#introduction to academic search

[alianoralacanta]

Part 2 – Searching for Literature: An Overview

If you are searching for literature, the basic procedure is as follows:

- Find out what your coursework question is.

Reading for anything other than general background purposes should always be directed towards answering a specific question.

- Establish what information you already have.

You will have notes and background knowledge already. Gather this together and decide what else you need to know.

- Form a specific question for the search for literature. Decide what you want to know.

The clearer you are about what you want, the easier you will find it to marshal your resources to aid your task.

- Search for literature.

Part 3 has lots more information about this.

- Update your record of information searched (this is sometimes known as a review matrix or literature matrix).

You can use reference management software to help with this bit, or simply keep them in a spreadsheet or on paper. The important part is that you know where to find what you need.

- Decide if you need to know anything else before starting/resuming your coursework.

If you have a quote for everything where you think you need a quote, get going on the coursework. You can always revisit this process later (and for longer pieces of university coursework, your instructor would be disappointed if you didn’t). If you still have knowledge gaps, do this cycle again to plug remaining gaps.

hello! i remembered you took a course in library sciences if i recall correctly, and i've always loved reading your essays. i was wondering who to ask for tips on academic research and i felt you were the perfect person to ask!

strangely my instructor is encouraging us to use scholar GPT, saying that if we didn't use AI for searching for literature, writing, etc then we would fall behind. let me just say, i did, convincing myself i'd only use it that one time on a time crunch. i then got lazy, and i felt extremely unproductive.

i would love any advice or anything really that you could give! i'm in STEM, i don't think that is particularly relevant but just in case it is. although it doesn't have to be exclusive to that, only supplementary. thank you

Warning! Long entry alert!

Thank you for the ask! You remember correctly, I studied library sciences, which included some research training. I'm also in the early part of degree #2 (IT with - long story - a history component).

Firstly, I should ask: is this for searching for literature, or a literature search? To a non-student, those will sound identical. However, there's a big difference at university/college level. Searching for literature is simply getting sources to understand a topic. Most university/college coursework requires this to some extent. A literature search seeks to obtain every significiant item of knowledge about a very narrow question. It is typically not needed until the third year of undergraduate level.

Most of my advice is focused on the first question. However,

Some of the departments have given different ideas for how to research (which makes sense - library science is a social science, IT is a pure science and history is an art). However, most of it is applicable across disciplines.

AI is not ready to do literature searching of either type. It has too many hallucinations and mistakes to be useful. However, I can see why an instructor might ask people to use it anyway:

Part 1 – Providing Alternative Viewpoints

University and college are partly there to provide contrary opinions and challenge received wisdom. Academia in general is aware that AI is a hot topic and most universities and colleges have strong anti-AI-in-academia opinions. Thus, any of several pro-AI positions might be posited by other academics to ensure that students think about their use of AI instead of reflexively taking a position and never reconsidering it.

You may be being asked to consider multiple takes on the subject, as this is good training for the official course material in upper levels of degree courses. If you have no insight into your instructor's motives, this is the safest reason to assume, because it doesn't assume anything about their actual opinion (for example, it's possible to be anti-AI, still advocate thinking about AI through multiple lenses and thus be willing to take an opinion one does not actually believe for the benefit of students' developing a thoughtful approach to AI).

The proper answer to this is to make a sensible decision about AI and be prepared to revise it. You've used the tools currently on offer and found them inadequate, so different techniques are appropriate. You have, therefore, done your honest best as a student to thoughtfully consider the matter.

The sensible move in 2025 is to avoid using AI for literature search. However, colleges and universities want students to think about this and not simply assume the position they had entering university is or will continue to be the case. That applies to AI and almost every other topic the university/college teaches.

[atthecenterofeverything]

if you're looking for further antipsych readings, i heavily recommend bruce cohen's psychiatric hegemony: a marxist theory of mental illness.

it would be one of the published academic books on the topic of psychiatry i would have the least amount of caveats for - together with anne harrington's mind fixers: psychiatry's troubled search for the biology of mental illness.

if you are already convinced that psychiatry, together with other sciences, evolved alongside capitalist development to serve bourgeois interests, ensure social control and legitimize the hegemonic world order - and that no amount of intradisciplinary reform can change this, short of total abolition - then you will likely not be learning much from this book. it does however lay the arguments very clearly, together with concise, clearly explained marxist theory about labor. it then goes on to tie psychiatry with other hegemonic structures - the family, most notably.

interestingly enough, it manages to completely avoid two of the most common pitfalls of this kind of text: it never places the issue with the use of drugs themselves, but with forced medication and lack of available information - and it never blames capitalism itself for the coercive and punishing character of psychiatry, inventing a precapitalistic mythical past where crazy people were fine.

a solid recommendation if you are trying to give an introduction to antipsychiatry concepts to someone!

[fatehbaz]

hi! i hope this is alright to ask but i was wondering if you had any reading recommendations about invasive species and their management/control/rhetoric. there just seems to be a lot to it. thank you!

Woah. Look at this post I was drafting literally two hours before you sent this, about the nationalist appropriation of rhetoric of "native vs. invasive" species in Hungarian land management:

Appropriate case study: (1) The tree was non-native and its introduction was facilitated by Austro-Hungarian imperial aristocracy and military, especially as fortification during wars in the eighteenth century. (2) It out-competed native trees and the government encouraged plantations of the species. (3) Because of its economic and political importance, the reactionary Hungarian parliament in 2014 officially named the tree "Hungaricum" (native/national heritage).

Yes, there is a lot. This is practically a whole discipline.

If you're looking for a collection, anthology, or singular book with multiple tangents, angles, or perspectives (rather than having to search through individual articles or journals), there are three collections I'm recommending below, but this also might be helpful:

Feral Atlas: The More-Than-Human Anthropocene, co-edited by Anna Tsing (she's probably the most high-profile scholar of this subject). Aside from containing a bunch of freely-available essays from about 100 authors on altered ecologies and rhetoric/imaginaries of environments in the Anthropocene, their big online portal just published the entire syllabus with a bunch of maps and graphics and free articles, in formats for non-academic reading groups, undergrad classes, and graduate seminars. If you go to Feral Atlas's homepage, you'll see a straightforward list of all of those authors.

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The Ethics and Rhetoric of Invasion Ecology (Edited by Jame Stanescu and Kevin Cummings, 2016). Including chapters:

"Alien Ecology, Or, How to Make Ontological Pluralism" (James K. Stanescu)

"Guests, Pests, or Terr0rists? Speciesed Ethics and the Colonial Intelligibility of "Invasive" Others" (Rebekah Sinclair and Anna Pringle)

"Spectacles of Belonging: (Un)documenting Citizenship in a Multispecies World" (Banu Subramaniam)

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Rethinking Invasion Ecologies from the Environmental Humanities (Edited by Jodi Frawley and Iain McCalman, 2014). Including chapters:

"Fragments for a Postcolonial Critique of the Anthropocene: Invasion Biology and Environmental Security" (Gilbert Caluya)

"Experiments in the Rangelands: white bodies and native invaders" (Cameron Muir)

"Prickly Pears and Martian Weeds: Ecological Invasion Narratives in the History and Fiction" (Christina Alt)

"Invasion ontologies: venom, visibility and the imagined histories of arthropods" (Peter Hobbins)

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The Invasive Other special issue of Social Research, Vol. 84, No. 1, Spring 2017. Including articles:

"Introduction [to Social element]: The Dark Logic of Invasive Others" (Ann Laura Stoler)

"The Politics of Pests: Immigration and the Invasive Others" (Bridget Anderson)

"Invasive Others: Toward a Contaminated World" (Miriam Ticktin)

"Invasive Aliens: The Late-Modern Politics of Species Being" (Jean Comaroff)

"Introduction [to Ecologies element]: Invasive Ecologies" (Rafi Youatt)

"Invasive Others and Significant Others: Strange Kinship and Interspecies Ethics near the Korean Demilitarized Zone" (Eleana Kim)

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For individual sources:

"The Aliens Have Landed! Reflections on the Rhetoric of Biological Invasion" (Banu Subramaniam, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 2:1, 2011)

"Loving the Native: Invasive Species and the Cultural Politics of Flourishing" (JR Cattelino, in The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities, pp. 145-153, 2017).

"The Rhetoric of Invasive Species: Managing Belonging on a Novel Planet" (Alison Vogelaar, Revue francaise des sciences de l'information et de la communication 21, 2021).

"Invasion Blowback and Other Tales of the Anthropocene: An Afterword." (Anna Tsing. Anthropocenes - Human, Inhuman, Posthuman 4:1, 2023).

Troubling Species: Care and Belonging in a Relational World, a special issue of Transformations in Environment and Societycurated by the Multispecies Editing Collective, 2017.

"Uncharismatic Invasives" (JL Clark, Environmental Humanities 6:1, 2015).

"Involuntary Momentum: Affective Ecologies and the Sciences of Plant/Insect Encounters" (Hustak and Myers, Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 23:3, 2012).

"Patchy Anthropocene: Landscape Structure, Multispecies History, and the Retooling of Anthropology: An Introduction to Supplement 20" (Tsing, Mathews, and Burbandt, Current Anthropology, 2019).

Trespassing Natures: Species Migration and the Right to Space (Donnie Johnson Sackey, 2024)

Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More than Human Worlds (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2016)

Nestwork: New Material Rhetorics for Precarious Species (Jennifer Clary-Lemon)

"Requiem for a junk-bird: Violence, purity and the wild." (Hugo Reinert, Cultural Studies Review 25:1, 2019).

"Comparing Invasive Networks: Cultural and Political Biographies of Invasive Species" (Robbins, Geographical Review 94:2, 2004).

In the Shadow of the Palms: More-than-Human Becomings in West Papua (Sophie Chao, 2022)

"Timing Rice: An Inquiry into More-Than-Human Temporalities of the Anthropocene" (Elaine Gan, New Formations, 2018).

Interspecies Politics: Nature, Borders, States (Rafi Youatt, 2020)

"Interspecies Politics and the Global Rat: Ecology, Extermination, Experiment" (Rafi Youatt, Review of International Studies, 2020)

Critical Animal Geographies: Politics, intersections and hierarchies in a multispecies world (Edited by Kathryn Gillespie and Rosemary-Claire Collard, Routledge, 2015)

"Invasive Narratives and the Inverse of Slow Violence: Alien Species in Science and Society" (Lindstrom, West, Katzschner, Perez-Ramos, and Twidle. Environmental Humanities 7:1, 2016)

"Life Out Of Place: Revisiting Species Invasions. Introduction to the Special Issue" (Hanne Cottyn. Anthropocenes - Human, Inhuman, Posthuman 4:1, 2023).

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It's been a "transdisciplinary" topic (especially in the past 15-ish years) in environmental humanities, ecocriticism, environmental studies, "science communication," anthropology, etc. (I think the humanities or interdisciplinary scholars handle the subject with more grace than ecology-as-a-field proper.) It shows up a lot in discussion of "the postcolonial," "ecopoetics," "Anthropocene," "multispecies ethnography," and "the posthuman"; Haraway was explicitly writing about rhetoric of invasive species in the 1990s.

A significant amount of posts on my blog from 2018-2022 are about invasive/alien/native labels. I summarized some of the discourses in my post about Colombian hippos. I especially talked a lot about the writing of Banu Subramaniam (rhetoric of ecological invasion, racialization of aliens); Rafi Youatt ("interspecies politics"); Anna Boswell (Aotearoa extinctions, "anamorphic ecology"); Sophie Chao ("post-plantation ecologies"); Elaine Gan ("Anthropocene temporalities" and industrial ruins); Hugo Reinert (species "purity" and extinctions); Puig de la Bellacasa ("speculative ethics in a multispecies world"); Ann Laura Stoler (of fame for her writing on "imperial debris" and ruination/haunting), Hugh Raffles, Nils Burbandt, Anna Tsing, and others. Lately in my own work I've been writing on borders/frontiers and media/colonial imaginaries of "pests/the exotic" and have been referencing Jeannie Shinozuka's Biotic Borders: Transpacific Plant and Insect Migration and the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in America, 1890-1950.

Thanks for saying hi.

[writingwithcolor]

WWC’s A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research

We are pleased to present  WWC’s A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research!

This pandemic project has been over 2 years in the making and we hope it will greatly assist any of our readers who are eager to conduct in-depth research but may be at a loss where to start. 

Go to the Guide Here

The guide is split into 6 parts:

Introduction and Table of Contents

Part 1: Getting Started

Part 2: Searching for Sources Online 

Part 3: Evaluating Sources

Part 4: Navigating Academic Sources 

Part 5: Recognizing Your Limits

Each portion of the guide has links to connect to the previous and next sections. While it is possible to view tumblr pages on phones and tablets through the app, we highly recommend viewing this guide via browser on desktop whenever possible. Tumblr page formatting is better suited for browsers and each section is very dense with information, which will make scrolling in the app or on your dashboard difficult. 

Future FAQ/ Discussion: 

As noted in part 5 of the guide, for the next two weeks, we will be keeping an eye on the notes for this post. If you have further questions or comments about academic research, drop them here and we will select the most pertinent to respond to in a later post. 

If you find this guide helpful, we request that you consider tipping the moderators below for the work and time required from conception, to drafting, formatting and debugging. Their ko-fis are listed below: 

Rina: https://ko-fi.com/arcanabean

Marika: https://ko-fi.com/5h1njuu

[bearforcecaptions]

Michael Anderson had always believed that life was a sequence of carefully orchestrated steps. The son of a modest middle-class family, he had worked tirelessly to get into a reputable MBA program, thinking this was the perfect next rung on his ladder to success. The campus was massive, sleek glass buildings rising against the skyline, dotted by well-kept lawns and clusters of excited new students exploring every corner. Michael arrived early on his first day, eager to find his classroom and settle in. With a new messenger bag slung over his shoulder, he navigated the corridors, each footstep echoing off the polished tile floors. He could still remember the fluttering excitement in his stomach as he checked the classroom number against his schedule, anticipating an introduction to his fellow MBA students and a new phase of his academic life.

