#category: CELESTE HEART

[velviflags]

CELESTE HEART » Specutien && Specusian

Link to the flag/term : [X]

[taffy-glitch]

For anonymous questions:

1) Are you more of a dog person or a cat person?

2) any favorite books?

3) what genres of game do you like best?

oooohohoho

I love both..... but I am more on the cat person side. Dogs are more likely to scare me a little unfortunately

Hard to choose, if only cuz I don't do the most reading.... It may be predictable of me but. I do love The Murderbot Diaries. Though not sure if that counts since it's a series. I've also got a soft spot for some of the stuff I loved as a kid, like the Secret Series..... though I obviously haven't read it in a while. Anddddd in terms of nonfiction, I've been recommending basically everyone to read Ace by Angela Chen (or listen to the audiobook. that's what I did. Also what I did for Murderbot)

OK OK SO my top picks are basically always 1. RPGs 2. Puzzle/mystery games 3. Rhythm games. Not necessarily in that order. I love stories in games I like figuring things out (though I am not necessarily good at it) and. of course. i LOVE to jam out.

[murfpersonalblog]

My 2 cents on IWTV S2's FYC Emmy's

*sigh* Imma be real y'all: I doubt S2 will get any nominations. 😔 This show's been getting snubbed left right & center, and I'm sick of it. Not even a GLAAD award ffs, wtf.

What I NEED is for Jacob to get nominated, istg. 🙏 He's been the lead actor for 2 immaculate seasons in a row, and CRICKETS. 2x5 was a return to form a la S1, where it felt like that 2-person play/3-person play Rolin described. Jacob & Assad went straight bonkers--A Marriage Story full stop--and it hurts my heart that cuz of how listings determine which actors get submitted for nominations, Assad Zaman's cannot be considered; same way Ben Daniels can't be considered (Ben was my 3rd fave actor this season after Jacob & Delainey). (I'm tired of talking about Sam, the fix is in if he gets nominated (highly doubt it tbh) and Jacob doesn't.)

I don't realistically expect Delainey to be nominated, though ofc she 100% deserves it. Every reactor I watched burst into tears during 2x7, Delainey was incredible.

Matter fact, 2x7 was immaculate--IDKY 2x8 is even being considered, in comparison. 🤔 IMO 2x7 was the 2nd best ep of both seasons (after the Pilot), as the entire ensemble came together to put on that masterful Trial. It was an enormous production, and I was just blown away the entire time, seeing the infamous Trial finally on screen in all its glory for the first time. A tour de force.

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation — Paul Barritt (Animator, 207)

It'd be so cool for IWTV to get nominated for its animation in 2x7! That'd be such a huge W for Celeste & Estelle's actresses, too; since Rolin specifically head-hunted them for their work with Paul Barritt's 1927 company doing their creative animation/acting work together.

Outstanding Period Costumes — Carol Cutshall (Costume Designer)

I rave about Carol all the time (x x x x), cuz she's THE GOAT . 😤

So these are the three nominations I REALLY hope go through. I'm setting my expectations low, but if nothing else, PLEASE let Jacob, Paul Barritt, and Carol get their flowers. PLEASE. 🙏🙏🙏

[rubberduckyrye]

Me: yay! I get to talk about my favourite oc of the bunch now!

My brain: hey what if I *forces me to hyperfixate on how I'm rewriting Angie instead*

So I'm talking about Angie instead, more specifically what steps I want to take to make her less.... problematic?(Best word I could think of) But for plot reasons I have to have some reference to what she's like in canon.

I mostly focused on Angie's religious side for the rewrite. She's no longer monotheistic and instead follows a polytheistic faith, specifically Hawaiian. Most of the time when she talks about her gods she specifies which one, like she'll say that "Lono will keep you in good fortune". I've also made it so that her whole "Kami-sama can't answer cause he's taking a nap" thing is just a light hearted joke she makes when people mixes up or gets her gods wrong.

Now the blood sacrifices-

They are not gone, instead I've made it so that Angie's community saw blood as the soul itself. So her island had simply had a tradition where they made a religious dish for weddings that the newly weds eat, the dish contains the blood of the couple and it represents their souls mixing and becoming one. They also tended to have a culture of solving spiritual problems (ex: depression, personality disorders, trauma) by having the person bleed out the damaged part of their soul.

There's definitely more to consider but I don't remember it and I don't know where to look. Criticism and advice from you or someone else reading this is welcome :P

Okay so.

I like your spirit, you're on the right track and going places, but. I would just remove the blood thing entirely. If you want to go the route of Headcanoning the problematic away that's one thing, but since you're changing the story up anyway, so you might as well throw out the entire suitcase.

I was actually having a discussion with my partner about the stereotypes Angie presents just last night, as was going to reblog my posts on her racists caricature elements with a slight amendment.

I was struggling to find resources that specifically talked about Native Pacific Islanders being stereotyped as wild savages, and I was complaining to celest on how no one was talking about it and I felt like I wasn't able to do research right anymore. She calmly explained to me why I was having those issues and why no one seems to talk about the "savage Pacific Islander" trope we had seen so many times in movies.

1. The term Pacific Islander is, itself, a problem--as well as terms like Native Hawaiian, and other terms that are just not really used much in discussions about media. That's why I was getting so little information when I was trying to research of my own.

