#it's so good when you love grimdark/horror

[cynoglav]

OMG ENKI HI!!!!!

[blujayonthewing]

myrkul: hi I'm an unambiguously evil death god of cruelty and suffering who has never had anything to do with you until right this moment, would you like to align yourself with me in exchange for the power to win this midtier combat you're already in the middle of winning and no other clear benefits whatsoever

eachthighern: um hey hi it's me your current patron, you know, the good god of protection and light who has only ever given you unwavering strength and hope and support through all your darkest hours and also extraordinarily powerful magic powers and the ability to heal? I am still here and have never stopped being here and I love you very specifically and personally? remember?

the warlock: hmm..... hmmmmmmm

[physalian]

“Likable” vs “Compelling” Protagonists

Protagonist does not mean “good guy” it means “the person the story is about”.

Antagonist does not mean “bad guy” it means “person in opposition to the protagonist”.

We know this, yes?

So when I’m talking about “likable” protagonists I do not mean that your MC has to be witty, funny, charming, etc—they have to be compelling.

I didn’t much care for Death Note, I thought Light got away with way too much without consequences for his actions, but he was very much the villain and the protagonist. He was an arrogant narcissist with a god complex and you watched the show not to see him win, but to see how badly he would eventually lose.

This was because, despite my dislike of his story, Light was a compelling character. You don’t necessarily agree with his motivations, but you do understand why he does what he does and why he believes what he does about himself and his world.

In contrast, one of my favorite anime is Code Geass. Lelouch (who is often compared to Light) is *constantly* getting kicked in the ass by his own hubris. He's arrogant as well, but he makes mistakes everywhere and suffers if not immediate comeuppance, then drastic consequences later down the line. Which, to me, made a far more compelling character than someone like Light playing with cheat codes.

Most of the time, “likable” and “compelling” go hand in hand, because your protagonist is the “good guy” that we’re supposed to root for.

So one of the worst mistakes I think you can make is writing a hero who just doesn’t want to be here.

—

I recently read a story where MC needed to win a competition, baseline unsponsored underdog story, and everyone loves an underdog. The problem was the MC’s attitude. Nothing pleased them and in their internal monologue, nothing was good enough and everyone else was the problem. They actually hate competitions and can’t wait for this to be over…even though no one forced them into it with a gun to their head. They hate all their competitors for behavior they themself exhibit. They hate their lone sponsor for being a sleezeball, and yet, chose to enter a voluntary competition, knowing this sponsor’s behavior, and still blaming the sponsor for their problems.

The entire time I was reading all I kept thinking was, “Then go home, bitch!”

This was not a high-stakes competition, and the MC didn’t have dire enough circumstances for the reader to believe this was a "life-or-death, even if it sucks, MC has to win," type situation. Not like Hunger Games. This was all completely voluntary.

So I started wondering if the author meant the MC to be the villain with all these personality flaws, but they’re still the underdog with no wins under their belt to support their level of entitled arrogance and no notable skills that make them inherently better than the competition.

So I was rooting for the MC to lose, and I don’t think I was supposed to. Even if I was, the mixup between “underdog hero” and “catty bitchy villain” was too confusing for too much of the story. MC didn't have to be here, didn't want to be here, so... why was MC here?

—

Some suggestions for compelling motivations for your protagonist boils down to this:

Define as quickly as you can these three things for your protagonist of any walk:

What the protagonist wants

How the protagonist plans to get it

And what’s in their way

Specify the stakes, if not physical, then personal. It doesn’t have to be life-or-death, but if they’re entering a risky situation, whatever it is has to be extremely important to them. Luca doesn’t have as high stakes as, say, Toy Story 3 but the moped race is important to the heroes, thus a compelling motivation.

Make this a journey they actually want to be on. Even if it’s grimdark or horror, if your hero is complaining the entire time and wanting to go home, yet plowing forward anyway because the plot’s dragging them on a leash, your audience will be as invested in the story as that character. If they don’t actually have the commitment to see their quest through, why should the audience care?

