#i do enjoy a good stephen king every once in a while.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

WHAT DA HECKKKK MAC!!! UR A BIRTHDAY GUY!!!! HOLY SHIT. OLD!!! time 2 put u in a retirement home!!!! IT'S UR DAY OF BIRTH I AM THROWING U A PARTY RN 🎉🥳🎉 TIME 2 HIT THE PINATA 🪄 🪅 CANDY!! 🍭 🍬 🍫 TIME 4 PRESENTS 🎁🎁🎁 CAKE TIME 🧁 BIRTHDAY BOY GETS A CROWN 👑 BLOW OUT THE CANDLES 🧨🧨🧨 <<couldn't find any candles so i got these weird red sticks instead!! i think they're sparklers!! :3

oh fuck i love sparklers-!

[feydfuckernation]

i want to take a moment to sit down and talk a little bit about sweeney todd.

my good friend @allthemidnightmemories has already talked about what this revival has meant to her and i want to do the same. like m, i grew up knowing who josh groban was for most of my life, but it wasn't until the last few years that i really started to connect to his music. after natasha, pierre and the great comet of 1812, i started paying more attention to his work, listening to songs like if i can't love her and dust and ashes every once in awhile and occasionally commiserating with great comet fans about the 2017 tony awards.

then they announced the revival.

now i'll admit, i was skeptical at first. josh groban as sweeney todd? the demon barber of fleet street? i wasn't nearly as invested in sweeney todd as i would be, but i had seen the 2007 film and i had a very hard time wrapping my head around the notion of josh groban playing sweeney todd on broadway...but it certainly kept my attention.

when i was a kid, i used to love musicals. i grew up with the films of the disney renaissance (i'm sure it will come as no surprise that the lion king was my personal favourite 🦁) and graduated to other musicals and films like moulin rouge and phantom of the opera. when i was in high school, i auditioned for a few of them myself. i was also bullied and picked on, which led me to quitting choir and theatre and putting as much distance between myself and the performing arts as i could. i stopped watching the films i loved, i stopped singing along in the car and the shower, and although there were a few notable exceptions every now and then, i was convinced i would never be able to enjoy it the way i used to.

sweeney todd changed that.

it was the first time in a long time i had really, truly cared about a musical. i kept up with the announcements. i read every article i could get my hands on. i watched every interview the second it was available, and when it finally started previews, i hunted down every single bootleg audio i could find until eventually i got my hands on a proper bootleg (shoutout to @bikinibottomdayz for the bootleg i purchased from them, it's absolutely gorgeous and i highly recommend their services).

much like m, it feels strange that a musical about revenge, murder and bloodshed could be so comforting, but i truly could not be more grateful for the joy and the comfort it's brought me during this particular point in my life. it reignited the love i used to have for music, it brought beautiful and wonderful new people into my life like m and @twoheartsoneclara, @loverboygf and many, many others, and for that alone i could not be more thankful. what josh and annaleigh have done with these roles has been a joy and a privilege to experience. it has introduced me to new music i wouldn't have otherwise found (chess pa svenska at 1am you will always be famous), it has inspired me creatively, and it has, above all else, become something special beyond words.

ever since they announced this brilliant, bloody revival, i have taken it upon myself to watch as many versions as i could get my hands on, and while all of them have their strengths, there is something about this revival, from the cast to the costume design, the orchestration and set design, that will undoubtedly be my favourite version for years to come.

josh and annaleigh and the cast and crew of sweeney todd, you may never see this post, but know that you have brought some much needed joy to someone in a time of need, and that they will always be so very grateful for that experience. thank you for all your hard work, your blood, sweat and tears, your laughter, your tears, and your love for what you do and for this story.

to stephen sondheim, wherever you are, thank you.

thank you.

-🦁

[loadednachosao3]

Any tips for someone who wants to get better at creative writing?

hoo boy there are a ton I could give! let's see if I can't think of some that might help!

first, read! read, read, read! read things you like, that engage you and make you feel something, and then read writing advice to figure out how to translate what you felt and what you liked into writing that makes someone else feel just as good (or sad, or angry, or whatever, LOL). Stephen King's book On Writing is a solid place to start -- learn from the people who have made writing their lifeblood! go to the library's 800s section and find all the writing tips books you can get your hands on! I STILL read those 19 years into writing!

don't try to edit while you write (small edits are fine so you don't forget them, but don't overdo it). remember: first draft, worst draft! the important part is getting the backbone of the scene down. once that's there, you can mix and match and scramble it up and change words and delete shit and do all sorts of things! I actually enjoy the editing process, since it makes everything come together. don't think "oh, this is so bad, I have to edit so much, I suck." try to frame it as, "damn, look how much writing I did! this is an awesome base to polish up! it's gonna be so rad once I correct these mistakes!"

on that note: there WILL be mistakes. you'll miss plot holes, forget shit, write stuff that doesn't make sense, whatever. beta readers are great for this, since a fresh set of eyes will be able to catch things you didn't. or do what I do: throw caution to the wind, post it, and if someone catches a mistake, say "oops!" and find a way to fix it, retcon it, or ignore it. either 1: you're writing fanfiction or something similar, so it really doesn't matter that much if you fuck up, or 2: you're aiming to be published, and an editor will help spot and fix those things for you anyway. don't let making mistakes discourage you, we all make them!

if you have tropes/character types/plotlines you like, don't let anyone stop you from writing them again and again. you know how many stories Stephen King writes about a writer from Maine with interpersonal issues who goes through supernatural shit? and look where he is! what you WANT to write will always be better than what you THINK people want to read! readers can sense passion. use that to hook them!

it is 100% okay to use your writing to work through things, on that note. encouraged, as a matter of fact! lots of great writers have underlying themes in most/all of their works. depression. substance abuse. daddy issues. optimism. pessimism. worldviews. whatever! doesn't have to be bad, but if it IS bad, writing is a phenomenal way to channel those feelings! don't let any shitty weirdo ever tell you anything else. projecting your emotions onto fictional characters is a very highly recommended therapeutic technique, so use it! (lbr, even if you don't do it consciously, you WILL do it subconsciously. sorry about that)

mmmmmblock out the haters! that is, don't let people tear you down and make you feel like you shouldn't write anymore! no matter your skill level, if you have something to say, something you want to see play out, make it happen. everyone else can suck a duck

figure out a plotting style that works for you. for some, it's a rigid outline with every conversation accounted for. for others, it's a looser one, some ideas and scribbled notes of general directions with the rest to be filled in as you go. for others still (this is mostly my style), you just start writing and see where it takes you. very chaotic, but very fun! I also like to have vivid daydreams sometimes and then just write them down. whether I do that or learn where the scene is going as my fingers are on the keys depends on the day. no method is better or worse, so do what feels right!

jot down inspiration in a notepad or on your phone or whatever's around as it comes to you. could be as simple as "this exchange I heard caught my attention" or "that gravestone has a badass surname I'd love to use for a character," or as complex as "I want to explore the themes of grief and trauma that that other book did, but with my own twist on it." a word. a color. a feeling. keep a list of everything that makes you want to write, and use it later!

if you really hate your first draft, scrap it! if you hate your second, scrap it! if you hate your third... you can always start fresh!!! don't sit around thinking, "aw beans, I couldn't get it right on the first try, I must not be a real writer." not every idea's gonna be a winner, not every scene is gonna work out! you gotta keep on keeping on, though! don't give up even if you hate it!!!

uhhhh that's all I can think of rn... the rest would be more stylistic/grammatical/nitpicky tips, which I CAN give, but maybe in a different post? let me know if you guys would ever like an insight into how I edit my stories with tips like that in mind, and maybe I'll make a lil guide!

but in general, yeah, those are my big, sweeping tips! hope they helped at least a little!

[world-cinema-research]

Stand By Me (1986)

By Jensen Boles (THE 112C 01)

The movie I watched this week would be Stand By Me. Starring the likes of Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, and Richard Dreyfuss. The film was released August 22, 1986 and directed by Rob Reiner who also directed such films as The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, as well as an adaptation of another Stephen King Novel known as Misery. The reason I chose this movie is because it happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time and every time I watch it I'm always reminded of the good times I used to have with my friends throughout my childhood.

