#it's a teen horror forbidden romance

[greetingfromthedead]

Mermaid!AU Depth of Despair Masterlist

Plot: Vash is a former sailor who, despite the call of the ocean, is stranded on land. You are a mermaid, a member of a race in hiding who has become nothing more than folklore and fantasy. You were the one who saved Vash from certain death years ago and ever since that, you are being called closer and closer to the shore. Getting wrapped up with each other is asking for trouble and for your secrets to be dragged into the sunlight.

Pairing: Vash x GN!Reader

Series Rating: Teen and up

Series Tags [I'll update as I go]: no use of "y/n", dark fantasy, magic, legends, folklore, mermaids, merfolk, magic, necromancy, shape-shifting, myths, fluff, forbidden romance, hurt / comfort, angst, injuries, mermaid!reader, Vash dresses like a pirate

Author's Note: I've had thoughts of mermaids since May, but now I got some creepy dark fantasy ideas that simply demanded to be written down. It seems that it ends up being a mini-series and I hope yall enjoy it as much as I do. I have no idea how many chapters it will have, there are a few ideas swirling in my head and if some of you have ideas, I might even incorporate them.

I want to mix really bright and beautiful imagery, almost like Studio Ghibli movies, with a dark fantasy element, a bit of horror and creepiness. I am a sucker for folklore so dipping my toe into that again too. If you liked the God!AU Shepherd, then you might like this too.

A few sources of inspiration: Folklore; the different versions of The Little Mermaid story; Pirates of the Caribbean; Florence + The Machine - Mermaids; just Florence Welch's vibe in general; Skott - Mermaid; Skott - Wolf

Chapters:

Beached

Hidden Away

Shadows

Magic

Quiet Before the Storm

Wind Shear

Hurricane

Eye of the Storm

more coming soon...

Stampede

Clutches of Death

In the meantime, feel free to check out my MASTERLIST and drop a follow for any and all future projects!

[madam-o]

The Many Different Lydias in Media

Ngl, I found the Lydia from the BJ movie scripts to be fairly average and boring. She's a stereotypically edgy city teen in the first draft of the original Beetlejuice script, and seriously lacking in personality in "Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian". In the first movie she's got some style and dark interests, but still seems overall to be a normal everygirl. The only reason she works so well on screen is due to great costume/makeup design, plus Winona Ryder's natural charisma and gothy cheekiness. And as I recall from the cartoon, she was much more cheerful but still one-dimensional, a fun-loving and typically moral mc who just enjoys creepy things and hanging out with dead people. She IS more feisty than movie Lydia tends to be, though.

I think this is why I've latched so strongly onto Musical Lydia. She's angry, twisted, mouthy, and not afraid of a little violence. She's passionate and pretty messed up, a good opponent/companion for Musical BJ. She'd think Movie BJ is a typical creepy Boomer asshole and not gel with him at all. And I'll tell you one thing, she would NOT put up with any of the bullshit in "Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian".

God, the amount of shit that Lydia just puts up with silently in that script. For instance, her parents are even worse people than in the first film, but Lydia says absolutely nothing to them about how horrible they're being. She just plots behind their backs with some surf "beatniks" (which is that script's weird descriptive word for the wacky young people of "today"...in the first draft of Beetlejuice 1 it was "deathrockers".) BJ dances the lambada (the Forbidden Dance!) with her and is very handsy and gross about it and she doesn't even try to push him away. Man, did I not like that script.

In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Lydia is again, overall a fairly average, typical everyperson... it's just that she can see dead people and she's being tormented by a trickster demon (her words btw). She's not as entertainingly dramatic and morbid as she was as a teen, and I get it. She's a grown up now, and the allure of death and horror no longer does anything for her, especially since she's seen literally seen it every day for decades. She's been beaten down by life a bit. She's got a teen daughter who hates her for reasons she can't control. She's been through the wars romance-wise and is now in a bad relationship with a manipulative tool, and she's not doing anything about it because it's easier to just let him take care of everything. Many of us have been there.

Burton's Lydia has always represented himself, so she reflects his view of the world. He's just a kind of subdued guy who has a quirky view of people. It's the rest of the world that's truly weird, not him. He's just quietly hanging out and doing his thing while everyone else is running around being a bunch of colorful, self-centered clowns.

I dunno. I think she's going to be misjudged in this movie. We expect a lot of movie Lydia because so many of us grew up identifying with her, but she's never been a terribly dynamic character, we just want her to be. She's clever enough, but she's not a person who generally fights for control of her life. In fact, I think she feels that there are many things she can never control so she just has to roll with it. All she can do is try to be there for others and give her family the support that they need. Personally I definitely identify with that.

[scifimagpie]

Writeblr intro

Last Updated: Mar 2024 So, I realised I hadn't actually written one of these, and I had to fix it!

Name: Magpie, or Shelle, or Michelle.

Pronouns: she/her or xe/xer/xis.

Who: both a writer and an editor!

The Writing: I’ve been publishing since 2011, and I have a bunch of free and paid anthologies I’ve organized, but these are my most important/favourite works.

Except for The Meaning Wars series, all of my books are set in Canada!  

The Meaning Wars (complete; And The Stars Will Sing, The Stolen: Two Short Stories, The Meaning Wars, Poe’s Outlaws, A Jade’s Trick, The Meaning Wars Complete Omnibus)

Similar to: Becky Chambers’ A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and Ruthanna Emrys’ A Half-Built Garden

Vibes: Space opera! Found family! Mature (30s) protagonists! Best friends! Sapphic and queer m/f romance elements! Friendly space raptors! Space pirates! A beach episode! Antifascism! Colonization (and inequality issues)! Fighting stuff with democracy and direct action!  

