#boi howdy do i definitely need to rewrite this but

[genericpuff]

All That Glitters is Not Feminism - An Analysis of LO's Brand of "Feminism" and What Remains of its Fanbase (A Prologue)

So I referenced a certain article in a recent reblog/ask response and I just need to talk about it because what the actual fuck-

This has to have been written by either a bot or a hater who's reached peak god tier level at playing the long con sarcasm game because NOTHING about this feels sincere or even factual. Much of it almost has to be read in a mocking tone for it to make any real sense.

It says "Lore Olympus" (literally in quotations) in just about every single paragraph over and over again and every single talking point revolves EXCLUSIVELY around Persephone, which I suppose comes as no surprise considering that seems to be all the comic - and its fanbase - cares about at this point.

I really love (/s) how Persephone's "evolution" is being naive and then 'blossoming' into an independent woman who relies entirely on the rich man who groomed her to solve all her problems.

Also all she's done since becoming Queen of the Underworld is abuse lower class people. That's the stuff feminist dreams are made of <3

While we're talking about the main leads, "poster child" is definitely a word for Hades, I think a more appropriate term would be "literal child". And boy howdy, 'god of consent' sure is a title to give the guy who ripped out a lower class satyr's eyeball and beat him half to death.

This man owns slaves, btw. And both he and his "powerful wife" are equally horrible to lower class people, especially women.

This is hands-down the funniest section of the article and we're only three bullet points in.

Thetis and Persephone have never even so much as spoken one word to each other outside of the courtroom that Thetis technically put her in after plotting against her for an entire season.

Eros is a man. Nothing wrong with that but it comes with the unintentional icky hilarity of implying that because Eros is the gay best friend, that means he's a woman.

They literally don't read this fucking comic-

Everyone always relies on this weird talking point of Demeter not being able to "let Persephone go"... y'all, she just didn't want Persephone to outright move to Olympus, she wanted her to commute. That was it! That was literally the only problem! She wasn't preventing Persephone from pursuing a higher education or telling her she wasn't allowed to work, she literally fucking encouraged it! And with the added later context of Persephone killing a bunch of mortals - and, ironically, the fact that Persephone was assaulted/put in harm's way by TWO SEPARATE MEN in the first two days of her time in Olympus - yeah, I don't blame Demeter for not wanting her daughter to move cold turkey actually LOL

Also hilarious that they claim Rachel has turned "tradition" into "innovation" when the only thing she's managed to do is set back modern feminism in her young adult readers by 80 years and re-establish misogynist brainwashing in her adult ones. Rachel, your fanbase was literally shipping a victim of abuse with her abuser just a few days ago.

oh boy this is uh

this is some cult shit ngl

and the "rewriting the script of Greek mythology" part is VERY concerning knowing what we know about Lore Olympus and who it was written by. This is literally cultural appropriation, full stop, and it exists because Lore Olympus - and works like it, made by people like Rachel - exists.

I can't even commit to the original theory that this was written by a bot because it all feels very pointed and intenetional. This is being written by someone who, at the very least, REALLY sucks at media analysis and writing, because the entire article is just "Lore Olympus, buzzword, Lore Olympus, buzzword, buzzword, Lore Olympus", it's like a white knight incantation for guilty virtue signallers who have zero clue what they're talking about. And at worst, yes, it's appropriation from someone who doesn't mind taking a culture's stories and myths and promoting their erasure by people outside of the culture like Rachel.

And that's it, that's literally the article lmao

*EDIT: There was a section here before addressing the writer of the article from a very opinionated POV that, while isn't unusual for what I do here, did feel necessary to remove after I was contacted by the article writer who addressed the flaws in their original article and is now seeking to correct them with revisions/an article rewrite. So I felt it only fair as a compromise to at least remove that section as it really doesn't have a whole lot to do with this post as a whole and can be removed without entirely ruining the flow of this analysis. If/when that article is rewritten, I'll be revisiting this post and my overall analysis !

And honestly, it's all really telling, because this does accurately reflect the state of the LO fanbase.

Not only do many of the people who defend this comic like it's their job not pick up on the blatant misogynist tones that are going on in its narrative (I can't even call them "undertones" anymore, they're no longer that subtle) but whether or not they even read the comic at all is up for debate with how much stuff they tend to get wrong in their own arguments and justifications. And this is something that's VERY regularly seen in the fanbase discussions, readers will constantly be unaware of things that happened because they skimmed through it at lightning speed just to see if Hades and Persephone kiss and so they can get the top comment on Webtoons so they can be "ahead of the fanbase". It's no wonder that Rachel has gotten used to getting away with retconning things because her fanbase didn't even read what she established the first time.

Rachel's fanbase was literally defending the romance ship of an abuser and his victim on the newest FP episode preview. When that FP episode came out two nights ago and Hera said, point blank, that he didn't love her but abused her, I could only think of that portion of the fanbase who was very audibly simping over Kronos in the IG comment section. Are they actually having their moment of shameful clarity now? Or are they just gonna move the goalposts and pretend that didn't happen?

I don't want to say anything bad about Shelby here because she really seems like she's fighting for her life on this site that she's trying to get off the ground, but a lot of her other articles also come across as very one-note while being peppered with buzzwords that make it seem like what she's talking about is "progressive" when it really isn't. Case in point, Lessons in Chemistry has been commonly criticized for not actually appealing to the demographic that its Mary Sue-ish main character is supposed to represent - women in STEM career fields.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Lore Olympus is not 'feminism', it's white feminism that is designed to appeal to predominantly heterocis white women who think the solution to misogyny is to willingly submit to it and accept the status quo - that it's "empowering" if the woman is smiling and having all her needs paid for by a man. Sure, I can accept that different women will be looking for different relationship dynamics, some women genuinely are happy being in a relationship where they support their husbands first and foremost. But can that truly be called feminism? Or is the real feminism the choices we make along the way that we should be given the freedom to make?

It says a lot about the folks who tend to regularly prop up LO on a pedestal like this as some "revolution in feminism" despite the contrary after spending more than just 30 seconds skimming the attention-grabbing art, and Shelby is just one of many. She's not the worst of the bunch, though.

