#it being how Douglas handled and wrote the plot

[bookwyrminspiration]

i also need a bad book to read but i’m not sure if i could survive this one… thankfully i got paid recently so instead i will be taking my ass to the book store soon and buying the sky on fire!! i just have to finish of songbirds and snakes first

I read it so y’all don’t have to </3. I think this says a lot:

It somehow has a 3.7/5 on goodreads.

If you want to join me in reading bad books on purpose, I’ve had my eye on the rest of Lillian Lark’s bathhouse romance series (a bunch of connected standalones) since I read Hoarded by the Dragon

But!! Sky on Fire!! I will say nothing but I hope you enjoy!!!

[tvmigraine]

FORGOTTEN LIVES: Douglas Camfield

Before we begin! Remember to get a copy of the Forgotten Lives Omnibus at this link! You've got until the 1st of September, so make sure you don't forget to buy the book!

To make up for lost time, today we'll be covering two Doctors - firstly we'll be covering one of the only Morbius Doctors to get an official appearance in expanded media. Lance Parkin returns to this character roughly twenty years after writing "Cold Fusion" that covered the Doctor's forgotten past. As a writer who's supported the idea for years, even naming his first story after the article he wrote about the Morbius Doctors, how does he handle this incarnation?

Douglas Camfield (1931-1984) directed a lot of TV, such as Terry Nation's Blake 7, Z Cars and Public Eye. His direction credits to Doctor Who are equally impressive - The Crusade, The Daleks' Master Plan, The Web of Fear and Inferno to name a few. If there was any face behind the scenes that deserved this cameo role, Camfield was near the top of the list.

Lance Parkin, now having grabbed the reins to this incarnation, comes in with a clear vision for who his Doctor is and what his era would be. The Camfield Doctor is something of a bounty hunter, working with his companion Dattany to avenge those they couldn't save. They do not share as much time together as I may first have liked, but the chemistry between the characters easily helps you picture how the two may work together. Paul Hanley compliments this personality by making the Doctor's outfit akin to a witch hunter, someone trying to stomp out evil.

The other stories show the Doctor like a political ambassador, as if he's acting on behalf of the Time Lords. In a canon where we now have the Fugitive Doctor and her exploits alongside and against Division, the Camfield Doctor feels like how the Doctor fights against Division. There is a malicious compliance to this Doctor, where he will complete a mission so long as it is his way - if he sees wrong being done then he will find a way to change it.

To be transparent... I didn't really pull to these stories, they're good but not what I personally look for (I do commend the worldbuilding done by Gareth Madgwick in his story, it paints that world vividly). However, unlike other Doctors, I will not be examining him too much, instead I want to discuss some lore. Unfortunately for me, that means having to face my greatest enemy - the Tardis Wiki.

Now is the part where I go fully conspiracy. Where other Doctors here were built from the ground-up, this Doctor's appearance in "Cold Fusion" gives us more to work with on what this Doctor's life might've been like. It also has implications for the past Doctors we've covered so buckle in! (NOTE: Any inaccuracies about "Cold Fusion" are because I have yet to read it. Also don't take this too seriously, as Who contradicts Who all the time and Parkin can change whatever he wants.)

For example! This Doctor married a woman called Patience, having thirteen children and was even a part of the Supreme Council which was a ruling body on Gallifrey. He was subsequently charged with "consorting with aliens", something we see in Parkin's second story for this series.

However! Patience is also crucial in the plot to "The Infinity Doctors", the 40th anniversary also written by Lance Parkin. The book may or may not be in main continuity as the Infinity Doctor could be either the 1st or the 8th... or anything past and future. You want to know how that book would've originally started? It was supposed to begin with the Robert Banks Stewart Doctor with Patience. Counting Forgotten Lives continuity, this would imply that the Banks Stewart Doctor would be the one to first marry Patience.

Paul Hanley's "The Changing Face of Dr. Who" throws a fun spanner into the works. The Christopher Baker Doctor is stated to fall in love with Joan Redfern from "Human Nature" and it's TV adaptation. It feels as though the implication of the original book would make Cedric and Jilly the children that the Baker Doctor and Redfern may have had (this part is entirely theoretical). If this is the case, the Doctor would marry in his second incarnation, have human children following a third version of "Human Nature" then journey with them for a while, before eventually coming back to his wife. This also discounts that the Barry Doctor married a woman called Zodin at some point...

And maybe some things are best left Forgotten. Such as flavour text.

Patience, also, is placed into "The Machine" during "Cold Fusion" - a TARDIS created by Omega that predates the name of TARDIS, it was used to get her safely off of Gallifrey. The thing is, the Machine looks like TARDIS from the Cushing Movies.

So maybe Cushing is pre-Hartnell too? And Dr. Who made TARDIS in the films, or claims to, so did he make The Machine? If Omega made it, then are Omega and Dr. Who the same? My brain feels like it's leaking.

For more insight into the creative process of every author that worked on Forgotten Lives, you can go to @forgottenlivesobverse and find interviews from everyone involved across the books. If you're looking for insight on how the outfits were designed, you can go to Paul Hanley's Patreon and find what went into designing each Doctor.

See a snapshot of how this Doctor bent the rules and tried to make amends. If this Doctor interests you, then I would even recommend trying to track down a copy of "Cold Fusion" to fill another gap.

PAST LIVES by Lance Parkin

LEVERAGE by Gareth Madgwick

RETROGENESIS (Part Five) by Philip Purser-Hallard

TRAIL OF A TIME LORD by Lance Parkin

The next Doctor won't be any simpler as we cover the Graeme Harper Doctor, the journey Paul Hanley went on to simply find the original photo and grandiose sci-fi that comes with a new Doctor. That post should come later today, so don't wait too long!

[littlestsnicket]

7, 9, 11, 19, 31, 44, 69, 75, for the fic ask game?

i was almost done with this, but then i had to go watch everything, everywhere, all at once (which was very good, and very worth seeing in theaters if you have that option), and then i had to go to bed, and now it is somehow the next afternoon.

7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

so this is an interesting one, because plot is really hard for me. a lot of why i started writing fic was to have permission to write without having plot, so i almost exclusively wrote drabbles for doctor who and mcu, and they were all missing scene/character study type things. probably the first thing i “plotted” (it was still all vibes and character study) and then never actually wrote, was about amy and rory getting stuck in the third doctor era, and getting to meet the master and the unit fam. 

9. in an ideal world where you're super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work?

absolutely. i am obsessed with the mechanics of adaptation. i would definitely be a bit apprehensive about someone who was *just* doing it for the paycheck adapting my work. but i'd be way too curious to see what someone else would do with it, and how it would change and evolve. i love when adaptations are really different but are still true to something significant about the original work, so it’s hard to imagine being disappointed by anything besides carelessness (but that does seem to be a real concern). 

11. what's something neat you've learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

i recently did a whole bunch of research on how to make gut strings, and know (strictly in theory) how to re-fret a lute. 

for the twin peaks fic i have been working on for literal years, i learned: pittsburgh used to have a vibrant chinatown but it was eventually replaced by the worst highway (is 380/bigalow blvd really even a highway? anyway, notably stupid fucking road in a city full of bad street design) (to be fair, racism and the overall population downturn had mostly destroyed the neighborhood before it became a highway) and paper bags with handles and indiglo timex watches didn’t exist in 1985.

i don't really worry, per say, about research and accuracy, but it's my favorite form of procrastination from actually writing. i also find that having more information to percolate through my brain does inspire me to write and having little, technically unimportant, details in my work thrills me. 

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

probably neil gaiman? there's both a clarity and a sense of whimsy in how he writes. and it sometimes has a toned down douglas adams vibe. i try to be vividly descriptive but only when necessary. i also really internalized e b white's style guide when i read it. i always do a pass of editing that is just... getting rid of words.

31. tell us about on of your characters who's an absolute joy to write

the thing that brings me the most joy is when i feel like the cadence of a characters' dialogue is exactly right, so i have the most fun writing characters that have really distinctive speech patterns. lemony snicket, dale cooper, the eleventh doctor, and jaskier are all great for that.

but also, recently, i just really really loved getting in ciri's head. there's so much going on in there. she's got layers, and she's growing into herself, but not in a stereotypical coming of age sort of way, which i often find kind of boring.