The Underlighters (Book 1 of The Nightmare Cycle; Book 2, Monsters and Fools, is complete and in edits. Book 3, The Foundling City, is a current WIP!)

Similar to: Jean DuPrau’s The City of Ember, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, the Fallout series

Vibes: Coming of age/new adult themes. Spooky monsters. Post-apocalyptic. The importance and warmth of community. Friendship. Struggling with teen problems. Polyamory. Nightmares. Mental health issues. Trauma. Hope. Recycling.

After The Garden (Book 1 of the Memory Bearers Saga; Book 2, Within the Tempest, is also one of my WIPs)

Similar to: Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, The Wachowski sisters’ Sense-8, the Fallout series

Vibes: Found family. Gentle romance. Polyamory (m/f/m). Superpowers without superheroes. Sinister cults and religious extremism. Reincarnation. An alternate future. Adorable giant spiders. Silk-weaving and fiber arts. Post-collapse societal reorganization and politics.

The Loved, The Lost, The Dreaming: A Horror Anthology includes an alternate-ending version of The Underlighters, the novella A Shot of Vodka, and a dozen or so genre-crossing short stories. All of them have spooky elements.

Similar to: Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors, Roald Dahl’s Skin and Other Stories (this is not an endorsement of antisemite Roald Dahl; I am antifascist)

Vibes: Underground living. Spooky dolls. Abandoned houses. Queerness. Sinister fey. Nightmares. Lovecraftian eeriness. Here be monsters.

Bad Things That Happen To Girls (Book 1 of the Memory Bearers Saga; Book 2, Within the Tempest, is also one of my WIPs) Possibly my most underrated work, this New Adultish story is a standalone novella about trauma and what happens when life breaks down.

Similar to: Emily Danforth’sThe Miseducation of Cameron Post and Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness

Vibes: Broken family. Abusive mother. Being queer in a small city. Religious trauma. Forbidden cross-cultural love. Teen heartbreak. Coming-of-age. Sisters.

The Hell series (Unpublished WIPs; Dark as Hell, Uncharted Hell, Hope in Hell)

Similar to: Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Andrej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series

Vibes: Grumpy/sunshine romance! Mature protagonists! Queer f/m romance! Thriller elements! Immortal pirate! Marxist/anti-billionaire politics—with a billionaire protag! Lovecraftian ocean horror! Historical fantasy elements! Lots and lots of boat stuff!

Prairie Weather Trilogy (Unpublished but complete, in submission; Chinook Phase, Tornado Warning, Brushfire)

Similar to: Douglas Couplands’ Jpod,Nick Sagan’s Idlewild trilogy (without the sci fi stuff), Love Actually, Heartstoppers

Vibes: Aggressively Canadian! Found family! Cozy academia! University! Set in the early 2010s! Queer romance! Ensemble cast! Aggressively queer, diverse, and inclusive! Coming-of-Age/New Adult issues! Friendship! Drama! Sex work-positivity!             

The Editing: I've been a professional freelance editor since 2013, with Top-Rated status on Upwork (a freelancing website) and several hundred books under my belt. (I don't know how many things I've worked on at this point. I've lost count!) Primarily into sci fi, fantasy, horror, and literature (and associated subgenres); enthusiastic about #ownvoices and all kinds of diversity/marginalised representation in fiction.

You don’t have to go through Upwork unless you want to; DM me if you’re looking for an editor who’s knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and gentle. I’m also budget-friendly!

Age: in my 30s.

Queer?: yes. Also poly! Happily married to two people; also have a girlfriend. Not looking for more partners.

Disabled?: yes.

Languages: English mostly, but some conversational Spanish (rusty), scraps of French, tiny bits of German and Irish. All my writing is in English, though.

Location: Southern Alberta, Canada. (Texas + Kansas + Colorado = Alberta, more or less.)

Other hobbies: Knitting, making jewelry, playing Dungeons and Dragons (and other tabletop games), singing, reading (obviously), learning stuff; playing cello, clarinet, and violin

Interests: Jewelry, gems, metalworking, fiber arts, queer issues and social justice, environmentalism, drinking quite a lot of tea (usually black; I like an assam, Ceylon, or breakfast blends, though Golden Snail absolutely slaps when I’m in the mood for it, and I love Earl Grey Cream as well)

Other internet profiles: *Website * Mailing list * Magpie Editing * Amazon * Tumblr * Mastodon *Facebook * Medium * Twitter  * OG Blog* Instagram * Paypal.me * Ko-fi

[biopanik]

The Morality of Fandom Activities

This might as well be an essay, so apologies for my long asf post. Just a few heads up: this is in no way talking about people who support incest irl and MAPS. Those are extreme cases that I'm not qualified myself to talk about, I only know that I don't want them on my page 😭

I stopped having a very active social media presence when I was finishing high school. For me, this was a huge deal, because as the token weird queer kid all my life, Tumblr and fandom culture provided a safe space for self-expression, developing my writing skills and exploring myself. Fandoms usually play a huge role for teens, since their interactions and their experiences shape their mindsets into the primary form their adult brain takes. Whenever I look at my old posts, I can see the points where I was maturing, I could see my opinions change very clearly without always connecting old posts to significant life events.