That goes to someone else who I want to give proper light to in their own essay. Someone who definitely earned a good stern talking-to this past week and has, thankfully, had consequences dished out to her for her horrible actions towards queer POC writers.

If you know, you know. If you don't, buckle up.

[wannab-urs]

The Spreadsheet Digest - Fic Recs | Vol 6

Howdy friends! Happy Friday and happy Fic Rec Day!

Here's everything I read this week and my silly little thoughts about them.

As always you can find The Spreadsheet here

Recs below the cut :)

June - a Joel series by @atinylittlepain

-> The writing in this is just... absolutely beautiful. I love the story that's being set up here and I love the way it's being told. This is definitely one to keep an eye on. Fell in love immediately. Warning, though, this one is probably gonna hurt a little.

Heat - an Ezra one shot by @ezrasversion

This fic had me in javi p, smoking a cigarette, hand pressed into forehead era. It was hot. Ezra talking dirty is just... top fucking tier man.

PMAMC 2023 - (almost) all the boys got pegged and I made a masterlist! Fics by @wannab-urs, @jksprincess10, @beskarandblasters, @cutesyscreenname, @serenaxpedro, and @atinylittlepain

-> All the major boys except Marcus Pike (coming soon), Dave York (coming soon), and Jack Daniels (unclaimed) get the rides of their lives! We pegged all of them... so if that's your thing, click the link for enough to keep you fed for weeks

Catalyst - a Joel/Frankie series @ezrasbirdie

-> I think I'm in my "I want two guys to rail me while also being into each other" era, but anyway... this was so fucking hot. I loved all the little details and story bits in there. Made it feel like a believable situation, which is not alway the case with Pedro boy on Pedro Boy action lol.

Shots - a Jack series by @julesonrecord

-> Uh... oh my god??? I love the rewrite of the ending (I like when authors keep Whiskey's actions but change that terrible ending ugh). I am so fucking into the plot of this story. I am riveted. I cannot wait for more. What is he doing? What's gonna happen? AH. Oh and it wouldn't be a certified Gin Fic Rec if I didn't tell you that the smut is delicious. Riding that line between explicit description and fucking poetry. You really uh... feel it... you know?

Hokaanir Riduurok - a Din one shot by @proxima-writes

-> Din with tattoos... shirtless,,, marrying you... then fucking while totally blissed out on some crazy mando wine... If I need to say more there's something wrong with you. This is everything.

put your lips close to mine a Joel one shot by @swiftispunk

-> A gorgeous follow up to her other masseuse!reader x Joel fic. I think I could read about Pedro boys getting or giving massages forever. It will literally never get old. All the luscious fuckin descriptions of his body.... PLEASE. And who doesn't love a happy ending?

buried - a Jack series by @something-tofightfor

I love this story so much I think I could recite it from memory. Jack is literal perfection in every way in this. I love a sad broken man who slowly learns to love again YESSSSS. The plot? immaculate. The smut? worth the god damn wait.

Speechless - an Ezra one shot by @sneetsnootyoit

-> Someone finally learned how to shut Ezra up... all it took was a good dickin down lmao. (AMAB Reader, sorry if you didn't get into fandom through a gay ship like me and this isn't your thing).

------------ things i read months ago and never recced -------------

Grays - a Frankie series by @fuckyeahdindjarin

Starstruck - a Dieter series by @ezrasbirdie

Possession - a Din one shot @prolix-yuy

Sin Without Limits a Javi P one shot by @jake-g-lockley

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy reading, dear friends <3

[shidoukanae]

-

-

___

Also, some favorite snippets from A Puzzle Piece because a Yuri who is forced to care about others and accidentally teams up with Yugo in the process of saving Serena is fun AF to write

[goldeneyedgirl]

2019 Fic Meme

My end of year fic meme, compiled from some old Livejournal fic memes that I do when I write stuff. I do this for fun, because I like looking back at what I have and haven’t written, and what keeps popping up again.

It’s meant to be silly fun, and if anyone else wants to do it, PLEASE DO. I don’t want to tag anyone and put pressure on you in case you don’t want to/don’t think you have enough fic/hate memes. 

Twilight

12 Days of Fic-Mas (Twilight, WIP) Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, bonus.  Twelve days of fic extracts, previews, and drabbles focusing on Alice Cullen. Encompasses Folie A Deux, The Only Girl in the World, JessaminexAlice, Omens, Asylum, The Long Way Around, The Dark and the Unknown, Hybrid, Runaway, All These Broken Things, & The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon 

Shadow to Light  (WIP) (Alice/Jasper, AU Angst, PG) In 1918, Jasper lures the newborn known as Mary-Alice back to Monterrey. He is lost to her before it even begins.

Total number of completed stories: Lol.

Total word count: 33,304 words were posted. 

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?  Look, I just... 2019 was a wash in so many ways. I played a lot of Fortnite really badly. I would have loved to be able to say Shadow to Light was finished, or that I was posting Hybrid regularly or something, but I can’t. I wish, wish, wish I had posted more but alas. 

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? Outside of Twilight, I dabbled with some reader/Ben in the Umbrella Academy, and I was messing around with some Janet/Wanda in my personal MCU canon. As for Twilight, I think my stuff got a lot darker? Like, we’re down the rabbit hole here, and somehow Alice ended up being the most feared vampire in the Americas? Yeah. 

And there’s the Avengers/Twilight fic that is simultaneously three fics and one fic because I cannot make Executive Decisions and I can’t decide if I like 1. Alice knowing Bucky from Before Jasper; 2. Alice knowing Hawkeye from when he was a kid in the circus and being how Natasha and Clint got out of Budapest, or 3. the Volturi hooking up with Hydra and ... yeah, I think this one is legit the most second-most one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever written. (I’ve been filing today, and boy howdy have I written some actual shit.)