Regarding the numbers at the box office, Stand By Me had a decent budget of 8 billion dollars for 1986 standards. It also made $52,287,414 domestically and only $1,236 internationally. Making a total worldwide budget of $52,288,650. While the opening weekend for this film was 0.5% of total gross, it also did rather poorly with their DVD sales with only $1,431,608 in total DVD sales (link for more details). The film was critically successful with positive ratings such as an 8.1/10 on IMDb, a 92% for rotten tomatoes, and a Metacritic rating of 75%. Regardless of the poor DVD sales as well as the poor international sales, this film has been deemed successful by fans and critics alike. Not to mention it made more money than the film's budget. One review that I found would be from The New York Times which says "Some 15-year-olds may well enjoy this tale about some 12-year-olds, so parents will have to decide how much they are willing to endure for their kids." I think this quote from the review means that certain age groups will have a deeper understanding of the movie once they watch it (link for the full review).

The movie begins with the narrator named Gordie Lachance who happens to be grown up in this scene and is reflecting on the summer of 1959 when he was only 12 years old, living in a small town in Oregon known as Castle Rock. Soon after we meet his friends named Teddy Duchamp and Chris Chambers playing poker in their clubhouse until another friend named Vern Tessio shows up and asks their friends if they can camp out for a sleepover when it turns out that they’re going to look for a dead body and they go on a 3 day hike to search for him, Vern found out about the body when he overheard a conversation about a missing kid named Ray Brower. The reason the kids are looking for the body is so that they become famous, however there’s a gang of bullies that also want to search for the missing kid and become famous as well (link for synopsis).

While the plot of the movie is a bit dark and depressing, I do personally think that it is good for establishing an emotional coming of age story, after all this movie is based on the novel by Stephen King entitled The Body. Despite the movie being R rated, I do think that the director wanted to target the movie to a certain age group who will deeply understand the movie (as I mentioned above). I also have to mention, the movie also has some really impactful scenes that people can somewhat relate to. Especially the ending where they mention how we have to say goodbye to our childhood (see clip below), you can tell that this has left an emotional impact on a lot of people who watched this movie, me included.

One of the limiting factors that I can think of for this film would be the R rating and how it limited most viewers under the age of 17 from seeing this movie when it first came out. By today's standards, this is still regarded as an all time classic and is also still being favored by fans and critics alike.

Although this film falls into the category of being conventional, there is one scene of the film that would be considered unconventional by some viewers. What happens in the scene is that Gordie tells a story about an obese kid looking to get revenge on the people that made fun of him because of his weight, and the kid gets revenge by entering a pie eating contest and creating what is known as a "Barf-o-rama" which involves him making the other contestants vomit as well as the attendees at the contest by vomiting on another contestant after drinking castor oil and eating a raw egg, as well as 5 blueberry pies. The reason why this would be considered unconventional is because the talk about vomit being used in a silly story that was thought up by a twelve year old, as well as being humor targeted towards middle school aged kids.

Overall, I have noticed a few personal things when rewatching this movie. Even though I have rewatched it a few times from when I last saw it at the age of 12, it would emotionally impact me more each time I would watch it, cause a lot of people can relate to not seeing their friends again after their childhood ends. For me personally, I can somewhat relate because I also have had many friends come in and out of my life.

[sexybabystevie]

Hi! I'm rather new to your channel because I saw your Steve x sarcastic reader HCs and I absolutely LOVED them they were so, so good and you're extremely talented at making HCs and I wanted to add my own into the mix as well.

Rose 🌹 – Red roses symbolize romance, love, and courage. Send me a short description of yourself, including things you enjoy doing, and your desired character to receive a headcanon on how they would confess their feelings to you!

My desired character is going to be a little bit tricky because I have two ST loves of my life but because you just did a Steve one I think I'm going to pick Eddie.

So hi! I'm a little bit more of a socially awkward type, I tend to be really introverted but once you get to know me I'm insanely sunshine-y and happy. I tend to really love reading books especially Stephen King or fantasy novels, Lord Of The Rings has been a huge part of my life since I was in middle school and my parents finally deemed me old enough to watch the live action films with them. I also am obsessed with film, I love rewatching the same movies over and over again. I love studying film, my parents have this running joke where I can figure out the plot of any show and for the most part be right on the money every single time *they're always like wtf are you magical or something every time it happens*. I'm also utterly in love with musical theater cast albums as well and could probably talk for hours endlessly about my favorite ones. My music taste is a really intense mesh of 80's pop, rock, and metal music as of recently. It was actually due to Eddie that I explored metal music and found affection for it in the first place.

Thank you for listening! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with

A/n: Thank you so much for the kind words!! I'm so happy you liked my other headcanons! <3 I have to say that this is the first time I'm writing for Eddie, so I hope that I do his character justice! (And that you enjoy!) And, I’m also so sorry this took so long! You caught me right between the time that I was in the process of moving to and starting college, so things have been pretty hectic since then! Thank you so much for your patience!

Eddie Munson Masterlist

Song of Sunshine

Eddie Munson x Sunshine!Reader

Tags and Warnings: No Warnings, Soft!Eddie Munson, Friends to Lovers, Headcanons, Sunshine!Reader, Implied Love Confessions, Pure Fluff, Dorky!Eddie Munson.

Word Count: 3010

He hadn’t meant to, but Eddie Munson had been eyeing you for a while; you were someone of great mystery to him. He was familiar with almost every face in Hawkins High, having dealt with some of them for far too many excruciatingly long years, and yet yours is one that’s on his mind more often as of late. He’s been scanning the lunchroom on the daily, keeping his eyes out for any new recruits for Hellfire, and something in his gut keeps pointing him in your direction, his gaze always lingering a little longer on you than at any of the others. 

If he’s being honest with himself, he’s tired of seeing the same painfully mundane, averagely boring kids each and every day – none of them really having that spark, that potential that he’s been searching for – so he’s almost giddy when he sees you sitting alone at a lunch table, nose buried between the pages of The Lord of the Rings. Instantly his mind is ringing, thoughts scattering because he feels like you’re a light at the end of the tunnel – someone with the kind of creativity and interests that would fit in perfectly with Hellfire – and as much as he wants to rush up to you to ask if you’ll join his club, he’s still a little hesitant. There’s an almost shy nature about you, bashful and timid like a wild bunny, and while he finds it endearing, he also is aware enough that he shouldn't startle you and disrupt your peace. 

So, instead, he waits. He waits for probably too long, because it’s been about a week and you’ve moved on from The Lord of the Rings and are now reading Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He thinks it’s certainly an interesting choice – despite his somewhat intimidating style of dress, he certainly isn’t one that handles horror easily. Especially horror novels; he only half paid any attention to a short story that one of his teachers read aloud in one of his many English classes, and he was so disturbed that he nearly didn’t sleep for days afterward. Hell, he can’t lie, there have been D&D sessions that he’s been to that he’s nearly pissed his pants over. To say that his imagination is overactive – so active that reading anything remotely grotesque has him shuddering and feeling nauseous – would be an understatement. Movies, he can somewhat handle, what’s shown on screen is tame compared to what he could conjure with his mind, but anything even mildly scary in book form is a no-go. 

That’s part of the reason that he stalls again, face scrunched up in thought as he look intently at you. Something about you has him feeling sheepish; all he can seem to do is marvel and wonder about you from afar. He knows the younger members of Hellfire – Mike, Lucas, and Dustin – have noticed his thoughtfully awkward glances, meaning his time before they undeniably make some witty comments is running thin. He knows he needs to say something before someone catches him staring and wrongfully assumes he’s being a creep like half of the guys in Hawkins High tend to be, but he feels frozen in time, a wistful statue caught in a moment of hesitance.