What is very important to take into account is that I was in ALL the "red flag" fandoms, even some niche ones. BNHA, Homestuck, RWBY, Okegom, Voltron, you name it. I was into it, I had Instagram edits of it saved on my phone. As a result, I am familiar with all kinds of fujoshi, yuri bros, proshippers, etc. I'm not here to inform you about my entire digital footprint though. I'm here to discuss fandom morality. Fair warning, I will be referring to a bunch of dark themes vaguely.

I want to start by saying I understand the appeal of a toxic ship. A ship that is straight-up problematic given the context of the story. Be it because the characters are abusive to each other, a very big age gap or them being blood relatives - I get it, even if I'm one of the people who's easily repelled by this shit. I get why Junjou Romantica, for example, became so popular. The big body proportions, the "forbidden romance" trope, the guilty pleasure, I get it. I understand how nerdy young women would fawn over yaoi because they craved a soft male touch. I understand the south park proshippers because they inserted their younger selves into the characters and imagined scenarios where their own fucked-up childhoods would make sense.

My experience with Funamusea helped me understand that things that are taboo can be appealing in a fictional form. There were a lot of issues because the horror used in Funa's games was centered around sexual battery and assault. To me, that made perfect sense. Funa games are packed to the brim with gore, war, mental abuse, and disturbing characters. Of course, there would be SA in such a fucked up setting. Rape is a horrifying thing that no one should face because it is a subcategory of violence. VIOLENCE IS SOMETHING NO ONE SHOULD EVER COME ACROSS. Therefore, why is it that people who write stories containing this trope receive so much hate, but 1940s war aus for example get praised? Why is FMA a pacifist masterpiece and not torture porn?

For "glorifying" real-life horrors? Triggering people? Let's broaden this.

Think of your favorite slasher film. Your favorite best-seller horror book. Do you think that the people behind these stories are freaks and murderers? Psychopaths are capable of fitting in anywhere they want, even fucking churches. So it is useless to assume creators are moral instigators for their VILLAINS. Now let's think about Colleen Hoover and Sara J Maas (or as I like to call her, Sara J Ass). Their "love" stories are super popular because of the immense marketing that they have received, despite profiting off romanticized harmful content. Backlash is still minimized in contrast to anime niche, because they are backed by million-dollar industries and the fact that they conform to the norms of a straight story. Although that, is a topic for another discussion - how problematic characteristics are "musts" in irl relationships.

Lastly, I want to talk about the so-called community saviors who want to protect these platforms. Those who want to build a safe environment so that no predators infiltrate our sacred grounds where we discuss Persona 5 ABO dynamics. A lot of them are oftentimes victims of this sort of abuse. I myself have come across groomers. But tbh 15yo kids who reblog Shiro X Keith are not really the enemy? Anyway, that's a little besides the point. I want to directly talk to these people right now, hear me out: you are hypocrites. You only pretend to care about Tumblr communities but do not hesitate to accuse someone of abuse (any kind) and tell them to end their life. How are you protecting anyone like this? How are you a positive role model for the children partaking in fandom activities when you show clearly that you wish death upon someone. VIOLENCE IS SOMETHING NO ONE SHOULD EVER COME ACROSS, I re-iterate and you possibly agree, but YOU ARE STILL VIOLENT, and justify it by being "virtuous". How are you any different from @\hivliving? Her actions will forever be engraved in her victims' heads, even if she was humiliated in the end. Then again, it would have been better for her to write a shitty low-quality fic about Hamilton having HIV or whatever the fuck, if looking up basic things about HIV was so difficult. After 7 years in & out of fandoms, there's one thing I'm fine with, and that's bad fics.

Ultimately there is so much more I want to say. I might cover this topic on my bestie and I's podcast sometime (soz it's in Greek). The bottom line here though is not about keeping a neutral stance on problematic media. It is to enjoy whatever the fuck you want just because it makes you happy. It is to differentiate what's a wolf in sheep's clothing from what's a sheep. It is to accept that kids will ALWAYS lie about their age to access all sorts of NSFW. God knows I did so. It is to recognize them and realize that their creators and fans are most likely not going to act out every bad thing that occurs in said story. Because if that were the case, with the rise of all the Yeagerists, we'd have so many bitchless college students trying to start little rumblings of their own, and the world would be a much funnier place.

Now go outside and spread your moral philosophies to people outside your Discord server

[shouta-edits]

"Ryan (dead island 2) x teen boy s/i aesthetic with themes of age gaps, forbidden romance, and horror?" -anon requested

[darkcrowprincess]

i saw this rec from the threads app on my insta and i just had to share 😭😭

i think it's fairly accurate considering everything HRJFKDKD

other than fighting rick on a daily basis i also dabble in shipping certain things out of spite which i love that you do as well HHAHA they can pry my ships and hcs from my cold, dead hands-

im curious! what's your go-to trope/au when it comes to your fave ships? im personally a sucker for soulmate aus or anything with angst FJGKDK

I'm going to separate my favorite tropes/aus into normal and problematic/unhingedv

Normal tropes : fake dating, soulmates, forbidden lovers, best friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, friends to enemies to lovers, 7 minutes in heaven, fake out makeouts, kissing to distract the other person and being into it, sword training, secret identities shenanigans, bad boy/punk and nerd/sunshine, friends with benefits that gets real real quick,hand holding(its more sexy that kissing at times), showering a person with kisses, taking your time kissing everywhere but the lips to build anticipation, girly girl characters, nerdy bookworm girl characters(not Bella Swan, hate her) weird girl characters. Rich person x broke person, meeting at a bookstore(hate coffeshop tropes). Couples who have the same humor. Using humor to cope. Found family(but no one calls each other siblings. Hate that new trend) squads, squad are idiots, hot boys, love letters, diary stories, texting fics(to a point, hate it when it gets dumb). Saving person from drowning/fire/falling to there death/just saving someone in general. Protectiveness. Battles couple, power couple.