44. name three of your favorite fanfic writers

i tried very very hard not to overthink this and just wrote down the three that came to me first. copperbadge, whoslaurapalmer, limerental. there are so many fantastic story tellers in fandom, but they stand out to me in terms of prose quality. 

69. how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the character is feeling?

hmmm. i don't know if i do anything deliberately to write emotional scenes. usually, since it's fic, i'm trying to capture something i felt while watching or reading the source material, so i might go back to that.

i definitely get in the characters heads a bit when i'm writing, so i guess i feel whatever they're supposed to be feeling, but at a remove or dialed significantly down in intensity.

75. do you know how the story ends before you start writing?

not usually. i work things out as i write, but i don't write in order, and almost always write the end before i finish the middle. it helps for me to know where you’re going. sort of like writing a research paper in school--there’s nothing worse than getting to the end and realizing you don’t have a real conclusion. 

[isitgintimeyet]

Road To The Aisles

AO3

Previous

Happy Sunday. Hope it’s a good one for everybody. Another chapter and the wedding is getting closer. Time for a hen party...Warning: nsfw

Thanks to @mo-nighean-rouge @wickedgoodbooks @happytoobserve and to everyone who reads, comments, likes or reblogs x

Chapter 20: A Convivial Carousing

“What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"

"Ask a glass of water!”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Claire thought she had been quite clear about this to Geillis. She distinctly remembered sitting in her office a few weeks ago when the subject had first been broached. Geillis had run through a list of possible suggestions for a hen party; beginning with a weekend in Benidorm (“imagine, sangria by the bucketful and eye candy in speedos”) all the way to a meal out with friends (“nice and safe”) detouring via an Ann Summers’ sex party (“It’s jes’ like a Tupperware party, ye ken, but with more cocks”), skydiving (“that adrenaline rush, as good as sex, I reckon”) and a burlesque dance class (“yer man’ll thank ye fer it later”).

When Claire had vetoed all the suggestions apart from a meal and drinks with friends, Geillis had then changed tack and began listing some well prepared ideas to “make the evening go with a bang, aye?”. Using the power of veto once more, Claire had made clear her thoughts on ‘pin the cock on the hunk’, any games involving dares or forfeits, any performers of the semi-(or un-)clad variety or costumes announcing that they were a hen party.

Geillis had tutted vociferously but eventually shrugged and agreed to Claire’s conditions.

So, why was she now sitting in this cocktail bar, wearing a sash proclaiming her to be a bride, while sucking her (admittedly rather moreish) cocktail through a plastic penis? She looked along the table at her friends, each wearing a matching sash and all busy writing on cards provided by Geillis, sharing their tips for a sexually successful marriage.

Jenny caught her eye and smiled. “I dinna think I ought tae be suggesting sex tips fer ma baby brother. It’s a wee bit —“

“Yucky? Disturbing?” Isobel ventured.

Geillis just caught the tail end of the conversation. “Only if ye’re doing it right.”

She winked before resuming her writing.

Claire drained her cocktail and moved on to the next already waiting for her. She studied Geillis over the rim of her glass, noting the glint in her eye as she wrote her contribution on the card. No doubt sharing some tips from her and Dougal’s activities, Claire told herself, interesting to read but maybe not her and Jamie’s type of thing.

As Geillis worked her way around the table, gathering up the cards, the door of the bar opened and a ‘fireman’ came in, tall and broad shouldered in his overly tight uniform. He carried his helmet in one hand and a portable speaker in the other. He stood for a moment glancing around before spotting Claire and her friends. He strode towards them, a cheeky grin on his face.

Claire felt herself redden and prayed for the ground to swallow her up. She cursed the sash proclaiming her to be the bride again; she cursed the balloons, spelling out H-E-N, tied to her chair; but most of all, she cursed Geillis, who had promised faithfully that there would be absolutely no adult entertainment this evening.

She glared across at Geillis, who returned her gaze with a confused expression of her own and shook her head slightly. Claire quickly watched the rest of her friends for any knowing smiles.

By now, the fireman had reached their table.

“I’m here on an emergency. Someone,” he looked directly at Claire. “Someone is too hot to handle.”

He sucked the air through his teeth noisily, in a parody of a passionate sigh. Claire did the only thing possible. She drained her cocktail and reached for the next one waiting for her.

“So,” the fireman drawled in a fake American accent, rotating his hips suggestively. “I’m going to have to use my hose… my extra long—“

He stopped abruptly as one of the bar staff tapped him on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, gesturing to a room off the main bar area.

Shamefaced, the fireman shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, hen,” he now spoke with a broad Glaswegian accent. “This isna the right party. I’d best be heading.”

His eyes lingered on Geillis, now smiling coquettishly, before he turned and followed the barman. His arrival at the correct party was heralded by a series of loud whoops and cheers, clearly audible even over the hubbub of Saturday night two-for-one cocktail drinkers.

Claire breathed a sigh of relief and felt her stomach muscles unclench.

“Ye ken, Claire, I wouldna do something like that tae ye.” Geillis patted her hand. “I kent how much ye didna want that kind of thing. So, why don’t we have another cocktail, I’ll collect up the cards and we’ll see what kind of perverts ye have fer friends.”

Whether it was the sheer relief that Geillis had no embarrassing entertainment on the agenda, or the heady mix of cocktails coursing through Claire’s veins, but she finally decided to give in and throw herself wholeheartedly into the silly and potentially embarrassing hen party spirit.

Clearing her throat dramatically, she read each of the cards out loud, everyone trying to guess the originators. Some were obvious; who else but Geillis would have written about, in great graphic detail, a suggestion involving handcuffs, floggers and a black leather dominatrix outfit? And it was clearly Isobel who gave advice about the healing power of a hug. (“Not necessarily sexual,” she clarified. “But vital.”)

But Claire would never have guessed that it was Mary, the shy but efficient theatre nurse, who advised her to have a ‘toy cupboard’ next to the bed and always have spare batteries to hand. And as for a now clearly drunk Jenny’s confessions about her role playing adventures with Ian (a somewhat complex plot involving a Highland warrior and innocent serving wench fleeing the redcoats), well, Claire felt that was something best kept between the girls, and not to be shared with her future husband.

The rest of the evening passed in a whirl of chatter, laughter and alcohol. Claire knew she was drunk, not steaming drunk like Jenny, whose eyes were closed and her chin propped up with her hands, but in that tipsy phase when everything is wonderful… and shiny... and hilarious… and full of love.

Suddenly the bright overhead lights made Claire’s eyes begin to water. “What’s going on?” She asked.

Geillis began to gather up her belongings. “That’s it. It’s one am. Time tae go home.”

“But… but… can I not have another drink? I liked the..er.. orange one. Can I have another orange one?”

Geillis laughed and picked up Claire’s bags. “Ye’ve had about half a dozen different orange ones, Claire. It’s time fer the taxi.”

“Where’s Jenny?” Claire looked around.

“Ah, Weel, Isobel is seeing her home. I tell ye, it’s jes’ as well ye’ve some sensible friends, otherwise I dinna ken how ye’d go on. C’mon now, taxi’s waiting.”

Claire stood up as Geillis reached across and untied the balloons. Claire grabbed her arms and pulled her close.

“Can I thank you, G, for tonight, and for… well, for everything.” Her breath was warm on Geillis’s cheek. “You’re a real friend and, amazingly sober, I must say even after…”

Claire tried, unsuccessfully, to peer at her watch over Geillis’s shoulder. “...even after ...after lots and lots and lots of cocktails.”

Geillis kissed her cheek. “Nae bother, I didna have a lot tae drink. I knew ye wasna a big fan of the whole hen party thing and I wanted tae make sure this night was jes’ right fer ye. Now let’s get ye home. Back tae yer fiancé.”

“Thank you, G… have I already said that?” Claire started to follow Geillis out of the bar then stopped abruptly, putting her hand to her mouth.

“What’s the matter? Ye’re no’ going tae puke are ye?” Geillis quickly began to search for a plastic bag.

“No… no, I’m not puking, but, G, imagine… it’s all thanks to you that I’m here, getting married to Jamie. If you hadn’t given him my number in ED, we would never have got together, never dated, never fallen in love…” Claire sniffed and rubbed her eyes.