He’s so preoccupied with his thoughts that he barely registers the bell ringing and the horde of students that meander along to their next class. He’s not fully aware of his surroundings as he stands and takes his plastic tray over to the garbage can, and he’s definitely not on planet Earth as he accidentally steps on the back of his own shoe, sending him pummeling right into the back of someone who seems oddly familiar. Someone who he thinks he should be able to instantly recognize, someone whose mere outline is something he should have engrained into his mind, and all too quickly they’re turning their head and he gets a glimpse of the cover art for Pet Sematary and – oh, shit. It’s you.

This isn’t how he expected to introduce himself to you, with his hands grasping at your shoulders and his face inches away from the back of your neck as he tries not to tumble the two of you into the disgusting cafeteria floor, and he feels both like laughing and cursing himself for his inattentiveness. At the sight of you, however – wide, nervous eyes and bashful smile – Eddie’s completely drawing a blank. You’re looking at him with polite inquisition, questioning and uncertain but in a gentle manner, and he can’t even begin to imagine what’s on your mind. He has a reputation that precedes him; school-proclaimed ‘Freak,’ a thought that almost has him cringing. Normally, when he’s in his element – talking with his friends, managing the Hellfire Club, playing D&D – he doesn’t care less about what some pretentious teenagers think of him, but right now, he can’t deny the rush of anxiety that hits him like a wave on the beach. He’s been thinking of this moment for days, of how to talk to you so that you think he’s cool, and messing it up feels close to that same kind of humiliation that he vowed to throw away when kids relentlessly teased him for being different in the early years of middle school. 

Still, he trusts you and your awesome and somewhat intimidating taste in novels, and he must really be caught on the idea of that because he’s suddenly blurting out, “I wouldn’t have ever pinned you as the type for horror.”

He immediately feels regret – who is he to try and say something about your personality? He’s barely been aware of your existence prior to this week and God, he feels really stupid, until your soft voice breaks through to him.

“And you’re not?” It’s quiet in the chaos of the lunchroom, shrouded in shyness but also holds hints of something else, something more familiar. Something he’s used to hearing from his friends, that’s kind and a little playful, and then he realizes that you’re not only trying to make friendly conversation – you’re giving him a chance! – but you’re also attempting a little joke. Albeit, it is a tad awkward with the tone you’re using, but he doesn’t mind at all. He actually thinks it’s quite cute, although he doesn’t spend too much time reeling on that thought.

“Definitely not,” he says, and he finds himself shocked as how easily he’s telling the truth. Most people he knows would have lied, either to have more of something to relate to or to create a false sense of self, but he doesn’t feel the need to. There’s a kindness, a curiosity in your eyes that has him wondering if you’ve been stealing glances at him for days like he has. “I’m more of the adventure-fantasy type guy.”

The words have barely fell from his lips and you’ve already got a low-burning fire behind your eyes, the excitement that he previously saw secondhand now coming forward. He smiles softly to himself; the spark.

“Really?” you ask, voice a little louder, more incredulous. The rays of passion peek behind the clouds of your timidity, and it’s obvious that you find it hard to bite back an agape expression. 

“Yeah!” Eddie exclaims, as if his answer is the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it is. “The only time I ever really cared enough to show for English class was when we read The Lord of the Rings.” 

His words are like gasoline, setting your already simmering demeanor aflame, the former introversion suddenly thrown out the window. Your features are bright, eyes glittering with interest. A bright smile overtakes you, covering you like a thinly veiled blanket, and you look so surprised and enthusiastic that you’re standing on your tip toes, bouncing softly on the pads of your feet. Your exhilaration is highly contagious, worse than the time Hawkins closed down the schools a few years ago because over half of the student population had the flu, and Eddie doesn’t fight the way his mouth automatically widens its grin to match yours. As if he could, anyway.

You trudge back to class together, replying to one another with elevated voices that earn a few annoyed glances from your teachers, and while neither of you are even aware of it in the moment, this is the start of something new, unbidden as a rose petal among the concrete, but not unwelcome. When Eddie finally gathers up his courage and asks you if you’ll tag along at the next Hellfire meeting – as a bystander so you can decide if you want to really join in and start making your character next week during your lunch break – you say yes with a smile sweet as honey, and just like that, your futures have been interwoven.

As Eddie expects, your “tryout,” as the younger children of Hellfire have so intelligently deemed it, goes amazingly. You’re already forming a character and their backstory, spewing intricate details to him as he drives you home. He doesn’t even have to ask if you’re coming to their meeting next Saturday; the gleam in your eyes already answered his silent question the moment that the group continued their game. You hadn’t even had all of the context and you were still watching in awe, shoes excitedly tapping against the floor as you “watched the magic happen,” as Eddie said. He wasn’t wrong; your creative and wandering mind easily was captivated the second that he began recalling where exactly the players had left off last time. 

You show to Saturday’s meeting, and the following Saturday’s, and you even go to Mike Wheeler’s dusty basement – which everyone made sure to let you know wasn’t mandatory – to retrieve some old character sheets on an early Monday morning during your autumn break. Even Mike, the kid whose house they were digging through, complained about having to get up to help find his own precious pages, but you hopped right into Eddie’s van without hesitation or resistance, only thing carried with you being a sleepy grin. 

Turns out, you make an interesting addition to their group. Your enthusiasm and cheeriness – regardless of the situation – is unmatched, and the contrast between the group before and after you’ve arrived is grand. You always shout out unique suggestions, make references to your favorite novels and movies, and you never fail at being a carrier for glee. One small gasp of excitement from you is all it takes for your energy to bleed through to everyone else; some of the other members, like Mike and occasionally Dustin, feign mock annoyance at how easily everyone is swayed by you, but it never seems genuine. If it ever verges too close to hurtful territory, Eddie shoots them a harsh glare as a warning and they back off, which you always find amusing. You know that, out of the two of you, Eddie’s the least likely to hurt even a caterpillar. 

It’s not long before the two of you are spending insane amounts of time together, including outside of school and Hellfire. Sometimes he comes over to your place and you sit outside together, toes in the soft grass as you catch each other up on everything going on in your lives – not that there’s ever that much you have to fill him in on; you’re practically attached at the hip when you can be. Other times you hang out in your living room, rewatching some of your favorite films while raiding your snack cabinet. Some of Eddie’s favorite moments are these; when he’s sitting next you, arm lazily rest upon the back of the couch, close enough to you that you can feel the warmth of his skin without touching, and he can watch you vividly talk about your analysis of specific scenes in the films. Witnessing your raw, glowing passion has his chest swelling with admiration.

On the weekends when conflicting schedules cancel Hellfire meetings – which isn’t often, as being present and an active participant are Eddie’s most valued expectations – you frequent an old, run-down theatre in downtown Hawkins together. The tickets are cheap, there are rarely any other viewers, and the employees there either have a preference for older films or they can’t afford to purchase many from this decade. Regardless, it’s always a good time. With no one else around to tell you to be quiet, you’re giggling at Eddie’s cheesy jokes and making a few of your own. 

There’s this one thing you can do – he calls it your “Wicked Movie Vision” – and it blows his mind every time it happens. You have this infallible ability to predict the plotlines, and the outcomes of said plotlines, of any movie you see. You insist that it’s not that difficult, that it’s only a matter of understanding popular tropes and knowing what to look for in the subtext, but it never fails to leave him in gaping awe. He likes to brag about it to the rest of your friend group, and he’s ever-persistent about how cool it is, despite their often lackluster attitudes towards it.

One Friday afternoon, when neither of you had any other plans, Eddie surprisingly called you on on the phone and sounded a bit more nervous than usual. It was barely there, a twinge of awkwardness, but was still noticeable to your observant ears. 

“Hey, it’s your favorite leader of Hellfire,” he greets, drawing out the syllables in his first and last words, making you laugh. You neglect to mention that he’s technically the only leader of Hellfire; you let him have his little moments. “So uh, I know you don’t have anything planned tonight since we talked about it yesterday... Do you wanna come over? I can pick you up and we can hang out for a while?”

You have the feeling that he’s holding back some words; something tells you that he has some other reason for inviting you over, but you still smile and nod, verbally expressing your agreement when you realize that you’re not, in fact, currently visible to your friend. 