He found the designated room, a large lecture hall with rows of desks set up in a semicircle. Oddly, the lights were dimmer than he would have expected for such a state-of-the-art campus building. The overhead fluorescents were turned down low, leaving a subdued atmosphere in the space. Michael hesitated in the doorway, noticing something strange: students already seated were facing straight ahead, their bodies unusually rigid, hands on their desks, spines straight, eyes open and staring forward. They did not talk among themselves. No one even glanced at Michael as he entered. Their silence was almost eerie, as though they were mannequins in a store display. It wasn’t the kind of first-day excitement he’d been anticipating.

Unsure of what else to do, Michael stepped into the classroom. A wave of apprehension rippled through him. He paused and scanned the room, trying to see if there was any sign or signal that might explain this bizarre behavior. But there was nothing. No one was chatting, texting, or even tapping a foot nervously. The entire class of perhaps twenty students sat there like statues. Michael’s eyes darted around, searching for any clue that might assure him this was some elaborate orientation exercise. But no one broke the silence.

A thin film of sweat gathered on his palms as he approached an empty desk in the second row. He told himself maybe the professor had given them instructions to be quiet and still, perhaps as part of some unorthodox lesson in discipline. Trying to act normal, he pulled back the seat and settled down, feeling the cool metal against his legs. He placed his bag by his feet. When he looked up, he saw that every student’s gaze was focused on the front of the room, as if transfixed by an invisible force. The air felt oddly still, stifling even, as though no one in the room was breathing.

Michael swallowed hard, determined not to panic. “This is just an exercise,” he told himself. “They’re trying to test our composure or something.” Yet as he placed his hands on the desk, he felt a sudden, undeniable stiffness creep into his arms and legs. It was subtle at first—just a tingle, a bit of resistance when he tried to shift his position. He attempted to move his arm, but it felt heavier than before, like it was fighting against him. Alarmed, he tried to swivel in his seat, but his body refused. His spine, which he had instinctively tried to relax, remained perfectly upright, locked into place.

A prickling sensation raced up the back of his neck. He glanced around with his eyes—since turning his head was now impossible—and saw that everyone else was still motionless. The only difference was that a few new students had quietly entered the room, found empty seats, and then assumed the same unnerving posture. It was as though the moment they sat down, they became locked in place, their eyes wide, bodies stiff. Michael’s mind began to race. “What is going on? Is this a prank? Is something happening to us?”

He tried to speak, to call out to the others, but his lips remained sealed. He couldn’t even open his mouth. Panic clutched at his chest. His breathing sped up in short, shallow bursts, the only physical action he could still manage. Every instinct in him screamed to stand up and bolt for the door, to get as far away from this weirdness as possible. But his limbs remained inert, as though pinned to the desk by invisible clamps.

Seconds crawled by, each one stretching into an eternity of dread. Michael’s mind churned through possibilities: had they been drugged somehow? Was there a gas in the room? Was this an elaborate hazing ritual? Yet none of these explanations seemed plausible. He could still see the door wide open. He could see new students walking in, and the same thing happening to them. Each one took a seat, looked straight ahead, and became just as rigid and silent as the rest.

Time dragged on in that suffocating hush until, finally, a man entered the room. He was tall, lean, and impeccably dressed in a charcoal gray suit. A slick tie in a dark shade of burgundy completed the ensemble. His shoes gleamed under the dull overhead lights. A smirk curved his lips as he surveyed the room of immobilized students. He shut the door gently behind him, the click reverberating through the thick silence. Then, with measured steps, he approached the lectern at the front of the classroom.

Michael’s heart hammered in his chest as he watched the man. This had to be the instructor, but his demeanor was not that of a caring professor or a typical lecturer. There was something unnerving about the way he smiled, something almost predatory in his gaze.

“Welcome,” the man said, his voice cool and resonant. “My name is Dr. Randall, and I’ll be… guiding you through this accelerated process.” He looked around the room, his eyes alight with a confidence that bordered on arrogance. “I know you all came here expecting an MBA education, perhaps a year or two of classes, assignments, group projects, and so on. But let’s be honest, that takes far too long. In today’s world, time is money. So we’ve decided on a fast-track approach.”

His words made little sense to Michael at first. A fast-track approach? But the man’s tone was calm and self-assured, as if he was about to conduct a perfectly normal seminar. That smirk never left his face.

“We’ve found,” Dr. Randall continued, “that the best results can be achieved by simply… transforming you. Why spend years learning the ropes when we can expedite the process? After all, isn’t efficiency the hallmark of good business?”

Michael’s stomach lurched. He wanted to scream, to demand an explanation, but he remained mute, locked in place. He could feel the tension in the air around him. It wasn’t just his own fear; it was as though the entire room was thick with it, each person silently panicking in their own frozen shell. Dr. Randall reached under the lectern and pulled out a sleek, metallic device. It looked futuristic, with a small display screen and vents along its sides. He set it down and pressed a button. A low hum filled the air, rising in pitch until it became a subtle whir.

“There,” Dr. Randall said, his voice almost triumphant. “That should do it.”

The sound was disconcerting, vibrating in Michael’s eardrums. A peculiar warmth spread through the room, as if the temperature had risen a few degrees. And then, to Michael’s horror, he saw the first visible signs of change. One of the students in the front row, a young woman with short blonde hair, started to shift. It wasn’t just a slight movement of her limbs; her entire body seemed to grow taller, more poised. Her casual T-shirt and jeans began to shimmer, as though the fabric was alive. Within seconds, her clothes morphed into a tailored navy-blue blazer, paired with a crisp white blouse and a sleek pencil skirt. Her hair lengthened and twisted into a neat updo. Her features matured, losing that youthful roundness. She looked at least ten years older now, exuding a professional, almost corporate aura. Her eyes, once wide with fear, now glimmered with a new sense of purpose.

Michael watched, unable to tear his gaze away, as the transformations began to ripple through the room. Another student, a lanky man wearing a faded hoodie and sweatpants, started to change. His posture straightened; his shoulders broadened. His hoodie and sweatpants shifted into a sharp black suit with a crisp dress shirt and tie. His hair, once messy, styled itself neatly, and a glimmer of ambition lit up his gaze. He looked exactly like someone who belonged on the cover of a business magazine.

All around Michael, similar transformations were happening. Each student’s clothing warped and changed to match a variety of business personas. One young man ended up in a sleek turtleneck and fitted slacks, reminiscent of a tech startup founder in Silicon Valley. Another donned a double-breasted suit with a flamboyant pocket square, looking like a finance mogul. A couple of students turned into more casual but still upscale entrepreneurs—one wearing a designer polo and tailored chinos, another in a chic blazer with jeans and expensive loafers. A tall woman in the back row found herself dressed in a sophisticated power suit, complete with high heels and a commanding presence. Her once uncertain expression melted into one of unwavering confidence, as though she was already the CEO of a successful corporation.

The entire classroom buzzed with these physical changes. Clothes, hairstyles, facial features—all shifting and aging. Michael felt the seat beneath him tremble as if reacting to the swirl of energy in the room. He could hear muffled gasps from a few corners, though most remained silent, whether out of shock or because they were still paralyzed. He tried again to move his arms or legs, but he was stuck fast. His heart pounded violently in his chest. He felt lightheaded, almost dizzy with fear and confusion. Yet there was no escape from whatever was happening.

And then it started happening to him.

A tingling sensation ran down his arms, across his torso, and into his legs. He felt his skin tighten. The hair on his arms and face prickled as though an electric current was running through him. He tried to scream, but not a sound emerged. The transformation had found him, and there was no way to resist. He could feel something shifting inside him—something beyond mere muscle or bone. Memories. Thoughts. Pieces of who he was seemed to be in flux.

The first outward sign came from his clothes. His simple collared shirt and khakis began to ripple, the fabric changing texture and color. The collar stiffened, the fabric of his shirt growing thicker and smoother. Within seconds, he found himself clad in a crisp white dress shirt, tailored to fit his torso perfectly. His khakis darkened and morphed into fitted trousers in a subtle pinstripe pattern. A jacket materialized over his shirt, forming around his arms and shoulders until it became a stylish blazer in a light gray hue with a faint check pattern. A tie manifested around his neck, snug and elegant, with a tasteful design in gold and black. His belt, once worn-looking, turned into fine leather, and his shoes, previously scuffed loafers, transformed into glossy Italian dress shoes that hugged his feet with refined craftsmanship.

Michael’s heart thundered in his chest as he felt an odd pressure in his toes. The shoes he was now wearing seemed to grow tighter and then loosen again as his feet themselves expanded. He could sense his toes stretching, the arches of his feet elongating. It was disorienting and faintly painful, like an extreme version of a foot cramp that forced his feet to grow bigger, more pronounced. The shoes accommodated these changes seamlessly, as though they were crafted for this new size. The sensation traveled up his calves, thickening them, adding muscle and definition he had never possessed before.

But the changes were not just physical in a superficial sense. He felt his entire body becoming older, more mature. The reflection in the polished metal edge of the desk, faint but visible, showed a face that was subtly altering. His jawline seemed to sharpen, becoming more pronounced and masculine. His cheeks lost some of their youthful roundness, giving way to a more angular structure. His eyes, once wide with a kind of academic curiosity, took on a focused, piercing quality. Even his eyebrows seemed to shift shape, becoming thicker and more defined.

Then came the stubble. At first, it was just a faint dusting along his jaw and upper lip, but within moments it darkened and spread into a thick, well-groomed layer of facial hair that accentuated his strong jawline. The color of his hair, once a light brown, deepened into a richer, darker shade, with subtle hints of black. He could feel a warmth under his skin, as though his very cells were being rearranged, the structure of his face adapting to a different heritage, a different lineage. His complexion took on a sun-kissed olive tone, as if he’d spent summers along the Mediterranean rather than in his suburban hometown.

Michael’s mind spun. He was aware of every shift, every new hair, every new contour of muscle. His arms, once lean, filled out with a strength he’d never known, the veins becoming slightly more visible. His shoulders broadened, and his torso gained a sleek athleticism that pressed against the tailored shirt and jacket. He felt the collar of his shirt snug around a neck that was thicker than before, yet still elegantly proportioned. If he could have looked down fully, he would have seen a well-defined chest, not bodybuilder massive, but sculpted in a way that spoke of discipline and confidence.

Alongside these physical changes, a torrent of memories began to flood his mind. It was as if a second life was being overlaid onto his original one. Snippets of a childhood spent in Italy flickered in his consciousness: running through narrow cobblestone streets in a small village, family gatherings where relatives spoke rapid Italian, dinners filled with pasta dishes and robust conversation. He saw himself growing older, studying in a prestigious Italian school, then interning at a major corporation, swiftly climbing the ranks. These images clashed with his real memories—of an American childhood, of public school, of playing basketball in the driveway. But the new memories were relentless, embedding themselves with a clarity and emotional weight that made them feel more real than anything he had known before.

He tried to cling to his identity: “I’m Michael Anderson,” he told himself in his thoughts. “I grew up in a suburb outside Chicago. I came here for my MBA. I—” But the surge of new experiences drowned out that internal voice. He saw board meetings where he spoke fluent Italian and English, negotiating deals, outsmarting rivals, making swift, ruthless decisions. He felt the pride of walking through an office building that seemed to belong to him, or at least he was in a position of significant power. The swirling confusion made him dizzy. If only he could move, maybe he could shake off these alien memories. But his body remained locked in that forward-facing posture, as if forcing him to absorb everything the device was feeding into his mind.

He heard a voice in his head that was not quite his own. It was deeper, tinged with an Italian accent, confident and authoritative. It said: “I am Massimo Andrelli. I have always been the best in the room, the smartest, the most cunning. Nothing stands in my way. I see opportunities where others see obstacles. I take what I want, and I succeed.” The voice repeated these sentiments, layering them over Michael’s old self. He felt a mounting pressure in his skull, as though his brain was being rewired to embrace these new thoughts. Anxiety gnawed at him—he could sense his old identity slipping away. But he could do nothing to halt it.

He desperately tried to hold onto the memory of his mother’s face, the name of his old high school, the smell of his bedroom at home. But each recollection was like sand slipping through his fingers, replaced by new, more dominant images. A sprawling villa in Tuscany. A father who was a stern businessman, teaching him the importance of power and strategy from an early age. The relentless hustle of city life in Milan, where he’d built a reputation as a shrewd negotiator. The language in his mind turned fluidly into Italian phrases, sprinkling them among English words. The more he tried to fight it, the more the new identity asserted itself.

Meanwhile, the rest of the class was undergoing similar transformations. A few seats down, he saw a timid young man become a confident tech guru in a sleek black turtleneck. His once uncertain expression now radiated with visionary zeal. A woman who had been wearing a casual sweatshirt and jeans was now in a tailored suit, exuding executive-level poise. Everyone in the room looked a decade or more older, as though they had stepped into their prime. Their faces, once anxious, now reflected an unflinching determination. Michael realized with a shock that each person’s entire life story was probably being overwritten, just like his was. They were no longer fresh MBA students. They were seasoned professionals, complete with years of experience that had materialized out of nowhere.