“Och, away wi’ ye. I tell ye, the pair of ye were born fer each other. Ye would have met either way. Mebbe me giving him yer number was jes’ a shortcut.” Geillis gave Claire a quick hug before pulling away. “Now come on, the taxi driver will have started his meter and I am no’ paying any more than the price I agreed on the phone!”

************

Jamie glanced at his watch as the doorbell rang. He yawned, stretched and switched the television off before walking to the front door.

The doorbell rang again. As he unlocked the door, it rang for a third time, a prolonged, urgent ring. He opened the door to find Claire giggling as she leant against the door frame, her shoulder pressing into the doorbell.

He waved to Geillis in the waiting taxi before following Claire into the hall. She spun around and flung herself into Jamie’s arms, nearly causing him to lose his balance. Ignoring his sudden exhalation of air, she kissed him noisily on the lips before nuzzling his neck and blowing raspberries against his skin.

“A good night, I take it. And a wee bit drunk too,  are we?” Jamie ventured a guess.

Claire pulled away, indignantly. “No, I’m not. Are you? You seem a bit unsteady there on your feet.”

“Well, what have you been drinking then?”

“Oh, some absolutely scrummy cocktails. I started with a slow comfortable screw. Have you had one of those?”

Jamie smiled. “Frequently.”

“How about a slow comfortable screw against the wall?”

“No’ fer a while.”

“And I had a silk panties martini… to match what I’m wearing.” Claire undid the zip on her jeans to confirm.

“Then I had a couple of flaming orgasms… mmm, so good.”

“Ah so, multiple orgasms. I tend tae stick tae the one, myself.”

“And I think there might have been a slippery nipple in there somewhere,” she hiccuped.

Jamie steered Claire to the stairs. “You head up tae bed, Sassenach.”

“Are you not coming too?” She pouted.

“I’ll be up in a minute. Just locking up.”

***************

Armed with a bottle of water and two paracetamol for the morning, Jamie entered the bedroom, fully expecting Claire to be fast asleep and snoring. On the contrary, she was still very much awake, lying on top of the covers, clad only in a red thong and matching red bra. The rest of her clothes lay in a heap on the floor.

“See, red silk panties,” she giggled, flicking the elastic on the thong.

“Aye, not quite silk though, jes’ a wee bit of lace as far as I can see. Now, come on, get in tae bed. Ye’ll be needing yer sleep.”

“But I’m not tired,” she protested as she scrambled onto her hands and knees and worked her way down the bed to where Jamie stood. “C’mon, Mr. Fraser, let’s have some fun.”

She knelt up and let her hands run around the waistband of his jogging bottoms, her fingernails lightly raking the skin.

Jamie inhaled deeply. “Claire, Sassenach, no. I dinna want tae take advantage of ye when ye’re drunk.”

“Jamie,” Claire’s voice was stern. “I may have had a few to drink, but I am fully aware of what I am doing...”

She edged the waistband down over his hips, his cock already standing proud. She ran a finger down its length, watching Jamie’s stomach muscles tense as he tried to calm the sensations she was arousing. He could feel her breath warm against his thigh.

“... And so it seems does our friend here. Don’t fight me, Jamie. I’ve had a plastic penis in my mouth for most of the evening. Now it’s time for the real thing.”

Grabbing his buttocks, she pulled Jamie closer to her before bringing one hand to cup his balls, massaging them in her palm. She wrapped her other hand around the base of his cock as she took him fully in her mouth.

Jamie closed his eyes and finally allowed himself to succumb to Claire’s ministrations. The warmth of her mouth as she rhythmically worked up and down, her tongue stroking and caressing made him harder than he thought possible. He entwined his fingers in her wild curls, encouraging her to take more of his length into her mouth.

He pulled back slightly as he felt his excitement building, keen to try and prolong the experience. Claire moaned, a small mew of disappointment, and brought him closer to her again, resuming the same relentless rhythm.

His breathing grew ragged. “Sassenach,” he groaned. “Sassenach, I canna … I canna…”

She felt his release, warm in her mouth as he stilled then withdrew. Jamie, panting, opened his eyes to see Claire, kneeling back on her heels, her curls in wild disarray, cheeks flushed, breasts nearly escaping from the confines of her bra. Her nipples, dark and erect, were visible through the red lace, her panties clearly damp.

She smiled, a lazy smile of self satisfaction as she swallowed then licked her lips. Jamie gasped at this wanton image in front of him.

“Sassenach,” his voice was husky. “I’ve an idea. Can I get our special camera?”

Claire nodded. “Ooh, yes. I’ve a couple of ideas myself, Mr. Fraser.”

As Jamie went in search of the camera, Claire lay back on the pillows and laughed. All those tips tonight for a successful sex life, she told herself, and I don’t think we’ll need any help in that area… ever.

[almondbiscotti]

Stuff I’ve Watched this CB

Sorry, really got a lot. I’ve ranked them from most recommended to least recommended. And separated movies from series. And have included some shows I’m planning to watch! 

Series

Kim’s Convenience S4 I LOVE APPA. Was a bit appalled I didn’t know S4 was out on Netflix because it’s one of my favourite shows on Netflix. It’s REALLY GOOD. So many laugh out loud moments, the characters are WONDERFULLY fleshed out and the chemistry between the actors is through the roof. Story telling is also amazeballs. 10/10 would recommend.

Dirty Money S1&2  10/10 would recommend! I really liked Dirty Money because I learned so so so so much from the show! I do think the producers had no intention of being unbiased and presenting a neutral stance on the “villains” because I wanted to punch every single “villain” every damn episode. If you’re looking for objectivity and “both sides of the story”, I don’t think this show is for you. But that said, everything presented is factual so I did learn a lot. Supplemented with additional reading post show, I felt like a whole new world was opened to me. :) 

Kingdom S1&2  JUST WATCH THIS. IT’S SO DAMN GOOD. 

Only issue I had was how damn ridiculous it was that whenever a horde of zombies were running towards our protagonists, they’d just stand there and do their typical Korean AISSSSSHEEEEBYEFUCK stance for like a full 17342154 minutes while the music and tension builds and the zombie horde comes closer and closer and closer and THEN they finally decide to run. Eh friend, what siah. Also, I concluded from watching Kingdom that if there ever was a Zombie apocalypse, I’m completely and utterly FUCKED. But I live in ridiculously hot Singapore surrounded by water... so I guess I’ll be alright? 9.5/10 

Derry Girls S1-2 Irish Catholic School Girls, I’M SOLD. I mean, come on. How can I not LOVE this show? It’s HILARIOUS. And having spent 10 years in an all girl catholic school, Derry Girls really really resonated with me. The characters are laugh out loud hilarious, and all really likeable! The only issue I had with it is that the characters don’t really grow very much over the course of 2 seasons. So season 1 first episode vs season 2 final episode, it won’t matter even if you watched it backwards.

Because the seasons are very short, only 6 episodes per season and there are only 2 seasons so far, it doesn’t matter very much. For now. But I reckon if they had like 7 seasons, it’s going to get VERY repetitive. But at the moment, ISSA GREAT! 9/10

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency S1 8 Episodes of ABSOLUTE CRACK. It’s based off something Douglas Adams wrote so I wouldn’t expect anything less. Acting isn’t great but the storytelling is riveting. If you enjoy Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the book), it’s very likely you’d enjoy this. It can get quite frustrating sometimes though because it’s so ridiculous so if you’re looking for a detective series based on solid logic, look somewhere else. But if you just want some fun and silliness mixed with some smart, this is wonderful. 8/10 

Never Have I Ever S1 I had a lot of trouble liking the main character but on retrospect, it might be because the character doesn’t even like herself that much to begin with. Had quite a few laugh out loud moments and the Asian family moments were very relatable.  THE MOTHER. THE MOTHER IS EVERYTHING. She’s my favourite, I would watch an entire series with just her. The main problem with Never Have I Ever (in my opinion) is that it tried to do a lot of things to prove the same point. So it does get a bit frustrating after a while. By the 3rd episode, I’m just like GET ON WITH IT I GET IT. I GET THAT FAMILY IS MOST IMPORTANT, I GET THAT SHE’S NOT GRIEVING HER FATHER. So... it can get a little cliche and repetitive. To me la. But still funny, still good. :)  8/10 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S1-4 The opening track really really grows on you. UNBREAKABLE! They’re alive, damn it! IT’S A MIRACLE! Created by Tina Fey, this show is silly and full of fun.