Normal aus: Period drama aus, Fantasy aus, sci fi aus, pirate aus, fairy tale aus, cowboy aus, ancient times aus(Egypt, Greek, roman, China, Korea, Middle ages), mythology au, reincarnation aus, time travel au, time loop aus, fix it fics, 80s 90s au. Hate anything high school or modern times(unless it's teen wolf, or dear Evan Hansen), road trip aus, running away aus, royalty aus, multiverse aus

Ok now for my unhinged/problematic faves. Stop reading if this makes you uncomfortable

Problematic tropes: Kidnapping, Monster fucking, age difference, student teacher/mentor and mentie romance, sugar daddy and sugar baby, ice play, knife play, some pain play, bdsm but not too much hate name calling, choking kink, prasie kink, possessiveness to the point of craziness, finding someone killing for you hot, abo, bandage, rape fantasy, dubious consent, extremely dubious consent, captor and captive, stolchm syndrome, secret relationships, dark romance to a point, villians getting the girl/guy, hot villians, evil female villians, evil queen, evil female characters, evil female characters winning, bad guys kidnapping kids and being good parents(but they were still kidnapped) evil found family, villian x female character, villian x hero, villans winning, killing abusers,killing horrible guys, gray mentality

Unhinged aus: beauty and the beasts au emphasize on the beast and kidnapping and captor and captive au, the lives and drama of the rich, dirty secrets(pretty little liars level, vc andrews level), arranged marriage, monsters, falling in love with monsters,evil queens conquering and being happy and in love,royals conquering, daddy issues, abusive parents, abo au, war bride/husband, men(mainly straight) being evil and getting what the deserve, werewolves, mates, gothic romance aus, gothic horror au, teacher and student/mentor and mentie. Gotham like or purge like world aus. Zombie world aus where there's just no laws. Supernatural type au with emphasis of the monster and dark. Romeo and Juliet aus. Jail aus.

[moonlightreal]

Those other LJ Smith series

So I read Night World and Secret Circle and just adored them. And still do, though as a teen I adored them unironically and as an adult... well, with a lot more laughing at the bonkersness of them. I read Dark Visions and enjoyed them, and I really liked the two Arthurian books that are sort of oddball books because they're fantasy-fantasy not horror/romance/pre-YA YA like the rest of Ms. Smith's bibliography.

I tried to read Vampire Diaries and Forbidden game and just never got far into them. The characters and worlds just didn't grab me. I didn't need to read them to do blog posts since having a tumblr blog wasn't a thing then so I cheerfully ignored them.

Recently though I've learned a lot more about these two series through the medium of youtube hilarity. Brave youtubers have done extensive breakdowns of the series and posted them for the rest of us to binge while pulling weeds and scrubbing the floors.

First I'd like to recommend Grimmelle's three-video recap of the Forbidden Game series, illustrated with dollmaker images of the characters.

Second, Gavin Reads it All read all the Vampire Diaries books. And haaaaaaates them, with a semi-friendly sort of hate. But he does recap the whole plot of all thirteen books-- there were 13? that is a large number. So you can listen and find out what happened throughout the series.

He doesn't distinguish between the actual LJ Smith books and the ghostwritten books, I mean he knows about the ghostwriter but he judges them all as being the same series which is a valid take but judging them as being different series with different authors would also have been a valid take, y'know? But both writers seem to have equally problematic stuff and take the story to equally stupid places so it hardly matters!

Possibly I give LJ Smith too much credit because I feel sorry for her. ^^;

[after-witch]

I have a book recommendation for you, that is if you don't know or never read it. The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith. It's three books in one. Main antagonist is a complete yandere for the main protagonist and is similar(ish) to the Smiling Man. Just thought I would share. Have a good rest of your day! I love reading your stories and posts!

I looked it up and ohhh a teen dark-romance-horror-thriller from the 90s?? It's gonna be messy and fun.

Look at these covers! I am going to eat these up, I'm sure. Thanks for the rec, anon!

[roleplayfinder]

hello hello ! 18 years old she / they here looking for open minded individuals to interact with me. Despite this being in a rp ad, i wish we could also be friends and understand eachother. If you ever wanna tell me something, reach out to me, i don’t bite !

I am looking for a fandom rp, here is the info !

literacy :: lit to novella. - be the same to have one heck of a rp ! -

fandoms: mandela catalogue ; teen wolf. | no doubles ! |

genres :: romance + horror + supernatural !

gender pairs :: FxM :: FxF :: FxGenderless.

for mandela catalogue, looking forward for a alternate / human pair, me taking the role of the **human**. You can either be a oc or a cc ! Be any gender you want, after all, i don’t think alternates have gender ?

i wish to mix this with horror and romance, don’t make alternates innocent ! go wild with your character :))

for teen wolf, looking for cc x oc only, looking for a void | the nogitsune rper against my female oc ! i have a soulmate au in mind and wishing to mix it with forbidden love since my character is apart of the pack ! for more info, i will send the whole plot in dms.

i don’t mind tension, darker themes or spicy themes ! ask me if you wish something specific :)

if interested, give a like and i’ll reach out !

.

[boombox-fuckboy]

First Kill from Netflix for the indie podcast ask :D

Okay, from the Wikipedia page I'm getting sapphic romance, forbidden romance, vampires, being caught between alliances, and (teen) drama.