He felt the final waves of transformation coursing through him. His mind, battered by the onslaught of new knowledge and memories, began to capitulate. A sense of cold, calculated ambition filled his thoughts. He felt a cunning intelligence sharpen his senses. He knew precisely how to read a person’s body language, how to close a deal, how to leverage weaknesses. This new persona was supremely confident, borderline ruthless. Compassion and empathy seemed secondary to achieving objectives and securing success.

For a moment, Michael’s old self screamed in silent defiance. “This isn’t me!” he thought. “I’m not like this!” But that voice was drowned out by the booming certainty of Massimo Andrelli. “Of course this is who I am,” the new voice insisted. “I was born for this. I was molded by ambition and discipline. The world bends to my will.” The transformation device hummed louder, as if sealing the final layers of his new identity.

He felt a final pang of regret, a faint whisper of his old name—Michael Anderson. Then it was gone, submerged under the wave of Massimo’s personality. He couldn’t even recall what that name signified. It felt alien, meaningless. His posture straightened further, a posture of supreme self-assurance. The stubble on his face felt natural, as though he had worn it for years. He could still smell the faint scent of expensive cologne that now clung to him, a fragrance that matched his polished appearance. His massive feet felt snug in his finely crafted shoes, a testament to his strong, imposing presence.

When the transformation was complete, the device emitted a soft beep and fell silent. Dr. Randall, who had watched it all with a pleased smirk, clapped his hands once. “And that concludes your fast-track MBA,” he said with an ironic tilt of his head. “Congratulations. You are all now the professionals you were meant to be, but in a fraction of the time.”

As though on cue, every student in the room stood up in unison, moving with a fluid, synchronized precision that was almost robotic. Massimo found himself rising as well, picking up a sleek leather briefcase he hadn’t had before. His body obeyed without question. There was a strange emptiness in his mind regarding the immediate past. He felt no confusion, no alarm. In fact, everything felt normal, as if he had just completed a routine meeting. He looked around at his fellow classmates—no, they weren’t classmates. They were other professionals, each with their own unique specialty and style, each exuding a sense of authority.

Dr. Randall opened the door, and they all filed out into the hallway. No one spoke. It was as though they were still under some residual compulsion, moving like a well-organized unit. The corridor was deserted, lit by those same subdued fluorescent lights. Their footsteps echoed as they marched in near-perfect step. Massimo’s mind felt strangely quiet, as though every question he might have once had was unnecessary now. He knew his place in the world; he had a business to run, deals to make, and a reputation to uphold.

They exited the building and stepped into the bright daylight. The sun was warm on Massimo’s face, reflecting off the glass facades of the campus structures. Yet the group did not pause or disperse. They walked straight ahead, crossing the manicured lawns, passing other buildings, heading off campus as though drawn by an invisible directive. Cars passed by, and a few pedestrians glanced at the group of sharply dressed men and women striding with purpose. But no one stopped them.

At some point, the crowd began to split off in different directions. A few veered toward a parking lot, others down a side street. Massimo continued forward, guided by some internal compass. He walked several blocks, each step bringing him closer to the heart of the city. The buildings around him grew taller, more imposing. Sidewalks became crowded with people, some dressed casually, others in business attire, but none seemed as sharply focused as Massimo. He navigated the throng effortlessly, his polished shoes clicking against the pavement. The gentle breeze ruffled his blazer, but he ignored it, his mind fixed on a singular destination.

Finally, he stopped in front of a modern high-rise with sleek lines and tinted windows. The building towered above him, a testament to commerce and ambition. Massimo entered the lobby without hesitation. It was a grand space, with marble floors and minimalist decor, bustling with professionals rushing in and out. A security guard nodded politely at him, as if recognizing him, and Massimo made his way to the elevator bank.

He pressed the button for the twentieth floor, the elevator doors slid open, and he stepped inside with a few other people. The ride up was swift and smooth. No one spoke. The faint hum of the elevator and the distant ring of phones from the lobby were the only sounds. Massimo felt a sense of calm confidence. He was exactly where he was supposed to be. The elevator doors opened onto a reception area with plush carpets and a large glass partition that bore the name of a company he knew he was part of, though he couldn’t quite remember learning it—he simply knew it. He gave the receptionist a curt nod as he walked past her desk. She greeted him with a professional smile, addressing him by name: “Good morning, Mr. Andrelli.”

He acknowledged her with a slight tilt of his head. “Buongiorno,” he responded, the Italian slipping from his tongue with practiced ease. His accent was subtle but distinct. He continued down a corridor lined with offices, the walls decorated with motivational posters and framed awards. Several employees—he recognized them all somehow—glanced up from their workstations and greeted him respectfully. He responded with polite nods, already mentally reviewing the tasks of the day.

His personal office was at the end of the hallway, a corner space with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a panoramic view of the city skyline. A sleek wooden desk dominated the room, flanked by tasteful leather chairs. The décor was modern but with hints of classic Italian style—elegant paintings, a sophisticated color palette. Massimo stepped inside, letting the door close behind him. He breathed in the faint scent of espresso, a smell that felt comforting and familiar. Sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the polished surface of the desk, where a neatly arranged set of papers and a laptop awaited him.

He set his briefcase down and sank into the plush leather chair behind the desk. It felt right, as if he had sat there countless times before. There was no memory of any other life, any other identity. This was who he was: Massimo Andrelli, a driven Italian businessman. The swirl of the morning’s events was gone, replaced by the clarity of a man who knew exactly what he wanted. A small smile curved his lips as he surveyed the cityscape. Another day, another deal to close. His mind buzzed with strategies, negotiations, expansions—everything that fueled his ambition.

Unaware of any strangeness, he booted up his laptop, scanning through emails, each one addressed to him in this life he fully believed he had always lived. The transformation was complete, and as he leaned back in his chair, the day’s work unfolding before him, he felt no trace of Michael Anderson. No flicker of doubt or confusion. This was his normal, and he was eager to excel.

He brushed a hand over the stubble on his jaw, appreciating the confidence it gave him. The city stretched out before him, full of opportunity and challenge. He relished the thought of conquering it. There was nothing else—no other name, no other path. He was who he was meant to be. And with that resolute certainty, Massimo Andrelli began his day.

[qqueenofhades]

do you have any advice for those in the very early stages of thesis-writing? currently desperately clinging to the mantra of "shitty first drafts," et al

Unfortunately, there is no place where you will more whole-assedly have to embrace the "shitty first draft" mantra than in academic writing, especially in thesis writing, especially if this is your first-ish crack at an advanced and major piece of original research. I'm not sure if this is for an undergraduate senior thesis, a MA-level thesis, or (my true and heartfelt sympathies) a PhD dissertation, but the basic principles of it will remain the same. So there is that, at least. This means that yes, you will write something, you may even feel slightly proud of it, and then you will hand it into your supervisor and they will more or less kindly dismantle it. You have to train yourself to have a thick skin about this and not take it as a personal insult, and if your supervisor is remotely good at their job (not all of them are, alas) they will know how to be tactful about it and not make it feel like a direct and extensive commentary on your private worth as a person. But you will have to swallow it and do what you can, which can include -- if you're the one who has done the research and know that's how you want to present it and/or you are correct about it -- pushing back and having a conversation with them about how you think your original approach does work best. But that will come later. The first step is, yes, to mentally gird yourself to receive critical feedback on something that you have worked hard on, and to understand that no matter how much you grump and grumble and deservedly vent to your friends and so on, implementing the feedback will usually make your piece better and stronger. That is the benefit of working with a trained expert who knows what makes a good piece of research in your particular academic field, and while it doesn't get easier, per se, at least it gets familiar. Be not afraid, etc.

If you're in the writing stage, I assume that you've moved past the topic-selection and general-research stage, but allow me to plump once more the services of your friendly local university library. You can (or at least you can at mine and probably in any decently well-equipped research university) schedule a personal consultation with an expert librarian, who can give you tips on how to find relevant subject databases, create individual research guides (these might already be available on the university library website for classes/general topics), and otherwise level you up to Shockingly Competent Research Superhero. So if you're still looking for a few extra sources, or for someone else who might be reading this and is still in the "how the heck do I find appropriate and extensive scholarly literature for my thesis??" stage, please. Go become a Research Ninja. It's much easier when you have a minion doing half the work for you, but please do appreciate and make use of your university librarian. It's much more effective than haphazard Google Scholar or JSTOR searches hoping to turn up something vaguely relevant (though to be fair, we all do that too), and it's what your tuition dollars are paying for.

Next, please do remind yourself that you are not writing the whole thesis in one go, and to break it down into manageable chunks. It usually does make sense to write the whole thing semi-chronologically (i.e. introduction, lit review, chapter 1, chapter 2/3/4 etc, conclusion), because that allows you to develop your thoughts and make logical connections, and to build on one piece to develop the next. If you're constantly scrambling between chapters and zig-zagging back and forth as things occur to you, it will be harder to focus on any one thought or thread of research, and while you might get more raw output, it will not be as good and will require more correction and revision, so you're not actually hacking yourself into increased productivity. You should also internally structure your chapters in addition to organizing your overall thesis, so it makes sense to draw up a rough outline for section A, section B, section C within the body of a single chapter. This will make you think about why the segues are going in that order and what a reasonably intelligent reader, who nonetheless may not have the specialized knowledge that you are demonstrating for them, needs to move understandably from one section to the next.

Some academics I know like to do an extensive outline, dumping all their material into separate documents for each chapter/paper and kneading and massaging and poking it into a more refined shape, and if that works for you -- great! I'm more of the type that doesn't bother with a ton of secondary outlines or non-writing activity, since that can lead you away from actually writing, but if you need to see the fruit of your research all together in one place before you can start thinking about how it goes together, that is also absolutely the way that some people do it. Either way, to be a successful academic writer, you have to train yourself to approach academic writing in a very different way from fun writing. You do fun writing when you have free time and feel inspired and can glop a lot of words down at once, or at least some words. You do it electively and for distraction and when you want to, not to a set timeline or schedule, and alas, you can't do this for academic writing. You will have to sit your ass down and write even when you do not feel like writing, do not feel Magically Inspired, don't even want to look at the fucking thing, etc. I have had enough practice that I can turn on Academic Writing Brain, sit down, bang something out, sit down the next day and turn on Academic Editing Brain, go over it again, and send it off, but I have been in academia for uh, quite a while. The good news is that you can also automate yourself to be the same way, but the bad news is that it will take practice and genuine time invested in it.

As such, this means developing a writing schedule and sticking to it, and figuring out whether you work best going for several hours without an interruption, or if you set a timer, write for a certain time, then allow yourself to look at the internet/answer texts/fuck around on Tumblr, and then make yourself put down the distraction and go back to work for another set period of time. (I am admittedly horrible at putting my phone away when I should be doing something else, but learn ye from your wizened elders, etc.) You will have to figure out in which physical space you work best, which may not be a public coffee shop where you can likewise get distracted with doing other things/chatting to friends/screwing around on the internet/doomscrolling/peeking at AO3, and to try to be there as often as possible. It might be your carrel in the library, it might be your desk at home, it might be somewhere else on campus, but if you can place yourself in a setting that tells your brain it's time to work and not look at WhatsApp for the 1000th time in a row, that is also beneficial.

Finally, remember that you do not have to produce an absolutely world-beating, stunningly original, totally flawless and perfect piece, even in its final form. Lots of us write very shitty things when we're starting out (and some of us, uh, still write very shitty things as established academics), and you do not have to totally redefine your entire field of study or propose a groundbreaking theory that nobody has heard of or anything like that. A lot of academic work is small-scale and nuanced, filling in spaces on the margins of other things or responding or offering a new perspective on existing work, and it's best to think of it as a conversation between yourself and other scholars. They have said something and now you're saying something back. You don't need to be so brilliant that everyone goes ZOMGZ I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE; by its nature that happens very rarely and is usually way out on a limb (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, etc); you just need to continue the dialogue with a reasonably well-constructed and internally plausible piece. So if you think of it that way, and understand that a shitty first draft will usually develop into something that is good and valuable but not SHOCKING NEW REVELATION clickbait hype, you will take some of the pressure off yourself and be more able to shut up that perfectionist voice in your head. However, all of us have some degree of imposter syndrome and it never entirely goes away, so you'll have to manage that too. Etc etc as before, it doesn't vanish altogether, but it gets easier.

And last but not least, though I'm sure I don't have to say this: for the love of fuckin' god, do not use ChatGPT. Even the genuinely shittiest paper in the world that you still worked on researching, organizing, and writing with your own brain is better than that. Trust me.

[pumpkinpaix]

You have questions! We might have answers.

What is this collection?

As Maria puts it: this collection is a critical look at some of the things that we, the editors, think have made CQL such a hit around the world. Of course, part of that success comes from the webnovel MDZS and the show CQL themselves—we love the characters, the mystery, and the drama, who doesn’t?! However, the authors in our book also look at topics like translating danmei (both officially and unofficially), adapting danmei for new audiences, and interacting with fandoms and fanworks. The larger argument of the book is that all of these things played a huge role in CQL’s visibility and success, and we wanted to start making those moving pieces visible, especially for audiences who mainly watched CQL in translation.

You keep using the word “academic”—what does that mean, exactly? 

Maria: Ok, not to get pedantic here, but this actually touches on some things that I’m really excited about for the book. Traditionally, academic work is written by people who have a deep expertise in the subject (signified by having a PhD and doing specific kinds of research), and then the work itself is peer-reviewed (i.e., sent to other experts in the field for them to evaluate whether it’s sound, original, and interesting enough to publish, without knowing who wrote it). And both of these things are true about our book—our authors have deep knowledge and the book was peer reviewed—but also. We specifically asked for chapters from younger scholars and from fans who also have deep knowledge about topics that academia doesn’t always know or value enough, and we include an interview from the fan-translator K. who did the Exiled Rebels translation. So the hope is that: this book is academic, and also—more!