Eddie comes to pick you up as usual, despite you saying that you’re fine with walking the short distance between your houses, and you start to feel a tad bit nervous. You don’t typically visit Eddie’s house often – your place is the usual hangout spot for you two – and you’re a little worried you might do something silly or disrespectful on accident. 

Of course, you have nothing to worry about. The two of you talk excitedly in the car just like usual, and Eddie admits that he wants to show you something that he wrote for his band. You’ve been to a few Corroded Coffin practices, forever cheering him on in the audience, and it’s actually due to him that your music taste started developing more towards the kinds of songs that he likes and creates. You’ve never said it outright, but you enjoy the music a lot more just because it reminds you so much of him.

When you walk into Eddie’s trailer and take a tentative seat on an extra chair, watching as he leaves the room and mutters on about something to do with his guitar, you can’t help but notice that the smidge of tension from before is back. You’re starting to wonder if something may be wrong, but you don’t have much time to reel on it before he’s returning with his beloved instrument.

“You ready?” he asks, ghost of anxiety within his upturned smirk. You nod, and his fingers begin to strum at his guitar strings.

The melody starts out a little slow, almost tentative, but then it picks up and you can tell that’s where a beat drop from the drums would typically be. Everything shifts, and the tempo speeds up and becomes more intense. He’s closing his eyes as he plays, feet tapping and head bobbing, and you can tell that he’s really put his heart and soul into this song. 

It’s over almost too quickly, leaving you wishing that you could somehow have a mixtape made of only that song repeated so that you could listen to it forever, and your closest friend is looking to you, silently waiting for your reaction. The hesitancy in his eyes fades away when you beam at him and go on and on about how much you loved it, recalling specific moments that really struck you as your favorite, and, as it’s sure to do, your admiration and eagerness pass unto him. 

He’s so touched, so utterly appreciative and happy that you liked it so much, that he doesn’t stop himself from admitting, “I wrote it when I was thinking about you.”

You’re stunned into silence, never having expected that such a masterpiece was written in your honor. Quite truthfully, no one else had ever done something so intimate for you before, and that certainly didn’t help with your overwhelmed quietude. You’re caught up in your thoughts, wondering exactly what he means by that because you certainly know what it sounds like, and the soft blush across his cheekbones seems to answer your question for itself.

You subconsciously scoot closer to him, knee softly knocking against his, and your hand reaches out to rest upon his forearm almost on its own accord. His arm is warm against your palm, shirt atop his skin soft and thin, and his eyes shoot over to yours in pleasant surprise. 

“Will you play it for me again?” you ask, toothy smile gleaming up at him, and who is he to deny you? Truthfully, he couldn’t say no to you even if he wanted to. 

With a goofy, almost timid smile, and an almost whispering of “’Course I will,” Eddie Munson’s fingers pluck the first few notes of the song that he wrote as he was falling in love with you.

[alosyair]

Tagged by @whatevsbla thank you very much :D

Rules: List ten books that have stayed with you in some way, don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

In no particular order:

1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King. I read it once when I was a kid, haven't reread it since, but due to the young age it really did stick with me. Been remembering it a lot this spooky season.

2. The Red House Mystery by Alan A Milne. A childhood favourite from the very start of my mystery novel phase; I was so invested in it that I drew out the layout of the whole house for myself. I also just like the fact that my favourite detective is written by the Winnie Pooh guy hdhvdhbfb

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Simply a favourite classic, the language is easy to follow, and I enjoyed the characters as well. Used it for 2 uni assignments the semester I read it.

4. More Than This by Patrick Ness. I rated it 4 stars upon finishing and then changed it to 5 a few days later because I couldn't stop thinking about it. Realized it probably just hit too close, and I was mad about it. Very captivating, very good.

5. The Whispers by Greg Howard. A pretty quick read, pretty sure I read it in a single day myself. I make sure to mention it every time someone asks me for book recs. I only bought it because there was a dog on the cover, but that was a good decision.

6. The Room by Emma Donoghue. I don't actually own this one because I took it from a library back then, but the atmosphere was great, I read it sitting in my living room armchair and felt like I myself haven't left the house in months.

7. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. It's not my favourite book anymore, but back when I first read it, it was the first book I read outside of school in some years, and it got me back into reading as a hobby. Made me realize modern fiction is fun actually.

8. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. I bought his new book yesterday, and I fear it because of the tears I shed over this one gdhbdhbfhnf

9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I'm not even sure I'd like it so much now that I'm not 16, but back in the day it did leave an impression, especially since I went into the book blind, somehow VDHBDHVDG

10. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness. Okay I wanted to do it a book per author but nah I can't not mention Chaos Walking. Highlighting book 2 because while book 1 did already hook me, book 2 is probably what cemented it as my future favourite series. I wrote my bachelor's thesis about it, come on!

I'm out of touch with most of my tumblr mutuals so I'm only gonna tag @rynloveshats and @summersizedmii ; no pressure to do this, but if you do — have fun!

[perexcri]

5, 15, 28, 37 I was gonna be evil and do one every 10 for the book asks but then I gave up bc there were so many

well well well. you come to me in my ask box, on this, the day of my daughter's weddin[GUNSHOTS]

5.) something in fiction that reads like poetry

this is an excerpt from It by Stephen King that i have pinned to my wall (as you have probably noticed since it's right in front of my desk lol) that i read last year and it gutted me and left me for dead on the side of the road:

So you leave, and there is an urge to look back, to look back just once as the sunset fades, to see that severe New England skyline one final time – the spires, the Standpipe, Paul with his axe slung over his shoulder. But it is perhaps not such a good idea to look back – all the stories say so. Look what happened to Lot’s wife. Best not to look back. Best to believe there will be happily ever after all the way around – and so there may be; who is to say there will not be such endings? Not all boats which sail away into darkness never find the sun again, or the hand of another child; if life teaches anything at all, it teaches that there are so many happy endings that the man who believes there is no God needs his rationality called into serious question.

You leave and you leave quick when the sun starts to go down, he thinks in this dream. That’s what you do. And if you spare a last thought, maybe it’s ghosts you wonder about…the ghosts of children standing in the water at sunset, standing in a circle, standing with their hands joined together, their faces young, sure, but tough…tough enough, anyway, to give birth to the people they will become, tough enough to understand, maybe, that the people they will become must necessarily birth the people they were before they can get on with trying to understand simple mortality. The circle closes, the wheel rolls, and that’s all there is.

You don’t have to look back to see those children; part of your mind will see them forever, live with them forever, love with them forever. They are not necessarily the best part of you, but they were once the repository all you would become.

Children I love you. I love you so much.

So drive away quick, drive away while the last of the light slips away.

idk if that's what the question was asking for but it is poetry TO ME

15.) a book rec you really enjoyed

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Steifvater

this was a rec from @cherryisgone that i absolutely adored!! this author writes so beautifully, and this book read almost like a modern folktale. plus, it's about miracles (kind of like encanto, if that can be a selling point to you, dear friend 👀). i read like half of it while sitting by the beach one cloudy weekend and really enjoyed it

28.) a book you wish you could read as a beginner again

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

ok i don't actually want to reread war and peace. i think i'd impale myself on a bendy straw before i ever did that (especially since i read this as a challenge to myself and, perhaps you can recall, dear friend, spent most of the last two months of junior year preoccupied with while nobody in our classes would shut up :))))) ). the only reason i would even remotely want to reread it is because i have such a better grasp on the background of the events in this book, of the writer himself, and just the culture and society of Russia itself than i did in high school when i basically knew Nothing. not to say i'm an expert ofc, because i sure as hell am not, but i do have a lot more context for it and feel like i would understand it on a better level now than i did then

but alas, i'm not willing to put myself through that again :) listening to natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812 is all i need to get through the rest of this life i think

37.) your favourite heist book

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

you asked this just so i would have to admit you were right, huh 😔

tbh i don't think i've actually read a lot of heist books. this is the only one i could really think of, but still, it would beat out any others. also, this book has Matthias Helvar, and that's not something other heist books can say

anyway, thank you for stopping by bestie :3 here's to many more books in our future :D 💜💜💜

[sign-seeker]

So I've been absolutely ridden with pain induced insomnia for the last week, so instead of sleeping I've been watching Stranger Things, which I've been putting off watching for a good long while now. So far I am up to the first few episodes of season 3. Some observations:

1) The science teacher just told Joyce that her seeing magnets becoming demagnetised all over town is her seeing patterns on coincidences and NO! This man does not understand that he lives in the Joyce Byers show: She is the fucking Cassandra of this small Indiana town. The whole point of this show seems to be "what if the schizophrenic lady that all the townsfolk make fun of was totally right about everything" and people need to start respecting that. Next person to suggest she's imagining things needs to get eaten by a monster.

