and contemplative and quiet. 

[rawwkfingers]

The Brain of Morbius

From the perspective of a singular piece of fiction, this serial excels on every level.

Its combination of gothic horror with the scifi fantasy setting of Doctor Who was so well done. The Frankenstein influence was extremely obvious, but I felt like that actually improved the story because we got an excellent subversion of the standard trope. Morbius actively enjoying how horrific his new body looked helped to sell just how inhuman he was

Sarah Jane's temporary blindness could have led to her being made redundant, but instead she continued to be an active force in the story but with added difficulty to help make the constant danger she was in feel more real

The various conflicts between all the cast were intricate and exciting. Every character had different goals that sometimes aligned, sometimes did not but led to nearly every character having a scene where they worked together, as well as a scene where they were opposed. Which, with 6 different characters (treating the entire Sisterhood as one) spread out across only four 25 minute episodes, that's a great task

All in all, just a truly phenomenal piece of television

...

When viewed from the perspective of a modern entrenched fan, this story is an absolute mess

The story, as told, goes against so much of what we now view as the Doctor Who canon. Morbius being President (referred to here as "Leader of the High Council") while also being a genocidal maniac pre-Time War, the Sisterhood of Karn's relationship with Gallifrey, the timeline presented where Solon (a human) could have been alive when Morbius was still active but also present here. And before The Timeless Children (ugh) we had the heavy implication of pre-Hartnell regenerations contradicted by the 13-regeneration rule and the continual emphasis on Hartnell as the FIRST Doctor.

You can say that, because this story came first, all those future stories were actually the ones that should hold the blame. Maybe I'll agree when I get to them but, as of now, all those future elements of DW canon are just not present here which makes it an interesting if confusing watch from modern eyes

I mentioned last serial that the way we engage with genre fiction, both as audiences but more importantly here as creators, is very different now from how it used to be. Because Dicks and Holmes were not thinking "how will this impact xyz fan concepts" in the same way that modern writers are required to when working with a franchise as expansive as this.

I don't think it's fair to say criticize this serial because it doesn't fit in with the larger Whoniverse. It was a truly great story and I can really appreciate them trying to expand the larger universe of the show beyond what had been done before. They were trying to come up with cool ideas and they definitely did

It is, however, impossible for me to not view it from modern eyes. So while I recognize where it's great, I am still confused by elements of the story that took me out of the world they built

[gideongriddle]

my most anticipated 2022 fiction releases, in order of current release date

tagged by @earlymodernlesbian

okay i “understand” that i am just supposed to pick “nine” for this and also that there is a picture limit here on tumblr dot com but jokes on you i am including a runners up list of considerable length after my main ones

dead silence by s.a. barnes (feb. 8): in space no one can hear you scream etc etc. the premise is very classic horror (exploring somewhere a tragedy took place and discovering there’s still!! something there!!) and it’s been blurbed by a lot of horror writers i trust. possibly gay? but i could be misremembering

last exit by max gladstone (feb. 22): max gladstone hive!!! empress of forever and this is how you lose the time war are both all-time faves so auto-buy. definitely gay.

end of the world house by adrienne celt (apr. 19): am i being sucked in by a great title and visually arresting cover?? very possible. but i’m (obviously) a time loop bitch and there’s a very good kristin arnett blurb so here we are. not gay as far as i know

siren queen by nghi vo (may 10): i have not yet read my copy of the chosen and the beautiful but i loved the empress of salt and fortune and old hollywood but with disquieting magic as a concept is catnip to me!! no idea if gay??

the final strife by saara el arifi (june 21): okay some author i really love was talking about reading an arc and loving it and i thought it was amal el-mohtar on twitter but now i can find no evidence of that so maybe i am losing my marbles. anyway this seems like it will be excellent company to the trio of meaty adult sapphic fantasies from last year, so i’m excited!! enthusiastically gay.

our wives under the sea by julia armfield (july 12): kristin arnett blurb strikes again!!! i love gothic fiction and have been anticipating this one for over a year. titularly gay!!