Who are you? 

Yue studies adaptation, fantasy, and popular culture texts using a feminist lens. She wrote an early, influential article about danmei adaptations and also has a book about feminist adaptations of Chinese fantasy.

Maria studies fanworks, contemporary fantasy, and genre literature. She’s scrambling to finish her dissertation right now.

How were the chapter spotlights chosen?

Voluntarily! The concept of a small social media promo was kicked around by some of the contributors and those interested in the idea filled out a short interview with what they wanted to share. We'll be posting about 2 introductions and 2 spotlights a day for the next week or so!

Who's running this social media campaign anyway?

Not the publishers! A few enthusiastic collection contributors got together and, with the assistance of the editors, have put this promotion together. We do not in any way represent Peter Lang in an official capacity! We just worked hard and wanted to share. :)

Are you making any money off of royalties from this book? 

LOL not even remotely

What about this promotion?

also no. alas

Where can I find this book? 

You can find our listing on Peter Lang’s website here. As for other retailers, a quick search should turn us up!  

How can I access this book if I cannot buy it from Peter Lang / [book retailer of choice]?

As collection editors and contributors who signed a legal agreement with Peter Lang, we have granted Peter Lang exclusive right and license to edit, adapt, publish, reproduce, distribute, display, and store our contributions, and we must cooperate fully with the Publisher if the Publisher believes a third party is infringing or is likely to infringe copyright in the contribution. 

That being said, these are academic papers, which means that contributors may make copies of the contribution for classroom teaching use! (These copies may not be included in course pack material for onward sale by libraries and institutions). Of course, any linking, collection or aggregation of chapters from the same volume is strictly prohibited.

(FAQ may be updated periodically!) (all posts on Catching Chen Qing Ling)

[queer-ragnelle]

Understand is is a very weird question to get out the blue so no offence taken if this gets left in the inbox, but I was wondering how (if at all) to integrate transgender knights into arthurian retellings/adaptations ect while trying to keep it vaguely true to the medievalisms of the whole thing? I know its easy and liberating to just go 'fuck it everything queer' and its a totally valid way to go about it, but (as a trans person) I like having a narrative examine queerphobia and other structual issues with the setting - gives the whole thing a bit of meat (in my personal tastes). That being said, it feels like its a nightmare to try and have a transmasc knight stay stealth in this place! Everyone feels like theyre getting stipped and tended to after breaking a rib in a joust or merlin shows up and is a dick about pronouns and outs you to get you married to a Roman king. Stuff like that - things that feel a little easier to dodge when its a civillian character, not an ruling class.

Is this a 'kill the cop in your brain' kinda deal? As a queer storyteller yourself do you have any tips or strategies or tools you use to crowbar this kinda stuff a little easier together? Or do you know any stories/retellings/academic texts ect that cover these kinda things (even if its in a 'for the love of god, don't do that' way). Love the work you do for this fandom a lot, regardless of your answer! Hope you have a good day.

Hello anon! This is a great question.

Now let me preface this by saying I’m not transgender and I’m not a medievalist. There are plenty of trans medievalists on tumblr, but I’m not one of ‘em. So my answer is coming from a queer but cis author and enthusiast perspective. I'm going to provide lots of links to read things as well so everyone can draw their own conclusions from the material.

I think a large part of this does come down to “kill the cop in your head.” But at the same time, I’ve been exactly where you are wondering, “How can I make this story feel authentic to its era without torturing the trans characters?” Because you’re right, there’s a lot of nudity and close proximity interaction between knights in the medieval stories and Merlin is totally the type to be a dick about pronouns. I've also searched and struggled to find a medieval-set story that manages to incorporate queerness in a period-appropriate way (so far as we can guess) while balancing the narrative as to not tip into something deeply unpleasant for the target audience to read. (See: the series by Lavinia Collins, which has great queer rep, yay! But tons of horrors previously unseen and still unnecessary, boo!) So where does that leave us?

Well first I’m going to give you an example of how not to handle transness in an Arthurian story....

The book Once & Future and its sequel Sword in the Stars by Amy Rose Capetta and Cory McCarthy went with the phenomenon you already described as, “fuck it, everything queer.” It doesn't take place in the past, but does use the medieval stories as more than reference, it's not as divergent as something like Port Eternity by C. J. Cherryh, the reincarnated characters do interact with the past directly at times, so I'm using it as an example.

Anyway most characters are either gay (umbrella term) or trans. Except the way trans characters are treated sucks majorly (in my opinion). I completely lost faith in book 1 after the introduction of Lamorak, a gender fluid knight who uses they/them pronouns. Merlin misgenders them and gets corrected by Kay, to which Merlin does this whole self flagellation routine about. Lamorak is also disabled, missing their left hand. (Why isn't it Bedwyr? Anyway not the point...) Lamorak gets no dialogue here whatsoever, all agency is completely stripped from them regarding their disability and their gender identity. Double whammy.

This is worsened when Percival gets introduced, as Merlin then makes a point of asking for pronoun clarification in the most obnoxious way possible. To which Percival takes no offense at the weird slight against his sibling and tells Merlin his pronouns.

But what about the sequel? Surely these two queer authors improved with time.....

Is this a joke? Is this the best way they could indicate the inclusive realm of Avalon? Why not just describe the women as they are, all shapes and sizes, and let the reader figure it out? The authorial intent would be so obvious by this point. Instead they say it… like that. Gag.

It only gets worse when Mordred is born. Then they're weird about a literal infant.

What in the bio essentialism? If the characters have been living in a future that’s broken out of the gender binary, the baby’s genitals should be irrelevant. Gwen’s literally saying Mordred is going to fulfill the evil prophecy because he was born with a penis. Even if this is intended to be a teaching moment, I hate how it’s handled. These quotes are in order of appearance in the books, so after the subtextual implications of all that came before, this last part really doesn’t sit right with me. Sorry I find these books completely abhorrent. They've won awards, they’re beloved by many. Maybe it's me. But no thanks.

Honestly, so long as you're not blatantly offensive with your handling of such things, I think you'll be fine. It's important to remember that even if one is part of a demographic they're depicting, it's always a good idea to hire sensitivity readers and take that feedback seriously. Not everyone will love your work, there will be advice you don't utilize, with time you'll be able to weed out the bad faith feedback, (the "all depiction is glorification" crowd) and ignore it. But it's so important to open oneself up to constructive criticism so you can learn and your work can develop into the best possible version of itself.

Now let's get to some ways you can go about researching a way to do this that fits in your story. It’s important to remember that throughout human history, many people lived stealth their whole lives and we don’t know about them for that reason, not because no transgender folks ever lived authentically and happily in medieval times. So it’s never impossible to incorporate a trans character into a story who experiences no direct violence, even if the world they live in isn’t presented as a queer utopia. The other thing is that public opinion regarding queerness, cross dressing, etc have varied a lot over the centuries and were vastly different depending on location. Not every “woman” found in armor would have been treated as poorly as Joan of Arc. So there’s lots of wiggle room for interpretation when you go about writing these narratives. The majority of my examples deal with the ruling class so they address the concerns you mentioned with added scrutiny a noble would face if they were to experiment with gender presentation compared to a commoner. I’ll be spoiling the plots of everything on the list to make clear why I’m suggesting them.

My initial advice would be to read medieval literature with queer themes followed by essays on the subject. The best examples I know of are:

Yde et Olive

Transmasc knight (good ending). 12th century French romance. Yde’s mother Clarisse died giving birth to her & later when Yde reaches maturity, her father makes advances, so she disguises herself as a man & flees. Yde becomes a successful knight & is married to the king’s only daughter, Olive. When it comes time to consummate the marriage, Yde must confess the truth of his identity to Olive, who vows to keep it secret. This is overheard by the king who then attempts to uncover Yde’s identity but is stopped by an angel who chastises the king for harassing such a good vassal. Then Yde is transformed into a man, the king dies, & Yde is able to have a child with Olive. They name him Croissant as if it couldn’t get any more French than it already was. Anyway the story alternates pronouns for Yde given the situation which is pretty neat & in the end he gets to live his best life! Yay!

Le Roman de Silence

Transmasc knight (bad ending). A 13th century French romance about a baby girl named Silence. Silence is raised as a boy because King Eban won’t allow women to inherit property. Like many medieval romances, the hero's adventure is often punctuated with personified emotions (Dame Fortune, Lady Love, etc) but Silence is tormented by Nature & Nurture as he comes into adulthood. He becomes a knight & eventually takes on an "impossible" quest, to capture Merlin, which supposedly can only be done by a woman. Content warning for the ending, it does not go well for Silence. Merlin reveals his backstory, & he’s forced to take a feminized version of his name, live as a woman, & marry the king to keep his lands.

Wigalois by Wirnt von Grafenberg

A 13th century German romance that follows Gawain’s son, Wigalois [Gingalain], but this ain’t about him. There’s a character Marine who fights as a knight. She’s consistently referred to with she/her pronouns, but she’s renowned for her knightly virtues & fights alongside the men in the war. She’s treated very well narratively & dies in battle after apprehending a high-value hostage. Everyone mourns her & there’s a big funeral held in her honor. So even if Marine never presented herself as a man the way Yde or Silence do, she provides an example of a female thriving in a male role. Food for thought.

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach

Another German banger from the 13th century. This one’s about a cis male knight but Parzival has transmasc vibes. Trust me. Here’s my favorite article about it called The Clothes Make The Man - Parzival Dressed & Undressed by Michael D. Amey that really illustrates what I mean.

After that, you can check out these retellings:

The Story of Silence by Alex Myers

I bought this but haven't read it yet. It’s a retelling about the aforementioned Le Roman de Silence. This book uses neutral they/them pronouns to refer to Silence, which I can say from experience sometimes causes confusion with readers, so it's good to study how this author did it & determine if that method feels right for you. (If you ever decide to do something like that with a character.)

Spear by Nicola Griffith + Spear's Author's Note

I enjoyed this one, beautiful prose. It didn’t feel like the most comprehensive Grail Quest retelling, but Peretur can be interpreted as a butch lesbian or transmasc, it’s ambiguous. She only uses masculine pronouns when stealth, otherwise using she/her, but it has a happy ending! It’s firmly set in the era & felt authentic on that front while letting the queer characters relax. Peretur isn’t alone. (A/G/L enjoyers keep winning + sapphic lady of the lake ftw + the other hotties Peretur pulled.) Definitely worth checking out.

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

This book just came out in 2024. Including it here is already a spoiler given the topic but I’m going to spoil fully from this point on so ignore this if that’s a problem. This is the best example I can give for your reading/writing tastes based on the ask; Dinadan is a trans man. His transness isn’t revealed in the main character Collum’s pov, but in Dinadan’s backstory pov, opening in his childhood. He & his twin brother were sent to different schools but young Dinadan would leave the girl’s school to practice knightly skills with the fay, which retroactively explains why he has a fairy sword that Collum was admiring. In exchange for this training, the fay ask that Dinadan slay Merlin. Which he agrees to while never believing he actually can, but the wrath of the fay in the afterlife is worth his ability to live as a knight. I love how it was all handled firstly because Dinadan has a fighting style that works for his smaller frame & because every knight has a different fighting style (Dagonet’s is “If it sucks hit da bricks.”) Dinadan doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb yet his physicality is accounted for. Secondly Dinadan explains the lengths he goes to in order to stay stealth from obvious ones like binding his breasts to pretending to shave his face every couple days & wearing a packer. Later on, Dinadan’s secrets are revealed when he goes swimming in the ocean with Palomides (who evidentially already knew) & Collum joins them. Collum had no idea, which I think brings up an interesting point about all of this which also reminds me of Gawain not recognizing that Beaumains was Gareth—the power of expectation. Just as Gawain expected to find a kitchen boy & would have no reason to assume his brother (who hit puberty since they last saw each other) would be stealth in the kitchens so therefore didn’t recognize him, Collum expects to find men as knights of the Round Table, so when Sir Dinadan is introduced, & Collum had heard of him before, Dinadan’s stature & high voice don’t register to Collum as anything but traits that this guy Dinadan happens to have. Learning Dinadan’s secret in the presence of another knight who already knows & is chill about it also encourages Collum to be accepting too. So giving Dinadan at least one ally in his corner throughout the story went a long way. In the end Merlin, who can only be killed by a man (which is why Nimue had to settle for sealing him away) is stabbed by Dinadan. So it’s like a reverse Silence/Éowyn situation that Dinadan’s gender is affirmed in his ability to kill Merlin. This book also includes the part from Le Morte d’Arthur where Dinadan’s forced to wear a dress, which in this context is very transphobic, but that’s the point. It’s made better when Dinadan gets to go insano style on Merlin so he gets payback. Just a heads up about that.

Some fantasy/scifi that’s not Arthurian but may help, as Arthuriana is largely fantasy to begin with, this may help you determine where on the spectrum your taste/writing falls regarding the bending of reality/history to fit your narrative.

Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

1928 novel about a character named Orlando living during the reign of Elizabeth I. Orlando is born male, then at some point in his early adulthood, falls into a deep sleep from which he awakens the exact same person, now metamorphosed to be female. Orlando, for her part, adopts this new role immediately & keeps on moving. She lives for 300 years as such & has many adventures, including an instance where she then presents as a man to elude marriage. Transitioned so she could cross dress in the other direction. She would’ve done numbers on tumblr. Ultimately, Orlando does marry… a gnc sea captain! The success of their marriage is attributed to their similarities in gender non-conformity. Even though this book only remains in the late medieval era for the opening, I think it’s a poignant example of a transgender individual living their life in their time & still getting to enjoy themselves without excessive suffering that may provide lots of inspiration.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin

1970 Hugo & Nebula award winning novel. A fascinating examination of gender from the point of view of a cis man named Genly Ai having to reconcile his interpretation of the gender binary when confronted with a society who operates outside that. His travels with ambisexual Estravan challenges what Ai understands about the universe. His ignorance forms the backbone of the narrative as he grows close to a person from this other society. Even if it’s not a medieval setting, it may help you develop a narrative voice regarding this subject you’re able to bring to your work. Also it’s just really good.