What’s your own favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? That’s like making me pick a favourite child. I’m always so, so proud of Shadow to Light, and I love The Dark and the Unknown ‘verse, and Hybrid is just hanging out there, chilling and ugh. My babies <3 

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?  TwilightFicMas was a huge risk! I wasn’t sure anyone cared unless I was posting more Shadow to Light, and people were SO nice and enthusiastic. So I guess the lesson is shut up and share more fic? Get out of your own head and spend time in the community because fandom isn’t meant to be lonely?

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?  I’m starting a graphic design business AND my masters in design in 2020, so I figure fic is going to be my downtime next year. Ideally, I would love to get STL finished, Memento Vivere’s sequel going, and have a few of my shorter pieces posted. I would really love to get some of my original stuff ready for publication, but I’d be happy studying, running my business, and doing the fic thing for 2020.  

My best story of this year: That’s up to the readers, I guess. Everyone seemed obscenely enthusiastic about The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon, though, and I was not expecting that at all - I was actually upset that I left the ‘dud’ fic for the last day of FicMas. 

My most popular story: Shadow to Light. Everyone is so nice and enthusiastic and polite about that one. I’m not used to it! Fandom for me is usually me sitting in a corner, doin’ my obscure thing, and maybe one or two people will read what I’m working on.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:  I think everyone was super enthusiastic and nice about everything I posted this year. Maybe Folie A Deux? But like, that reflects more on me and the excerpts that I chose to post rather than the fic or the audience itself. 

Most fun story to write:  The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon because that Alice is so happy; I have this playlist for it that is super upbeat and funky. 

Hybrid is fun because that Alice likes to torment Jasper. He understands Edward on a molecular level once Alice arrives. 

Most Sexy Story: The Dark and the Unknown is the front-runner for that, because most of the sexy goings-on in Shadow to Light is very much focused on the psychological and emotional aspects rather than the physical.

Story with the single sexiest moment:  The Dark and the Unknown. I am still deeply uncomfortable writing sex scenes, so this may be the only one I ever do. The implication of a blow job in Shadow to Light nearly kill me tbh.

The forest behind the school is silent; just her breathing, and the slight wind. No birds or wildlife, none of the hum of the traffic or of the school.

They don’t undress more than necessary, her skirt slid to her hips, and he takes her roughly against a tree, flakes of bark falling into the dirt. She is hot and slick, and silent as he fucks her, his fingers digging into her hips, a growl rising in his chest. She is every bit his fantasy; the smell of damp flowers, the sweetness of her flesh, her willing supplication. His fingers tear through the lace of her tights as he grips her thighs, and the heels of her shoes must be bending, she’s digging them into the backs of his legs so hard.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:  The Long Way Around makes Jasper and Alice’s relationship pretty fucked up, and tbh I look back at it and really struggle with how dark it is and how dark Jasper’s character becomes. There’s a reason that Shadow to Light is the ‘official’ version - it’s a better balance, and I actually think Maria is a lot more interesting in Shadow to Light as a villain with complex relationships with both Jasper and Alice to the point where none of them really want to have to kill each other, but there is a lot of hate on both sides. 

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:  That’s a hard question. Shadow to Light definitely did that because I had to consider what happened when you took Alice out of the picture, and how that changed what happened, and considered the inter-family relationships. So much of canon relies on Alice’s visions that things can’t just happen the same way. 

Hardest story to write: Shadow to Light isn’t easy because I have such a specific idea of how it plays out, how it ‘looks’ in my head, and because Alice is so fundamentally different to canon. More innocent when it comes to normal interactions, and so controlled because it meant life or death - but she’s still got to be Alice in a way that people can recognize. It also has to sound right? If I can’t get the right turn of phrase for one scene, it has to be put aside until I can work it out. 

 All These Broken Things is hard because I started it back in, like, 2014ish and my writing and understanding of the characters and canon has changed so much - plus there are a few sections that came to me quite early in the writing, and now sound really out of place, but are such a strong linchpin for the story that I have to rework them in. It’s a good kind of hard, though, because I’ve improved so much, my ideas and goals are more refined. 

Most disappointing:  Omens is a little bitch, honestly. I started it for a fic contest and kept going to explore Alice’s human life, and it doesn’t quite feel like my writing? It needs reworking, and be a little less obvious because I think the ‘four horsemen of the apocalypse’ is a good theme for a Human!Alice fic. 

Easiest story to write: Depends on my mood; Hybrid is great when I’m in kind of a ‘girls kicking ass’ mood and boot up my action girls playlist.

Biggest surprise:  Hybrid started as a love story that was basically ‘yeah, let’s make this shit super dramatic and overwrought’, and turned into this actual story with a huge focus on family and relationships. I can’t remember why I decided Alice’s father had a husband except that I was thinking about small town ‘otherness’, and LGBT+ people can and are still considered ‘other’ in these spaces. 

Then you add in Alice and Cynthia who are basically in the same boat but have been separated for their entire lives. Alice has knowledge in her corner, whilst having to fight through foster care, abuse, and hospital; whilst Cynthia has lived a very normal but privileged life as the daughter of a mixed-race same-sex couple in a very small town. I went full-hog with this, and added in an extended family, because I really hated how canon went balls-to-the-wall to isolate Bella from everyone, including Charlie. 

Like, this thing is a monster, and whilst I plan to sit down and rewrite the outline (which dates back to 2016, and I hate the ending of), I stopped outlining at 65 freaking chapters. 

Most unintentionally telling story:  I think this question that still confuses me finally gets a decent answer in The Dark and the Unknown - Jasper is seeing most of it from his perspective, and there isn’t a ton of dialogue. I’ve tried to avoid an info-dump, but it’s meant to be quite supernatural in tone, and focusing on vampire senses and gifts enhances that. 

Story I’d like to revise:  All These Broken Things wins that one. Due to the age of the piece, there are some pacing and tone issues in later chapters that are the reason I haven’t formally posted it. 

Story I didn’t write but will at some point, I swear: Oh man, I really want to finish A Thousand Years of Solitude, which is a Tanya fic. I’m really happy with what I’ve got so far, but it sounds smarter and more layered than it really is, so I’m kind of stuck. 