I really liked S1-3. It’s a very light-hearted show that makes you feel really good watching it because it’s just so positive and optimistic. S4 got a bit too ridiculous for me and the characters started doing some really weird shit that is a bit too incredulous (it was never a logical show based too much on reality to begin with but S4 was really a bit much). But if you like shows like The Good Place, I reckon you’d like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. 8/10

The Circle USA Can’t remember why Housemate and I started on this but it was actually not bad! I think it’s because the OG characters were really likeable! JOEY! JOEY IS A PRECIOUS PUPPY THAT NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS. It’s not very intellectual and I was never too invested in any of the characters or relationships. BUT! great if you don’t want to think too much and just watch some mindless TV that isn’t absolute trash. (TOO HOT TO HANDLE I’M LOOKING AT YOU.)  7/10 

Tiger King S1 SIEOW ONE THIS SHOW. It’s an absolute MINDFUCK. I started with many questions, I finished with A BILLION more. I don’t even know how to describe or explain this show. IT’S MADNESS. There are big cats, gay husbands who turn out not to be gay, tiger queen who allegedly killed her husband and fed him to her tigers, crazy dude who tried to pay some other dude 5k (i think? or 3k? seriously it’s crazy) to kill tiger queen, big guns and expired meat and pizzas?!?!! Yah, Mindfuck. CRAZY/10

Cable Girls S1-4  Season 1 and 2 were BEAUTIFUL. The characters have so much depth, the acting is impeccable, the costumes are AMAZING, the cinematography is inspiring, the story telling was riveting. Then season 3 and season 4 happened and... I will pretend the show ended in S2. -_- Character development took a major hit from season 3 onwards. But I would still recommend Cable Girls because the acting, the acting is AMAZING. 10/10 for s1&2. 5/10 for 3&4.

Money Heist S4 Was quite hyped for this and was really quite let down. The beauty of Money Heist has always been structure in chaos, elegance in the mess. S4 was very frustrating because it didn’t have that. I felt like they were trying very hard to make you think the heist team was going to fail and started to fill in weird impossible things to ensure the plot was still able to proceed. Did not enjoy S4 as much as I thought I would. :(  But if you have invested in the previous seasons, you know you’re gonna watch it even if it’s absolute crap anyway. 6/10

The Letter For The King S1 Ep 1&2 Premise was quite interesting, trailer was interesting enough. But DEAR GOD WAS IT SLOW. And also, literally ALL the characters were unlikeable! I don’t understand why anyone would make a show with entirely unlikeable characters. I couldn’t get past the 2nd episode but I went ahead to read a few reviews and recaps. Yeah, was a good idea to stop at episode 2. Would not recommend. 2/10

Movies

Game Night  Rachel McAdams is QUEEN. A really loltastic film. Is a really good post dinner wind down to end the day film. And particularly because I can relate to how competitive our main couple was. :) Some parts don’t add up and there are a few times I think the story becomes a bit too much for itself, trying to layer upon layer of twists, but still a good fun movie! :) 7.5/10 

The Half of It Heartwarming. :) Enjoyed it because i think the main protagonist is very likeable. And she’s so... plain and relatable. I hate to say this though but... I found the whole movie quite forgettable. Like, it didn’t feel very deep to me though it did touch on quite a few intense and deep topics of first love, family, self acceptance etc. But it’s just doesn’t reverberate through every cell of my being. The whole movie is just so gentle and because it is so mild, it becomes forgettable. Acting is good, character development is okay I guess. But generally... just mediocre to me. But not bad. I just wished it wasn’t so... light and airy. I wish it made me cry. 7/10

Cabin in the Woods Housemate wanted to watch it because it’s horror-esque. I was okay with it cos it’s horror comedy. And also Chris Hemsworth. :D Was quite loltastic. Though SPOILER ALERT Chris Hemsworth’s character dies a bit too early for my liking. I really liked the over the top inclusion of various different monsters near the end. Was fun trying to identify them. Fun movie! Not very scary but quite a bit of gore that’s peppered with lots of humour to make it okay. 7/10

Extraction LOTS OF CHRIS HEMSWORTH. But plot wise... hmm... Housemate enjoyed it because he said the fight scenes and the things our extractor does are very real and is what a trained professional would do in the high pressure situations he finds himself in. They probably had a great consultant to keep things realistic.  I didn’t enjoy it as much because I felt that our hero was... too powerful and the bad guy was too bad. Almost caricature-ish. Difficult to have character development like that. But hey, I didn’t watch it for depth, I watched it for Chris Hemsworth’s face so... very much satisfied. :) 7/10 

Other Stuff I’m Planning to Watch 

After Life S2 I liked S1 so... just a continuation I guess. Typical English humour. Also, I watched S1 dealing with a death of a friend so the show does have some sentimental meaning for me.

Hollywood S1 New show seems promising! There are blacks, gays, sex, extortion, glitzy costumes, glamour and really blonde blondes. Also the guy who plays Sheldon Cooper in BBT. High hopes, I have high hopes! 

The Victims’ Game DETECTIVE SHOW SOLVING CRIMES. I’M SOLD. 

Whoa fuck, I really watch a lot of Netflix. 

[script-a-world]

This only loosely falls into the theme of worldbuilding but it's worth asking anyway. How do you get an audience to treat fundamentally absurd ideas seriously? I'm devising a cyberpunk fantasy story which has many illogical and ridiculous concepts within it (such as a Mongol semi-nomadic khanate full of cyborgs centred around robotic horses, and a steel dragon that breathes superheated neon) but it's not supposed to be a comedy.

Bina: To encourage and maintain "suspension of disbelief," you have a few options. One is to just play it straight. Own it and show people you've thought things through. Showcase the real consequences and dangers of these concepts. Have your characters treat these absurd ideas seriously because to them, they are serious. If you show that you're treating your narrative tools seriously, readers are more apt to buy into them. Taking an out-there idea and going deep into it, expanding on it, making it feel real, is one of the draws of fantasy. For some, the more absurd and out-there, the better!

Acknowledging some of the ridiculousness might help too. Letting the reader know that you know things are ridiculous can make them more willing to buy into the nonsense. It doesn't have to be to a comedic effect. Just something to show the reader "look, I know it's pretty off-the-wall, but bear with me and I'll show you where this is all going."

(btw, a steel dragon that breathes superheated neon sounds awesome)

Tex: Absurdity is not restricted to comedy. As a genre, absurdist fiction often tackles satire, nihilism, and irrationality - especially in relation to the world the characters are interacting with. You've already picked out a genre - cyberpunk + fantasy - so the structure of stories in those genres will act as a guide for you, and presumably readers who would be attracted to your story will already be familiar with the notes of both genres.

There may be some dissonance between cyberpunk and fantasy, as the former is a critical look at society while the latter originated from oral history and folklore (so is inherently tied with society), but so long as the nuances of these genres are acknowledged, I don't see very many issues arising while plotting. As Bina said, the easiest way to encourage readers to take things seriously is to treat things seriously - what parts of your story are you considering illogical or ridiculous? Why? Just because it hasn't been seen before, or the particular iteration you've decided upon, doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be difficult for readers to accept.

You've already got a system of government with your khanate, and having your characters being cyborgs and robots and made of steel (in the case of your dragon) does not necessarily negate the khanate. You have two genres to lean on with your story: cyberpunk would focus on the breakdown of social order in your story due to technological advances, and fantasy would focus on the bending of reality to fit how magic functions in a medieval-esque society. How you choose to blend them together will give your story structure, as well as drawing readers to your story.

Internal consistency helps a lot with convincing readers of a thing's legitimacy and logic - no matter how nonsensical things may appear at first, so long as there's a consistent cause and effect, readers can be taught the nuances of your world. Plot helps a ton with this, because if x or y idea can further the story in a productive manner, it's more likely to be accepted.

Every classic genre and plot device was once new and absurd for a writer's audience, so it's only illogical if its only value is to be illogical - that would also mean it doesn't contribute to your story in a meaningful way, so you would need to consider what weight you're attributing to your ideas in relation to your plot, and how you plan on handling these aspects.