The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner

2007 Locus award winner, Nebula & Gaylactic Spectrum nominee. High fantasy medieval setting. Katherine is a country girl brought to the big city Riverside by her uncle the Duke where she’s offered the opportunity to train as swordsman (ie cross dress) instead of political marriage. She’s unsure of the reasoning behind her uncle’s motivations for doing this, but goes along with it & kicks ass. A preview is available on Google books (linked).

The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb

This is my favorite series ever. It spans 16 books published between 1995-2017. The fandom on tumblr & ao3 is hugely active. (Avoid tags to dodge major spoilers or check it out for amazing art & many quotes!) The series has many gnc characters in a fantasy medieval setting. First & foremost, The Fool, who’s in all the books & whose gender ambiguity is mentioned book 1, to which he says, “None of your business.” The character ever. Without getting too specific, there are several trans characters including gender fluid characters who will alternate between masc/fem presentation & pronouns. This is my favorite example of gender fluid characters in any fantasy I’ve read, especially since there are several & each feels unique. In The Liveship Traders trilogy, Amber coaches another woman how to hide her period while pretending to be a ship’s boy by using a sock, so if anyone finds the blood on it, she can say she cut her foot. Little things like that really deepened the realism in an otherwise fantastical story for me, because addressing those details answers questions my overly analytical mind would ask & wonder about if unacknowledged.

Lastly I'd like to suggest the article Armour of an Alienating Identity by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. While it doesn't mention Parzival (the text), it does mention Perceval (the character), as well as Gareth Beaumains, Lancelot, Gawain, Yvain, and even Arthur himself. It goes on to reference endless examples to support its thesis including Greek heroes such as Achilles and Odysseus with references to many different medieval stories from Old English Beowulf to the Irish Ulster cycle to the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Most (if not all) of the texts mentioned in this essay can be found on my blog for cross reference if you desire, although the article already contains many quotes.

Okay I think that’s all I got. I’ve given you a ton to think about and read. Ultimately I don’t think there’s a clean cut answer for this. Nuance, you know? Having hired an editor and many sensitivity readers myself, it really is just a professional a vibe check sometimes. You write what you want to the best of your ability, then other people weigh in, and you keep tweaking it until it’s as good as you can possibly make it. During development, and even in its final form, there will be people who don’t enjoy your story and that’s fine. It isn’t for everyone, it’s for you and your audience. No single experience in this life is the same so each fictional depiction emulating life will also be unique, there’s no “right” answer on how to write this or anything else, only the way you want to.

Hopefully now you have some tools to help you learn how best to express your vision. I know they gave me a lot of insight and ideas I lacked before when writing trans characters in my books. Thank you for trusting me with this question and good luck with your project! Take care! :^)

[librarycards]

based on someone elses recent ask (and apologies if you've answered something like this before): do you have any tips for exercising and picking up the skill of being able to parse and make sense of academic language, especially for those of us who can't be in a formal academic setting? thx!!!

yes! the most important way to get yourself ready to parse academic texts is practicing close-reading & critical reading of any kind. you can do this with novels, nonfiction, popular articles/news, poems, and so on.

try printing out or having a paper version with you. read once without annotating. read again with a highlighter/pencil, and make it your goal to find the thesis and sub-arguments of the text. if you're looking at a creative work, substitute thesis for primary themes and motifs. then look for supporting evidence, imagery, and/or other details in the text that help further that argument.

on your next read-through, focus not only on the text but on what surrounds the text: where is this printed, who published it, who is the author, what are their credentials? when was it published, in what country, under what sociopolitical conditions? take some notes on how this may have influenced the text itself, particularly if you're reading an article funded by a specific entity/entities. if an article has citations/external links, check those out too. this is a good exercise in media literacy more broadly, but it will also help you better understand the argument a text is making.

all of this can happen before you open up an academic article, or an article you consider to have challenging, dense, or otherwise unfamiliar language. you do this for the same reason you train shorter distances before running a marathon - you get your body used to something so that when the time comes, you can go all-out. when you get to the dense peer-reviewed article, use this same three-step method, but take the piece one or two sentences at a time. try decoding and rephrasing a text sentence-by-sentence; if a word is used in an unfamiliar way, take a break and use google scholar to find other texts using that word. for example, if an economics paper is using the word "materialism," it's useful to find other (likely marxist) economists using and discussing the word, because it will mean something distinctly different from its colloquial usage of "having a lot of stuff."

I also recommend using command+F in longer papers especially, as well as reading the abstract and conclusion before reading the middle of the paper. you do this for the same reason that it's good to read a book in your native language before trying it in your L2, 3, 4, etc.: you already know the shape of the story, and now get to focus your energy on filling in the blanks. search (especially in humanities texts) for terms like "i argue," "drawing on" (for the texts it's in conversation with), "first," (this can get you to a roadmap of the text/arguments, usually at the end of the introduction), and, of course, "in sum/in conclusion". in a scientific or social scientific text especially, words like "evidence," "results," "limitations," and "implications" can also get you to vital information.

my last piece of advice is this: don't expect an academic text -- or any text, tbh -- to be a one-and-done thing. there are papers i first read as a teen, then read in undergrad, then read in grad school, and now cite in my scholarly work, that i am still returning to, asking questions of, being confused about, and googling terms in. learning is a process that we have the honor of engaging in with scholarship old and new, and often, the writing style in which work is presented is actually vital to that learning process. give yourself over to the unfamiliar language and take your time, annotate liberally (leftistly), and prepare to read other works "around" the one you're interested in to get a fuller picture of what you're reading. and if you can, do it with other people!!!!

A few texts we did this with in high school that were helpful in my learning:

Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own

Toni Morrison - Beloved

Frederick Douglass - What to the Slave is the Fourth of July

Dion, Berscheid, and Walster - What is Beautiful Is Good

Jonathan Swift - A Modest Proposal

Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart

[amyoffline]

In Defense of the Phandom (Mostly): Dan, Phil, and Our Parasocial Social Club

Refer to my previous pinned post for an explanation of and outline for this project. Now that I'm done going through my old reblogs (god, it took forever), it's time to actually research and write this script! This will be my pinned post for the foreseeable future, so you can come back to it by clicking on my blog for the current status of this part of the process. (Note from February 15 - everything is on hold for now while I wrap up my dissertation!)

Script word count: 2,350 | Last updated: January 9, 2025

Research

Peer-reviewed or published literature: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Social media, forum archives, and fanwork: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ The great rewatch: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Discussions with other phannies (hey! that could be you, if you want!): ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎

Writing

Introduction, background, and conclusion sections: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2009-2013: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2014-2018: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2019-2025: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Long tangents (fandom, RPF, and PSIs/PSRs): ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Editing: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎

More details below the cut!

Research → peer reviewed or published literature:

I read a few things (like Haidt's The Anxious Generation) while I was in the process of searching academic databases, but most of the 403 works I have saved to Zotero for this are currently unread. They're not all the same length or will take the same amount of time to read, so the completion proportion is just getting updated based on vibes. I'm absolutely not referencing all 403 of these things in the script - I just cast a wide net for materials I thought might be relevant. Furthermore, there are some things I didn't save that I know I'll be referencing, like some of the Pew Research Center's work in the early to mid 2010s on teenagers and technology, or the journalistic coverage of what got my school district in huge trouble in 2011.

Research → Social media and forum archives:

The collection of posts, art, and fic (other than mine) to reference in the video. For regular posts and art, especially by people who have long since abandoned their accounts or whose content went pretty viral, I feel comfortable just showing things in the video with credit as examples. For fic, I intend to just discuss trends more broadly and vaguely since, as a fic writer myself, I know we tend to get more flack and less acclaim for our work and therefore prefer to stay out of the spotlight. Let me know if you think I should handle this differently - the academic impulse is to credit sources and reproducible searches for every single thing you do, but that's definitely not best practice for phandom history since we have so much "forbidden" lore. I'll also be reading the IDB forum front-to-back, listening to things like the phandom podcast, reading the current generation of phanzines, and looking at recent (and historical, if anyone has any) surveys done of phannies within the community. I'm assuming those folks would appreciate credit and/or a shoutout.

Research → The great rewatch:

Rewatching everything DNP-related so I can talk about it from more recent memory (and read what's left of the original comments for DNP videos that are still up at their original locations). I know there's a playlist for this but I also know it's incomplete, so I have been doing some poking around myself and will probably continue to.

Research → Discussions with other phannies:

I read a few things (like Haidt's The Anxious Generation) while I was in the process of searching academic databases, but most of the 403 works I have saved to Zotero for this are currently unread. They're not all the same length or will take the same amount of time to read, so the completion proportion is just getting updated based on vibes. I'm absolutely not referencing all 403 of these things in the script - I just cast a wide net for materials I thought might be relevant. Furthermore, there are some things I didn't save that I know I'll be referencing, like some of the Pew Research Center's work in the early to mid 2010s on teenagers and technology, or the journalistic coverage of what got my school district in huge trouble in 2011. The first task is to sort that whole Zotero collection into more manageable sub-collections (on PSR on PSIs, on mental health, on YouTube platform history, etc), which is what I'm currently working on.

Writing → Introduction, background, and conclusion sections

See old pinned post for the outline. Will expand details here once research is mostly done (I plan to read and watch everything in the research section aside from talking to other phannies, then complete the script's rough draft, then talk to others on call, then integrate that with and finalize the script).

Writing → 2009-2013

See above.

Writing → 2014-2018

See above.

Writing → 2019-2025

See above.

Writing → Long tangents (fandom, RPF, and PSRs/PSIs)

See above. These tangents are kind of mini video essays in and olf themselves, so I may write them while I'm reading through my saved stuff in Zotero and before I rewatch all the DNP videos.

[lenaariewrld]

C.27 — lovesick puppy(w)

ON THE AIR — childe x reader smau

| SYNOPSIS;; Teyvat University’s popular radio personality, Y/n L/n, has only one gripe with her life. Her classmate, neighbour, and all-around nuisance in her life, Tartaglia. Their rivalry extends just past academics and, to her horror, into her work. He becomes the music director and co-host for her radio show, working alongside her most nights and forcing himself even deeper into her life. But is he really trying to just be friends, or is there an ulterior motive to his actions?

| WC: 2.4k

previous! ~ masterlist ! ~ next!

The morning you end up spending with your friends is relaxing. It’s a once-in-a-blue moon event, where all three of you are completely free for a majority of the day. Once you all wake up and get yourselves properly caffeinated, you laze around. You end up telling Cyno and Ganyu about the entire timeline with you and Childe, and all your internal thoughts.

You feel significantly lighter, like a great burden lifted off your shoulders. It’s funny how you never realised just how much keeping all of those tiny details away from your dearest friends had affected you. And then you told them and it was fine. Better than better.

Cyno leaves later in the afternoon for work, and you and Ganyu chill before splitting off for your own activities for the day. You all agree to meet up later at the other woman’s apartment to get ready for the party.

The hours pass by in a breeze, by the time you’re all dolled up you completely forgot any anxieties that had built up in the past few weeks. Worries about your friends and their care for you, worries about childe ajax, worries about your social and academic life. All of it seemed to be much easier to handle when Ganyu waltzed around her living room with you or when Cyno twirled your hair into pigtails while you applied your finishing touches of makeup.

When you finish up, the three of you head out, opting to use an uber rather than having a designated driver. It wasn’t like you were planning on getting too drunk, but better to be safe than sorry in your opinion.

You make it to the party after plugging the address Childe had texted you into your phone. And after a rather slow and awkward conversation with your uber driver.

You three step inside the party, arriving with little introduction. You look around immediately, searching for the familiar head of ginger curls. However, instead of spotting Childe, you notice a couple of his friends through the crowd, mostly able to make out the figures of Ayato and Kaeya. You wave at them. Before you can divert or anything, though, your white-haired friend grabs your hand and pulls you towards the kitchen for some drinks.

“Welcome, we have beer, tequila, or our own special recipe; Santa’s punch!” One of the hockey players you don’t know the name of greets the two of you as you shuffle into the kitchen. He motions to different parts of the counter decorated with cups and buckets of ice. How they set up that much liquor you will never know, but you don’t care to ask.

“Set me up with that punch,” You agree readily, you and Cyno sharing a mischievous look as you take your red plastic cups and clink them together.

Santa’s punch, as it turns out, is one motherfucker of a drink. Be advised to never accept a random named concoction from a frat boy or athlete at a holiday house party. Never.

As you sip from your second refill of the mysterious drink, which was settling a nice warmth and buzz in your chest, you make a couple laps around the party. You knew quite a few people here. Or, at least, quite a few people knew you and came up to strike a conversation with you. You entertained most of them, happy to catch up with classmates or people who listened to your show. A couple more laps in, you get pulled into random games of pong or shot contests.

You dance with Ganyu a couple times, or check on Cyno who happily chats with his roommate and his friends outside, or chat with Childe’s friends whenever you run into them. Eventually, you depart briefly from the party after getting a glass of water from the kitchen, crashing on a nearby couch.

The substances in your system were still a light buzz, but it was starting to reach your head, creeping up the corners of your rational thinking.