Mad World because Romani!Alice is super sassy and taking 0% of Swan or Cullen bullshit - I think 90% of my fic is just me going, “yeah, that’s not how normal people react.” And I’m a sucker for gothic horror. 

What else? Aww, Against A Wall which is AU Human Jasper coming from the shittiest home, and Alice finding him. It’s meant to be short, and another one I have a really clear idea of how it needs to work. 

And the one where Alice’s gift is a sentient power that pushes her to follow it; that Bad Things happen if she doesn’t; that Renesmee was always Endgame for Something, and Alice was a key piece to get that result. Or the one where Aro takes Alice as a ‘guest’ for a period because of Edward and Bella, and Alice’s gift is basically broken. 

Good times. I have like 5 years of fic on this computer, we could be here for awhile. 

[dsudis]

writing meme

I was tagged by @silentwalrus1 approximately one internet lifetime ago.

+Where do you publish your work?

AO3 and also my own website (dira.ficlaundering.com) though I am beginning to think that... you know. Personal fic author archive-websites are a thing of the past and it’s not like I don’t keep local copies of everything in case the AO3 should up and disappear somehow, and also it looks... reasonably likely that the AO3 will not up and disappear anytime soon, so... maybe I will let the website go? idk. 

+What medium/application/etc. you use? 

Good old Microsoft Word, since I was dragged kicking and screaming to it from WordPerfect ten years ago. I trust The Cloud even less than I trust the AO3 to go on existing and also I do not actually want to share my actual working files in real time with absolutely anyone ever.

+Do you collaborate with others?

Nnnno. I am not good at relinquishing control over the story to anyone else--I mean, I will take someone else’s story and write fanfiction of it all day long, obviously, but sharing the actual story-making with someone else, no.

OTOH I love betas, and I more or less have to workshop an idea in chat--telling out the whole arc and sometimes individual scenes--before I can write it. Like, if you want to know what I’m going to write next the trick is to be in a chat room with me and ask a leading question and then make encouraging noises occasionally because BOY HOWDY DO I WANT TO TELL YOU AND HEAR WHETHER YOU THINK THAT WORKS.

+How much editing do you do before you publish?

It varies, depending on the story, how long it is, how many fucks I give about it by the time I’m done with it, etc. But I definitely like to have it betaed and go over the final story for proofreading type stuff. There have been stories I wrote that in the beta process wound up getting fairly massive rewrites--the middle story in the “Just Stay Alive” trilogy, “Seek Out the Hidden Places” is the one that springs to mind right now; I wrote that story, sent it to beta, and then realized that I had basically left out a huge amount of what the story should really be about, and rewrote a lot to make that work.

+Do you listen to music while you write?

I listen to music almost constantly--silence is slightly unnerving and makes every little other sound much more distracting, plus I have a bit of tinnitus so once I start noticing that I have to drown it out. (Thanks, ADHD, on probably both counts.) So, yes, I listen to music while I write, but it’s very very rare that I have any special playlist or anything relevant to the story itself--sometimes I’ll have some kind of RAR GET THE WORK DONE playlist for generally motivating myself to stay awake and on task, but that’s about it.

+How do you decide what to write about?

See above, re: workshopping ideas. I am a pretty much perpetual-motion idea generator, but I also have been doing this long enough to have some sense of how much of a hassle a story is going to be to write (in terms of how long it will be, how much thinking and planning and research it might require, how much shame I will feel about posting it, etc.) and how much I will love creating and posting it (how much of a target audience it has, how personally enchanting I find the idea) and kind of keep those things in proportion. One of the ways I gauge that is by, as I said above, basically workshopping the idea with friends and in chat--there are lots of ideas that I’ve talked out to the point where I can recognize that if I write it I’m committing to 200k, and back-burnered it until I forgot about it completely. 

(I rarely actually utterly fail to sell an idea to anyone, but there are definitely times when other people’s reactions make me reconsider how a story would need to work to survive outside my head. So that is also a factor.)

...Also once it gets past the idea stage and into the stable of WIPs, random number generators help a lot.

+When do you write?

Well, not damn much for the last week or so, and before that writing was my dayjob so I scheduled periods of fic-writing in between periods of original-romance-writing to break things up and avoid feeling too all-work-and-no-play about writing. Before that, I tended to sneak in writing at work and also write in the evenings, especially while chatting with my alpha/beta readers. So... could be pretty much anytime I’m in front of a computer, which is... most of my waking hours, most of the time.

+How often do you write?

Once again: not damn much lately because things have been a bit. wild. But prior to The Upheaval, pretty much five or six days a week (I would do five-ish days a week Going To Work to write, plus a semi-regular evening meetup one night on the weekend to sit in a coffeeshop and write with other writers). 

I always always wanted to be a professional writer, so I was reading writing-advice books of the variety written by working SF/Fantasy writers when I was 10 or 11 and internalized all their advice, which certainly included the “if you want to write, write every day” chestnut, and so I knew that and could have repeated it with great assurance of its validity anytime since I was in middle school, but it was only maybe five or six years ago that I actually seriously connected that to my own writing practice, particularly in the sense of--whether you feel inspired or not, whether you want to or not, get some words out as regularly as you can.

+Do you take requests?

Only after we reach friendship level 7. Or if I have specifically opened myself up for requests for some very specific reason like a charity auction or something, and even then I will reserve the right to be really wary of your requests.

+Is there a genre or type of story you want to write but are hesitant to?

I avoid writing historically-set stuff because I know Just Enough to know how much research I would want to do to Get Things Right and that is a rabbit hole I don’t need to send myself down when I have so many modern-set ideas where I can just roll with it and put down any goofs to “well it’s like that in the Marvel universe” or “well it’s like that in the universe where werewolves became widely known about fifteen years ago in a lengthy revelation that was traumatic in various ways for basically all werewolves alive at the time, especially the children and teens who had to deal with this happening but had no control over how it affected them.”

For instance.

+Any inspirational quotes, videos, tricks, articles, etc that help you stay motivated?