2, and this is the kicker: The stereotype of "Savage Pacific Islander" actually IS talked about as a trope--it's just under the same category as when we talk about the "Savage Native" (Like Native American, or the savage Indian (Indian being used incorrectly to talk about Native tribes of America) the whole Damn time.

While this specific link talks about a slightly different iteration of it, the Savage Native (I refuse to call them Indians that is blatantly incorrect) also has ties to human sacrifices and blood sacrifices, all of which paint indigenous people and culture that in a bad light.

The traditional acts you described could be used in a real life culture somewhere in the world, idk, but I would advise against using it regardless. The use of blood in any kind of ritual is seen as savage or cult like, which with the Native Savage Stereotypes, you REALLY want to avoid if you're making up new shit. Even if you explain it away and make it more symbolic, the fact you're writing a new story means you really should not have the blood thing at all.

As for changing up her religion, I do quite like it! I myself wasn't sure if I should use the Atua or the Kupua as a replacement, and it's something I'm still on the dense about since I am making it blatant that she is Native Hawaiian. I was personally advised by Celest to keep it as the Atua for recognizability's sake, and it'll allow me to throw in some fun facts about actual Atua, but I still can't find anyone who will tell me if Atua and Kupua are interchangeable.

I suggest you do as MUCH research as you can about the culture of your choosing. Like for example: Native Hawaiians sometimes have names that mean disgusting or horrible things, not because their parents cursed them though--in fact it's the opposite. Ugly names are sometimes given to a child to protect them from evil spirits and bad omens if they get sick or hurt in some way. I HV that Angie actually has an ugly name that the Atua call her on her head, one that her mama gave her, and Angie is sort of a white Christian name that was probably forced onto her ngl.

Anyway.

Do research on bad tropes for Pacific Islanders, and especially more research on the "Native Savage" tropes and anything cult related to it. Do research on Hawaiian and native Hawaiian cultures and be respectful about them.

I hope this helps (and sorry if I sound abrasive or curt) xndjxjsjnxaj

[moonpool-system]

im a bit confused by what you meant when you said you were a "pop culture pagan chaos witch" on that post of mine, would you be willing to explain what it is? is it like- worshipping fictional religions? and if so how exactly would one go about becoming one :0 /genq

Hellooo 👋🏽 so pop culture paganism and chaos witchcraft are actually two separate categories that're pretty connected. Pop Culture Paganism is an umbrella term that refers to any sort of spirituality that operates under a framework from a fictional source that isn't originally religious mythology. For example, there are many people who follow the Jedi or Sith codes respectively, and consider their practices to be working with the Force.

There are a good few interpretations for how this works exactly, but the most common one is based in Chaos Witchcraft, sometimes called Chaos Paganism, Chaos Magick, or Khaos Magick. This is a subdivision of witchcraft based upon Chaos Theory and the concept of the Collective Subconscious. (You might recognize this from Persona games, but they're based in real psychological theories) for a very short version, it's the concept that magic is derived from the buildup and exchange of mental energy - therefore, things that are given mental energy will take form in the immaterial plane, and then be able to be focused upon and return energy back. By this line of thinking, the Christain-umbrella god would be an amalgamation of all the beliefs put into him over the many years people have had a concept of him, and this mass of energy is where Christain-umbrella people draw their spiritual experiences from. At the same time, this same concept applies to fictional motifs and characters - Hylia from The Legend of Zelda would also be an amalgamation of all the beliefs put into her over the many years people have had a concept of her, from game designers to players to fans to people hearing of her thirdhand. This mass of energy is where worshippers of Hylia operating under this logic draw their spiritual experiences from.

"Khaos/Chaos" as a term stems from the Greek deity encompassing the birth of all existence and spacetime, and is used to describe the ambient mental energy pervading the universe that makes up magic under this belief system. You'll often see Chaos Pagans refer to deities as "collective thoughtforms", an entity formed in the collective subconscious from the collective awareness of multiple people. Chaos magick is the power of utilizing belief as a form of energy to draw from.

Another semi-common reason for Pop Culture Paganism is plain and simple string theory. If you are both already interested in working with magical energy, and also considering string theory & the theory of ten dimensions to be completely correct, then it's not a very far logical leap to consider it possible to draw energy from countless other universes.

Personally, we believe in both! So we're not 100% certain where exactly our energy is coming from, whether it be the collective concept in this world or the ones from other universes mirroring the fictional source I don't know. We think it's probably both at once, but we're perfectly okay with it "actually" being one or the other.

Bonus: some pop culture pagan beliefs in the system!

- a few Sith, a few Jedi, and a few unaligned Force Users

- Some followers of Hylia and the Golden/Triple Goddesses from the Zelda games

- Celeste Mountain / The Heart of the Mountain from Celeste (this one's actually a headspace deity that's also a fictive!)

- Moonlight Cookie & Sea Fairy Cookie from Cookie Run (more headspace deities)

- the Wizards from Cookie Run (NOT THE WITCHES)

- Hypnos, Thanatos, Nyx, Hermes, and Khaos (ironically) but with heavy lean towards the Hades video game interpretations of them (we add this because it's intertwined for us. To us, interpretations from historical Greek texts and the interpretations from the game are just two facets of the the same collective deity. A large part of the system identifies as a "Hellenic Chaos Witch")

- Starclan (Warrior Cats)

- The Void / Shade Lord from Hollow Knight (The Radiance also but more in a "respectfully please don't kick our ass" kind of way)

- shoutout to our ppl who got interested in regular shadow work because of Persona

[moonlit-mystery-writer]

🧡 ORANGE HEART,  🖤 BLACK HEART  &  🤔 THINKING FACE — Celeste!