Further Reading 

 A Very Short History of Cyberpunk by Marcus Janni Pivato (PDF) 

Do You Have a Purpose? The Absurd in Literature 

Absurdity in Literature: Definition & Concept 

Saphira: To build on what Bina was saying, your characters are native to this. This scenario is not alien to them. It's as common law as gravity is to us- so showing us what your characters expect, or how they react to the world around us, educates us readers on how the world is consistent with itself. Suspending belief is not about "oh yeah, this could be real", it is about "oh yeah, this is real to them".

What might help is pinning down the core laws of the world you have built. For my novel, in which a planet is shattered and held together with magic, there were a few things I had to pin to get everything else to make sense. First, the world was dying. Second, magic was something that was flowing through the atmosphere, and thus anything that interacted with the atmosphere (breathing it, passing through it, reacting with it). Third, all the bodies of earth and water floated, unconnected, swirling around the core from where the magic comes. These three laws cannot be broken, because it would defy the world itself.

These laws allow me to explore thoughts like how does magic influence chemical reactions like fire? Or just as fun, what happens if you leave the atmosphere? Once you have these laws in place, do not consider yourself boxed in. That is not the purpose of them. Instead, you are grounded, like a live electrical wire. This makes your world tangible, and thus you can play with your character's expectations through their experience. Once you can do that? Well, playing with your readers and their expectations falls together.

Constablewrites: It might be helpful to think of your concept less as "absurd" and more as "surreal." A lot of times surrealism refers to a world that's ours but somehow off in a way that's treated as entirely normal, but it can still apply to more obviously SFF settings.

MareeB: Ok firstly this isn't a question that only loosely falls into the theme of worldbuilding, it's actually a fundamental worldbuilding principle. ie a question we should all ask ourselves when creating a fictional world.How to get people to accept a world with whatever is going on as 'believable' is a foundation problem and something I think we all struggle with from time to time.

You can make almost anything feel believable if you apply enough internal logic. If you're not already a fan I'd suggest checking out the works of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Both of those authors wrote ridiculously absurd concepts, and yes it was framed as comedic, but if you look closer there's rock solid world building in the consistency of details. And the portrayal of familiar human faults. The humanity of the characters, and how they react to the absurd situations makes the whole world feel believable.

Mod Miri Note: The team has added this topic for consideration as a future master post. It’s a good question!

[residesatshamecentral]

The Trickster Touch

Part 7 of A Plague On Both Your Houses (1950s AU) Archer and Huth are reunited, but there are dangers in the shadows.

The conversation had died down, leaving an awkward silence. Through the huge French windows, the moon looked down on them through a veil of cloud, the red flash of the lighthouse returning every few seconds like a warning notice. Maugham downed the last of his drink and put out his cigarette in the marble ashtray.  “I think we have discussed everything we need to” he said. “You will forgive an old man, gentlemen, for bidding you good night. It’s so good to have you here, Douglas. With things heating up, I really do need an assistant. No need to leave!” he added as Archer stood hurriedly “The servants will bring you anything you want, just let them know when you feel like leaving.  Good night.” The door closed behind him.

“You can’t fault his hospitality” said Huth “if you don’t mind the vague feeling of being fattened for the feast.”

“It’s a type you meet a lot of in certain circles” said Archer. “I find it’s best just to enjoy the wine and refuse to play cards at all costs. Nine times out of ten you leave having had a wonderful time, and don’t later wonder if you signed your soul away.”

Huth allowed himself to look properly for the first time that evening. Archer had aged well in ten years. He still had the slightly gangling, boyish look as before, but he had filled out, and looked slightly weather-beaten. A small scar ran from his hairline to near the corner of one eye.

“How’s your son?” Archer smiled slightly. “Doing his first Police Training Course” he said. “My bosses have half an eye on him. His grades are very good.”

“Would you let him be recruited?”

“Over my dead body.”

“Exactly what I would say.”

“Any children of your own?”

“You read my file. You know.”

“I know what your file says. One thing I remember about you is that you never gave anything up that you were really determined keep.”

“Maybe, but I had my priorities wrong.”

“...Maybe. I can’t say. It’s not for me to say. But it would take more than MI6 to make you give up the fact of a child.”

Huth smiled, his eyes in the past. “No children” he said. “That is one regret for the list. The long list. I had no children. You keep them off your boy, Archer. How lucky you are to have him.”

Archer nodded. They fell silent for a moment, both men lost in their own thoughts. There was no tension in the air. It was as though the years between them had slipped away, taking them to some other past, where war and fear were absent and no cloud had been between them.

“How exactly did you come to work for them, anyway?” said Huth, pulling out of his reverie. “This is no place for Archer of the Yard surely, the bold defender of British law.” Archer wondered if sarcasm was an incurable reflex for Huth, but let it pass.

“It was a strange business” he said. “After you and Springer returned to Berlin, I found myself being used on and off by the resistance as their man in Kellerman’s circle. There was some fairly murky goings-on-”

“Oh, there would be” murmured Huth.

“- And I was asked a few times to do the sort of job I…well it was for Queen and country. I’m not allowed to talk about it. When the occupation was over, I was shoved, by Mayhew, into MI6 right through the door marked ‘No Choice’. This was during that tricky period when the new government was finding it’s feet. Since then…it’s all for Britain. But Mayhew is…”

“A gold medal winning, show-stealing, commendation-worthy, shady little swine?”

“Yep.”

“They all are. Maugham is.”

“I have to disagree with you there. Maugham is better than most of them, as far as I’ve seen.”

“What makes you say that?”

“He wrote a formal letter protesting the way that they’re putting you at risk. He doesn’t want your blood on his hands, or anyone’s. He’s from a time when spying was a gentle sort of affair – or gentler anyway. He’s not used to putting his agent’s at risk, let alone with people who would torture them to death on a suspicion. He hates this.”

Huth looked at him hawkishly. “You grew up since we last met” he said. “You could barely see beyond your own nose, once. You were practically tripping over terrorist plots.”

“When you’re wilfully blind, you tend to bump into your problems” replied Archer, evenly

“You knew I had twigged to the game?”

“I guessed, I didn’t know. And frankly, I’m not clear on what they really want. There are whole sections of the file I’m not allowed access to.”

“Of course there are. Maughm half admitted it, Douglas. MI6 is divided within itself and they don’t want to say so out loud. I bet there is one faction handling us, and trying to hide us from the others.”

“You’re speculating.”

“I’m not. Keeping information carefully protected is one thing, Maugham is used to that, but there are alarm bells going off in his withered old skull and that man has very good instincts. He ranted at me earlier, Archer – or as close to ranting as he could get. He knows something is very wrong with this situation. ‘If we all on the same side’ he said ‘it would be Chess’. He knows this is factionalism and he doesn’t like it at all.”

“That could be a disaster.”

“It is a disaster. We are sitting in the middle of a disaster-in-waiting. Isn’t it liberating?”

Archer stood up. “I think I’ll call it a night.”

He was halfway to the door when Huth called out to him “It was good to know you remembered me, Archer. It was good of you to care, let alone to come. I know when you read that file, you knew it too.”

The door was closing as he Huth murmured “and I’m sorry you didn’t stay out of this. You still have a future...”

[megamanxfanfics]

Did the Risk pay off?

Did you enjoy my little April Fool’s Joke? Did anyone even notice it??

Sorry about that. It’s not usually like me to joke like that, but the reason I did so was because its probably the last time I’d have the opportunity to ever pull an April Fool’s Prank about this project again.  That is to say, I am very confident that by next April Fool’s Day - 2022, I’ll be long done with Season VI.

It’s a little sad to say that, but mostly triumphant on my end. There was a little truth in that 4/1 post. I Did go on a Marvel bend and rewatch the entire MCU for funzies, and I was taking a long ass time on getting out Ep. 13, but believe me. I wasn’t over or burnt out from X at all.  I just needed a little time to figure out how to execute what I wanted to do properly.  I’m mostly satisfied with the turnout. =D

For those of you who haven’t read S. VI - Ep. 13 yet, I highly suggest you do so, because there will be Massive Spoilers ahead.  Since the tail end of Ep. 11, I set X up for a risky fanficky side-adventure.  And now that I’ve committed to it and it’s officially out there, the only question that’s left to ask is... Did the risk pay off??

First, I guess I should admit that my planning for the 2nd Arc was always hazy, even after finishing up Ep. 7, when X defeated the Nightmare Zero.