...Prescription amphetamines mostly? I have the ADHD, so “staying motivated” to do literally anything is a deeply questionable proposition. What works a lot better is to have a pretty reliable schedule where there is a time, or multiple times, in the day when it is Time To Work On The Thing. And if I’m particularly stuck, such that I arrive at Time To Work On The Thing and just go blank, that is usually time to show the most recent bit of the story to someone and talk with them about what I’m doing next, because actually talking about it with another person tends to jump-start my brain into focusing on the thing and working out what’s next and sometimes does in fact stir up enough enthusiasm to get me going without it having to be Time To Make The Donuts.

+Go to page 7 of your WIP, skip to the 7th line, and share 7 sentences:

I have lots of things in progress but only one that is more than 7 pages long where the seventh page isn’t in a chapter already posted, which I have also worked on this month, SO. From the Ace!Bitty epic, slightly more than seven very long and winding sentences:

“I thought he was asking because it was how he felt, and I was trying to be a... good teammate, a friend--I was older, I was trying to look out for him. So I kept saying, oh, that doesn't seem so weird, and I think everyone feels like that sometimes..." 

Bitty laughed, and Jack grinned and pressed on, watching Bitty's face to see if he was properly lightening the mood.  

"He wound up taking me to the ace spectrum group on campus--oh, hey, Bits, there's a group for this, when you get back to campus, I know I still see their flyers around all the time, because it reminds me of that time. They're really friendly, they didn't even get mad at me and Shitty for showing up and being idiots at each other and everyone else."  

Jack paused, considering what would be an added selling point for anyone else, and added cautiously, "I think the cake at the meetings is from the grocery store, though." 

"From the--!" Bitty looked horrified. "But--what if there are little frogs just figuring this out, and they--"  

Jack did not point out that, in this department, Bitty himself was the frog just figuring this out.

Annnnd lazytagging whoever wants to do the meme! Say I tagged you, it’s cool, you’re allowed! :D

[obviouslybooks]

I wasn’t going to do this…and I’m still not technically posting my review of Carry On early, but I will post my Carry On rant.  This rant will be the things I DID NOT LIKE about Carry On and if that isn’t your cup of tea, don’t drink it, otherwise, I’ll see you under the cut.  

Obviously…spoilers.

We all know this was a self-indulgent and thinly veiled Drarry rewrite and I’m all for that, but their relationship did not develop?like?at all.  It just happened.  There was so little chemistry and there was an immediate hang up on OH GOD(ohwaitcan’tsaythat)MERLIN(shitwe’resupposedtobepretendingthisisn’tdrarryfic)CROWLEY?!! Is HE? isn’t he?  But is sIMON GAAAY?  

But you’re either Gay™ or Not Gay™ …and the idea of bisexuality was never even considered an option, thought, possibility, or anything.  It was all he’s gay or not gay.  And while the book never gave a definitive answer, I (a Bisexual™) was left with the proverbial bad taste in my mouth.  Now I don’t want to freak out and start screaming “THIS WAS BIPHOBIC” but it did come across as a bit biphobic. Like bruh, Simon could be attracted to Agatha AND Baz.  Or, maybe he wasn’t attracted to anyone until he was attracted to Baz *cough*demisexual*cough*…Come on Rainbow, gurl…get your shit together…

Speaking of getting your shit together, Ebb was a lesbian.  How do I know this?  Because of two throw-away statements from her brother, one of which was lesbophobic and one was obscure enough that it may have gone overlooked.  If you didn’t know dryads are female oak tree minor deities, you could miss that.  Also, there was some shit about giving Ebb shit for being a virgin (don’t give virgins shit) and questioning if she was still a virgin (why is Nicodemus so concerned with his sisters sex life?) and made the off-hand comment about “does feeling up other girls even count?”…and yes this is on page 408 of the US hardcover edition (1st edition if I’m correct) and hoo buddy am I not ok with that.  So, if this was never part of her character in any other way, and without these two sentences she wouldn’t have had a canon sexuality, why was it even put in here?  Maybe representation?  Maybe?  Hey, Ebb is a very powerful mage but decided to live the dirty life of a school grounds goatherd.  ok.

I thought I was done with that last paragraph, but I guess not…What queer girl wants to read a book that has a character blatantly saying that their way of having sex isn’t sex?  Eew.  Now I’m done.

You know who else was wlw?  Trixie the pixie, Trixie who never makes an on-page appearance…Trixie, the roommate Penelope hates because she’s a pixie. But boy-howdy do we know she’s terrible.  

You know who else is terrible(sarcasm___)))?  Philippa…you know why? because she had a crush on Simon!  Well, better steal her voice and throw her out of the book and never let her come back. 

And don’t get me started on Agatha…she’s emotional, likes pretty things, isn’t cut out for the adventure life, doesn’t like to be the damsel in distress but doesn’t possess the means necessary to be a hero, she likes boys, she likes manicures, she’s blonde with blue eyes (I think they were blue…they were light)…and somehow we were led to fucking hate her.  Why?  Why are we demonizing feminine white girls?  There’s nothing wrong with being girly, or not wanting to go fight dragons, and sTOP FOR THE LOVE OF LITERATURE STOP PORTRAYING EMOTIONAL GIRLS AS UNLIKABLE!!! FUCK!

Am I calling Ms. Rowell biphobic? not necessarily, but Baz is. Am I calling Ms. Rowell lesbophobic? not necessarily, but Nicodemus is.

Ok, let’s talk about character deaths.  

So, I may be missing one, but we have a few unnamed baddies (a goblin, some vampires with no names, some numpties with no names) Lily and Narcissa, oh, I mean, Lucy and Natasha…the mothers.  We have the Mage…the Bad Guy™.  And we have Ebb…a lesbian.  

Hmm…handful of women, and the Bad Guy™.  Not a nice demographic.

So, guess we can add this to the Dead Lesbian trope.  Why did Ebb die?  Uh, the Mage was a dick?  I guess.  It could have been left out.  She could have lived.  it wasn’t a huge cathartic event, it happened moments before Harry Simon killed Voldemort the Mage with a non-lethal spell. They mentioned covering her body where it fell at the time of her death, but there was no emotion given to her.  She was written out to be a powerful (but unfulfilled) crybaby mage and when she died, it was like “ok, we’re done with her.”  They never even mention her brother…the one who was responsible for sending Baz to Watford at that moment in the first place.  Nicodemus wanted to save his sister, was denied the chance, sister died, neither character was mentioned again.  