Emoji Oc Questions

🧡 ORANGE HEART — does your oc tend to prioritize family or friends?

See, this is hard, because friends and family tend to fill the same category for Celeste. If she desperately had to pick though, family. She’s extremely maternal by nature, so of course she picks her family; her kids and her spouses.

🖤 BLACK HEART — has your oc killed or seriously wounded anyone before? have they broken someone's heart and/or broken someone's trust?

Celeste’s main job is as an assassin, so yes she’s killed. Broken someone’s heart though? She tries not to. Even in her idol work, she’s extremely open about the fact she’s married. Trust? Yes, mostly that of targets she was tricking.

🤔 THINKING FACE — what are some of your oc's quirks/mannerisms?

This’ll be fun! Firstly, Celeste is from the Midwest of the United States, so she will say and has said things like “Ope!” And “Yeah no yeah!” And even “No yeah no.” A good handful of her kids have picked up on these habits as well. Xanxus will never admit it and no one else heard, but even he went “Ope” once.

Other “quirks” would be how she stims most times. From little dances to whistling to making up and singing little songs, her love of music and dance is deeply woven into how she stims. Not to say that’s the only way she’ll do it. She also will bounce her leg, shake her hands, and (this is a bad habit and a stim) pick at her skin.

[gontagokuhara]

What if I also asked some pointy objects hypotheticals once again 👉👈👉👈 I want to like ask me silly little questions without asking anything that may reveal The Lore™ so as for my 3am hypothetical questions (i could only think of 3):

-are meetings mandatory/can anyone call them?🤔

-generally how do the demis fare in school (since they all have different schooling and kokichi allegedly cheats off of kaede 😭)

-[in regards to all the characters/pairings,] on a scale of most toxic to least toxic which pointy objects pairings do you think are at the ends of the scale 😭

(Ngl last question was a self-indulgent way to share my opinions LOL for most toxic I vote junko+mikan BOOOO let my girl mikan go (although idk if she's all that good from that whole betrayal thing and attempted child murder thing but still booooo THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE U MIKAN) , for most healthy I vote hmmm uhm I actually vote Maki and Kaede!!! I LOVE their communication and lore in this story this fic singlehandedly made me ship them 10× more than shuichi+kaede actually) Okay BYEEE goodnight heart emojis *LOUD SNORE* mememmemeeme

HELLOOOOOO CIDER MY BELOVED <3 as always i adore your questions and comments and you have brought me some FUN ones so here we go off beneath the cut to indulge the terminal pointy objects brainworms

(spoilers? no. but i Do do some dancing around some interesting topics. teehee)

so: godly meetings! we've heard quite a bit about them, but don't actually know that much other than: they happen when important events take place, they're meant to be kept hush-hush from mortals, and even at the best of times they're kind of a veritable shitshow with even Career Politician Kiyotaka losing his patience with how they pan out. a big group of silly characters from this series all in a group yelling at each other following big things happening.....where have i heard that before?

to answer your more specific question: theoretically anyone could call a meeting, and they definitely have in the past, but generally one of the big five gods are at the helm. in which case they are mandatory, but whether or not all of the gods (of which there are a few dozen) show up is......another issue entirely. lmfao. most of the big five rarely ever go Lmfao it's usually hajime/makoto, celeste skipped the last several for uh. Rantarou Reasons. usually only hajime Or nagito go so one of them can stay at camp. most times absences are more of an annoyance than anything but since the spear went missing (and junko started calling meetings) said absences end up with a way worse impact.

but in Normal times like i said usually hajime or nagito stay behind, and unless there's an absolute emergency one of them is always at camp to keep an eye on the kids. which includes schooling for a lot of them! and as for our year-round kids (gonta, miu, kaede, kokichi, maki, ryoma, kiibo, kaito): it's about what you'd expect. gonta does all of his work by hand while everyone else has an online schooling that hajime and chihiro set up, they take it a varyingly amount of seriously no matter what hajime and nagito tell them about university, kokichi says he just cheats off kaede but secretly they both cheat off each other. tbh most of the summer-only kids go to fancy expensive private schools because they've got (generally) the better parents; angie's the only one that doesn't because she lives on her island with sakura most of the year.

and finally: toxic yuri/yaoi rating <3 you're so real actually for this one to give your hot takes (correct) and i will always take the opportunity to go on about my characters no matter how minimal to the story they are. SO for the purposes of this ranking instead of ranking them one-by-one (i tried tbh and it was really hard :sob:) i'm gonna put them in categories, descending in order of bad -> good

messy messy this is the stuff soap operas are made of:

junko/mikan (toxic yuri of a whole different breed THUMBS DOWN)

celeste/[REDACTED] (toxic yuri: classic edition)

gundham/fuyuhiko (relatively new relationship, both incredibly dramatic, they flirt by arguing)

messy but relatively functional:

makoto/byakuya (common problem-causers amongs the gods, definite flair for the dramatic but operate usually as a unit)

hajime/nagito (married longer than practically anyone else, large amount of people rely on them and places a large amount of trust in them as a team, this drives them kind of insane however. also izuru)

touko[+syo]/komaru (very solid in their relationship however have a tendency to be terrors about their children. in syo's case a terror in general)