I knew in Ep. 8, we were going to have a lot of Zero getting reacquainted with the gang and that I was going to have to resolve the plot hole of X5′s Bad Ending, lining up with the way he acts in X6 - as a Zero fanboy.  So the returning Memory thing factored in big time.

Ep. 9 was Zero’s first mission out while X recovered.  My plan was to always have X get in that portal and face Dynamo.  But what would come after was a giant mystery to me.  

I didn’t want X to keep bumping into to Dynamo every time he got in a portal.  And I also didn’t want him to keep bumping into High Max either.  All of High Max’s dialogue and interactions thus far indicated that he wants X dead, and based off of the rules I set up for the Portal Dimensions, X couldn’t just leave in the middle of a fight.  That’s also not his style.

So in a way, I kind of wrote myself into a hole.  I’d either have to end High Max early, (which I didn’t want to do), or I’d have to get creative.

Then something clicked out of nowhere.  Something that could be very Nostalgic and Special, but would it work??  When X gets to the Fire Portal, he could face a Nightmare Vile from X1.  Then in the next portals, he could face Nightmare versions of his other bullies from the rest of the games. X2 - Violen & Agile, X3 - Bit & Byte, X4 - Double...  It could be great!  But what purpose would it serve other than Fan Service?

It’s a great question that I’m still asking, but ultimately - my alternative was to have X face High Max prematurely and lose [where it would be very hard to have High Max spare him.] Or to have X prematurely defeat High Max, which again I really didn’t want to do.  And Dynamo was way too injured to just keep taking beatings from X.  That’d get very boring and annoying very fast.

So I went for it.  It took 2 episodes to get there, but in Ep. 11 X took on Nightmare Vile...  And honestly, I thought it was great!  While he was doing that, Zero was facing Blaze Phoenix, which was equally exciting to me.

Honestly, in Ep. 12, I wanted to get right to it and call that one Nightmare Lane, but X & Zero needed to recover and I already had planned on them talking everything out, which I was putting off again and again.  That episode named itself once their conversation about X5′s encounter in Antarctica really got going.  I also really kinda loved that ending with X’s failure in the Inami Temple portal.

This set us up for Ep. 13, which I wanted to be an Action-Packed showstopper. So that was the plan all along for this episode, once I committed to the Nostalgic Nightmare idea.  My goal was for X to get to Double, and I made it there. It worked out.  But this is admittedly a very dense chapter.

Part of the point of these Nostalgic Nightmares is to show X’s growth after all this time.  He’s been whining and complaining this whole time about how the Nightmare is too tough, but guess what? He’s already so much stronger than he ever was to previous threats like Vile, the X-Hunters, the Nightmare Police & Double.  I felt like this could be a much-needed confidence booster for him, but also serve as a dual purpose for the bad guys to wear him down, psychologically.  Any excuse I can have to make the villains banter, I’ll also take.  I really like how this is all build up to Metal Shark, but will it pay off is the question?  Will I be able to stick that landing?  Time will tell.

I'm looking forward to writing Ep. 14. Honestly, I wanted to have a whole fight with Double and then some aftermath planned as the true closer to Ep. 13, but upon rereading, it was already dense enough.  [Frankly, it probably could’ve ended when Zero was about to set off to the North Pole Area, but that’s fine.]

Also, I really surprised myself with how good X’s meet up with Phantom was. [His Rescue Reploid name in the game was the ONLY reason for these MMZ Easter eggs.] But now I’m so happy that I’ve been including them, because I’m feeling a bigger picture coming about for when I end this Season.

Levy was just this flirty inclusion to spice up the Alia & X dialogue at first. Anything else with her would be a bonus. Fef became a very necessary device to keep Hal & Kassy safe, while they’ve been stranded in the Magma Area for so long.  Making him a junkie derelict was an interesting choice too. And of course, Phantom was in the Portal at the Central Museum revisit.  I always had this vague sense in my mind that X was going to have a very harrowing rescue mission that kept failing at every revisit, but then he’d bump into Phantom who was holding his own and he’d get this giant sense of hope. Boom. Grainy Effect. Episode ending right there on Phantom.

But of course, in execution that couldn’t happen with the rest that I had planned and that’s fine.  Still, I was surprised at their dialogue with each other. Phantom was really impressive and cool.  Just the premise of this exhausted warrior, whose resigned himself to protecting himself for days, only to bump into X and consider him a fool for getting stuck here with him.

But no. Now, Double has entered the Portal.  And X knows there’s a way out.

[I also never thought about the fact that Phantom would be stuck in the room with him during the fight, so now I’ve got some thinking to do.] lol

Harpy’s save will be next and I don’t mind spoiling that he’ll be in the Recycle Area.  [I did my best to keep to their elements, but the X6 stages didn’t really lend for that.]

Phantom was always gonna be in the Central Museum, because that is game-dictated. Levy could’ve been in the North Pole, I suppose, but the Inami Temple is ridden with females, so it made the most sense to me to make that her domain. Fef being in the Magma Area was spot on. I love that it was his old hangout spot - Dark Haven.  So teen-angsty/broody.

Harpy being in the Recycle Lab is kind of just a circumstance thing, but we’ll talk about it when we get there.

I wanted to go over the writing process to this one, but this is already getting quite lengthy.  I guess I can say that it was straight forward, writing through X’s battle against Violen & Agile. I always wanted Isoc to come in right after, to give us the hint that he’s Serges 2.0. But then, that revisit to the Amazon Area got draggy...  I did my best, but I had to make cuts.  I liked what I did once he got in the portal. His refight with Bit & Byte was pretty cool.  Bringing Marty into it was a fun choice. I did like, how X got his moment of catharsis after all.  [I know there’s a real lost-opportunity with not including iX, but honestly that’d be too much.  If I ever write iX again, I think it’s best if I save him for the Mega Missions series.]

This thing fell apart when I got to the Central Museum revisit. I didn’t want to write that at all... In my script, I had marks at the bottom of the doc for what he’d say in the other totems IF he revisited.  And here we weeeeere.   Yet again, I was in the same position as last year at this time, when I wrote out Ep. 3.  I handled it better, then!  Playing over and over again to find right parts of the stage I wanted to write was annoying.  I bet I missed out on Rescue Reploids too, or Zombie Reploids at this point, but it’s fine.  It’s been so long, they probably just died.  I could always edit that in post, that X passes a bunch of dead bodies.  That’d make for some spooky atmosphere.

At this point, I re-analyzed the entire chapter and decided it was high-time for Zero to wake up and go about his original directives.  Time to add to the layers. It brought parts to life, for sure.  It even cemented other transitions, which was really cool.  I liked that I gave Douglas something else to do other than just, be there...

Once I was actually writing Zero’s stage, it did start to feel like a different episode, but I had a goal to reach and damn it, I was gonna get there! lol What’s good about this is that it moves Zero along in the stage without it being a real pain in the ass.

And that basically takes us to where the episode left off.

For the broken Central Museum part, I wrote X’s interactions with Phantom first. Then, with every Totem, I caught up to it as I could.  Once the Zero layering came about, things pieced together.  Same goes for any extra Villain narrations. The episode definitely started a certain way, and I wanted to keep that up as much as possible.  While also having Alia commentary, when appropriate and necessary.

I like this one. There’s a decent balance amidst all the nonsense I set up for myself.  And I definitely think that all these Portal Revisits are more interesting for X’s Nostalgic Nightmare encounters.  It spins the premise around that they didn’t just create a Nightmare Zero, but also a Nightmare Vile, a Nightmare Violen, a Nightmare Bit, a Nightmare Byte and now a Nightmare Double.  The possibilities are endless.

Yes, X’s mission is a complete side-quest, but guess what?  It makes you think that if he didn’t do this, the Nightmare would be that much worse for everyone later, down the road.  It’s Preventative Action.  It’s pretty neat.

Also, again - every Investigator thus far has been relatively good, but mislead in thinking that X was the enemy.  So once he’d explain it to them, they'd be at a standstill, and pretty much at a loss for motivation.  Go figure that Zero actually battles the evil ones with Infinity Flea and Blaze Phoenix.  But he’ll get a real taste for the good/mislead dilemma soon enough with Blizzard Wolfang.

Then we’ll see how I handle Metal Shark when I get there.  I’m looking forward to it.  I can’t believe I’m almost up to the 3rd Arc already!