Now, there seems to be an empty spot in this medium where sapphic vampire romance should exist, barring that one episode of Supernatural Sexuality With Dr Seabrooke, and at least half an episode of Monstrous Agonies (both great supernatural relationship/life advice radio show podcasts, check them out).

For forbidden romance, drama, and being caught between, and also the rec that feels closest, I'm going to suggest Elixir, which is set in a magic-fantasy take on the American prohibition era. After the daughter of a lawmaker vanishes, her sister Elsie seeks help from an unlikely source: the owner of a now-illicit hush bar, Vera.

For queer vampire romance you're gonna want to listen to Not Quite Dead, which features nurse Alphie's strange romance with and subsequent slow, horrific transformation into a vampire. Great take on vampirism while retaining the flavour and a solid balance between unsettling horror and only slightly less unsettling romance.

I feel like I would also be silly not to mention Within The Wires, which changes era and format by season but is set in an alternate version of Earth where the ideas of family and nations were dissolved after The Great Reckoning (WWII?). It's very often sapphic and a strange but interesting listen, but I can't guarantee this is what you're looking for.

Based on vibes alone I'm also going to recommend SCP: Find Us Alive, and of course for supernatural sapphic you should not go past Mabel.

[northerngoshawk]

2023 Year-End Fic Round Up

many thanks to @itsmoonpeaches and @chocomd for the tags

oh boi i have not written a lick of a word since starting college again but here goes nothing

Words written (published or not, WIPs totally count too!): 149,165. probably have more due to wips that i started (but didn't finish) last year but for now i'll go with this number

Smut scenes written (if applicable): 0

New things I tried:

dabbled a lil in the Spiderverse fandom with my drabble a thin thread of trust, broken

tried my hand at a more romantically inclined fic premise with a love worth fighting for, my kataang forbidden lovers au

tried my hand at integrating Chinese culture a lot more into the ATLA world with Pangu, my kataang week fic written for the Injured prompt

other than that, there wasn't that much i experimented with. it felt a bit like the same old, same old

Fic I spent the most time on: definitely a love worth fighting for. twas a multi-chap with 6 chapters, with the word count ranging anywhere from 2k to 6k words? maybe even more. but not only did i want to portray the romance, i also wanted to flesh out the worldbuilding, develop other relationships b/w characters in this au, and so on. thus, this fic was warranted to be the one i spent the most time on

Fic I spent the least time on: a thin thread of trust, broken. it was really just a drabble from Thoughts i was having about Across the Spiderverse, specifically about Gwen and her relationship with her friends and Miles and also as a response to the unwarranted Gwen hate that she got post-movie something something misogyny something something redemption not being necessary for her because she was just a teen caught in a horrible situation but i digress

Favourite thing I wrote: oof idk. i think i really love how Pangu turned out, mostly because that was my first really deep dive into trying to integrate Chinese culture into the ATLA world. i know the premise of the fic was for kataang week, but my intention here was to delve deeper into the loneliness and burden Aang would inevitably feel in being the Avatar, and how it's always Katara (and his other friends) who help carry that burden with him. i think the story of Pangu really helps act as that parallel to Aang, but where the giant in the story was alone and eventually perished under the weight of his burden, Aang's friends help shoulder that weight with him and help him live.

Favourite thing I read: i'll be honest, i haven't really read a lot of fics recently, but one that does stand out for me is @chocomd's Enough, a kataang hanahaki fic, and its sequel The Deal. the writing between these two fics is incredibly gorgeous and haunting, managing to capture a kind of horrific beauty in both the hanahaki that afflicted Katara and the hope-turned-horror of Aang's eventual deal with... well, you'd have to read these fics to find out.

Writing goals for next year:

i'll probably take a sharp right turn from ATLA for now and head off towards writing fic for Genshin. i don't really have any good ideas for ATLA for now, which probably means i need a change of pace and to discover new material to work with. i'll probably come back to ATLA someday, but right now, between school and impending work and my hyperfixation on Genshin, i just can't find anything to work with.

in a similar vein above, i'm probably gonna take a break from romance and introspection and try my hand at action and adventure. unlike most of the Genshin fandom, i don't really ship anyone with anyone, and i also don't care about what the fandom thinks - i'm happy in my own little corner. i also recently read Six of Crows and i think it's high-time i try and conduct my own kind of plot. maybe through a mafia au? dungeon au? apocalypse? spy? who knows

even though i'm looking to eventually turn to Genshin, i do wanna finish up my pending Demon Slayer AU fic The Last Wind-Breather. i kinda want it to be a series of fics in the world, but for now i think i'll finish up the 2nd chapter and then come back to this au from time to time, write whatever comes to mind.

aaaand with that being said, i should probably at least get a chapter or two out for see the sky and sea (and remember me). started this fic in 2022, but even then i want to tie up my loose ends, give these fics the endings they deserve

Tagging (no pressure): @flameohotwife @benwvatt @shameaboutthedilettantism @coyotelemon and anyone else who wants to join in, feel free to!

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb: A Lesson in Vengeance meets The Taking of Jake Livingston in this page-turning YA horror/fantasy set in dark academia about a queer Black teen who discovers the sinister history of his boarding school and the corrupt powers behind it all.

Regent Academy has a long and storied history in Winslow, Vermont, as does the forest that surrounds it. The school is known for molding teens into leaders, but its history is far more nefarious.  

Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones wants nothing to do with Regent's king-making; he’s just trying to survive. But then a student is murdered and, for some reason, by the next day no one remembers him having ever existed, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. In his determination to uncover the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest, unearthing secrets that have been buried for centuries. A vengeful creature wants blood as payment for a debt more than 300 years in the making—or it will swallow all of Winslow in darkness.