flourishing. unbothered. except for the obvious:

kiyotaka/mondo (intense in contrasting enough ways that they balance each other pretty well. as long as maki isn't involved)

sonia/chiaki (new relationship, they hype each other up well, still figuring out how to break the step-sibling news to kiibo and himiko)

aoi/sakura (also an ancient relationship. eternal honeymoon phase. the most Straight Chillin pair among the gods due to loophole of hina living In The Ocean while sakura lives on the island with her non-bio child)

the demigods:

tenko/himiko (middle school sweethearts. very puppy love and sweet. have never had eyes for anyone else)

kiibo/gonta (newest relationship out of the whole bunch. less than 1 day together but hardcore mutual pining for AGES. especially protective of each other)

kaede/maki (untoxic yuri for the win. also very very fresh with even LOOONGER pining oh my god. intimate deeply impactful world-altering girl best friends -> girlfriends arc FOREVER!!! still have some stuff to figure out but their bond runs down to their bones)

[full---ofstarlight]

19, 26

19. What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

I've written for all my DA ships this year EXCEPT Celeste x Zevran........ so watch this space. Maybe. Idk I make no promises lmao. I'd like to write at least a little drabble about them. We'll see!

26. What’s your most common category?

Uh. This year? FxM smut, but you must understand all of my ships are bi4bi in my heart.

--

Ty for the ask!!!

ao3 wrapped asks here :3

[osovereign]

☆ — @replica-model

kind,   luke   had   called   him   kind.   while   kratos   knew   he   was   giving   and   compassionate,   kind   was   not   exactly   his   first   word   of   choice   of   words   to   use.   true   kindness,   in   his   eyes   did   not   require   seeking   atonement   nor   redemption   for   past   atrocities   committed   in   misplaced   grief.   kindness   was   found   from   a   heart   that   picked   love   instead   of   hate—joy   instead   of   sadness   even   in   a   world   that   gave   it   nothing   but   misfortune   back.   how   often   had   a   boy   with   a   fondness   for   the   color   red   bestowed   upon   kratos   new   perspective? the   crackling   of   the   fire   gleamed   as   a   glowing   ember   engulfed   in   twilight,   kratos   used   one long   log   to   twist   and   turn   the   others   to   keep   the   flame burning   hot   and   bright—celeste   hued   divinity   appear   as   stained   glass   broken   off   a   shrinechurch   behind   his   person,   the   slight   chill   in   the   air   was   unaffecting   the   angel   (   being   able   to turn   on   and   off   senses   at   will   had   perks   ):   it   allowed   him   to   do   something   else   ‘kind’   as   luke   would   put   it—such   as   giving   the   replicated   man   his   cloak   to   use   as   a   blanket   as   a   way   to   keep   himself   warmer.

❝   there   is   much   more   to   humanity   than   common   decency.  ❞   or   rather,   kratos   had   kept   daemon   and   creature   that   sometimes   had   more   morals   and   ethics   aligning   with   humanity’s   law   than   humanity   itself.   it   was   an   age   old   question   he   pondered   on   from   time   to   time—what   it   meant   to   be   a   human   and   what   it   meant   to   be   something   far   more   grandiose   or   horrifying.   was   it   the   ability   to   rationalize   thoughts   into   the   categories   of   emotion   or   logic   (   or   perhaps   it   was   some   other   third   thing   inbetween?   ):   even   a   man   past   ten   thousand   still   had   questions   the   universe   at   his   fingertips   had   yet   to   give.   ❝ but   mayhap   it   is   that   common   decency   ideology that   makes   one   human.  ❞ kratos   stares   at   luke,   his   visage   slightly   distorted   by   the   fire   between,   and   within   him   sees   someone   that   has   over   gone   much   change   on   a   journey   like   himself—but   luke   still    had   much   growing   to   do—but   so   did   kratos—   (   did   people   ever   stop   evolving?   could   a   person   ever   truly   be   complete?   ):   maybe   they   did,   maybe   they   did   not   but   kratos   was   proud   of   the   fact   the   man   he   occasionally   saw   in   the   mirror   was   like   nothing   of   the   him   of   the   past—but   pieces   of   every   version   of   himself   lingered   behind   his   eyes   and   deepest   memories   just   out   of   reach—some   more   tragic   than   the   last. ❝   every   kind   deed   has   come   at   a   cost—some   great   and   some   small,   but   a   price   was charged   all   the   same. ❞

[hek-iru]

I'm hekiru, any pronouns, agender, bisexual, brazilian and BROKE

i do hobby art play games and listen to music like a LOSER ❤️❤️❤️

‼️‼️DNI: TERF, bigot, exclusionist, transphobe, lolisho/zoo/feral/incest/general taboo kinks like such, i don't wanna get into syscourse, don't push me into it ‼️‼️

longer intro under cut:

I've gone by many different aliases online but the bigger list includes (but not limited to): hek, hekiru, star, polaris, aria, kai, koda, eden, duster, delta, dreamcatcher, emptyhead, nightduster and maybe some more i can't recall

I like a lot of media, so I'll divide them in a few categories: (will update as needed)

Evergreens: Persona, Undertale/Deltarune (and AUs), Castlevania, Terraria (especially modded, i heart Calamity and Thorium), Deepwoken, Rogue Lineage, TBoI, Project Moon

I like this a lot!!!: Celeste, JoJo's (and HFTF), Hollow Knight, Honkai Star Rail, The Owl House, YOMIH, Patapon

familiar: Wuthering Waves, Genshin Impact, FNaF, Minecraft, Housamo, ISaT

barely know, want to get into: Guilty Gear

I also like a lot of music genres and artists, including but not limited to: Vocaloid, K-pop, J-pop, MBP, Indie, Jazz, Bossa Nova, Video game OST, Rock, Speedcore, Breakcore, Jungle, DnB, City Pop, Shibuya Kei, Artcore, r&b, Alt rock and many others, just ask if i like something!