Alternatively, make this a journey they cannot afford to walk away from. Whether that be pressure from without or within. Frodo didn’t have to take the One Ring to Mordor. He chose to, because it was, in his mind, the right thing to do. He suffered his entire journey with the Ring and got homesick and depressed and discouraged, but he never called his own journey stupid and dumb. He could have put the Ring down and walked away or given it to somebody else, but he chose to carry on, because that’s who he is.

Even reluctant chosen ones have an ulterior reason for remaining in the story. Your long-lost princess might not want the throne being thrust upon her, but she’s chasing something else that accepting the throne and going along with the plot will give her. Maybe it’s power, respect, vengeance, money, protection, connections. So she’ll tolerate the nonsense so long as it still gets her what she wants and her struggle might be trying to not let herself get corrupted by the allure of politics and “the game”. Or, she's playing along merely to stay alive and actively trying to escape and return to her simpler life.

Popular example: Percy Jackson is a reluctant chosen one throughout his entire story in every book, even Last Olympian where he insists that he's the unknown prophecy child. In The Lightning Thief he doesn’t give a damn about the quest for the Master Bolt, he’s there to get his mom back, and cooperating with the quest will give him the means to achieve his goal, and along the way, finds that he doesn’t quite hate it as much as he thought he would.

—

So. Yeah. In no way, shape, or form does your protagonist have to be “likable”. If someone tells you they aren’t, they probably mean that your protagonist is contradictory, or lacks compelling motivation and drive, and lacks a clear goal or aspiration that will define their story. Or, they lack drive to even participate in the story at all.

Or they simply mean that your charcater, who you intend to be likeable, has a nasty flaw that would turn readers off, but a beta should be able to tell you that one easily. If they can't come up with a solid reason why your charcater is unlikable, it's probably a motivation issue.

The earliest draft of a WIP that shall never see the light of day had my protagonist sent on a glorified space field trip by her parents, and wasn’t happy to be there. This not only made her unlikable, but also uncompelling. She didn’t want to participate in the plot and only did it to hold up her end of the deal, she wasn’t excited about the actual trip nor making friends, and eventually grew into it far too late in the story.

I then changed it to have the trip be her idea, and she ran away from home to chase this dream she had. Doing so gave her much more agency as an MC and gave her an immediate motive and goal so you wanted to see her succeed right from the get go.

Even villain protagonists have a goal, and generally they very much enthusiastically want to be in this story. You don’t have to like them, but you do have to want to root for them, if not for their success, then their eventual downfall in a blaze of glory.

—

Interested in a fantasy novel without a "chosen one" protagonist? Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is up for preorder in ebook, paperback on sale 8/25/24. Subscribe for updates if you'd like~

[moodymisty]

Now I’m picturing a scenario where the Emperor is more apathetic towards the reader’s daughter and lets her go with you to Lorgar. And since (and I could be wrong) the time spent between the razing of monarchia and Lorgar getting “back on track” with planetary compliances was only about a year or so, that would mean that your daughter would be less than a year old when she gets returned to her actual dad.

(And if I’m wrong and it actually took longer than that just. Ignore it. Imagine Lorgar holding a baby. Imagine it right now)

And of course there’s always Lorgar’s slow dawning horror that something truly awful happened to you back in the palace, but theres also the joy of him meeting his daughter!!! — and probably finding out that he had a daughter in the first place. unless you want to go with the tragedy of him believing he could lose both his wife and his future child during monarchia. Either way the options are fun. — of course there’s going to be a bunch of celebrations planned (once you finish taking any 24 hour “holy shit I’ve been through so much” naps that you might need). He wants the whole universe to know that you and him had a child together, that this wonderful new person has been brought into the world. Expect lots of artwork drawn by the populace of you or him (or you and him) holding her Mary and baby Jesus style.