AND DON’T GET ME FUCKING STARTED ON THE WAY SIMON SACRIFICED HIS MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!****still angry screaming**** WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MAKE HIM SACRIFICE HIS MAGIC only to turn around and have him keep his wings and tail…like ok, let’s make him sacrifice his magic, he’ll be a Normal…but not too Normal, or else he’s not important anymore…BOOM.wings&tail. Oh, but he can’t control them….he can’t hide them, he needs to be completely dependent on another mage to hide his wings and tail magically for him…therefore he is now unable to be independent and will now be unable to live life without daily spells from people.  

Does this imply some icky points about him staying with Baz romantically? yes.  Does this imply some icky points of imposing upon Penny once she wants to leave for America to be with her boyfriend.  Yes.  Does this make no fucking sense?  IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE.  

If you want to have a character sacrifice magic, AND THEN MAKE THEM DEPENDENT ON MAGIC TO EVEN LEAVE THE FUCKING HOUSE, you don’t seem to be doing the sacrifice thing correctly.  What if he and Baz realize they don’t want to be together?  Simon is stuck.. Mages are encouraged to be with other mages…Simon isn’t a mage.  Simon can’t be with a Normal, he’s got goddamned wings and a tail.  This has toxic woven all through it.  

But it’s ok, Baz still wants to be with him, and now he isn’t jealous of him and his power…and He’ll Always Feel Sorry For Him…eew. (yes, this is a paraphrase)…Simon feels like he will never be able to keep up, that he will always be less than Baz.  OH BUT THEY CHOOSE TO BE TOGETHER.  This is not the basis of a healthy relationship.  If you strongly feel that you are inferior to your partner and always will be, THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING!

tl:dr; just go read fanfiction…drarry, snowbaz, either will do. AND BE NICE TO GIRLS! this was bordering on mlm fetishistic.  

p.s. it’s 1:43 a.m. and I have to be up for work in less than 5 hours. fml but I had to say this shit.

p.p.s. the longer I worked on writing this, the less I liked the book…I may end up changing my rating…or at least make notes of what I did like to balance this shit out before I do my actual review.

***edit*** I did some fact checking, and it wasn’t even Ebb that Simon covered with the jacket after she died, he covered the body of the fucking MAGE right after he stabbed Ebb in the chest then tried to take Simon’s magic. Like…wtf… yeah he’s your father, but YOU NEVER FIND THAT OUT!

[aurimeanswind]

Opening at the Close—Sunday Chats (12-3-17)

This is the last first Sunday of 2017, which is crazy to think. We are in the final stretch of 2017, arguably one of the worst political years for the US ever, one of my most difficult personal years, and also one of if not definitively the best years for video games.

The Written Word, 1000x Over

What’s also coming to a close is my habit of writing every day about games. It’s been a big project and exercise for me, and this week I will hit 1000 consecutive days writing, and then I plan on taking some well-earned days off, creatively. I’m sure my mind will still be buzzing with ideas, as it always is, but I think I’ve learned there is a bit of a balance with that; a give and take to putting in so much work.

I’ve got something going up on Tuesday over on IrrationalPassions.com that anyone interested in my writing career over the last 1000 days should definitely check out. I want it to be generally a surprise, the format at least, but it’ll be worth a read I hope. 

Today, in the spirit of this big thing I’ve been doing for nearly 3 years ending, I asked you all, lovely readers of Sunday Chats, to tell me a project that you embarked on for a great amount of time, and where it left you at its close. Writing is one of those things that I think will be inherent to a lot of my work going forward, no matter what, but it’s definitely changed a lot for me over this time. And I think big projects can do that to you, and how you feel at the end of them really have an effect on what you do in the future. They instill this knowledge that you carry with you.

Whether its a podcast, a website, a show, or something else entirely, I think there were a lot of great stories written in for Sunday Chats this week, so let’s take a look at them.

Boy howdy that sounds like an undertaking. I’ve been a bit familiar with script writing because I’ve looked at it as something I maybe wanted to do at some point, and the whole different look and feel for script writing really threw me off. 

But I can’t imagine that just because I can’t really see myself successfully setting up a scene or a shot. Now you, Ben, obviously I can see you doing it. You’re like Mr. Film Studies in my heart of hearts. That’s really incredible. I don’t know if you plan on selling the script or shooting it or making it happen, but I believe in you.

Good luck finishing it, and good luck with the rewrites. I know you can do it.

I think that feeling of moving on is natural. I think there are parts of IP that have felt that way for me too, and things have changed so much in that regard. 

But I think the managing people, and a team, that’s the thing to hold onto. That’s something that takes a level of dedication that I believe gets undersold a lot, because it demands so much of you and who you are. That person starts to change from the person you are with your friends to the one you are with your team, and that relationship is always different. At least, this is always in my experience. 

But that’s super rad! Running a theatre sounds like just... my god so much work. I think about budgets and sets and costumes, let alone actors, and people flaking, and choosing productions, and the upkeep on the technical side of things (lights, mics, etc). It’s like running a live TV show or a set, only there is no take-backsies when someone drops an F-bomb in frustration when they mess something up mid show, which I doubt happens but I feel like would happen all the time if I was in theatre.

PS: 300 days is not measly.

That’s a huge bit. For folks who don’t know, SMYN was a really important show to me and my personal growth, but also knowing when to put something to rest is a big thing too. 

It’s something I think about with Irrational Passions Podcast a lot, a show that isn’t necessarily in the running to be cancelled or anything here, but all good things must end, so it’s a long hard look at what that ending is, and where it goes from there.

But that show also clearly had a huge impact on your life beyond that. Just like IP has been for me, I think podcasting turns out to be one of the most oddly social experiences out there, not necessarily because of the listeners, but because of the guests and other podcasters you meet along the way.