My discord is hek_iru and so is my twitter where I'm more active on, follow me there too!

I just so happen to not really tag posts anymore so like good luck finding whatever unless it's an ask or art

[erinthesails]

Inspired by @getmean, i did a little writeup of the books i read in 2023, and a little blurb about my thoughts! read 37 total, which isn't bad considering how busy it was, this past autumn especially.

organized roughly by genre because i thought the breakdown of what kinds of things i ended up reading was interesting, and marked my faves of the year with *s!

Novels

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Did not start strong in this category, this book was truly awful. Like, I wanted to be able to just turn my brain off and at least enjoy a fun sci fi adventure but it was like. God. the worst parts of detective/noir novels and the worst parts of sci fi bound together by an interesting concept that the author had no idea how to handle. Im getting mad about this book again just thinking about it

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi

Really really liked this! I love Oyeyemi’s prose and the way her writing always feels surprising. Read this in a group, with people who didn’t really enjoy it, which was unfortunate, but it compelled me a lot! I think i liked White is For Witching better, but still a really lovely interesting story

*The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss

This was probably my favorite new book of the year, and it came as a total surprise! Picked it up on a whim at a used bookstore and didn’t actually expect much of it, but was actually stunning. Super super highly recommend for anyone who likes sci-fi and thought experiments and the mundane realities and sacrifices of creating a livable future for everyone. It reminded me of The Dispossessed but like, a lot tighter and with characters who felt more distinct. Which is high praise because i fucking love The Dispossessed. Ursula Le Guin stans read immediately

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Soooo good, soso good. I was skeptical at first because like. A whole book where you never hear from the same character more than once is a very tough sell. Each chapter is from a different character’s POV, displaced in both time and space from one another, but Gyasi weaves the stories together so well, I felt newly invested in both the collective tale being told and the new people we were meeting every chapter. Another absolute banger

*The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

This was a reread, because I assigned it to my students and wanted to get it fresh in my mind before discussing in class. Tearing my hair out, collapsing to the floor in tears, etc etc etc. Book of all time forever

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

This one was a shocking disappointment! I absolutely love Celeste Ng’s other work but this one fell so flat. I’m not sure if it’s because she felt uncomfortable writing a child’s POV—but that wasn’t the problem, because the chapters from the Mom’s POV were just as flat—or if she was feeling self-conscious about the fact that it was speculative fiction (despite not being marketed that way at all) or if this was just a COVID project that got pushed into the world before it was ready… I’m really not sure what happened here, but again, conceptually interesting, but so unexciting in execution. Not enough to rattle my faith in her though, I’ll be back again next time Ms. Ng…Everything I Never Told You really was just that good

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Glad to have finally read this one! One of those books i’d always meant to read and expected i’d like but just never got around to until now. And I did! Love a story where the house is haunted by the people who live in it, love fucked up sibling relationships, love a child with murder on the mind. I kept expecting it to like. Do a little more with the conversation about class and historical power. But maybe that’s just because i’d read White is For Witching recently

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Thought I’d like this one more than I did, but it wasn’t bad. There were parts where the metaphor really started to get muddled in a way that uh. Felt like it undercut the more interesting parts of the story. Like yes cannibalism is imperialist capitalism, but also it’s maybe factory farming? Which is a less interesting way of framing things? Imo? Also the actual descriptions were so visceral I kept getting queasy and having to set the book down, which doesn’t usually happen for me with books. So sign of effective prose I guess! But ultimately it didn’t feel like it was for me

Monkey King by Wu Cheng'en

WOOOHOOOO SUN WUKONG, EVERYBODY GIVE IT UP FOR SUN WUKONG

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

This one reminded me of Our Missing Hearts in a lot of ways, primarily that a) it felt like it was trying harder to be Important than to be complex and interesting, and b) it features a child narrator who Does Not sound convincingly like a child. It was fine tho, read it with my mom because it’s her favorite author, so that was kinda nice!

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

I always have a hard time with Coming Of Age In The Big City books, even and especially queer ones, but I did kinda like that this one felt So aimless and frustrated. I’m not sure if that was the author’s intention, as I think it was written as sort of autofiction, but I was compelled by how completely misguided the main character is, while still being sympathetic. Like you can watch her thought patterns taking her the wrong way realtime and still understand why they went there, and clearly see the core problem she’s avoiding, with it still being believable that she wouldn’t be able to see it. I like a character who has no clue what’s going on, what can I say! Unfortunately I’d also just read Zami which made this book feel lesser by comparison, but that’s not Nevada’s fault. I cannot hold it against Imogen Binnie for not being Audre Lorde lol

*The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

This was the year of finally reading books that have been on my shelf for years!! Really liked this one a lot. It has a lot of the best parts of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s storytelling, with a bit of a thicker layer of realism, which sometimes serves it, sometimes doesn’t. Delightful overall, definitely a fave of the year! Favorite part though was reading this book with a friend who, when we met to discuss it, opened with “okay i didn’t actually expect this guy to spend the WHOLE time in the trees”