And there’s obviously the more private side of things. Her older brothers think she’s the awesomest baby ever and they will pray for her and die for her and protect her with their lives, sometimes they get a bit too intense about it but they’re Astartes so it’s not that surprising. Lorgar is trying his hardest to console you about what you’ve experienced and is also trying to figure out how this whole “taking care of a baby” thing works, he’s around you both 24/7 because he loves both of you so so so much and is also terribly afraid of losing you again. Kor Phaeron has reached new levels of seething that were previously thought to have been impossible to achieve. And Erebus is stockpiling on permanent markers for the day when his little sister gains hand eye coordination and can be directed at the nearest wall.

Now the baby is having a lot of new experiences too. Mom is still here so she’s not stressed out, but she is confused on why the Large Gold Parental Figure looks different now, why is his hair shorter? What are those gold marks on him?? And she’s got tiny baby eyes that can’t see very well so for the first couple of days she was always suspiciously squinting at Lorgar, that goes away after a while though and quickly gets replaced by her constantly staring at his tattoos (may try to chew on them too. Babies love sparkly things). She’s also confused because mom and dad(?) are calling her by a different name, she’s not called “child” or “baby” anymore. But something else entirely and her mom seems very happy about it (she’s the one who chose it!)

Basically. Imagine things being not as grimdark as they once were. Yes, obviously the galaxy will burn, a civil war will happen, the Imperium will suffer massive losses (you’ll make sure all of it happens). But right now you’re with the love of your life who’s reclining on a couch and reading some old scripture to your daughter, even though she seems to be more interested with the illustrations on the edges of the paper. Life is finally good.

this is so good!! I love this so much anon I love the happier take on this instead of the fucking grimdark greek pantheon mess we've been going with. Which of course I love, but I like seeing different angles <3

[mywingsareonwheels]

The stratification (in marketing at least) between "grimdark" crime fiction (inc books) and "cosy" crime fiction grates on me sometimes, because I like nothing that's at either extreme. I don't want relentless pain (and I find both organised crime and serial killer plots pretty boring unless they're really well-handled), and I don't want cheerfully callous "ooh, the bodies are piling up! how inconvenient! have another slice of Victoria sponge!".

I want humanity and compassion and humour and treating deaths like they do actually matter even when they're of awful people, thank-you-so-very-much. I want the satisfaction of a puzzle solved. I want an awareness by the author that yes the human fascination with murder mysteries (going right right back to Oedipus Tyrannus etc.) is kind of odd, while also not apologising for it. I want characters I warm to and care about, even if I sometimes want to throw things at them. I want a predictable structure to some extent, because it helps my autistic brain when I'm having a rough time (see also romances!). If at all possible I like at least some awareness that there is structural oppression in the world and that capital punishment is Not Great even if by the very nature of the genre (especially in police procedurals) I never expect murder mysteries to have the same politics or morality as me[1].

Some of the murder mysteries/crime fiction I do really love: the Cadfael books, Endeavour, the Lord Peter Wimsey books, the Ruth Galloway mysteries, the Discworld Watch books, the Ian Rutledge mysteries, and every time KJ Charles or T Kingfisher get a bit murder mystery on us. And so on and so forth. There are a good number! And a fair variety in tone in all of these they just... still all operate in that blessed middle space between grimdark and cosy, and involve Caring About People, and I just wish there were even more. <3

(Do recommend your own favourites if you wish!) [1] In real life, I am very much of the opinion that ACAB, that prison is a horror, that capital punishment is one of the greatest evils there is, and that retributive justice in general is wrong and unhelpful; those views affect which murder mysteries I like and how I read/watch/listen to them to some extent but, well, fiction is not reality. And being aware of that gap helps me to keep true to my views while still enjoying stories that go very much the other way!

[ominous-feychild]

I have a Problem in that I love to over-explain things even when I don't need to.

Especially when I don't need to. 😭

On that note! I'm working on my introduction post again (take a guess how many times I've gone to work on it and then stopped) and I went too in-depth when I should really be focusing on making it shorter, haha.