And for the first time in his life, Douglas might have a chance to grasp the one thing he’s always felt was missing: power. But if he’s not careful, he will find out that power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely everything.

A high-octane mystery of murder and magic for fans of Ace of Spades, House of Hollow, and Get Out!

Review:

A mysterious elite school with a cursed history, a murderous forest god, and students going missing, can a seventeen year old queer student break the curse and possibly find love before the forest or school kills him? When Douglas Jones is framed for the murder of 12 people and is offered the best help from a lawyer in exchange that he attends the elite Regent Academy, he has no choice to but to accept. Regent Academy is a school located in an area surrounded by forest and has a mysterious history involving the fact that descendants of those who work and attend this school had killed the lover of an old god and the god angered cursed them and cursed the forest, and now students are forbidden from entering the forest.... because something lives in there and it demands its due. Regent Academy is for the wealthy and elite, and being a queer black teen is definitely going to make him stand out. Douglas just wants to get by but it's hard when everyone has it out for him. Yet when students begin disappearing and everyone seems to have forgotten the, Douglas still remembers them... and so does Everett, the groundskeeper's son. Soon Douglas finds himself pulled into the world of Everett and the curse of the school. Only Douglas can find way to break the curse, but if he fails, everyone will die and be forgotten. He'll have to venture into the deadly forest filled with creatures out for blood and a vengeful spirit, and he has to find a way to break the curse, yet when the truth is revealed, who is the true monster behind it all? This was definitely a fun read, it's got a dark academia setting, a small town curse, and a sweet love story between two outcast. The curse was interesting and the ending was a really sweet one that I liked. Douglas was dealing with so much yet he was so courageous and brave for doing what he did and putting his life on the line. It's got a fun forest horror element but overall it was a really fun curse breaking romance story filled with a few forest monsters!

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[ya-world-challenge]

Book Review - Our Shadows Have Claws

Trying to catch up on some older Netgalley reviews!

This is a compilation of Latin American monster stories by YA authors - many known names as well as new writers. I’m a little late as it’s past Halloween but this is a great anthology for any season. Note that it isn’t billed as horror stories - while some of them are a bit creepy depending on your tolerance, others are tales involving folkloric creatures and legends, so exactly that: Latin American monster stories.

The stories vary in length and at 15 total, this a great volume to pick up and read a story every once in a while. From Haitian lougarou to Columbian la patasola to completely original creatures, this anthology is a rich bundle of creativity and culture.

My favorite, while not at all creepy, was probably Blood Kin by Ari Tison, a captivating tale of family, heritage, and eco-exploitation where the real monsters are the evil oil companies.

Other favorites were the opening tale, The Nightingale and the Lark by Chantel Acevedo, a Romeo and Juliet forbidden romance in Cuba with a monster-hunting twist; Dismembered by Ann Davila Cardinal, a horrifying but touching tale set in Puerto Rico; Beware the Empty Subway Car by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite, an emotional and lovely-written take on the lougarou legend; Leave No Tracks by Julia Alvarez, a feminist-focused story of finding magical heritage.

The Other Side of the Mountain by Claribel A. Ortega is unique for being the only male protagonist in the collection, otherwise the stories exclusively feature Latina teens. ¿Dónde Está el Duende? by Jenny Torres Sanchez is arguably the creepiest of the stories, next to Dismembered.

Altogether this was a very high-quality collection of spooky stories, also made interesting by being spread across a wide variety of locales in both Latin America and the United States. Each story also has its own illustration, which were a nice touch and added to the atmosphere.

★  ★  ★  ★   ★    5 stars      

[bereft-of-frogs]

friday! ✨

reading:

(in-progress) Jaw Bone - Monica Ojeda - This is an excellent follow-up to Yellowjackets in that it is about how teenage girls can and will start a cult, while an adult figure in their lives looks on in horror and then does something way worse. Also, the line "Why do [girls] love [their girl friends] so much that they would rather see them dead?" tell me that's not Shauna

(phone book) Into the Dark - Claudia Gray: omg I forgot how much I love Reath. This is legit making me considering pushing through my issues with Midnight Horizon because this can't be where we part ways. He's just so me. He stays behind for historiography. I loved historiography. He shows up kind of buzzed for an important journey. Do you know how many times I've gone through TSA still drunk? So many times. Ok not when I was 17 because I was kind of a square back then, but I for sure made up for it in my 20s. I love him. I think my issues with Midnight Horizon were 1) just being #done with forbidden romances. There are like 4 of them. I'd just read Gray's Lost Stars for book club (which was a disappointment). I don't love forbidden romances at the best of times and I was just over it. 2) some of the dialogue literally made me cringe it was so bad. But. I am considering powering through because Reath is just so me. I will say, this is probably because of my MH annoyance, but I do wish that Jora hadn't died, I think she was better for him than Cohmac is but...maybe that opinion will shift during this reread. I also really appreciate that this dodges some YA sins (unlike some others in this recap...👀 see below) by making a major theme be that the adults are equally as lost and stressed as our teenage protagonist. Like, they're sort of useless because yeah adults are also lost and confused sometimes, not just to get them out of the way of the plot. I just love the cut from Reath's POV being like 'look at them, they've got it all together, maybe when I'm an adult I won't feel so lost and uncertain' and then to all the adults' POVs being like '*internal screaming* what if I'm making a huge mistake.' I feel like, for me, this is what makes a YA book readable as a 30+ year old, treating the teen protagonist and the adult side characters with equal respect and depth.