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

I happened to be reading this at the same time as Baron in the Trees, and i felt like the two resonated across each other in really interesting ways! I love when that happens, and it happened a few times this year, which was exciting. Woolf is always doing the most, of course, but a lot of the emotional landscape of the story really stuck with me, as well as the meditations on “what is art and the pursuit of creative fulfillment for, anyway?” Me too, Orlando, me too

Novellas

The Employees by Olga Ravn

Really interesting little book! Never would have heard of it if it wasn’t for a friend from grad school, but i really liked the structure of it and the way it used lots of different voices without having to necessarily make characters out of any of them

The Tale of the Unknown Island by José Saramago

Not sure if this can really be classified as a novella as I think it’s like less than 5,000 words long, but i bought it as a book, so a book it shall be! Lovely little parable and a strange moment in time captured on the page!

*Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug

Another total surprise picked up at random from a used bookstore! I thought the cover looked interesting and the book was too! This is like. The platonic ideal of a novella. Not too high concept, doesn’t work too hard to explain itself, but includes enough additional detail and character to allow the ideas to resonate further than it would have as a short story. Seriously, go read this is so good

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

We love a strange library! We also love an artbook! Honestly the design of the book was more compelling to me than the story itself, but it was a nice book to sit with for an afternoon and let yourself settle into the world of it

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada

Ohhhh the tension and tone of this one is so well done…I know some people who felt like it was too slow and never got around to anywhere in particular, but I felt like the feeling it evoked while leading us by the hand was so clear and so unsettling it was worth it. It felt like the feeling was the goal, the suffocating, dead-end feeling of being locked out of the world by the expectations of motherhood and wifehood and the way suburban survival exists only to perpetuate itself…it’s good, it’s really good!!!

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

Marquez is so good every time always. Another really excellent use of the novella form, telling a really dense story that feels like it’s meandering while actually packing in so many essential details. We’re running really hard in circles in a field and marquez is dragging us along and it feels like what the goddamn hell are we doing, what are we running towards is this anything or am i just being taken on a little adventure for no reason. Then you stop and look down and realize you’ve trampled the corn stalks down in a perfect fibonacci spiral that points neatly toward the solution. Or something.

Permutations Among the Nightingales and The Gioconda Smile by Aldous Huxley

Combining these two because I don’t have too much to say about either and they both came from the same collection. I liked Permutations a lot better than Gioconda because cyclic story structures always scratch my brain, but neither were too compelling. I’m beginning to think i just dont like Aldous Huxley

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Hmmmm I feel like…there is a certain kind of smug, sweetiepie speculative fiction that no one acknowledges as a particular movement in the genre, but that is really notably There and that Doesn’t Work For Me. Okay that sounds really mean. I didn’t hate this book! It just felt very self conscious about its project of like. “Queering the gothic.” And ended up feeling very sanitized and boring as a result. I don’t know, I felt about this book similarly to how I felt about Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers. Like, the Concept is good in theory, but it’s expected to do way too much heavy lifting in a story that, ultimately, feels more self-congratulatory than complicated or engaging. I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels like a story that was solved before the author sat down to write it. Not objectively bad by any means but just wasn’t for me

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

Another instance of finally reading stuff I’d always meant to read! I know this story is often cited as the kind of “original” weird fiction/cosmic horror, so it was interesting to see how that played out. Definitely not quite either of those genres as I know them today, but there was still a subtlety to it that felt really satisfying. It was good! I’m glad people have drawn from it and written even better stories in its style! I can definitely see the way stories like Annihilation have roots (lol) in this story

Fiction Collection

*So Long Been Dreaming edited by Nalo Hopkinson

I often tend to meander through and not finish fiction anthologies, which is weird because i love short stories, but I almost always gravitate toward single-author collections and lit mags when I want them. But I’m really glad I finished this, because almost every story in it was excellent! I really love Nalo Hopkinson’s writing, so it was fascinating seeing her editing sensibilities at work

Fruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan

Just okay! Had some winners and some losers, as all collections do, but pretty much puttered along at a solid “fine” throughout. Nothing really stood out as particularly bad or particularly good, which is a shame because it seemed like exactly the kind of thing I’d be into. The title story was probably my favorite, but other than that, I honestly don’t even remember most of them

Afterglow edited by Grist

Another anthology, this one that I picked up because it had a cool cover and compelling premise (sci-fi climate optimism). Unfortunately most of the stories had the same sort of smug self assuredness that i disliked in “What Moves The Dead.” I’ve ranted about this at length but i always have mixed feelings about cli-fi, especially the subgenre of climate optimism. A story that has its tone and outcome so neatly pre-determined by definition has to work pretty hard to do anything unexpected, and most of these did not, HOWEVER, there were two standout stories I loved so much they made the whole collection feel worth it. Everyone read “The Secrets of the Last Greenland Shark” by Mike McClelland and “Broken from the Colony” by Ada M. Patterson!!!

Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz

A pretty solid collection that, again, didn’t have too many stories that really stuck out, though, again, the title story was the most memorable and it lingered with me much more closely than Fruiting Bodies

Memoir

Tranny by Laura Jane Grace

Yayyyy, Laura Jane Grace! I always see that quote from this book going around Tumblr and wanted to read it myself. I liked it a lot! It also got me to listen to more Against Me! because I’d really only listened to Transgender Dysphoria Blues before this. Which has been delightful!