But that’s exactly what I was getting at at the beginning of this rant.  This is definitely gonna be my last Season.  [Unless we get an X9 that suddenly ends all cliffhangers.] So with that said, I think the Nostalgic throwback was the right thing to do.  Show us that growth and remind us of where he’s been in a short time span, before we end things proper in MMX’s final season.

I’m getting misty eyed thinking about it already. =P

I’ll see you next time for Episode 14.

[scriptscribbles]

quick question, I believe you're a fan of dirk gently, yes? please tell me how it manages to be any good with a creepy arsehole like max landis in charge

Oh, man, I have a lot of complicated feelings about Dirk Gently, though I like it on the whole.

Here’s my thoughts from when I first finished the first season, just for the record.

Max Landis is a guy I have no clue to get a handle on. I definitely am super, super uncomfortable with things he’s said, but, weirdly, he also makes a badass black woman bodyguard one of the three leads of the show. I think he sort of shows the sort of thinking people have that focus on representation is unneccessary that actually vaguely does just sit down and portray a bit of diversity along the way just because that’s what works out. It’s not perfect, and he’s super flawed, wish he’d realize that the same way Moffat did, but there are some nice prominent characters of color and women. Also, and I am surprised to say this, what I saw of him in person at the SDCC panel was extremely charismatic and entertaining.

The show’s super flawed, I’d say. There’s a lot of plot it deals with, but sometimes it doesn’t quite pace it as well as it could, the second episode in particular IMO. And the dialogue, as a stylistic quirk of Landis I gather, is very un-naturalistic in a way that can get kinda grating. He mentioned at comic con that to develop each character he wrote lengthy monologues of them explaining who they are and eventually has tried to work all of them into the series, and it’s cool and they’re defined, but he does have a tendency of making characters often spell out themselves too much, when it’d be richer left in subtler subtext. And, representationally, it’s eh. There’s a plot about mental illness that gets pretty iffy in my personal opinion, and there’s like zero LGBT representation. Also, it’s got a few characters who are intended to be funny and awful and unpleasant but only hit the latter two (most notably, in my opinion, Friedkin and Gordon).

But it gets the spirit of the Douglas Adams books, it really does. He’s an odd guy, but even with his flaws and quotes I am creeped out by, his wacky, off the wall sensibility does make for him being able to throw a lot of satisfyingly weird elements in the air and let them scatter in bizarre patterns that make for a pretty effective book homage. And there are some wonderfully bizarre characters populating that, too, all of whom played by very talented actors. Bart, Ken, Amanda, the Rowdy Three, Farrah, Todd, there’s some real gems whose stories are very fun and worth following. Also, enough can’t be said for how delightful Samuel Barnett is as the lead.

I think it’s a show that I’ll always have niggles with, but damn, I’ve gotta say, I’m hyped for series 2. Apprehensive, too. Very apprehensive. But I’ll be watching.

[crossroadsafm]

A Family That Laughs With God

Some people think that being a Christian is boring and always serious. Heaven is not boring and always serious.  From what I see in the bible it is a fun and happy place with lots of noise and jubilant praise. Every time someone comes home to Jesus there is rejoicing and celebration (Luke 15). God is a God who laughs at the enemy (Psalm2) and his plots to overthrow God.  A culture of gloom and sadness and misery cannot describe heaven and so it should not describe our homes and families. Our homes need to be a reflection of the culture of heaven. If we are believers acting like believers do in relationship with God, then our homes should reflect the kind of place heaven is if we are living in Christ.

Does that mean we have no problems? No most certainly not, we are in this world and Jesus said that those in this world will have lots of problems, but Jesus said that He has overcome the world – saying that In Him we have victory over them. Our Culture in our homes needs to be radically different from that of the world. When problems arrive, we praise God in the middle of them and overcome them in Faith and standing firm. Joy defines the culture. Laughter and Praise is the defining emotional temperature of the home. Does that mean we are syrupy sweet and oblivious to life? Most certainly not.  Jesus was a very down to earth and connected person. He felt what people feel and understood need and sorrow. He just walked through them in the Joy of the Father. Who the Father is and how He handles life defines the children’s life experience. If human parents are walking in the Father His personality and character defines the earthly parents and thus also the climate in the home.

Having Laughter and Joy and fun and delight as the prevailing climate in the home is based on a decision that says we are having abundant life in Jesus and we are choosing to walk in It by Faith. It does not take long for the climate to settle in, but when it is tested, we need to stand firm and continue to praise God in everything. Merlin Carothers wrote a book called “Prison to Praise” - about a man who learned to praise God in every tough situation and how by living in Faith he changed his worldview and How God honoured his Faith and delivered him.  Life is never boring with God.  There is more to having fun with God than just overcoming problems, victory includes a sense of wonder at God’s provision, His sense of humour, the delight in each other as family and the family of God. It comes through seeing the Father’s delight in each part of the family. When we take part in that delight it creates a joy that infects each one and we live in a place of delighted celebration. Yes, it does work in normal families with needs and hurts and heartaches.

What makes God Laugh with you: Childlike trust, Kindness, Gentleness, Mercy triumphing over judgement. Praising in a storm – Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart……

What delights the Lord most – bringing people to Jesus – Lets make God really enjoy us and be soul-winners, and fill your life with a new and wonderful Joy.

Let’s make Joy and Laughter the Spiritual Climate of our Homes this Christmas season…

Pastor Patrick Douglas-Henry

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I want to know everything!!!!!! 1-6, 12-17, 23-26, 30, 33, 34, 40 (Link an AO3, Wattpad, etc. if you have one), 41, 52-54. Thanks in advance.