You feel the couch dip and hum when you notice Thoma took a seat beside you. “How are you liking the party?” He asks, holding out his glass to clink with yours. You oblige and take a large gulp of your water.

“It’s fun,” You giggle, adjusting yourself to sit up straighter on the couch. “I’m surprised there aren’t more… festivities,” You joke, laughing when Thoma pulls a face. He rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah, it was gonna be way worse originally. I talked ‘em out of hanging snowman string lights and putting up inflatable reindeer, though,” He informs you, the both of you sharing a laugh. The both of you continue to chat casually while you relax. He sips from his cup, occasionally. Halfway through some anecdote you’re saying, he perks up when he notices something across the way. You glance in the direction he’s looking in just as he’s stood up, your words forgotten.

“Oh, what the fuck is he doing now…”

Your brows furrow as Thoma whispers under his breath, standing up as well. You notice Kaeya standing by the bigger speakers, where the largest congregation of people are, a microphone in his hand. He clears his throat and the music turns down a little. A couple people boo.

“Sorry, sorry, everyone! I just wanted to make an announcement tonight, because it’s a very special time here,” The man apologises, his words not only catching your interest but seemingly the interest of everyone else in this part of the house. Thoma slips away but you stay put where you are, staring over the crowd at the dark-haired man addressing everyone.

Somehow, it seems like he’s just looking at you as he speaks.

He adjusts his hold on the microphone. “So, you see, I have an exciting update about one of my friends. You all might have heard of him. Mr Tartaglia, aka “Childe”?” Kaeya pauses as quite a few people cheer or respond similarly to his rhetorical question. “Well, recently, I’ve started noticing my friend acting odd. He seems so lighthearted now, way more than he ever was around me or any of us, his friends! And I was thinking, how could he be that way? Then I realized who finally got him out of his shell!”

This time you know Kaeya is looking at you as he speaks, finishing his words by pointing directly at where you’re standing by the couch. Your eyes widen as quite a few people turn their heads, more and more party-goers becoming piqued by the public scene happening right in front of them. “This woman right here!” Kaeya laughs, and though it’s light and charming like usual, it sends chills down your spine.

Why do you feel dread? Why does this feel like an omen?

He tilts his head as he looks over the crowd. “Okay, I can tell a couple of you are confused so let me clue you in on what’s going on,” He dramatically clears his throat and straightens his posture. Now everyone is positively enthralled by his words, his voice calm despite the slight slur and unbalance that he seems to be holding himself up with.

“Childe made a bet with us!” He laughs again, and all of a sudden you feel your chest grow tight. The buzz you had disappears as your blood runs cold, your body feeling a million tons heavier. “He bet us that if he could get Ms Y/n L/n to fall in love with us, he’d get complete control of our band! Despite the fact that he only writes the songs for us, that didn’t stop him! But you know what might?” Kaeya is giggling like a little kid sharing the funniest joke they’ve ever heard as he continues. His words buzz in your ears.

“What might stop him is the fact he’s just a lovesick puppy… Ironic really, given how Y/n over there was supposed to be head over heels for him while he hated her guts.. Or maybe he’s just a really good actor!” Kaeya stumbles a step to the side, but he never looks away from you. He smiles cruelly, his gaze cold as he stares you down. “And if you doubt me, ask how Diluc knew to ask for his help as your co-host–Hey–!” The man’s nonchalant shrug is interrupted as Thoma and Scaramouche rush forward to snatch the microphone away from him, insistently clawing it out of his fingers.

“Sorry everyone! Please ignore him, he’s had too many drinks!” Thoma pleads with an awkward chuckle.

But the damage has been done. Your heart is being squeezed in your chest, growing heavy and cracked as his words sink into your brain and poke their way through the alcohol fog. Tears prick at the corners of your eyes, the pieces clicking into place a little too neatly.

Childe’s convenient placement as your co-host, his insistence on talking to you, on seeing you, of ‘being on even footing’. Everything seems clear as day now for his true intentions, and suddenly everything becomes a guessing game, requiring a thorough second pass to decipher if you were being fooled all along or if there was any genuine intentions in the man’s actions.

It doesn’t matter, anyway. He still did it. And he, more importantly, didn’t tell you himself.

You feel suffocated in the atmosphere of the party, the eyes of people staring at you becoming too much. Your lungs can’t seem to work properly and your vision is getting fuzzy. Abruptly, you turn to leave, not sparing a glance at anyone or even wasting your time looking for your friends. You simply text them to meet you outside.

You can’t believe it. You shouldn’t.

And yet, it makes too much sense.

You trudge out of the house with your head swimming. The thoughts, snacks, and alcohol swirl around your stomach in a dangerous mix. You can feel the bile crawling up your throat. Thankfully, you stumble towards the lawn just in time to regurgitate your stomach’s contents onto the manicured grass, your breathing heavy. Harsh blinks keep you from completely doubling over, and a hand on each of your knees gives you a moment to catch your breath.

“Y/n? You alright?” Childe’s voice pulls you from the nauseating dizziness of your world and you round on your heels to face him. His face is contorted in concern, worry pinching his lips and brows together.

He was a damn good actor.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” You sneer venom as he reaches out to you, taking a large step back to maintain some distance. He pauses at this, his eyes widening as the crack in your voice, thick with too many emotions getting caught in your throat.

“What’s wrong?” He tries again, holding his hands up as if to show he means no harm. He can tell you’re on edge by the way your arms wrap around yourself, tears starting to roll down your cheeks. And he so desperately wishes you would tell him what was wrong, would let him pull you into his arms and wipe the tears off your pretty face until you feel better.

That doesn’t happen.

“What’s wrong is you’re a piece of shit, Tartaglia.” You seethe, noticing how Childe flinches at the way you say his name. Noticeably not Ajax or Taru, which you’d taken to calling him recently. You’re trying desperately not to sob, your emotions running high enough as is. His presence isn’t making it any better. “Your stupid bullshit, all this playing around with other people, better fucking be worth it. Because you’re going to end up alone carrying on like this,” You scoff, “Not that you care, right? As long as you win a bet,”

You see the color drain from his face, and you almost feel a sick satisfaction from seeing his concern for you morph into some horrified expression. “What did you hear–?”

“Enough,” You cut him off, holding up your hand to keep him from talking. He stands there dumbly, staring at you as you move past him, making your way towards the street.

“Wait, Y/n, let’s talk about this,” He calls after a second, seeming to snap out of his head. He attempts to follow you, but only gets a few steps before the front door slams open. Cyno and Ganyu rush forward into the cold night air.

Cyno stares between the two of you, seeing you taking deep breaths, hiccuping every now and then as your cheeks shimmer with tears. “What the fuck happened?” His voice is cold, and he turns to finally look at Childe, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What did you say?” In a split second, he’s stepped between you and the ginger man, shoving him back when he tries to skirt around Cyno.

“Cy, just leave him alone,” You murmur, leaning into Ganyu’s hold as she wraps her arms around your shoulders. The two men stare each other down, not wanting to move from their spot. “Cyno. Drop it.” You snap this time, calling his attention. He sneers at the ginger before he turns to you, taking you all in. His eyes soften, taking notice of the flush in your cheeks, your eyes red and already starting to get puffy.

“Y/n..” Childe attempts one more time. You glare in his direction. You already felt like shit, your heart dragging by your feet as you mustered the courage to keep walking. You didn’t need him trying to make amends to this shitty situation. You just needed him to leave you alone.

“Don’t ever talk to me,” You declare. Grabbing Cyno and Ganyu’s hands, you march away. The other girl keeps her arms around you, smoothing her hand over your hair while you let your tears fall freely. The three of you walk in silence to the end of the street before calling an uber, the fun atmosphere and lighthearted banter from before disappearing. 

You knew, logically, there was a chance Kaeya was just spouting bullshit just to get a reaction and to make a boring night more exciting. But you doubted it. It made too much sense. And besides, how’d he know Diluc was the one who found Childe to be the new co-host if he wasn’t telling the truth? Your chest felt hollow as your thoughts kept circling around this…

Maybe you should’ve kept hating Childe..

———

A/Ns: tada, the reveal!! as always, likes/reblogs/comments are greatly appreciated, lmk ur thoughts or wtv and don't forget to drink some liquid <33

TAGLIST: @popiizpops @scaradooche @yourfavoritefreakyhan @neversore @monocerosei @dontmindtheevie @kittywagun @yumidepain @kazumiku @hanilessa @nrviine @wren-art @state-of-grac3

[caleeeeee]

OPEN QUESTIONS!!!✨✨✨

(●°u°●)​ 」

Ummmm... I’d like to interact with more people on Tumblr, so... I guess I could open an ask box? (Not entirely sure if this is the right move JABZKSJJZJS

To be honest, my creativity often runs dry, leaving me unable to draw anything, so this is also a way to gather inspiration from you all!

Before we start, there are a few things I should mention:

◆ English isn’t my first language. I currently rely heavily on translators to read things on Tumblr, so I might occasionally misunderstand you—please bear with me qwq.

◆ My academic schedule is pretty hectic, so responses might take a while sometimes. But rest assured, once I see your ask, I will reply! (❁´ω`❁)

Now, let’s get to the point! All the Wreck-It Ralph AU drawings I've created so far are open for questions! Here’s a quick list of them!

*(P.S. This section might be a bit long because wow, I’ve created so many AUs lately 😵)*

① King Honeycomb🐝 *(Search "King Honeycomb" in my blog for more info!)*

Since I haven't officially released his backstory yet, I'll give you a brief summary!| ू•ૅω•́)ᵎᵎᵎ

————————————————————

② **Turbug (Memory Ashes AU)** *You can also ask other characters from this AU, like Markowski, Calhoun, Vanellope, Felix, and Ralph!*

*(Search "Memory Ashes" in my blog for details.)*

*Note: This AU’s Turbug can’t speak or understand human language well—he communicates through actions only XWX.*

*Here’s the story link (only 2 chapters so far XWX):

————————————————————

③ **Humanized Sourbill**

*(Search "Sour bill" in my blog for more info!)*

That’s all! Hope we all have fun with this! ٩( 'ω' )و"*

[bloodraynebeast]

We’re back to talk about Yashiki / Mashita as a pairing once again. Quick note, I’ve heard the less than positive feedback on the translation from players who played the Japanese version and I’ve tried searching for any translations that can help add to the context. Unfortunately the only context we’re using in this analysis is the official English version and fan translation for one of the DLCs. Thank you all so much for the interest and support on the first part! I knew I wanted to make another as it serves to archive their moments as well as analyse each scene. I’ll be going chronologically through the chapters so it's easier to follow. This is a long one! As always MAJOR SPOILERS for Death Mark 2 (And DM1) below.

All Links: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 <-

Updated AO3 Version <-

Starting out with a small tangent, the theme of Death Mark 2 or Shibito Magire (死噛) with The Departed brings up a subject that seems to be a pattern within this series, no matter the universe.

Something that reoccurs in the games and extra content is Yashiki’s negative experiences with women and being forced into some form of marriage. I’m wondering if it's an address on the pressures Yashiki must have felt as Masamune or still feels being the heir and sole survivor of the Kujou bloodline. You notice in Death Mark that Yashiki wasn’t particularly on the best terms with women, namely Christie and Hiroo, but they both did warm up to him and seemed good friends during Death Mark 2.

In the Red Riding Hood DLC, Hiroo is a target and becomes possessed in an attempt to seduce Yashiki, where the bad choices are a result of not trying to pull her out of it. Death Mark 2 has The Departed declaring Yashiki as their future husband, displaying intense possessiveness and jealousy over his close relationships with the Mark Bearers, while also repeating that they will exchange vows and be bound.

In Chapter 3 with Kashima, Yashiki has to pretend to be the beloved teacher of a besotted student - again - and reciprocate their feelings with the flower sketches in order to save them. The two girls Douryou and Kinukawa, cursed and possessed by The Departed make him increasingly uncomfortable with their advances and forcefulness in the game, also trying to entice him. Yashiki has to constantly reassure everyone around him that there is nothing going on and harbours no feelings other than that of a teacher and an adult watching out for the safety of the young students. Because of that, the teacher and head of Academic affairs, Sakamoto, is begrudged to help him in the investigations and holds hostility towards him. Enough to withhold information that would help the case and save the student body. Yashiki also has to inhabit the role of the groom in the final fight against The Departed and apply the ink to complete the ceremony.

Even in the “Blue End” CD Drama, Yashiki becomes possessed by the entity known as the “Master Of The Mark”, who aims to make Mary and later Rose when she tries to intervene, as their consorts, exclaiming that they must exchange vows.

All this in mind, it’s no surprise why many question Yashiki’s preferences (he’s also just a morally good man) and gravitate towards Yashiki and Mashita’s relationship. Their bond is natural and grounded, it’s not aggressively forced upon Yashiki or us as the player. He tends to have more chemistry with the male characters in general, to what feels to us as his closest relationships, specifically Mashita and Daimon. Now onto the game itself.

Death Mark 2 begins with Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 revolving around Hanako Of The Toilet and the relationship between her and her best friend Horikoshi when she was still alive. Although they are ultimately killed off, the introduction of Akai and Horikoshi’s romantic love feels like an important detail. Namely, a love that grew between two best friends. Where one was more confident, rough and unapologetically blunt, the other was more gentle, kind and reserved. That sounds familiar. It also introduces how with Izumi blackmailing Horikoshi, that it likely wouldn't have been accepted at the school due to the prestigiousness and more likely because of the time period. Still, with the first appearance of a queer couple in the series, could this potentially be a stepping stone towards exploring Yashiki and Mashita’s relationship in a similar direction? Foreshadowing of another love forming between two best friends? The chance of this happening definitely seems more possible now.