high times in the low parliament by kelly robson (aug. 9): this seems almost like a farcical cousin to the goblin emperor?? anyway i always want to read about fairies and politics and tor dot com has me in a chokehold. the inciting incident is gay!!

the old place by bobby finger (sept. 20): i am a who! weekly listener first and a human second so i am legally obligated to support. but genuinely i love stories about old ladies and texas settings and expect this to be both funny and tender. unclear if gay but seems distinctly possible?

the golden enclaves by naomi novik (sept. 27): thrilled and terrified to see the scholomance trilogy conclude!! cannot recommend these books enough as both genuinely nerve-wracking YA romps and deeply moving explorations of teens choosing compassion in an environment that actively discourages that behavior. side characters gay romance real, protagonist romance gay in my head

!!! releases i am thrilled about but i felt could not qualify for the main list!!!

fevered star by rebecca roanhorse (apr. 19): sequel to black sun, which i own but have not read yet! gay!

i kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston (may 3): have already read this and guess what?? it fucks!! about some truly insufferable girls (affectionate) and made me laugh out loud and also cry about growing up queer and religious in the south. multi-directionally gay!!

seasonal fears by seanan mcguire (may 3): sequel to middlegame, which i own but have not read yet! seanan mcguire hive never loses. i assume gay in at least some small way bc of her track record as an author?

the grief of stones by katherine addison (june 14): sequel to the witness for the dead, which i own but have not read, which is a standalone sequel to the goblin emperor, which i have read and am obsessed with. gay!

lockland by robert jackson bennet (june 21): final book in the founders trilogy which okay i do not “own” and have not “read” at all but amal el-mohtar has definitely glowingly reviewed the previous two entries in the series and i trust her with my life so i will be purchasing them all i fear. gay!

don’t fear the reaper by stephen graham jones (aug. 2): sequel to my heart is a chainsaw, which i own but have not read yet! not gay to my knowledge

the oleander sword by tasha suri (aug. 12): sequel to the jasmine throne, which i own but i am licherally going to start reading today!!! famously gay

nona the ninth by tamsyn muir (sept. 13): i am not bothering to write what this is a sequel to, you freaks!!! you know!!!! being unable to talk about this book with people keeps me up at night. the [redacted] of it all... september cannot come soon enough!!!! GAY

a restless truth by freya marske (nov. 1): sequel to a marvellous light, which i own but have not read yet! gay!

!!! general runners-up !!!

the thousand eyes by a.k. larkwood (feb. 15): sequel to the unspoken name, which i didn’t really feel needed a sequel??? but i am v happy to revisit these characters. gay!

extasia by claire legrand (feb. 22): i’m reading less and less YA these days but i loved sawkill girls and weird saint shit is always up my alley. gay!

dead collections by isaac fellman (feb. 22): eternally horny for new spins on vampires and also narratives about archives!! trans, idk if gay!

all the white spaces by ally wilkes (mar. 29): the terror-adjacent, with a trans protag!!! strong blurbs from other horror authors!! unknown if gay

sea of tranquility by emily st. mandel (apr. 5): i never got around to reading the glass hotel but i am a station eleven bitch. presumed straight?

when women were dragons by kelly barnhill (may 3): absolutely the sickest premise of all time?? unknown if gay

misrule by heather walter (may 10): sequel to malice, which i liked but did not love?? very curious if the duology sticks the landing. gay!

this time tomorrow by emma straub (may 17): listen any type of time travel or distortion is interesting to me!!! presumed straight?

yerba buena by nina lacour (may 31): have never read anything by this author but obvi know her excellent reputation! gay!

mistakes were made by meryl wilsner (oct. 11): own but have not read this author’s previous romance, something to talk about. this is being sold as “the milf book” so. gay!

ocean’s echo by everina maxwell (nov. 1): in the same universe of winter’s orbit which i loved!! gay!

even though i knew the end by c.l. polk (nov. 8): have not read any of this author’s work bc i am dumb but all her shit is extremely up my alley! noir AND vampires. gay!