Wow you really do want to know everything! Goodness, well I hope I don’t disappoint haha! Thanks for the ask!1. Favorite place to write.My favorite place to write is anywhere I can be wholey alone. I tend to do most writing at night, late.2. Favorite part of writing.My favorite thing about writing is escaping into my own worlds. I like being able to get away from my stresses and write fluff or get my anger out in a fight scene.3. Least favorite part of writing.I hate that feeling where you want to write but when you pull up the document it just stares at you and the little line blinks and eventually you just close the program and feel sad…4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?I carry a notebook everywhere with me. I may not use it often but it’s always in my purse in case I need it. I also have both Google Drive and Evernote on my phone for access to all of my documents.5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.Brian Jacques (The Tales from Redwall), and Barbra Park (Junie B. Jones) were a big part of my childhood. Scott Westerfield (Uglies), and E.D. Baker (The Frog Princess) were also influential. More recently Douglas Addams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), Edgar Allen Poe (The Tell Tale Heart, Nevermore, The Caske of MonteCristo… others) and Michael Scott (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) have been big for me.6. Favorite character you ever created.Oh gosh this one is hard… You’re asking me to choose between my babies here! Uh, my favorite is the Mob Boss Katlin Taylor from Resist. I don’t know what it is about her. Maybe it’s the Irish accent… Maybe it’s the fact she can kill people without ruining her mascara or breaking a sweat… maybe it’s the fact she’s crazy hot and still powerful, smart, and still cares a great deal about the little people…12. How do you deal with self-doubts?I’m lucky I have a very supportive mother. She helps. When she’s not around I tend to take breaks. I step away from it for a few days, I reread when I come back and remember I don’t suck.13. How do you deal with writers block?I find someone to talk it out with… this has on occasion been myself in an empty room talking to a stuffed animal or my cat. It has also been a living person I trust (I.E. my mother.) I’ve also taken breaks as stated above. You have to let ideas breathe sometimes. Sometimes showers help. All the oxygen really gets the brain going.14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?I have delved deep. I want to do my characters and my readers justice. I’ve researched PTSD, I researched multiple personality disorder when one of my characters had that even though that idea was ultimately scrapped. I’ve looked at the effects of drugs, the price of various goods in various markets, I looked into Mongolian culture when I made my Mongolian character Ghoa. I always try to be thorough and thoughtful.15. Where does your inspiration come from?Everywhere. No really. Everywhere. Books, movies, plays, music, random conversations I overhear at restaurants, people watching in the park… I watched the new Oceans 8 this weekend and was inspired to work on a fanfic I’ve barely touched in months.16. Where do you take your motivation from?An inner drive… I can’t not write. I don’t really know where it comes from, I just have to write.17. On average, how much writing do you get done in a day?Lately? Maybe 100 words a day…? I’m in a slump and struggling to crawl my way out of it. I don’t really keep track of how many words I write a day anyway though. I just write until I hit a block. Could be four words could be 1000, I never know.23. Single or multi POV, and why?Single. I find multi POV to be disorienting as a writer and as a reader sometimes being in too many heads drags me out of the story. That said I’ve read good books that were multi POV.24. Poetry or prose, and why?Oh goodness, uh… I like both but can’t write Poetry very well (at least in my opinion, others tend to disagree) prose is fun for me, I like getting flowery and testing my vocabulary skills.25. Linear or non-linear, and why?Both and here’s why. Writing Linear is great. You follow the story as it progresses. Until you get stuck for 6 months because you can’t get through the current scene because you don’t really want to write it and want to skip ahead to X scene. Non Linear is great too. You get to write all the fun stuff first. You get to explore outside your plot line a bit more. You can also get super lost and forget the plot.26. Standalone or series, and why?Ahahaha I’ve tried so hard to keep books simple. They almost always turn into big long series… I don’t know how or why.30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.Oh no… uh… well it’s less a line and more just a word and its description… “Marfing: the combination of the words Muffled and Barking, used to describe a sound, such as a small dog being stuffed inside a coat and barking to be let out.”33. Do you listen to music when you’re writing?Sometimes I do. Other times I can’t handle having it on, usually if I have to really think hard about something.34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?Both as I said above, I have both a physical notebook on hand at all times and my phone for accessing docs and evernote.40. Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?Both! I write both. My Fanfic.Net account is LadyAugust (I’m on mobile and can’t link right now but as soon as I’m on my laptop I can message you a link.) I currently have 2 stories for the same video game, with lots of added in extras and plenty of chapters if you’re bored. The second one is still in progress, and there’s another to be finished after that one…41. How many stories do you work on at one time?Too many. I have so many ideas buzzing around my brain… I believe the current total of stories I’ve developed and begun writing on is up to at least 10 now. But I’m focusing on 3 currently (not counting fanfics)52. How did writing change you?Writing gave me an outlet. It made me conscious of issues and personal microaggressions. It showed me that I needed to be better.53. What does writing mean to you?Writing has always been a part of me. I was 4 when I started telling stories. I was in 7th grade when I started writing everyday. I never stopped. My mom says it runs in the family. She’s an artist and writes sometimes, my grandmother is an artist and makes quilts… writing also gave me a safe place to deal with my parent’s divorce, it let me deal with my anger and grief, it helped me understand my anxiety, it helped me vent my pain. Writing is my safe haven. Without it I’d be a mess… well more of a mess…54. Any writing advice you want to share?Writing is hard. It’s easy to look up tips and be discouraged or to change how you write thing… but honestly all writing advice is subjective, and it’s all just opinions. Seriously, I used to get so worried sick over including things or not including things, I used to worry about everything I wrote… now I take writing advice less seriously. Some is good, tips on how to write characters you may not be used to writing like Writing With Color here on tumblr, but those “never use said” or “no one smirks in real life” tips can go burn in the garbage fires they came out of imho. But that’s just my two cents.Whew, that was a lot… thanks again for the ask!

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Book Review:Murder in Plain Sight: A Summer McCloud paranormal mystery by Nikki Broadwell

RATING:

Warning: This is a cozy mystery. This genre is an acquired taste. In order to appreciate cozy mysteries click here for an in-depth definition. In terms of getting into cozy mysteries Murder in Plain Sight is a good place to start. It has all the ingredients of a good mystery novel. The characters are challenging and have important interesting backstories that are revealed in interesting ways. The novel is engaging in that there is a web of connectedness in all the characters that we are introduced to throughout the story.  Murder in Plain Sight is told from the perspective of Summer McCloud and she is a person of interest in the murder of Serena Weatherby, who was also a friend and in a bigamous relationship with Summer’s mother, Lila McCloud, and Douglas Weatherby.  Serena had been married to Douglas’ brother, Jonathan Weatherby. And Summer has a friend, Agnes, who we find out is the secret child of Serena and Douglas and her given name before the adoption had been Merrily Weatherby. And Lila has a sister, Vivienne who had had(behind Lila’s back) and still has a relationship with Frank Messer and Frank Messer is Summer’s biological father. We have Randal and Randal is Summer’s half-brother and Ephraim, who is Randal’s biological father. Jerry is Summer’s on and off boyfriend and his father is responsible for the wrongful conviction of Frank Messer. It seems like the characters know each other or know of each other and they are all connected to Summer. Summer brings a fascinating quality to the investigation, first of all, she is a psychic, and she brings a different perspective from Jerry, who is a homicide detective and deals in facts. Since everything we learn about the characters in the book is from Summer’s POV, we really don’t have more insight of their thoughts and feelings. With that said, you might get the impression that Jerry is an incompetent detective but I think he is in a tight spot. Summer is his girlfriend and her visions may be helpful in acquiring new leads in the investigation but his obligations do not permit him to disclose any classified information to Summer and at the same time, he is trying to maintain his relationship with her. That plays into this plot quite a bit. I like how Summer’s visions are handled throughout the book, certain parts are morbid and certain parts are informative enough to keep the wrench up about who the killer is. And we the readers are implicated on some level and we are made to participate in solving the mystery There is a real darkness in the novel that Nikki Broadwell explores occasionally in a hasty manner. If you pay attention the novel touches on Pedophilia, sex, promiscuity, police corruption, mental health on profound levels only in a way a cozy mystery can. It is done so masterfully that you can barely see it and anything that is suggested you just have to let your imagination fill in the blanks. It is quite terrifying and unsettling. I like that almost every suspect/victim has a practical motive for murder. There are two significant deaths/murders in the story that the plot hinges on, first is Lila McCloud, who disappeared five years earlier and then Serena, whose body is found in the same spot that Lila’s clothes were found. When Serena dies, in her Will she puts Lila as a second beneficiary. If her biological daughter is not found and since Lila’s body hasn’t been discovered and through Jerry we know she has filed a wrongful conviction suit against the police department, there is reason to believe that she might have faked her death. And if both Serena’s daughter and Lila die, Randal, is to inherit everything so he becomes a viable suspect in her death. The revelation that Serena Weatherby was a notorious deadly killer, a black widow, who claimed to have murdered her wealthy husbands because they were degenerates, is suspect, who is to say that she wasn’t motivated by money. And we know at some point Lila McCloud wanted to discontinue aiding Serena in her killing spree. It immediately raises the question that she might have been responsible for Lila’s death. As layers of the plot slowly and painstakingly peel away, between Summer being blackmailed,  Jerry getting shot, Ephraim, Randal’s father claiming to be a Weatherby, speculation on the validity that Ephraim might have killed Serena to avenge Jonathan Weatherby all translates to Randal’s signals of mental agility that are  related to his mental illness. He is a psychopath and even from childhood as Summer recalls, he exhibits violent tendencies. Nikki Broadwell takes the connection between mental illness and crime to the extreme but it’s plausible. And the idea that a parent would conceal or assist their child in perpetrating a crime is not so far-fetched. Summer’s family is a disjointed thing in the novel. Summer might have been too young to be affected but Lila’s lifestyle did not fit with motherhood, sleeping with random men and exposing her children to it helped to change Randal’s perspectives on women so he took out his revenge on innocent women who resembled his mother, that, coupled with his existing mental illness. The budding relationship between Jerry and Summer is threatened by secrets. It becomes more of a challenge for Jerry to continue this relationship knowing what he knows. Clearly, his mother does not approve and tries to keep Jerry in her back pocket to sabotage this relationship. I kind of understand where she is coming from because of surrounding circumstances so now Jerry is torn between his family, his professional obligations and his feelings for Summer. I would imagine that his choice to continue his relationship with her would not have been easy. With Randal and Ephraim dead, the question still remains, who killed Serena and Lila? And Summer is depressed after her near death experience from the father and son duo. With the disclosure of a fully equipped apartment on the second floor of her shop by the pest control guy and the discovery of Lila and Frank Messer had been living there all along, would they finally solve the mystery of who killed Serena? A brilliant read. I loved the novel.Highly recommended for Christie Agatha fans or if you love the TV show Murder she wrote.  

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Release Date: Aug. 12 2015 Published by Airmid Publishing Read an excerpt