*Zami by Audre Lorde

Major standout of the year, even though it took me a long time to read the whole thing. Each chapter is such a perfectly crafted, bite sized piece that I was just kind of meandering through one or two at a time, turning them over in my head as i went. I also read it right before reading Nevada, so unfortunately I already had the perfect Lesbian Coming Of Age In New York book on the mind that i couldn’t help comparing it to. We all know Audre Lorde is amazing, but this book is really truly gorgeous

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

Not sure where to classify this lil book honestly, as it fits here, and under novella, and under nonfiction topic, but it felt like there was a core of memoir there that stood out as i read. Another book i bought years ago and only just got around to reading, but it was extremely vivid, i love Kincaid’s voice

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Whewwwww this book was a lot. It is as good as everyone says it is but definitely hard to read at times. Not much to say other than it’s definitely worth reading

Nonfiction topic

Six Memos for the Next Millennium by Italo Calvino

Love the ideas in here, but imagine it would have been a lot more engaging to listen to them as lectures than to read them all together. Love Calvino but he does tend toward the abstract, and these were a bit dry. Got me thinking about a lot of literary goals and challenges though, which was interesting

*A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

I liked this a lot! I tend to avoid “writing advice” type books because they’re so often preachy and not useful, but i really liked the format of this as a breakdown of what’s working in each of these stories and why. I also haven’t read many of The Russian Greats, but really enjoyed most of these ones he selected! My main takeaway is that Checkov kinda rules and Tolstoy kinda sucks. And i stand by that

Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert

Interesting collection of essays about climate change! It definitely had the journalist’s stink of “neutrality” at times, but gave some really fascinating accounts of people doing cool things in the climate change world. I really don’t read much nonfiction like this, so it was refreshing and informative and i learned a lot about carp

*Ezili's Mirrors by Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley

Okay so i really love Theory, but I never read it outside of class. I guess i always worried i would feel too lost without being able to check in with all the PhD people who are more versed in academese, but i decided to give it a go and i’m really glad i did, because i absolutely love this book. Such a fascinating mix of theory (she does open the book by saying “don’t read this as a book of theory” but like. Yeah there’s theory in here) and lived experience and history and mythology and storytelling and the myriad ways that gender is a story we tell and a story that’s inscribed onto us and a reality written by histories of colonialism and survival pushed into shape by self-expression and community……i liked it a lot!!! And if you’re interested in learning about anti-colonialism and gender, you’ll like it too!

Graphic novel

New Masters by Shobo and Shof Coker

Got this after dropping in on a panel by Shobo and Shof Coker at Emerald City Comic Con! Loved the way they talked about creating this world and you could really feel how much detail and care went into every part of it. Enjoyed it a lot, I hope to read more from them!

The Harrowing of Hell by Evan Dahm

Evan Dahm!!! My beloved Evan Dahm!!! He is always at comic cons and I was so obsessed with Rice Boy as a teen, I’m always a little starstruck by the fact that i can just walk up to his booth and talk to him lol. But I did and bought this book from him, and got it signed even! This book is so fucking cool and moody and manages to make it a story about Jesus in hell without it being. You know. The way it could be with that as the subject. Just a genuinely compelling treatment of Jesus as a character and person, with very cool art too. I also read it while i was listening to Unreal Unearth which i know is extremely. Uh. i don’t even know. Baby’s first Dante’s Inferno. But it absolutely contributed to the vibe and made it a great summer evening activity

[velviflags]

CELESTE HEART » Hyperrose SysRole

Link to the flag/term : [X]

[skqw]

goopvendor (previously splee) is one of my favorite mod creators. I generally have similar things to say for all their maps that I've played, so I'm going to lump it into one post.

goopvendor gameplay just feels SO good. These maps are usually not tech-heavy, focusing on routing and interesting setups instead. It's a level of routing that's appropriate for each map's difficulty, so that no player should have to resort to looking up a clear. Taking the rooms piece by piece is a rewarding experience that often lends to steady progress. Maps are focused on one or two primary mechanics or gimmicks, with supplemental things like falling blocks or springs being pretty universal among all the maps. The focus allows the maps to really, really explore the possibilities of its mechanics; no room feels re-used or same-y. I just cannot overstate how clever these maps are.

It would also be a shame not to mention that goopvendor's music choice for each map is phenomenal. It's almost always something I've never heard before but each song is absolutely iconic. Someday, I hope goopvendor releases a curated playlists of certified goop classics.

Below I'll list a little bit about each mod, in order of difficulty (more or less).

Bloom Vault focuses on green boosters (bubbles) and no-dash-refill springs. It would be a step above the b-sides in terms of difficulty, but it doesn't have any kooky tech to worry about besides wallbounces. There are three checkpoints. This is absolutely the mod to start with if you haven't played a goopvendor map before, but if this is at-difficulty for you then expect to take some time on it.

Bloom Vault also has its own b-side, which adds no tech but is still considerably harder, into advanced land. If you're starting out, maybe take a pass on the b-side, but if you know what you're doing definitely play it.

UFO Nest is quite possibly the greatest goopvendor map to date, and it deserves its spot as the most popular map in their library. The map uses a variation of green boosters that allow you to stay within them indefinitely, but with one twist: the boosters have jelly physics! The mechanic is surprisingly smooth and is oh-so-delicious to play. Besides dream jumps and dream grabs the map is techless advanced. There are four checkpoints. This is also an excellent map to jump into if you're ready for it, as long as you kind of know what to expect with mods.