2) I'm kind of sad that Will doesn't have a lot of character. His role in season 1 is defined by his absence, his role in season 2 is defined by his possession and acting "off", and so far in season 3 all he's done is say "I want to play D&D" a whole lot. After 2 seasons of Will-as-McGuffin, I want some Will-as-person time. Also his hair seems to be getting uglier every season.

3) Lucas didn't have a great role in Season 1, so it was nice from him to have more to do in Season 2. He was sort of relegated to the role of "the negative friend" who complained a lot, so having him be more front and centre in driving events and relationships in Season 2 was fun.

4) I think the Duffer Brothers must sit down at the start of each season's production meeting and say "so what's El's cool outfit for this season?" Season 1 had the denim jacket over pink dress outfit, which just radiated Weird Little Girl In A Stephen King Novel vibes, Season 2 had her punk outfit with the leather jacket and the slicked back hair... I can't wait to see what her iconic outfit for Season 3 will be.

5) Monster in the Woods: Exists.

Nancy & Johnathan: Instantly upgrade from scared teenagers to killing machines.

I adore them.

6) Dustin's so fucking funny. No notes, perfect job.

7) Mrs Wheeler needs either a marriage counselor or a divorce lawyer.

8) I like that in Season 1, there was a head on collision between 2 different Stephen King obsessions: the "Psychopathic school bullies who will literally attempt flat out murder" and "the psychic little girl" came face to face and the bullies did not enjoy the experience.

9) Hopper's genuinely been amazing for 2 seasons, but suddenly he's a fuck in season 3, but it makes perfect sense: he suddenly has an actual daughter, having spent his life recently pretending that his late daughter is still alive because he can't deal with having lost her. This is the flip side of his overly domineering parental nature: when El was in constant danger, his need to keep her close and control her "for her own protection" was useful, but now that she wants to live a more normal life, that once-admirable quality has become stifling. GOOD STUFF.

10) Max & El are friends. :) I was afraid that she'd continue to be jealous of her, as she was when she first found her hanging out with Mike, but nope, they have fun girl times at the mall complete with AMAZING OUTFITS.

11) Speaking of Max, is a plot thread dangling from Season 2? When she says "we're stuck here" her step brother angrily responds "well whose fault is that?" and she looks chargrined, which implies that it's her fault they're in Hawkins, and had to leave California. But this is never brought up again, and the story she tells Lucas later when they're bonding has nothing to do with her, but makes it clear it her mother and stepfather decision that they be in Hawkins. That's going to buck me until it's addressed.

12) LOVE the anti-authoritarian vibes. "This is our government honey, they have our best interests at heart" as the government agents who've faked a child's drowning, a man's suicide, and a young woman's running away in order to cover up their own incompetence and violence are heading out to murder their son and his friends.

[prettyboyeddiemunson]

Hey Sweetheart,

I’m so sorry something triggered you earlier. I’m glad I sent that last letter just in time then. Even if it may have only helped a little. I hope you’re able to sleep well tonight and get plenty of rest. Also, I hope waking up you feel better. I responded to your answers to the questions I asked and answered them too. Figured it would help you get to know me more.

1. I’ve been wanting to read a Stephen King novel for a while but I’m currently reading The Hollow Ones by Guillermo Del Toro and chuck Hogan. I love the show Twin Peaks! I was super unaware there was a book!!

2. That’s so cool you got to go ghost hunting with the cast of ghost hunters! I think ghost hunting is really cool and I definitely plan to do it at least once someday. My favorite memory is when I scared the shit out of a group of NFL players in a haunted maze when I was dressed as a vampire.

3. Picking at/biting your lips can count. As much as I love reading, whether it’s books or fanfics, I have a habit of my eyes skipping ahead on me and reading further ahead. I used to skip to the last page to read the last sentence but I haven’t done that in a few years.

4. Do you have an idea of what kind of book you would want to publish? I would love to finally write a movie script. I don’t care if it gets used or not. Just the idea of finally accomplishing that, would be amazing.

5. It’s terrible that people think it’s okay to yell at or berate wait staff and retail workers. I’m one of those people who go out of my way to stack up the plates and trash at the end of the table when I go to restaurants. The people who think it’s okay to cheat don’t deserve to be loved or be in relationships period. I hate how people don’t realize how easy it is to put in effort to make the relationship work.

6. Pancakes are hands down the best!

7. Vampires are really interesting. I’d definitely pick that one too

8. I have a family that’s so big I wouldn’t want to wish it on anyone. I’d honestly rather be in a small family

9. I never got to grow up in one place, not military. And honestly it really hurt my childhood.

10. Seeing yourself happy, being published, owning a home, and having a family are really great goals. I could definitely say the same for myself with the addition of being more well traveled.

11. My funniest experience involved me getting a C.A.T. scan. So the radiology tech asked if I ever had surgery to have anything removed or metal added in. Without missing a beat I said, “nope I’m still a whole person.” I’ve never heard someone laugh that hard in my entire life. I really must have caught her off guard with that one.

12. Eyes are what I notice first too. There’s so much you can tell about someone with how they express their emotions by their eyes. I also look at body language too. People can lie but their bodies tell the truth.

13. That’s a really good goal. I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the Christmases we had as kids. So I’m really trying to emulate that this year.

14. I’m going to be honest, I was super nervous but excited when I sent the first ask. I get that same feeling every time I hit submit. I’m enjoying getting to know you more.

Honestly if you ever need/want to vent about anything and everything I’m here for you. Just call out to me in a post and I’ll be there.

Song to go with this letter: Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys

-Your Secret Admirer

awww thank you, and thank you for providing those answers! if you want some Stephen King recs, my favorites of his are the stand, the dark tower series, the shining, and salem’s lot! the stand is massive, both editions, but I recommend the uncut version! it’s longer, but it includes everything that his publisher made him cut out to shorten the length of the original novel. as for twin peaks, there are actually three books! the secret history of twin peaks and the final dossier (don’t read that last one unless & until you’ve seen season 3!), and the secret diary of laura palmer. i recommend all three, if you’re a big fan of the show!

i love your favorite memories and other things as well! as for what book i wanna publish, im currently slowly working on a horror novel right now! I’d like to try & get it published someday, if I ever get it done and ready. what about your movie script?

[brandnewhuman]

Hi!🦇 I am not quite sure what I need to put in for the matchups but I apologize in advance if I leave any info out/gave too much info. Anyways, my name is Tobiathan or Toby for short, and I am 19 years old. I’m a gender non-conforming gay trans male and my pronouns are he/they. I am currently 5’1 and 137 pounds. I have medium length black wavy/curly hair that’s in a mullet/shag style and my eyes are brown. My skin complexion is pretty pale and I have a good amount of freckles on my nose and cheeks. I have a scar across my lip that goes a little up towards my cheek and I have another one on my right eyebrow.

I’m usually quite introverted but when I’m with people I care about and love, I tend to be more comfortable around them and just a little bit more outgoing. My friends tend to describe me as intimidating and reserved at first but extremely loving, protective and loyal once you get to know me. I would beat the shit out of anyone that hurts my loved ones and I would do it GLADLY.