Lord of the Rings chapter-a-day: I was supposed to finish this today, based on that blog's schedule, but once I fell behind I just decided to keep with the one chapter per day thing. Should finish by early next week and then I'm moving on to The Silmarillion to spite that one person who didn't believe the 'have you read this book' poll results. Many Partings today <3 ah.

watching (tv):

Severance (AppleTV+): I love how for like half an episode I was like 'idk this might not be such a bad idea' because I have a lot of work-related dreams and I'm like, hm but if I can't remember work, will have I have nightmares about it, and then the show immediately spent the rest of that episode and the three following being like 'hey this is a fucking horror show'. What a nightmare. Possibly the most disturbing show I've watched all year so far. Patricia Arquette's character is legit a little triggering haha.

watching (film):

the only movies I watched this week were all of the Hunger Games movies. They put them on Netflix. And. Look. I have such a complicated relationship with the Hunger Games series, some of you might be like 'um don't you bitch about that series quite frequently' yes. Also, when Netflix puts them on I WILL watch all of them. I saw the new one in theaters. I'm committed but. Hunger Games rant incoming, this is one of those things that has gotten a bit ruined by the fandom. Because I really enjoy it -- at least the first two -- I just don't think it's a masterpiece that is so deep it should be taught in high schools. It's pretty shallow actually. The first two books/movies are so fun, they're tropey and fun and a great angsty setting. (When I'm in a certain mood, oof, Hunger Games AUs? Hit so hard.) But they do indulge in some YA sins. Like not as many as the wave of knockoffs that followed, for sure, but they're there. The one that bothers me the most Katniss is both a blank slate for the reader to project on, and also the only one that's ever right. None of the other characters have depth or development just so that Katniss can be right all the time, even though by Mockingjay that just makes her seem like a hypocrite. Mockingjay, both the book and the unnecessary two-part conclusion, is just abysmal. But it feels like both my enjoyment of the tropey dystopian first two books and my dislike of Mockingjay, gets this response of 'you just don't get it, Suzanne Collins is playing 5D chess--' and I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. Anyway, this is but a fraction of the rant I could go on, Netflix tried to email me a little 'what did you think of The Hunger Games' survey and I was like, Netflix, babe, you don't know what you're asking. I also apologize to everyone who has to put up with my commentary whenever I put these on, the victim this time was @aurorawest thank you for putting up with my commentary. Also Gwendoline Christie is in the last one for like 2 minutes and cannot do an American accent so that was kind of endearing. Ok. End Hunger Games rant.

list:

guest-ready level clean of my apartment. we're mopping. we're doing the baseboards. we're making sure there's not any more butter on the walls (side note, I finally figured out how butter got on my wall: I was holding the butter knife in my right hand while picking up the bread in the toaster with the same hand and it tilted and gently brushed the wall exactly where I found the butter, so. no one asked by that's how butter got on my wall it's been like three days and I've been like....what happened here)

ECLIPSE DAY!!! I am both very excited and slightly stressed because the news has been like 'APOCALYPTIC CROWDS' but I do have to remember that my measurement for 'apocalypse-level crowds' has been shaped by almost exclusively living in places with much, much higher population density. So what I consider intolerable crowds and what the good citizens of this lovely state consider intolerable crowds...is slightly different. I definitely am anticipating a lot of traffic but I do think I need to recalibrate my understanding here. XD We'll see maybe it will be bad, but I have alternate routes planned, we'll have snacks, it'll be an adventure either way.

I have no other plans this is all I've been thinking about, this is the first thing I put in my calendar when I got it, I put in my PTO request in January lol

anyway, happy friday

[dojae-huh]

I really get overwhelmed by something that I saw on tl today...i guess an au writer, dont knw just saw the post..was asking suggestions for their fic about cheating...like is it okay to cheat someone for being with his true love or smthng..the matter is cheating here..

Does that mean whoever read that fic enjoyed the cheating? Nd if they enjoyed it who should we actually blame it on...the reader or the writer?

Just like what happens in ty's matter...I have seen lot au nd fanfics authors criticized him that if he read it that means he enjoyed evry word that written on it...they should sit nd think where do they stand when they write something like this..even if u think it's a minor sin, that doesnt matter...the point is when u write something gore, isnt that just to aware ppl there is lot of similar things happening in the world,nd u should knw these things through these stories...nd dont make prejudice that ppl actually enjoying it nd they r bad...when u persue literature in a good way u should feel nd think it in the same way too....

Tbh, I want to convey what's on my mind in a lot clearer way..but lang is a big wall to write...if u get the point that's it...I just want to share it with u...thanku

It depends. If a radio host spreads propaganda and urges to kill other people, he is up to a trial. He spreads dangerous ideas, brainwashes people with lies and installs hatred. If a reader of Crime and Punishment takes an axe and goes and kills a woman, the author is not to blame, he only explored human nature and contemplated about guilt.

If a story describes how justifiable cheating is, how wonderful is the experience, how it can be a test to the relationship and "true love" because "if he/she really loves you, you'll be forgiven", the author is partially to blame. Partially because in the end it was the reader who read the story till the end and made the decision to cheat, who acted in the real world. The author just played the devil and used the right for free speech.

As a rule, fanfiction is not a propaganda media, it is low class literature for fun to spend the time and get distracted from everyday life and chores. The author' only responsibility is to provide correct tags and warnigns, to make the reader aware of what is inside their story for an informed choice. Everything else is on the reader.