Oh this, this definitely hits close to home. Being the editor is hard, because not only are you motivating people, but you’re also taking what they have then been motivated to write, and sending it back to them with red lines all over it.

But that coordination of getting an actual product done at the end of it all is something I don’t know. I think seeing the name in the print is a big deal. I only ever had one thing published for my college newspaper when I took my journalism class, and it was assuredly not my proudest work. I think if you look back and feel that pride, especially over two years, that you did something great, even if you had to carry the paper on your back sometimes.

Yeah that mid-project reflection is always fun. And I think if you look at how that show has changed as far as having guests and format, you should be proud. It’s become something with multiple voices that is something new and different every week, and I think that’s cool. We try and emulate that same feeling with guests on IP.

I love the feeling of collaborating with folks just as passionate and into something as you are. It’s been one of the best parts about Farm to Tower, which is hosted by four/five of the “hosts” of their own shows, so it’s kind of a powerhouse set of different ideas and personalities meshing together. 

But that’s awesome to feel surrounded with folks like that. I’m super happy to hear that man. I need to check out this show!

Christ, how I didn’t know Cameron’s character in this pilot episode was named Xander O’Neill until just now is embarrassing...

Now I love this too because Guide-work never gets thanked for it. This is the grunt work of all grunt work, and especially on something like Dark Souls, which just sounds so arduous. 

But that’s awesome, and I’m sure some folks still use those guides today too. It’s kind of a piece that keeps living on. Again, thankless work. But you’re one of the hardest working motherfuckers out there Jake, so I know you put in 120% on that.

Ah Mr. Journalist and published author over here!

Another thing, like the newspaper, that is about building it up, tearing it down, and the result is a physical thing in your hand. I think holding that first published book in your hands is a feeling like... well, I can’t even imagine, honestly. That’s hugely impressive.

But it’s cool to know how long it took because I’ve known about The Spy and the Maven (a great tile, btw) for a while but I never had a good grasp on the timeline.

That’s still so rad, and people should read. Hell, I should read it. Now what do I have to do to be the voice of narration on the audiobook?

That’s really incredible! But whoa, 98-person class of graduates? That is crazy small. Mine was maybe close to 500? I think? Maybe 400? I don’t exactly remember, but there were a lot of us.

I’ve always wanted to do one of those deep-dive documentary style videos that has interviews and reflections and big, emotional looks back. And to be in charge of something like that for high school sounds really taxing, but also rewarding. The best part is I’m sure not only you look back on that fondly, but everyone in that class too, thinks of that thing as a great endnote to all that work.

Ahh yeah, there is always the project that doesn’t come to light. Honestly, I’m surprised this is the first one mentioned so far in these submissions.

I think it’s easy to be discouraged at it not coming to light, but those six months were assuredly not wasted. You spent time with people, you collaborated, and you made something, whether it released or not. Those skills were still put to use and used and crafted, so I think you look back at what you gained personally from something like that, and there is nothing to be discouraged about.

That’s incredibly awesome though, I’ll definitely look into this VR demo, just to see what it was all about. I hope in future, your next project, gets to see the light of day, and I wish you all the best luck in that.

Yeah and I very much understand this since you’ve been talking about it with me. I think that’s totally normal, wanting to stretch outside of the realm you are in because, at times, it can feel confining. It’s almost how I feel with writing now that I’ve “been in it” for so long.

But you can take that meticulous skill and apply it to something going forward. It’ll just make whatever the next kind of thing you work on that much better. 

And I hope all the folks that post in the YouTube comments talking about how hot those transitions are (see: me) made you at least feel a bit better about it.

I really would want to see this thesis. Obviously huge years for video games, especially with the release of the Wii, and I’d love to see your argument for them. But you should be proud of that. In all the things that folks have been able to walk away with from their projects, a degree is definitely fucking up there!

That’s awesome! Another look in the project, or a look from within. I think taking something apart and really picking at it on an analytical level has been some of the best and most fun writing I have engaged with. Those case studies, scripts for a new show I have been writing forever, have been those kinds of things, and really sitting in something, especially games, is incredibly satisfying for me.

What I love here too is that you’ve found something that speaks very directly to you too. I’ve been hearing all the good vibes on Night in the Woods lately, and I may have to see it before year’s end.

Thank you all, so much, for your stories and your projects. There were a few others that were submitted but they didn’t quite fit the format like the rest of these did. Or they were just jokes. Which is fine, but these all were too good not to highlight. I tried to get my friend Jazz to write in about her winning awards in journalism for reporting on excessive force from the police on her college campus, because it’s like, one of the (many) things I am incredibly proud of her for, but I figured I’d just embarrass her by giving her a shoutout here.

These projects remind me a ton of my writing one I am in right now, and of course, Irrational Passions, which had grown and mutated in ways I couldn’t expect. The running theme is exhaustion, pride, and many other mixed feelings. Thank you all for sharing these. I’ll let you know how I feel at the end of writing when it’s over in... well, two days. 

I wanted to write about games in this Chats as well, but it’s just far too long, and far too good to spoil. I have many thoughts of Wolfenstein 2, that’s really all. 

But it’s worth noting that even though I may not be writing everyday going forward, I don’t see Sunday Chats ending anytime soon. People just seem to like it too much, and I definitely love it.