Flux Fortress's gimmick is gravity falling blocks: falling blocks that switch between falling down and falling up. They are toggled by core style switches around the map. This map gets into more tech-y advanced gameplay, but is still a goopvendor map at its heart. There are four checkpoints, but the first checkpoint doesn't have the same gameplay as the rest of the map. Out of this list I think this is the weakest entry, but it is still great quality and great fun. This is where I would start recommending to more seasoned players instead of to new players.

Ricochet is the newest goopvendor map as of this post, being released yesterday! It is another dream block map, this time using hearts placed inside dream blocks to bounce you in all sorts of directions. I've never seen the mechanic used in gameplay like this before, and it is executed very well! The main map consists of a couple advanced-ish rooms, which merely serve as a tutorial. The REAL map lies to the left, as a secret teleport, and is some juicy expert gameplay. Be ready to dream hyper and heart ultra! One checkpoint, but two series of rooms. This is the silliest map in terms of mechanics but is actually quite simple gameplay to execute (y'know, relatively speaking), and I think most expert players shouldn't have much difficulty. The consistency is also extremely impressive considering the silliness. This is what good goop does to a mf.

Radiant Sanctum is my first experience with a goopvendor map, and it is what got me absolutely hooked. This map is quite spicy with its routing and execution. It makes you think, and once you get it, it makes you happy. Mechanics-wise, it's just zip movers with your classic springs and falling blocks, but in style this is pure, distilled goop. High expert by difficulty standard. Two checkpoints I think, but this is expert gameplay we're talking about so it's no walk in the pærk.

More Radiant Sanctum is, you guessed it, more Radiant Sanctum. It's essentially the equivalent of a level-pack, being slightly harder and slightly nuttier. I would package the two maps together as one, and together I think this is the pinnacle of the goopvendor experience. If you take on the challenge, hold on to your butt.

There are other goopvendor maps too, mainly for those who are "kinda nice with it", but this the main list of things I would recommend if you want to have a balls-to-the-walls gooptastic experience.

Remember to leave a like on the GameBanana page if you enjoyed! It really, really helps.

[ao3feed-ateez]

Heart Full of Stars

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/KzrMd50 by WinnterFlower Celeste 'Cece' Moreno is...content. Her life isn't particularly exciting but she doesn't mind really. She has her bar, her platonic polycule of best friends, and several quite fulfilling parasocial relationships with her favorite K-Pop Idols. Then one normal day Stray Kids walks into her bar. Now she and her best friends are on a global adventure with their favorite superstars and nothing will ever be the same. And if Stray Kids wasn't enough, There's Ateez....and Xikers.... Words: 1919, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Planets and Stars Fandoms: Stray Kids (Band), ATEEZ (Band), xikers (Band) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, M/M, Multi Characters: ATEEZ Ensemble, Stray Kids Ensemble, xikers Ensemble, Other K-pop Artist(s), Original Characters, Original Trans Character(s) Relationships: Stray Kids Ensemble/Original Female Character(s), ATEEZ Ensemble/Stray Kids Ensemble, ATEEZ Ensemble/Original Female Character(s), Xikers Ensemble/Original Male Character Additional Tags: Romance, Queer platonic relationships, Angst, Smut, Fluff, Polyamory, Platonic Romance, Platonic Polyamory, Other Additional Tags to Be Added read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/KzrMd50

[toastreallylikescelesteithink]

Ricochet

This is like my golden standard for celeste maps. The gameplay is so peak, its fun, its replayable, the heart gameplay is kinda novel (at least for when it came out) but its not tooo gimmicky. I just think this is like the best map and the quality standard that I try to hold myself too. Thanks goopvendor! (btw i have beaten this map like 20 or so times which is why i have 1.3k deaths lmao.)

[megannfay]

Hi! I’m hoping you can recommend some reading for me in a few different categories. I’m looking for your favorites in:

-poetry

-horror

-romance (I know you’ve said you aren’t big on romance but if you do have one you’ve enjoyed)

-true crime

-fantasy

-short stories

-a favorite series

-a book that made you cry

-thriller

-a classic

if you don’t mind sharing, thank you so much 💖💖 my reading goal this year is in genres rather than amounts read

Ooh sure! I couldn’t decide if it’d be easier to respond in pictures or typing them all out. I do better with visuals personally but also felt like 10 pictures in one response may be a bit much 😅

Poetry - Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

Horror - What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz

Romance - I really haven’t read much romance at all and haven’t been a fan of most of the ones I have read, but I did enjoy Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn & Shonda Rhimes

True Crime - True Story by Michael Finkel

Fantasy - Nettle & Bone by T Kingfisher

Short Stories - (if it counts) The Bachman Books by Stephen King/Richard Bachman

A Favorite Series - that ones tough. I really like The Kingkiller Series by Patrick Rothfuss, but the series isn’t finished. Dean Koontz Frankenstein series is great, so is Stephen Kings Bill Hodges/Holly Gibney series.

A Book That Made Your Cry - A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, or All Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng.

Thriller - Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta. Don’t bother with the movie though

A Classic - that could be tough, idk what you’ve already read. So I’d recommend Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, The Book Thief, or Fahrenheit 451

Hope those help ❤️