I have a vampire gothic style and I’m very into music, cooking, fashion and art. I make Halloween masks in my free time that I sell. I prefer to bake but I do enjoy making my friends food. I find it to be very therapeutic. I am very into horror stories whether it be Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King all the way to true crime shows and books, if it has anything to do with disturbing things, I find an interest in it. I LOVE sewing and making clothes. Most of the clothes I wear I’ve made myself. I also have a bad habit of ranting about the things I enjoy. And my favorite colors are red and black.

My love language is quality time and acts of service. There’s nothing I want more than to spend time with those I love and to do little things for them.

I also base my entire personality around Halloween and everything horror and spooky related because it is my all time favorite holiday.

I paired you up with...

♡ Michael Myers ♡

(Rob zombie version☆)

Yes, I'll admit it. I paired you with him because of the masks. BUT YOU CAN'T TELL ME IT WOULDN'T BE SUCH A CUTE DATE IDEA TO MAKE MASKS TOGETHER WHILE LISTENING TO SOME MUSIC AND EATING SWEETS. 

God this man really needs someone like you in his life. 

Having finally someone who sees him as more than just a monster and that is willing to defend him without a question is going to be the most precious thing you could ever do or give him. He has spent all his life hearing he's evil and that he will never be able to do anything good so having you around and treating him with such love and care would be actually perfect. 

The first thing he noticed is surely how similar your personalities are, how you and him act almost the same way with the people you love. 

I said before, I'll say it again; GIVE THIS MAN PROPER CARE AND NUTRITION. THAT IRON DEFICIENCY AND LOW BLOOD PRESSURE IS GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF HIM. He absolutely adores your cooking and your baking and even though he doesn't really know much about it he wants to learn so every time you're cooking or baking he will be next to you studying everything you do. He too wants one day to be able to cook for you. 

Bro would be over the moon watching spooky and gory things with you. He finds comfort in obscure things because that's what he has known his whole life. It actually makes him uncomfortable with anything that has a happy or normal vibe because he feels so detached from normalcy and he can't really relate to those types of things. 

Now, he's fucking huge. Like too big for his own good so the fact that you like sewing and making clothes it's gonna be good for both of you. For you cause you can practice by making clothes for him and for him cause he gets to have brand new things to wear that aren't boring.

He appreciates your love language cause, like every version of Michael, he finds it really hard to express physically and verbally his love. He wants to be with you and he wants to do things for you to feel helpful and to show you he cares. He wants to feel needed and wanted but he doesn't really know how to show it or say it in any other way. And he really appreciates you doing the same for him, you make him feel safe and cared for. Like he's worthy of being loved. 

YOU CAN'T TELL ME I DIDN'T PICK THE PERFECT MATCH FOR THIS WITH ALL THE HALLOWEEN STUFF. 

This matchup made me think about this song:

[babylotuseater]

Digital scopophobia: not only am i anxious about people staring at me in public, regardless if i am being paranoid or not, i am afraid of every social media platform. I dont like people looking at my screen, how dare i, what am i hiding, isnt that public, didnt you want us to watch, why are you so mad, what are you typing, all you do is sit on your phone! How dare i look at my own goddamn ao3. Since i am so stupid and such a whore, i need your advice on how to be an artist because you know me so well! I use the word "whore" for a short story once and suddenly I deserve to be treated like it is all I am good for. All you see is the word "whore" and you are disgusted. And then i am "too angry." But you want me to keep explaining why. I would fucking love to talk about everything I actually love. You know i want to write a lot of landscape imagery. But none of my pretty words about where i have traveled mattered, the words were pretty but if all you want is pretty then i dont fucking want to tell you about my travels. But i am not even allowed to enjoy a fucking video game Fallout new vegas or it makes me a whore wasting my money and life for enjoying a fucking video game. I want to be able to make money off my art which means I have to put it somewhere at least while i am practicing and now I get to be punished for it until I realize how bad it is, how confusing and disturbing and immoral and fucked up, how something MUST be wrong with me while stephen king is sold at airports. How dare i, a transsexual, want to write. It does not matter what i write. All that has been heard is "transsexual" and "whore." I really liked the mist by stephen king i think its called. The one where they get trapped in a grocery store and the fog is like god. But when i write about fog, i dont make money and no one hears me talk about god. I just get labeled a psychopath or a whore. I write on my google docs. But you would think i am texting horny men all the time. I have thousands of pages in my google docs. None of it matters, of course, because i have selfies on instagram that require more inspection. I am so grateful that you read my tumblr. Thank you for being creeped out and uncomfortable by my mental health. It must be really hard to be uncomfortable, and I take you very seriously, which is why it is okay to call me childish because I understand how difficult it must be for you to see a Woman, on a Phone. It must be about sex then. I cannot say, "I dont feel respected," without being corrected to say, "I am so grateful actually." The fact that i experiment with names is taken as mental illness. My gender, my sexuality only seen as perversion to the disgusted masses. I have started to feel so fucking pathetic having "artist" in my social media bios. I dont tell people I want to be one. Im ashamed, just as everyone wanted. You cant even have an aesthetic pinterest these days without each board being labeled a multiple personality. And then none of my opinions matter once it can be neatly packaged into "female hysteria" or "trans cult" whatever. none of my paintings have any meaning because my life has no meaning, right? I love to post on tumblr dot com like an unpopular traumacore blogger except the only people watching think traumacore is embarassing and lame and pathetic. Stephen king is traumacore. Is it not brave enough to even still have my fucking instagram, knowing people who would laugh at my death were waiting for me to come off private for more entertainment? You would not believe me if i told you my ex's new boyfriend was watching my story as soon as i came off private, which means he had been checking to see when, yet i am paranoid for noticing. His new boyfriend and his best friend too. I cant even call it "stalking" because no one takes it seriously. It literally felt to me like I went back on social media to make sure if i die that i get to say why in my own words. I am paranoid of violence that people pretend doesnt exist which only makes me more paranoid which only makes me more of a target

[austinhardwicke]

First Impressions

In writing my own stories, I get too wrapped up in “Worldbuilding,” and live in the universe for months and years. While this has positive effects, like being able to explore every possible aspect of the world and its magic systems, there are profound negative effects, like not being able to let anyone inside. I get to wrapped up in my own concepts, that the story becomes incomprehensible

What's the point of building a big beautiful house, if you don't have any doors to let people in? And you built it deep in the country without a road for anyone to drive down to get there? “Yeah, it's real great, you just need to walk through marsh land for about an hour, and then you can finally see it!”

This is a serious issue, not just with myself, but anyone that's moved away from  writing fan fiction, and moved into creating their own “Original Content.” Sure, writing all that erotic Dragon Ball Z fanfic allowed you to skip right past explanations of the world, the characters, their abilities, and let you focus on getting good at writing "the fun part," but now that you've filed off the serial numbers and you're trying  to write your stories, you don't have decades of canon to lean back on. GokuxVegeta was only hot because everyone knows their prior history together.  What's so hot about these new boys? You can't just tell me their love is forbidden for "reasons," you gotta prove it to me.

As someone that essentially writes fanfic of his own content, I never learned how to write that part of the story. Not only do I not understand the process, I have active hostility for that part in any fiction. When re-reading books, and re-watching shows, I will commonly skip the first episode or chapter. It's universally the place with the worst dialogue. And yet, you can't have a story without beginnings. And, furthermore, beginnings aren’t just at the beginning. Every new character, new land, and new power, have beginnings. Over and over throughout your story. Its an integral part of the storytelling process

Stephen King says you get better at writing by “writing a lot, and reading a lot,” and so I'm going to twist that advice and try to read a lot, but track my mental progress as I go through the books. Try to see how the road is built(to keep using that exhausted metaphor.) I will keep these write ups posted publicly, for the sake of posterity, and to embarrass myself later on in life.

And now for rules(cause hobbies should always have rules, right? Or is that just me?)