But until next Sunday, at the very least,

keep it real.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 5/29/17

Bloom Into You, Vol. 2 | By Nakatani Nio | Seven Seas – While there is a lot of yuri out there that can be defined by the words “what is this strange feeling in my heart?,” I’m not sure if any of them are quite as fascinating as Yuu. I’m not entirely sure if this manga is going to go with “Yuu is asexual,” but the first couple of volumes can certainly be read at that. She’s not really aromantic, though, and her relationship with Touko is complicated—and becoming known to others, who may also be asexual. Touko, meanwhile, is the ever-popular “problematic” we see in so many yuri titles as well, and is having trouble balancing that line between consent and just giving in to her desires. Bloom Into You may start like typical yuri, but it’s not headed that way. Good stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Chihayafuru, Vol. 2 | By Yuki Suetsuki | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Oh, happy sigh. I do love Chihayafuru so much. In this volume, we see the conclusion to the elementary tournament Chihaya, Taichi, and Arata have entered. Sadly, they lose and Arata moves away not long after. Chihaya is certain that they’ll meet again, but as we skip ahead three years to high school, it’s clear that they haven’t really kept in contact. She’s determined to start a karuta club and makes Taichi promise to join if she finally achieves class A ranking. Seeing her compete rekindles his own love of karuta, but when she calls Arata to tell him the good news, she learns he’s stopped playing for a really awful reason. I actually got sniffly when they came face to face again at last. This is the kind of manga where I wish I had dozens of volumes stacked up to marathon. Unequivocally recommended. – Michelle Smith

The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 3 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Although I enjoy a good cliffhanger as much as the next person, I’m not normally as invested in their outcome as I was for the one at the end of volume two of this series. Before we find out exactly what Tsuzaki and Kazami mean by “sharing” Mikuri, however, there’s an interlude where she and her fake husband must field questions from relatives about their procreation plans. I really enjoy the way Umino is plotting this series—it makes sense why Mikuri would want to take Kazami up on his arrangement, and neatly dovetails into her aunt finding out about it, prompting her to be concerned about the nature of her niece’s marriage. Mikuri doesn’t engage in any flights of fancy this time, but she does do a lot of psychoanalyzing her husband, which is interesting. Definitely looking forward to volume four! – Michelle Smith

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 1 | By Tsukumizu | Yen Press – I’m not entirely sure what to make of Girls’ Last Tour. Chito and Yuuri are two chibi-faced young women roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland on their Kettenkrad motorbike, just trying to survive. There are parts of this series I really liked. I love the depictions of desolate cities, or cavernous interiors… it reminds me a little of BLAME! in that respect, which is a major compliment. Too, I like their brief interaction with a guy named Kanazawa, who has found meaning for his life in creating maps, and that other levels exist where conditions might be different. I find that I really want to know how things turned out this way. That said, I strenuously dislike Yuuri, and there are some really unfunny gags featuring her that I guess are supposed to be moe or something but just piss me off. Still, I’ll be continuing! – Michelle Smith

Golden Time, Vol. 7 | By Yuyuko Takemiya and Umechazuke | Seven Seas – Linda is mostly absent from this volume, which allows us to focus on the odd triangle between Kouko, Banri, and Banri’s old self, which seems to literally be sabotaging his relationship, though he’s also being helped by coincidental disaster and bad choices, particularly “don’t drive home when you’re all sleepy,” which leads to Kouko, understandably, having a complete nervous breakdown as several of her long-standing issues combine with nightmares she’s having about the car accident. Fortunately, Bari gets over his own issues to an extent in time to be there for her, and much to my surprise we get a ‘girlfriend’s dad’ who’s supportive and not a caricature. As good as ever. – Sean Gaffney

Kase-san and Bento | By Hiromi Takashima | Seven Seas – After getting together in the first volume, this second in the “Kase-san and” series continues to show off the awkwardness that comes with having just gotten together. Both girls still don’t know each other that well, and misunderstandings abound. But they’re all relatively easy to resolve misunderstandings, which is good, because no one is reading this for overwrought lesbian drama. We’re reading it because Yamada is adorable, Kase-san is spunky, and the two of them together are wonderful. There are a few more kisses, and Yamada is slowly gaining confidence. And there are bentos. Which, you know, you would expect thanks to the title. Cuteness personified. – Sean Gaffney

Maid-sama!, Vols. 15-16 | By Hiro Fujiwara | Viz Media – I had thought Maid-sama ended with volume sixteen, but I was wrong. And indeed, much of this volume is about reminding me that it’s not just as simple as “Misaki admits she likes him, the end.” Usui comes with baggage, though, and we learn a lot about that baggage in this volume, including the story of how his parents met—it’s steeped in class issues and tragedy. And as such Misaki, who is as common as they come, has it hammered into her that she can never be with him as she can’t cross those class barrier. Misaki, of course, is ready to kick your class barrier down with her best quality—her sheer stubbornness. Oh yes, and Misaki’s father returns. Please ignore that entire plotline; it’s awful. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 6 | By Aya Kanno | Viz Media – There’s a lot of good stuff going on in this volume, not the least of which is the tragic death of a major character, but it’s sort of hard to get past THAT SCENE. I said “poor Anne” at the end of my last review, and boy, I wasn’t kidding, though frankly she takes it far better than I expected. But man, Margaret. She’s always been one of my favorite Shakespeare villains, as well as one of his best female characters, and BOY HOWDY does Kanno convey that in a fantastic way. You want to recoil from the page. As for Henry and Richard, I think by necessity we are headed to the end of that relationship soon, unless there’s some rewriting of canon beyond what we’ve already seen. Riveting. -Sean Gaffney

Toriko, Vol. 38 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Thankfully, this volume was considerably more interesting than the previous one, though I am still grateful we’re heading for the end. Most of the volume focuses on Komatsu and the other cooks, and I am reminded that this is really Komatsu’s story as much as Toriko’s, and he’s had a lot farther to develop. Beyond that, we have the usual impressive shone n stunts, monsters galore, and a decent amount of food, though I miss the days when food was the only thing driving this manga. And again, the relationship between Toriko and Komatsu may not be explicitly gay, but it’s certainly far deeper than any relationships the two of them have with their love interests. Keep at it if you’ve been reading it. – Sean Gaffney

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 5 | By Tomo Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics – The Tenpei Cup has come to an end, and Tatara Fujita must return to normal life. After successfully getting into high school, he is upfront about his love of dancesport in his self-introduction, earning the mockery of the girl who sits in front of him, Chinatsu Hiyama. However, it soon becomes apparent that not only is Chinatsu a big fan of Sengoku and his partner, Chizuru Hongo, but she has some experience with ballroom dance. Hey, how convenient that such a character shows up right when Tatara is in need of a new partner! Imagine that. Anyway, this is mostly a transitional volume, and featured a couple of people saying unkind things about their overweight friend, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as previous volumes. I’m still on board for the next one, though. – Michelle Smith

By: Michelle Smith