What people consume, what stories they read, what scenarios they fantasize about often have little ties to reality. You can't judge a person's real character on what he/she reads or what video games he/she plays. Like take the horror movie genre for example. People who watch it want a little bit of thrill, a scare to satisfy the primitive part of our brains that evolved to look out for predators and find joy in escaping danger (people feel more alive going through hardships or danger). Those people (most of them at least, can't vouch for sociopaths and mass murderers) don't watch the horror movies to enjoy teen girls being brutally killed or kids being devoured by aliens.

Stranger things is also a series about the charm of 80-s, friendship and family. Deaths, experiments on kids and maiming by creatures is in the plot as a story-telling tool designed to bring the best out of the protagonists, not to treat viewers with gore.

Back to cheating. Many people feel bored with their daily life, so they want some "spice". This makes them look for stories with "not vanilla"/"forbidden" themes. It's because they didn't experience the thing in real life which makes them be able to read about it. Even gang rape is a kink.

It is well known that once a couple gets together in a tv-series, it becomes dead. Writers know how to write romance, but not married couple interestingly. Same could be the case with "true love". So they live happily ever after, and what can one write about them? Kids and domestic fluff, or "trouble in paradise" - cheating and break up. If fanfic writers were as smart and creative as they like to think of themselves, they'd be earning acclaimed authors with prizes in literature.

There is a mangaka Hiroaki Samura. He likes gore. He incorporates it in his mainstream series, he also draws niche artbooks and short-stories with nude and very graphically tortured women. You can be narrow-minded and prejusticed and jump to a conclusion that he needs to be cancelled. In reality, he is one of the rare authors who writes women as real characters, who does the "strong woman" trope correctly. He also has great sense of humour, he brings all his characters to life. And I have a suspicion that his oneshot about orphaned women being gang raped was an attempt to digest the history of "war brides", something that Japanese try to pretend never happened. Hiroaki doesn't give interviews with deep self-exploration for me to know why he is into gore, but I can see whatever it is (dealing with trauma, artistic exploration of human sins, whatever) it doesn't make him a "bad human" with "bad influence". On the contrary, I'd like Japan to offer more authors like him.

Showing violence can be a way to teach about compassion or serve as a warning. Like the old fairytales were Cinderella sisters' toes were actually cut off or sibings burned a witch alive.

The art of drawing is especially detached from reality. Even though the brain matches the drawn objects to the real ones, without smell and sound, 3D-ness and other information signals of "the real world", the drawn things stay unreal. A drawing of a dead person can be considered beautiful art (Ophelia). It certainly wasn't meant to evoke those realistic feelings of disgust and fear that a real smelling, bloated and floating in water corpse will do. And the painters who decided to make their own version of the famous scene certainly weren't into dead women as sexual objects.

I think Tae being dragged into that manga controvesry in the end will bring him new fans, lol. He is too anime looking to not pick up anime folks' interest.

[hagatha-christie]

Not really using Tumblr anymore and also no one reads these, but I like doing them, so here are my November and December reads

The bad:

Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau: not bad so much as it’s boring. Did not care about any of the characters and tbh couldn’t tell you a thing that happened.

The fine: If This Gets Out by Cale Dietrich and Sophie Gonzalez: look there’s a lot of really great material in this book but because it only focuses on 2 of the 4 members of this boy band we miss out on like half of the stuff brought up in this book. Also I’d love it if we learned to correctly describe a book because they way people talked about it I genuinely thought it’d be a cute romance between 2 members of said boy band and like...one of the characters has a drug-induced psychotic break so it is very much not a cute romance.

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn: I finally watched Bridgerton so my sister shoved this into my hands and I knocked it out in like a day. Penelope’s storyline was Colin realizing there was more to her because she’s smarter and funnier than she lets on and Penelope’s storyline was realizing there was more to Colin because he...has...anger issues? Idk. There was a scene where I thought he was gonna hit her but it didn’t happen thankfully. Anyway, Kinda toxic.

Secret Service by Tal Bauer: OK FINE. This is the author of those other two terrible romances I read. This one was by far the best of the three I’ve read. Anyway it’s basically a very good season of Scandal (forbidden gay romance between the president and his head of Secret Service detail! Political intrigue! Betrayal!) Also, it didn’t end in a throuple and i was shocked and upset.

The good/great:

The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle by Matt Cain: checks all my boxes - unlikely friendships. Coming of age but it’s an older person. Reconnecting with people from your past. Healing the trauma of your childhood. Very, very sweet.

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec: made me want to delve deeper into Norse mythology. Like Circe by Madeline Miller, if Circe was more plot heavy.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames: this is kind of a dad book but it’s fun. Set in a fantasy world where mercenary bands are treated similarly to how we treat rock stars. It’s a classing “getting the band back together” storyline with more character development I thought we’d get. Some characters are more fully realized than others and it definitely has flaws but it was still extremely entertaining.

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White: an extremely disturbing YA post apocalyptic about a trans boy who escapes a religious ecoterrorist cult. Lots of body horror and Religious Trauma which I think is done really well in the narration. Also love that he finds shelter with a group of teens from the city’s LGBTQ shelter and there’s like...a lot of disagreements and fighting between them which I feel like you never see.

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala: like Jennifer’s Body meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Heathers (just a little) meets But I’m a Cheerleader (just a little). Surreal and twisty and very, very fun. I read this in an afternoon and had a great time. It’s about a kid whose twin sister escapes from the fancy summer camp she’s been attending without him and breaks into his room in an attempt to kill him and ends up dying herself, and he wants to investigate.