However, Yashiki still wondering about the nature of their feelings between the two girls despite uncovering their diary entries and sensing it while singing the song lyrics, gives an impression that he would be oblivious to any developed feelings from Mashita if it happened. Also if a relationship did happen, it would likely be kept a secret, at least for as long as possible.

In Chapter 3 Yashiki reunites with Shou, who asks where Mashita is since this investigation involves spirits, practically calling them inseparable. Unlike other Mark Bearers, Mashita receives his own introductory CG. While this could just be something for the fans as Mashita is the most popular character and he was not present in the scene, it’s something to see Shou describing them as a package deal right before Mashita is singled out in the character introductions with his own dramatic CG, looking wistful in the rain. You’d be forgiven for thinking Yashiki is daydreaming about this man, here. Though I’m wondering if this is meant to be Yashiki’s perspective from a memory. Then Yashiki informs us that they were on a phone call the night before, but surprisingly we don’t get to see nor hear that conversation, besides that Mashita is currently indisposed and unable to join the others just yet.

There’s also a tiny detail in the character file that you unlock as more characters join the investigations. The other Mark Bearers are described as becoming friends with the protagonist after he saved their life during the Mary incident, then you read Mashita’s to find he’s formed a “deep bond” with the protagonist due to the number of cases they’ve worked on together. In the previous game there were dropped hints of how their specific relationship stood out among the rest and it applies even more so in the sequel. Although, I’ve heard in the Japanese release they were referred to as “nakama=friends” in the file, which is curious how and why it was translated to “deep bond' in the English version. 

Mashita makes his first appearance in Chapter 5, asked to aid Yashiki by Yasuoka like in Red Riding Hood and tries to treat it as just a job. Yashiki is surprised but relieved by his arrival, placing a lot of trust and confidence in his capabilities and methods that he’s quick to jump on his help. At this point Yashiki was isolating himself from the Mark Bearers over fear of losing them after what happened with Ai, Shou, Daimon and now potentially Hiroo, and while displaying the same worry, he knows he can’t afford to turn away Mashita. He does however plead with Mashita to not draw attention while investigating, where the detective responds with a mischievous grin and no promises. In their first interactions, Mashita is shown to be comfortable with teasing Yashiki, even proceeding to call him Mr.Yashiki or “Yashiki-sensei”, much to the man's displeasure. He is not enjoying his time as a temporary teacher. 

This can be taken with a grain of salt due to translation, but certain dialogues and dialogue options showed some influence from the other. For example, Yashiki’s dialogue options can sometimes grow very blunt and curt. The one for Suzu in the hospital made me laugh due to hearing Mashita’s voice so clearly. Another is at the conclusion of Kokkuri where if you partner up with Mashita and head to Fox Forest to return the laccata, Mashita comments on Yashiki empathising with the spirits again, but then addresses the late teacher as well, stating he’ll report everything to the police, make sure the investigation reopens and to wait until then. A similar reassurance that Yashiki is known for, hoping to give closure. Whereas if you bring Hiroo, Yashiki takes the role and reassures the spirit instead. It feels as though the purpose of that dialogue was to show Yashiki has rubbed off on him somewhat through working together. Mashita also reminds him there won’t always be someone around to save him when he gets too wrapped up in a spirit’s suffering, heavily implying Mashita’s referring to saving Yashiki’s life in the finale of Red Riding Hood.

Once again, Mashita half surprises us all by sneaking another gun to Yashiki, no longer his own, but instead pulls something behind the scenes to get his hands on another just so he has protection. The man is risking a lot of potential jail time again and being very hypocritical for someone still straight-edge with the law, only to keep tossing it out the window to ensure Yashiki’s safety. Particularly when in the same chapter, he chastises Hiroo for trying to obtain the petri dish for research purposes and plans to confiscate it from her. This seems to be the most effective method he thinks to protect Yashiki, only it’s more reckless this second time as the safety has been removed! Just another display of Mashita’s unhinged actions when focused on Yashiki. Also while this could be a simple gag and more on the type of person Mashita is, literature studies I’ve written in the past have made it difficult for me to not see the topic of guns in their scenes as euphemisms and symbolism.

For example, Mashita is always the one to supply the gun - Someone who feels more comfortable or enlightened to their sexuality, a popular fanon theory in the fandom. Meanwhile Yashiki always takes the gun with hesitance, then returns it - Someone still discovering that part of themselves after having everything about them essentially wiped. Additionally in Death Mark, Yashiki doesn’t use the gun but instead entrusts Mashita with it, whereas he uses a gun alongside Mashita in Death Mark 2 on three occasions. 

Further with the guns as symbolism is during the confrontation in The Departed’s Wedding. As the spirit focuses their attacks on Mashita, in order to survive the scene Yashiki must use the gun given by Mashita and shoot The Departed, framed in a way to show rejection as the spirit becomes upset and repeats the word “liar”. After wrapping up the story of Kokkuri, Mashita demands the gun back, although jokes that Yashiki can keep it if he so wishes. You’re given the option to be cheeky with him by attempting to keep it, but Mashita doesn’t allow it, saying you have seconds to hand it over.

In the opening of Chapter 6 while in the infirmary, you can access a voicemail left by Shou. He expresses frustration that Mashita was adamant in keeping him away for his own safety, unless the worst should happen to the two of them. However he believes he won’t have to get involved and views Yashiki and Mashita in such high regards that he practically calls them unstoppable as a team, something I’m sure Yashiki needed to hear. Shou’s comment brings up a point that really highlights itself in Death Mark 2.

Yashiki and Mashita cover each other’s flaws and weaknesses. Yashiki is not as objective and too trusting so there were signs he would miss, like the amount of coincidences surrounding Douryou and Kinukawa and how they misled him. He’s also not confrontational. Yashiki’s issue was that he was very tunnel visioned on the victim in each notice and the spirit tied to it, hardly given the time to investigate The Departed between everything that was happening. He is the compassionate and emotional half that focuses on uncovering the dead’s grudge, their regrets and desires in order to appease them, which in turn saves the lives of those affected, whereas Mashita is the more direct, tactical and logical half. Mashita from years in the profession is tenacious and prioritises getting information and results, allowing for less emotion to get in the way. Not just for a lack of spiritual power, but he would not be as attune to clearing a spirits resentment, nor possibly the patience. But he immediately noticed that Yashiki was being led around to get distracted, rather than focusing on the source and even figured out The Departed’s identity. This brings us back to what happened in Death Mark with the Mary reveal, but the stakes were higher as Yashiki was directly affected and on borrowed time.

The Departed case would have come to a close much sooner if Yashiki and Mashita had teamed up from the beginning, which is possibly why Mashita was absent for most of the story. While I don’t believe Yashiki lacks the skills and intelligence on his own, though he can sometimes be endearingly dense, he does get stuck in conflict with his head and his heart often. It makes me curious about all the various cases they’ve worked on together. In short, if it weren’t for Mashita arriving and voicing his suspicions of the two girls and directing Yashiki to investigate Kinukawa’s room to paint a clearer picture, Yashiki would still have been manipulated down the wrong path.

It seems Mashita’s role in Death Mark 2 is putting pieces together where Yashiki fell flat, steering him in the right direction and confirming what the player has already deduced. It takes Mashita’s appearance in the two chapters to get Yashiki to start suspecting the two students especially. Mashita's shown as protective over Yashiki and is a very reliable character at a crucial point in his state of mind, despite the latter’s perception that Douryou and Kinukawa are deemed trustworthy.

He states he could care less if Yashiki gets closer to the girls for the sake of gathering information, but tells him to watch his step from doing anything else, implicates Kinukawa as the culprit immediately after the man confesses to a very serious crime, then mildly threatens Douryou on her equally suspicious behaviour towards Yashiki. Volunteering himself instead of Yashiki to investigate inside the remains of a shrine on the verge of collapsing - with Yashiki immediately worrying when Mashita cries out when he merely smacked his hand. Mashita being the one to suggest the two separate while fleeing The Departed as he is the target, so Yashiki has a chance of escaping. He constantly reminds Yashiki to stay on track of his original goal, drags him back when he gets too deep in his thoughts, tells him to stop blaming himself for the incidents that were out of his control and even comforts him in his own way. At this stage, perceived as romantic or not, Mashita has made it very apparent that he is ride or die with Yashiki.

Also it’s not often we see Mashita address Yashiki by his full name -

In Chapter 7, Mashita is the partner that is taken to the wedding grounds of where the wedding ceremony took place and where The Departed’s resentment began. Seeing the unfortunate fate of Sakamoto in the Good Ending, Yashiki  begins despairing, blaming himself for her death, to which Mashita steps in to shut down quickly. He then pauses to console him that he did save her at the end, as she regained a sense of self and shared one final clue for them. 

Learning about the origin of The Departed’s grudge, the spirit suddenly appears. Yashiki desperately tries to get answers but Mashita snaps his attention back before he can get sucked in. This is where Mashita sees The Departed for the first time in their grotesque, final transformation with the appearance of a spider - which we’ve seen previously in Death Mark’s DLC. An infamous symbol of sex and fertility. And he wastes no time hurling insults at it for trying to appear attractive to Yashiki. While The Departed has displayed a pattern of abducting the Mark Bearers to feast upon, still giving Yashiki an opportunity to save them and announcing so, there is instead murderous intent with Mashita immediately and begins attacking. Potentially due to the spirit gradually becoming more unstable through its transformation as the game progresses and the location, but to suddenly become enraged at Mashita standing beside Yashiki while they’ve had less issue with characters like Ai or Hiroo standing too close, it’s interesting. A literal or symbolic sense. Standing next to each other as partners? As equals? As lovers? The Departed is thought to observe and learn Yashiki’s closest connections, so it’s left a guess how their relationship might have been interpreted.

When the two part with Mashita luring away The Departed, Yashiki assumes the worst and feels hopelessness and loss, lingering on Mashita while escaping Fox Forest. Returning to the infirmary, Yasuoka comforts him that Mashita always lived life to his own rules and recklessness and to not hold himself responsible. There’s even a moment where Yashiki steers himself and vows to do what he can to finish the case, for Mashita’s sake. It’s a touching, little moment.

I think it’s also worth pointing out that Yashiki’s presumably closest relationships at this moment are “removed” all the way up to the final confrontation. Even if previous Mark Bearers have survived or died, it doesn’t change the outcome of Daimon collapsing into a coma from a curse and Mashita being attacked and chased down by The Departed themselves. There’s no mercy for these particular men. After escaping The Departed, the first person Mashita thinks to contact is Yashiki because he knows he’s in a fragile state. The self-sacrificial man’s resolve has been tested throughout the entire game and he must not give in at the final hurdle. 

In the Good Ending, breaking the news that he’s alive while passing a comment at Yashiki not sounding as relieved as he should be is laughable when Mashita didn’t even say a word and is currently using a public phone. He attempts to cheer him up, saying he should be proud of himself for saving The Departed, and assuring that no one thinks differently of him for what he must’ve had to do. Mashita may never approve of Yashiki’s methods but he understands the physical and mental toll it takes on him.

At the end of it all in the True Ending, Yashiki and Mashita are destined to go for drinks with Hiroo and Daimon, thanks to the latter giving an invitation, which is a fun disaster of a scene I’d very much like to see. Undoubtedly a lot more snark compared to the outing with Ai, Shou and Hiroo. Though I’m sure Mashita will not be pleased to hear Douryou and Kinukawa barged into the mansion and regained their memories, being not the best at dealing with “brats”.

In one of the games DLC “Mary’s Makeover / New Colour” only available in Japan, but fan-translated by Generic Weeb Content, Moe, Eita and Suzu aid Yashiki in searching the mansion for a number combination, where one of the rooms available is the investigation room. Yashiki comments that this is where the Mark Bearers usually meet for spiritual investigations, so a few of their belongings are scattered around. Only two of them are of note. One is the small shrine Moe brought for protection and the other is the large green coat belonging to Mashita hanging on a coat rack. That’s been there the entire game and now we know. According to Yashiki, Mashita had forgotten it one time and it’s remained ever since. He speculates he must keep multiple, similar coats.

This immediately raises questions and shows a lot without telling. One important implication being how frequently Mashita visits the mansion, which we get an idea of from a certain coffee making Voice Drama - and yet according to the game in those four months prior, Yashiki has never once set foot in Mashita’s office. I’m very sceptical that someone observant like Mashita can forget they’re not wearing an oversized coat weighing on their shoulders. Furthermore, it’s a very plausible theory that the coat belonged to Mashita’s late senior as it is oversized and hangs loosely on every art sprite. Then there’s the inclusion of it on a singular panel from the manga where Mashita talks about him. Given he still carries the old lighter, he is at least somewhat of a sentimental person, so it's entirely possible he would keep it also as a memento. In other words, something treasured that he wouldn’t misplace. And why is it still there? Yashiki must have contacted him about it, so perhaps Mashita shrugged it off and never bothered to collect it. If we want to dive deeper, it sounds vaguely like the behaviour of leaving more and more belongings behind one does with a partner until they’ve practically moved in, leaving his mark on the mansion so to speak. Or it’s because Mashita views the Kujou mansion as another place to call home. Either way, Mashita is very casual about it and Yashiki allows it.