Rule 1. Only read chapter once before doing a write-up

People don't commonly re-read a chapter of a book they're enjoying. They plow straight ahead. It's not uncommon for readers to miss important facts, either due to issues on the readers part, or the author not bringing enough attention to it. In an effort to catalog my own mind, I should try to stick to this, no matter how foolish I come off

Rule 2. Do not look anything up (amended to allow me to look up how to spell fantasy names)

If I don't know a word in the book, or how its used, that just something I have to live with

Rule 3. Lean towards emotional charged impressions

Emotional significance is more important than a factual recounting. I want to see how the story is built, not a census of the world. 

Rule 4. This is not a review of the book, this is a review of how I process the book

This is more of a content warning for any stranger that comes across these posts. There's no grade system at the end of reading the book. The purpose is for me to take apart critically acclaimed stories, and see how they tick. Disregard any negative comments as a condemnation of the novel. If I'm taking it apart here, that means it's probably worth reading

[thebookpeddler]

My Journey Through Games, Books, and Escapism

Reading has been a huge part of me ever since I started last year. It has helped me cope with my anxiety and depression.

I was never an avid reader before, preferring videogames as a form of escapism. I choose my favored game, usually an MMORPG, and just run around the world crafted by its creators, taking in on the sceneries, hunting monsters, crafting items, not caring about its stories most of the time, and just being a part of that world, existing.

I hadn't realize it has become an unhealthy obsession of mine, playing for hours and hours on end, usually forgetting lunch and/or dinner. Choosing to play outside due to our home computer not having the best specs, and then spending around 3-5 hours overnight just playing these games.

When I was a kid I read quite a few books. Remember those Disney read-along books with cassette tapes? God I loved those. Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin were always on repeat almost every single day. I also had that one book about a Tikbalang (a Filipino mythical creature, with the torso of a human and the legs and head of a horse). I was a happy boy back then.

But it didn't last as me and my brothers became obsessed with gaming. From our then local arcade, to Dreamcast rental cafes, to PC cafes playing MMOS like MU Online and Ragnarok Online.

Since then I have been captivated by videogames. It had helped me deal with my everyday life. I always turned to them to escape life's problems.

One day my emotions got out of hand that I stopped playing games for a very long time. I was lost and did not know where to go or what to do. I tried recapturing that sense of wonder but I could not.

I am terrible at reading books. I usually read paragraphs multiple times on account of me unable to absorb information easily. I've had hard times imagining things happening in the books. In my first attempt at taking reading seriously, I did not last. And now my copy of A Game of Thrones is all soggy due to it absorbing rainwater. I did not take good care of such a good book.

Then I saw this one book on a store: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

The thief Kelsier has recruited the best allomancers from the underworld in order to stop the Lord Ruler from his reign of terror.

I witnessed how Vin, with the help of Kelsier, overcame her trauma imposed by her upbringing, how she relied on her team in defeating the Lord Ruler, as well as dealing with the elites of the Final Empire.

One of the things I really love about Mistborn, and Sanderson's books to an extent, is that the prose is so easy to follow. I realized that I have been picking the wrong types of books to start with.

And now I have a collection of books that I have finished and currently reading. From Pet Sematary by Stephen King, to The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I even sneak in a few self-help books by Robert Greene once in a while.

But my chosen genre has always been fantasy. Much like videogames, I enjoy escaping in a different world through reading. But instead of getting too addicted to the point that It's started to become too unhealthy, books help me keep grounded in my reality. Books also helped me train my focus skill. I don't read paragraphs repeatedly as much as I used to.

Reading stories, in addition to working out, has changed my outlook in life. Since then, I have been less irritable and more forgiving of myself. I still do love videogames. It has, is, and will always be a part of me. But in books, they've helped me be aware and understand the place around me and my place in this world. It has a huge impact in my personal growth while still giving me that escapism that I crave.

[ncllywrites]

Fiction is about conflict, drama and mistakes and the reasons and consequences behind human behavior. People make the mistake of conflating enjoying art with agreeing with what it depicts and that’s just not how consuming media works. I like hurt/comfort fanfic, but that doesn’t mean I want to see my partner beaten up. I really enjoy Hannibal, but that doesn’t mean I approve of cannibalism. What we read, watch, write or ship doesn’t reflect our character. If that were true, Stephen King and George R. R. Martin should both be in prison, and every fan of Die Hard would be on a watchlist. We enjoy stories because they take us outside of ourselves, into adventures we could never have and into the minds of people we could never be. That’s art. And while it’s always important to be critical and thoughtful about how and why we enjoy something, that should never keep you from liking what you like. And it certainly doesn’t make you a bad person.

not once did i say that people who liked billy were bad people. let’s not put words in my mouth. i said that i don’t understand how people can like him knowing he’s said and done problematic things. y’all can like billy, idc, however!! my issue is with people trying to dismiss his shitty behavior bc he’s good looking or try justify why he is the way he is. childhood trauma/abuse isn’t an excuse to turn around and do the same to others. THAT was my point.

[polskiebagno]

In an effort to procrastinate working on my thesis, here is a compilation of (some of) the best things I have ever read. Books that I read over and over again, short stories that I haven't been able to forget for over a decade, articles and essays and experimental writings that kept me up until 3am trying to figure out their meaning. Hopefully you can find something new here that you haven't read yet!

SHORTS:

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson - a man discovers that his house changes every night, but he's the only one who can see it, and he soon finds himself unable to cope with it. I keep coming back to this one over and over. It's a beautiful tale of grief, doubt, loneliness, and I find that it means something else to me each time I read it. Would you have turned to look at the horses?

The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain by Yoko Ogawa - a woman meets a mysterious man and his son, fascinated by the local cafeteria. Similar to A Collapse of Horses in a way I can't quite put in words. A sister story, perhaps, but less fantastical. If you've ever seen Posession this story made me think of the line about god being under a porch with a dying dog.

Star, Bright by Mark Clifton - journal of a father whose little daughter turns out to be a genius capable of mind reading and time travel. When I was a child I wasted hours trying to figure out her method in hopes it was real and I could travel like that too. Definitely an interesting concept.

Borrasca by C. K. Walker - a young boy moves with his family to a small town in the mountains, and soon after that his sister goes missing. Beautiful, sad, horryfing all at once. I remember at times forgetting that it was a horror story and getting lost in that little town only to be faced with that ending. Big, big TW for sexual abuse.

The Road Virus Heads North by Stephen King - a horror writer buys a bizzare painting at a yard sale, and weird things start happening. The only one of King's stories I ever enjoyed reading so I thought I'd add it.

The Eradication of “Talmudic Abstractions”: Anti-Semitism, Transmisogyny and the National Socialist Project by Joni Alizah Cohen - to quote directly from it, "2018 has seen a vast rise in anti-Semitic violence globally. Similarly, violence against trans people, and trans women of colour in particular, has continued to rise exponentially. Is there link between the simultaneous rise in anti-semitism, the resurgence of the far-right, and the rise in transfemicide? In this article Joni Alizah Cohen analyses the structure of Nazi ideology for the key to understanding the present crisis".

38 by Layli Long Soldier - a poem about the Dakota 38. I love that you can also listen to the author reading it, to fully understand what she was going for. Definitely a "food for thought" kind of read.

The Dutch Village Where Everyone Has Dementia by Josh Planos - a look at a village that is, in its entirety, a nursing home, and at how we treat dementia in general. I find the topic of memory loss to be incredibely fascinating so this was right up my alley.

The Freudian Coverup by Florence Rush - while we all know that Freud's ideas, especially the concept of Odipeus complex, are simply bullshit I don't think many of us know how close he was to actually understanding trauma. I certainly didn't before I read this, and I've been studying psychology for 5 years now. I don't know if I would say there was malice to his theory, but there certainly wasn't any honesty in it. TW for child sexual abuse. If you don't have a subscription you can use Sci-Hub to get access to this.

BOOKS:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - a young boy is chosen as one of the children being trained to soon lead Earth in the fight against aliens. While at times hard to read because of the hardships and abuse all the children face, to me it's a beautiful tale of friendship and love and goodness of humanity that prevails even when faced with horrific circumstances. DO NOT watch the movie tho. Also I'm not a fan of the other books but if you're interested, yes, this is a start of a series.

Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes - a 12 year old girl living in her family's run-down hotel in the middle of nowhere begins investigating the drowning of another girl that took place decades ago. I first read this series when I was 12 myself and since then this series has always felt like home. It's always summer there, and reading Emma's descriptions of her mother's cooking makes me feel like I'm sitting with her at the table. It's vivid and welcoming and the characters feel like they're your friends and it has been a pleasure to grow up with these books and see how my perspective on them changed. There are three more titles so far, but the story doesn't seem finished.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks - a collection of tales of Sacks' patients with various neurological issues. Great read if you're interested in how the brain works, but even if neurology and psychology aren't your thing this is still a wonderful look at what makes us human. Sacks writes with such ease and beauty and you can sense the care he has for all his patients.

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury - a whole collection of short stories, detailing the exploration and settlement of Mars in the years 1999-2026. If you're not feeling like reading the whole collection my personal favorite is The Third Expedition; it really scared me as a child and I never forgot it. And I would recommend looking into Bradbury's writing in general.

Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa - another collection of short stories that connect and intertwine and create a narrative comparable to a maze or a spider's web or one of those russian dolls that have another doll in them. You could theorethically just read them on their own but it takes away most of the fun of this book.

THE UNABOMBER PACKAGE:

Look, I wanted to put his manifesto on here because I do truly believe it's a super interesting read, but you need to have context. You can start with just the Wikipedia page, but here are additional things I highly recommend reading:

A Stranger in the Family Picture by Serge F. Kovaleski and Lorraine Adams - an article about his childhood, including some stories from his mother. Definitely biased but good start if you wanna go in a chronological order.

Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber by Alston Chase - written by another Harvard atendee it's a description of Kaczynski's college years and, most importantly, the very unethical psychological experiment he was a subject of.

Gender confusion, sex change idea fueled Kaczynski's rage, report says - definitely not as much info as I'd like but it's another snippet into just how many things were happening in his head and how he dealt with them.

Excerpts From Unabomber's Journal - it's very important that you read these and "hear" him talk, in his own words, about why he did what he did. Especially if you feel some sympathy for him after reading the previous articles it's important to read these and see who he really was. If you do not have a subscription to NYTimes just click Esc before it fully loads and before! the paywall popup appears and you can read it for free.

Prisoner of Rage - A special report. From a Child of Promise to the Unabom Suspect by Robert D. McFadden - longer than previous articles it's a pretty good summary of everything. Use the Esc trick again to read it.

To Unabomb Victims, a Deeper Mystery by George Lardner and Lorraine Adams - also a very important read. Given how much conversation is focused on Kaczynski himself and his life it is crucial to remember his victims and hear their voices.

Every Last Tie: The Story of the Unabomber and His Family by David Kaczynski - a book written by his brother. I found it to be surprisingly well-written and quite heartbreaking.

Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore Kaczynski - finally, the manifesto. I am begging you to read this carefully and critically. Do your research and keep in mind his journal excerpts and the victim's stories when engaging with this. I understand how fascinating it is, I just wrote you a paragraph full of resources, but please. This man is not your friend.

BLOGS/WEBSITES/ONLINE PROJECTS:

Time Cube by Otis Eugene Ray - an archived website presenting Ray's ideas about time being... cubic. According to him each day is really four days at once, and he describes four important points in time and space - one where Jesus lives, one for Socrates, one for Einstein and one for the Clintons. Yes like Bill Clinton. The website is a mess and it is clear that Ray was not in his right mind while writing it. I recommend treating it like a scavenger hunt - there are different versions of the website, from different years, archived on the Wayback Machine, and there's plenty of tabs you can click. The text is chaotic, he changes fonts and colors, one minute he's talking about time the next he's yelling at you and calling god a queer. But every once in a while there will be a quote that just... moves you. So if you have some time to kill sit down, maybe have a drink, and search for some accidental poetry there, it's great fun. My personal favorite quote is "Without deed, word starves. Word god lends not a hand". You can also check out a lecture he gave at Georgia Tech in 2005.

What football will look like in the future by Jon Bois - totally normal sports article nothing to see here :) about football yes. Why would you ask. What else would it be about? (Seriosuly tho, I don't wanna spoil this, it's great fun to read this and try to figure out what is going on. I never came across any vision of the future similar to this one, it's very refreshing).

my father's long, long legs by Michael Lutz - a fairly classic short scary story, but with the added element of being interactive. It gets quite creepy once you go underground, but don't worry, there aren't any jumpscares.

[whoree321]

Hi! Not sure if requests are still open, but do you have any headcanons for echo with a S/o who reads a lot?

hi love! requests are still very much open!! i got a little bit carried away with this but i don’t care, echo is a sweet angel and i love him until my dying breath. also i’m just pretending that in tbb everyone has datapads they can use like kindle readers idk if that’s true or not but right here right now it is

echo with an s/o who loves to read headcanons

ok so i consider it canon that echo likes to read

like they made it a plot point in Rookies that he liked the Rishi Moon station bc it was quiet and he could just vibe and read army regulations

was the purpose of that probably just to let us know that he really likes rules? yes. but do i also think it means he enjoys reading those rules? yes.

before the citadel, echo used to read for pleasure a lot. he liked manuals and protocols, but he also liked fiction too

I could totally see him as like a stephen king, james patterson kinda dude. like thrillers, murder mysteries, etc

after the citadel tho, he just couldn’t find the motivation to actually sit down and read a book. he’d start one and get through maybe a chapter before getting distracting, putting it down, and not picking it back up

when you join up with the bad batch and he sees you curl up in the gunner’s nest with your nose buried in your datapad for the first time, his interest is definitely piqued

echo can tell you’re reading something, but he’s hesitant to ask you about it since he doesn’t wanna disturb you. while he’s hemming and hawing over interrupting you, tech beats him to it

echo doesn’t know whether to punch him or thank him

the way that your eyes light up as you start explaining the book you’re reading nearly stops his heart right then and there. the fact that it’s a book he’s read before gets it racing immediately after

when tech gets called away from your conversation, echo very shyly tries to pick up where he left off

“i-i’ve actually read that one before, [author] is pretty good”

a few hours later and your discussion is only ended by your drooping eyelids

from then on, you and echo build a fast friendship around books

he loves to hear about the newest book you’re reading. if he’s read it before, he’s delving into opinions and theories and analysis with you. if he hasn’t, he’s asking questions and listening intently as you give him the full run down

echo is pretty much the only batcher who even really notices your reading, much less engages with you about it. every once in a while tech will bring it up, but echo swears that you only speak half as passionately about it with tech as you do with him

one night, he wakes up frantically from a nightmare. you were still awake reading and when you heard him gasp and bolt up you hurried over to see if he was ok

he tries to brush it off as nothing, but the beads of sweat on his forehead and the way his hands and voice shake give him away. you sit with him in silence for a few minutes before asking if you could read your book to him

he looks surprised for a moment before nodding and settling back on his bunk, gesturing for you to join him. you read out loud to him until you notice he’s asleep, putting away your datapad and getting some rest yourself

afterwards you wind up spending pretty much every night like that

your passion for reading actually inspires echo to try cracking open a book again

he remembers a while back when you told him your favorite book, and he decides come hell or high water he will read it and he will finish it

you notice one day he’s been pretty quiet and you see him completely enraptured in his datapad. you ask him what he’s doing and balk a little when he tells you (you know he hasn’t been able to commit to a book in a really long time)

you ask why he picked that particular book and he just grins so wide and says something like “well you said it was your favorite so i figured it had to be pretty good”

you’re so shocked and flattered that he remembered you saying that and valued your opinion/recommendation so much that you lean in and kiss him right there

once you’re in a relationship, there’s very little that changes. you still discuss your books at length and read every night before bed

the only difference now really is that echo joins you a lot more

the two of will take turns reading to each other at night

you both also form a little book club with tech. you pick a book and discuss certain chapters every few days. every meeting almost always results in you debating with tech over some part of the book until echo puts a stop to it (he always tell you later that you were right)

overall i think echo would love an S/O that loves to read, it’s something he could really bond with them over