[volterran-wine]

Fully prepared || Caius & Felix

Requested by @xxx-wounded-angel-xxx​ : “Hi ! Could I please have headcanons for Caius, Felix and Alec with a S/O who's been fascinated with vampire since childhood, and has an impressive collection of books about vampires, from kids picture books to obscure gothic novels and romance ones? Merci beaucoup :)”

Hello there! Happy to see a request not exclusively for the kings. Lets me get into the heads of the guards a bit more. One thing I will have to touch on however. In my rules I state I will not write Alec or Jane in a romantic/mate/S/O setting. Because I do see them as their book counterparts, and there they are 12/13 years old. So I will not write for Alec here, I’m sorry. But Caius and Felix you shall receive! 

𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰

𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢

Humans had become truly odd through out the centuries, in Caius’ humble opinion. While he was quite up to date with the on goings in the human world, he still could not quite grasp why they were so obsessed with the darker things in life. Especially a myth like vampires. So when he was out on a routine mission with the guard and stumbled across his potential mate, it did puzzle him how... resigned they were to their fate. Almost joyful at the prospect of him bringing them back to Volterra. 

Would end up gently interrogating them about their massive interest in his species. Had they perhaps seen something they shouldn't? Had a vampire been careless around them as a child? Caius entered full security breach mode, when the answer was actually quite simple “They were much more interesting than werewolves.” Ah, at least his mate had excellent taste and saw reason. They might get along just fine. 

“You know, it was us that perpetuated a lot of the myths” “... Really?” “Yes, I believe it was Aro that suggested that holy water can hurt us” “What did you come up with?” “... That we sleep in coffins” 

Caius could appreciate their massive collection of literature however. When he looked past the children books, there were also classics like Carmilla and Dracula. Both beautiful special editions that had been well taken care of. When he stumbled across a certain section of adult romance literature however, a smirk graced his lips. Unable to fight the urge to tease his significant other about this.

“Did you always hope a vampire would come to you in the dark of night love?” “...Caius put that down right now!” “Shall I read it to you? Discover your deepest and darkest fantasies in the process?” “CAIUS!”

𝐅𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢

When Felix had imagined meeting his would be mate, them being so positive about vampirism was not part of his imagination. He had expected them to be quite terrified of him, hell even most vampires felt fear creep up on them when Felix approached. But this human was turning out to be something out of the ordinary. It was a blessing in Felix’ eyes. That the universe had rewarded him with a mate that saw passed what he was.

After the initial shock and confusion, Felix would be exceptionally amused at their antics. They certainly had built up their own view of what vampires were like. Both him and Demetri would humor them with stories that either confirmed or disproved their various theories. 

His significant other would end up asking him a multitude of questions, endlessly curious about the different aspects of being a vampire. Some things he would gladly show them and talk about, others... not so much. 

“Can I watch you feed?” “Absolutely not.

Would have to sit them down at some point for a serious talk about what vampires actually were like. Fiction, no matter how dark in nature; had a tendency to still not measure up to what his world was like. 

“... So crosses do nothing?” “No, we predate the cross.” “Sunlight?” “...” “Felix what happens when you step into the sun?” “... we shine.” “????” “Please ... don’t make me elaborate.”

[autolenaphilia]

Coppola's Dracula

The 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola is a weird film. And obviously deliberately so.

The book is a gothic melodrama, and Coppola took that and decided to make the most gothic and melodramatic film he could make. Realism is repudiated completely, everything is colourful and outré to the extreme. The film’s visual aesthetic is full of vivid colour, and set, character and costume design is all outlandish. Even in the normal, non-vampiric world Lucy wears dresses with a collar reminscient of a frill-necked lizard (in fact she has a reptile theme going on, wearing a snake dress earlier in the film). The acting is very emotional and melodramatic as well.