The DLC ends on a final scene with Yashiki and Mashita on the phone discussing Mary and the Death Parade. Parallel to the first game’s DLC, Mashita parts with some advice, warning him to be cautious around Mary and to watch out for himself. Yashiki reassures and thanks him, to which Mashita responds in the way one expects. After the call however, Yashiki addresses that while Mary is obsessed with him, he feels obsessed with her in return. In both instances in the DLCs, Mashita expresses open concern for Yashiki’s wellbeing and has the last word, setting up to be the voice of reason to pull Yashiki back from the brink. Knowing him too well that he needs to make him realise how dangerously empathetic he is and will be if Mary awakens or pulls some strings. Not to diminish the other friendships Yashiki has, as they are also important, but the devs specifically show in moments like these how much of an important piece Mashita is in Yashiki’s life. The balance that he needs. This ominous ending could be hinting at a build up to where Mashita saves Yashiki similar to Red Riding Hood or Yashiki’s mental state deteriorating, that everyone bands together to pull him out of that darkness.

Overall, I think this game perfectly demonstrates why they would work well as a couple. Canonical wise, it’s clear the two men have grown closer between the events of the games and keep in regular contact. They continue to have chemistry, address each other more casually, openly joke with one another, have wacky moments like hissing at a rock and shooting guns in the forest whilst on a mushroom trip, and are even called inseparable and unbeatable as a duo. Which leads into a moment in the Kokkuri case, where Mashita mentions again that Yashiki would make a good detective. Whether a praise or a jab, it’s another nod at his business proposal as partners from the previous game. They’ve already crossed the line of being partners in these cases, and even more so in NG, so that might end up being inevitable. Especially from Death Mark 2’s ending where Yashiki discovers what his role will be from now on and his motivations behind pursuing further spiritual cases.

It bears repeating that this isn’t meant to take away from their friendship, but the subtle (or less than subtle) implications of something romantic are all there in a lot of ways in Death Mark 2 - despite the overarching theme of thrusting Yashiki into a teacher-student romance scenario. There’s even more of an influx of art and fanfictions of the two men from old and new fans introduced to the series, as a result. And with the addition of LGBT+ characters - minus the doomed, buried trope - it could be seen as something positive for where their relationship could go. It certainly opens up the possibility.

If a sequel is in the works or if they are testing interest with the latest DLC, it’ll be interesting to see where they take these two in the next installment. One thing is for certain, if there was ever a decision to plan a Yashiki and Mashita spin off series or something that centered on them as protagonists, it is guaranteed a large audience. Next part we’ll be looking at CD Voice Dramas currently available and fan translated by amazing people in the fandom, including “Blue End” and more. If I’ve missed anything from the game, please do feel free to add! Thank you so much for reading!

[historicity-was-already-taken]

Do you have any advice for vetting sources on I/P? I just got a book at a local bookstore and was wondering how I should go about determining any biases?

Great question. I addressed this in my I/P Reading List. I'm pasting below my section on the methodology and source vetting process I followed while compiling this list:

In compiling this list, my process and methodology were as follows: I first wrote down all the relevant works I could think of off the top of my head, all hailing from my fields of Biblical Studies and Modern Jewish History. I then reached out to my friends in Modern Middle Eastern History, Conflict Studies, Jewish History, etc for recommendations, lists, and insight; one of my friends, an ABD PhD candidate in Modern Middle Eastern History, was particularly helpful in helping me understand Israeli historiography, and pointing me towards the best works in the field of Arab Nationalism. After taking their recommendations, I conducted a series of google searches using “‘relevant search term’ site:.edu” to ensure that I received results from only academic domains. From there, I read syllabi for university courses, and examined comprehensive exam reading lists. After that, I searched the catalog of the New York Public Library using any and all relevant search terms, and I also conducted targeted searches on Amazon. By the time I finished, I had a 50 pages filled with book titles. My next step was to divide the list into categories, deleting irrelevant titles and repeats as I went along. After dividing the books into categories, I put each title through a rigorous fact checking process. I checked the publication material for each book to ensure that it was either a. published by an academic press with a built in peer review process, and/or b. written by an academic historian—either a faculty member, or someone with an MA or PhD in history. If I was still unsure after that step, I searched the title in the University of Maryland’s database system, and read the academic (meaning, peer reviewed) book reviews of the title. From there I either kept it on the list or removed it. As I approached the late-Ottoman period, I became extra-critical of relevant titles. At this point, I made sure to read book reviews from at least two academic journals in different fields/subfields to ensure not only the text’s legitimacy, but its ability to hold firm against the scrutiny of scholars in multiple fields. I tended to remove a work if the word “polemic” appeared in the reviews. This said, many of the works on this list, particularly, but not exclusively, in the Post-1948, Arab Nationalism and the Modern Middle East, Conflict Overviews, and Historiography Narratives, Memory and Theory categories will be slanted, or biased. Considering the topic at hand, this reality is both inevitable and perhaps necessary. I do advise you, however, to read any books you select from these categories critically. The vast majority of these books are academic histories (simply put, I don’t trust popular historians with this topic), so if you are not accustomed to that type of writing, be sure to read the Introduction of whichever books you select very carefully, and understand that you are reading to learn—not necessarily to enjoy. In terms of my categorization…it is imperfect and becomes admittedly fuzzy once we get into the late Ottoman Period. I’m not even 100% comfortable with some of these categories, but alas, if there is one thing I learned from Library Science it is that categories are both terrible and inevitable in the organization of information.

[the-secretary-of-baker-street]

The Man Upon the Tor

In 1884, once Holmes and Watson returned from Dartmoor, Holmes was rather unimpressed with this case: he sniffed when Watson congratulated him then searched for his pipe.

Now, in 1892, Watson found his notes on the disappointing case, and tried to form it into some sort of narrative. To tamper with the facts in order to imbue fictional charm- Watson wasn’t at all against that. But with this case, a mere parlour trick pulled off by an abusive husband to scare an inheritor from his fortunes? He needed to do better than that. Watson had just written Wisteria Lodge, a case more full of excitement and intrigue, and the public believed him… and before, a woman who had disappeared and was presumed dead had been there all along, hiding for her love.

Watson was still waiting for Holmes, but it had been almost two years since he had heard any sign of him so perhaps… no, he realised, he must hold onto his belief. Holmes was out there, waiting in the wings for his dramatic reveal. He wasn’t dead; he couldn’t be dead. Watson indulged this ‘fantasy’ of his with scraps of notes from an ordinary case, adding in details, changing dates and names as per usual, lacing through his belief in Holmes being alive.

So, Watson writes that he and Holmes were in Baker Street and that their visitor, Dr James Mortimer, found them in London instead. He sets the first section of the story, including Henry Baskervilles introduction, at home, creating the character of Barrymore and adding the ‘stalker shoe-stealer’ plot line. Watson recognises that he must solve a mystery alone, so he sends Holmes on his way to work at Baker Street while he leaves with his new acquaintances for Dartmoor.

A note on Henry Baskerville: an ‘alert, dark-eyed man’ who is smartly-dressed and well-articulated, accompanied by a well-abiding doctor should remind you of our main man, as everything at this time reminded Watson of Holmes. 

Whilst in ‘Dartmoor’, Watson writes to Holmes, but of course he doesn’t receive much response from beyond the grave. He briefly alludes to one page of his correspondence with Holmes which is missing; perhaps this refers to their private life, which will forever go unmentioned to the public. These letters never existed and were never sent, but the doctor is skilled at forgery by now. 

We have our Holmes and Watson mirrors (Henry Baskerville and James Mortimer respectively) and our Moriarty? The main villain, who wasn’t anything more than an abusive husband in 1884, is replaced by Jack Stapleton, an eccentric academic who is more than meets the eye. But why stop there? Selden, a criminal let loose upon the moors, lurks in the background, only to appear at his death. He links back to Holmes: aside from being a criminal (Holmes committed the crime of loving a man, Selden was a murderer), he dies from a ‘fall’. Additionally, Watson confused his death for Baskerville, another Holmes mirror; moreover, Selden’s death occurs when Holmes eventually returns to the story, indicating Watson’s belief that the detective can and will return.

If you might allow me to step even further away from this storyline and to what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might have intended, I truly believe we were supposed to read Selden as a stand-in for Holmes, due to Watson’s confusion between the ‘tall, thin man’ upon the tor and the criminal. I hope it’s permissible for me to say that this is a common literary trick and not as large a leap as anything else I may state here.

There is more I could probably add here, but for now we shall return to the timeline in 1892, where Watson is publishing… less fictional cases.

The Gloria Scott is released immediately afterwards, with Watson taking care not to sound too jealous of Victor Trevor. Next, The Resident Patient, which may have been reflective of Watson’s working situation- he may have begun to work more as a general practitioner, given that these penny-dreadfuls might not support him as well as he hoped in London. He had no roommate to support him anymore anyway. Then, The Musgrave Ritual, another case where he delights in Holmes’ narration. To wrap up 1892, he releases The Blue Carbuncle: I hope that you, dear reader, recognise the number of criminals with a name beginning with ‘J’, in particular ‘John’ or ‘James’, and acknowledge how reflective of Watson’s conflicted feelings this is. He too is a man who has committed a crime, and can’t help his guilt from seeping through his prose. But, as Holmes did in the Christmas wild goose chase, he accepts that these sort of criminals needn’t be made a ‘jail-bird’ out of, and should be set free.

[thewitcheslist]

I dislike the phrase "traditional witchcraft" in a language and cultural studies kind of way because like... Do y'all mean witch-cult? 'Cuz Margaret has been discredited over and over and over again.

Do you mean Wicca? Cuz that started in '54; as far as world religion, it's practically an infant. (Author bias note: I was raised in a Wiccan Cult from ages 2 to 12)

Do y'all mean Cochrane's craft? Cuz he was literally a High Priest of Gardner's Bricket Wood Coven (Which would make him an exWiccan or make it a denomination of Wicca instead of a completely separate faith)**

Well, maybe you mean Feri? Nope. That is widely considered a denomination of Wicca too, even by those who practice it.

Crooked Path/Sabbatic? Andrew Chumbley started practicing witchcraft in the 90s, his teachings are patchwork made of Tantra, voodoo, and Christ.ian doctrine... And imo, Christ.ianity is definitely not where witchcraft originated... AND it is also considered a denomination of Wicca by scholars but considered a completely separate religion by practitioners

Thelema was started by a very very rich Englishman after he was apparently visited by the Egyptian god Horus and a disembodied voice called Aiwass in 1907 which would make it the oldest in my list here, but the majority of the scholarly writing on Traditional Witchcraft I could find doesn't include Thelema and it is considered a separate New Religious Movement (NRM) entirely.

Britannica defines traditional as

1 a : based on a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, etc., for a long time : following the tradition of a certain group or culture b : typical or normal for something or someone : having the qualities, beliefs, etc., that are usual or expected in a particular type of person or thing 2 based on old-fashioned ideas : not new, different, or modern

This definition feels fuzzy to me, because Neopaganism is definitely new and modern, right? That's what the prefix Neo- means

The only (reputable, published scholarly *) sources I can find basically sum up Traditional Witchcraft as just Wiccan. I have found some (published) sources saying it isn't Wicca, but they are far fewer in number and are religious works, not academic.

I am not a religious scholar. But Neopagan seems to be a much more accurate word to describe these organized practices -- Or does the existence of a Hierarchy and religious leaders makes it "traditional."

And... Neopagan is a very very very broad term, making it somewhat impractical to use as a label when looking for your communities/learning resources/supplies

In my search for information I found this quote from Kelden Mercury, author of The Crooked Path: Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft

“Traditional Witchcraft is an umbrella term that covers a vast array of non-Wiccan practices that are inspired by folklore. These practices may be viewed as religious or spiritual depending upon the group or individual practitioner. Traditional Witches focus on the use of magic, connecting with the natural landscape, and working with various spirits in both the physical realm and the Otherworld.”

But 1) every single other source I'm finding is calling it a branch of Wicca - because the core values originated within Wicca. And 2) it isn't traditional if every practitioner does it differently and 3) What folk lore? There's a lot. I don't know which culture is being referred to here 4) this sent me down a secondary metaphorical rabbit hole to find what "The Otherworld" is, because my only prior knowledge was from my Wiccan Coven upbringing, and in this context, I'm being told we are definitely not talking about Wicca - but we are getting off topic

I have come across one paper grouping all the practices I listed in this post together as "contemporary traditions," and Contemporary Traditional Witchcraft is a bit of a mouthful and possibly an oxymoron but it definitely makes more sense from the perspective of this language nerd. Someone needs to write more on this from a scholarly and historical point of view and I am almost certain I am far too undereducated to do it.

And now, I'm super hyper fixated on the cultural impact of various NRMs, Neopaganism, and modern religion in the west. I cannot afford more student loans but I desperately want to learn more. I might audit some classes just for the hell of it honestly. This is so fascinating at this point. Why isn't this stuff getting studied yet? Does anyone know Ethan Doyle White? Can you give him my email address? (this is a joke, he probably doesn't want to talk to me.) Belief in witchcraft as malevolent magic has been around since ancient Mesopotamia and I can find records of that... But I want to study the cultural impact of this religious movement and there just isn't enough literature to satisfy my inquisitive nature.

Someone smart should be writing this down, because seeing how it spreads and how different groups respond to the movement as a whole could really help historians understand the very very old dead religions, and their cultural impacts.

*I want to emphasize the word Scholarly. I said SCHOLARLY and I mean it. Witchcraft is something very difficult to find historically accurate information about.

** edit to correct pronouns; this information came from PUBLISHED SCHOLARLY ARTICLES. I am not asking you to explain Traditional Witchcraft to me as a practitioner. I am NOT asking to be converted to Wicca. I literally escaped a cult. Have some decorum.

[DISCLAIMER: I'm not arguing the validity of any of these religions, nor am I saying they are bad. Religion, in my opinion, is a good thing. I like paganism. It brings me comfort. This is my brain struggling with the verbage used and lack of written history. I have absolutely no ill intent, I'm just frustrated at the lack of historical records and the limits imposed on us by the English language.]