And while the book seems to believe that the supernatural can be rationally understood, where certain rules apply, the film the supernatural elements are surreal. Instead things run on symbolism and aesthetics. The tone is set in the opening in which Dracula becomes a vampire by loudly renouncing God, stabbing a sword into a cross which begins to bleed, and drinking that blood.

Afterwards Dracula’s shadow can move independently from his body showing his intentions. Flowers wilt in his presence. He can turn into a bat or a wolf like in the book, but here he becomes a large grotesque-looking mix of man and animal. His mist form glows vividly green (green and red are used to symbolize passion). This is just a small list of the bizarre things that happen in this movie, and the result is a surreal dream-like mood.

The film was advertised as being “closer to the novel”, as evidenced by putting Stoker’s name in the title. And certainly the film follows the plot events of the book closer than most film adaptations. The characters are there, including Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris, and most of the major events of the book happen in the order the book had them in.

There is one major change that keeps it from being truly Stoker’s Dracula however. It adds a love story where Dracula is searching for the reincarnation of his lost love, which he finds in Mina. The love story is similar to the one in The Mummy from 1932.

The sexual angle is there in the novel of course, and previous films like the 1958 Hammer version and the 1979 Frank Langella film seem to hint at Dracula’s thematic role in this film: as a source of sexual liberation for repressed victorian women. But this film takes that to extremes. Dracula is a romantic, byronic anti-hero lover who is given outright sympathetic qualities. He even hesitates to turn Mina into a vampire at first. Mina however drinks his blood willingly and even helps him against Van Helsing in the finale.

This love story is what keeps it from being truly Bram Stoker’s Dracula, instead this is Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. The actual true-to-the-novel adaptation is the 1977 BBC tv film with Louis Jordan.

The love story is not entirely successful, due to the rest of the film trying to follow the novel the fact that it has been grafted upon the Dracula story is very obvious, the seams show. Granted the more sympathetic take on Dracula is still interesting. The novel’s depiction of a foreign, hook-nosed monster has a strong racist subtext. The film is an excellent example of the trend in vampire fiction of making the vampire less evil than they were in Stoker’s novel. And doing that in an adaptation of Draculatends to subvert the Victorian racial and sexual values.

The film’s highly stylized mode of storytelling is a matter of taste. The film’s outlandish creative decisions are so extreme that it is easy to laugh at them. But they are also very compelling to watch, and clearly the product of a lot of time and effort. The costume design by Eiko Ishioka and set designs by Garrett Lewis and the general art direction by Andrew Precht are very weird and don’t always look good, but are imaginative and well-realized. The direction by Coppola is great, the story being told with a good pace and memorable images, often using the costume and set design to great effect. The special effects are amazing, Coppla eschewed entirely the use of cgi or even image composition and relied entirely on practical effects. The results are impressive.

The castlist is interesting in itself, as there are some big names in the cast, such as Gary Oldman as Dracula, Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, Winona Ryder as Mina and singer Tom Waits as Renfield. The acting is just as stylized and melodramatic as the rest of the film, and is done well overall.

Probably the only weak link in the film is Keanu Reeves, a good actor in my opinion as he proves in The Matrix films, but here he gives a stilted performance in a unsuccessful attempt at imitating an English accent. According to Coppola, the accent was the problem, that Reeves “wanted to do it perfectly and in trying to do it perfectly it came off as stilted. I tried to get him to just relax with it and not do it so fastidiously. “ No matter the cause, Reeves is the weak link, his overly non-emotional performance sticks out with the operatic melodrama the rest of the cast acts with.

Despite Reeves, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is still an interesting film. It is easy to find the film to be ridiculous, it is that extreme. even I do find it unintentionally funny at times and I can’t take the love story as unironically romantic. But it is a very entertaining film regardless, well-made in a way that makes it just fun to look at. Even if you view it as complete and utter camp and just want to laugh at it, you will still have a fun time. Gothic Melodrama films seldom are as skilfully made as this.