Except... I don't want to get rid of what I've written, and still want to share it.

SOLUTION!

My Obsessions:

✦ Fantasy, horror, mystery, action, and exploration of realistic characters' reactions to the things they go through.

What I write tends to be a reflection of this. My main works are high fantasies placed in what I feel is a more realistic setting--not as in grimdark "realistic", but places that are very used to the existence of magic. Someone who's grown up in a place with magical basically-electricity shouldn't spend five pages fawning over the existence of teleporters. Maybe they'll be surprised. Maybe they'll even be impressed. But unless they have some kind of a special interest in the subject, they'll probably spend more time thinking about how convenient it'll be for them rather than how it works, what it means, and the long, long history of magic... which has been around them for their whole life.

✦ Fairy tales, mythology, and folklore

I called myself "ominous-feychild" for a reason, haha. I like horror, I love fantasy, I adore faeries, and dear god--am I in LOVE with putting them all together! In folklore, faeries weren't cute little pixies that helped everyone around them... or even tiny little pixies that annoyed everyone around them (most of the time). They were the things that went "bump" in the night, that you huddled in close with your loved ones when you thought you might've caught their attention... Or, they made you question if your sister's eyes were always that far apart. Wait, was your bedroom there before? Did... did you even have a sister??? Well, you do now. And you might want to start running.

✦ "Ye Olde History" and language

"Ye Olde" meaning "the further away from modern day, the better." I can appreciate steampunk and actually often implement it into my own writing, but I do not consider Victorian England to be old. Civilization has been tracked back to as early as 4000 BCE, and it's way too easy to google that to think history actually started when Jesus was put on the cross. (Note: I am a merciless agnostic and hate what Christianity did to our world's history. So much was erased just because some bigots thought "stupid people don't think and act exactly like me, they're clearly barbaric! Time to erase their entire culture, massacre their people, and/or destroy their creations! Empathy be damned!!!" Fuck Christianity. To any Christians reading this, I don't mean you--just your religion. But you have to admit, it really sucks.)

✦ DIVERSITY!!!

As I just alluded to, I love learning about things that are unlike me. And, even more than that, I love people feeling like they have a place they belong. I've gone most of my life feeling ostracized, I'm not just going to perpetrate that cycle myself. Besides! It gets exhausting being in echo chambers with the same-old white cishet stories all the time.

✦ Explorations of "evil-coded" characters and abilities--aka, not just showing them as evil. Show them as people (for characters) and tools (for abilities)!

This is actually kind of personal to me. Autism and other disabilities have historically most often been relegated to villains because we're somehow "worse" than everyone else. Even I fell into that trap in the past, accidentally making a villain autistic-coded before I got my diagnosis. Now, I love putting people with questionable traits, powers, and backstories on the good side while the typically "good" things end up as villains. Something something, humans want freedom and freedom is chaos, something something, order is forcing things into boxes they might not particularly fit in because "otherwise, where else would they go???"

✦ Learning!!!

This might be weird, but I have a genuine love for just learning! (Not school, just learning.) I go down rabbit holes researching things all the time--and not just for writing! Obviously two of my favorite subjects are history and language, but I also love earth science and the ways our planet regulates itself to try to maintain balance! (And then we humans screw it up but.) Even in general, I love learning about random things, so if you ever have a weird infodump you really want to share, feel free to tag me in it and I'll check it out!!!

Yeah, by the way, this is linked to my actual intro post!

Divider by @cafekitsune

[longitudinalwaveme]

Some thoughts:

While I certainly won't deny that Len has some anger issues, he doesn't really strike me as having the explosive rage you see in the Red Lantern Corps. That's more Lisa's thing. If anything, I think Captain Cold is a Green Lantern. He's stubborn to a fault, he's managed to keep a team of supervillains with widely disparate personalities together for at least a decade, and, when faced with an opponent who is far more powerful than he is (the Flash), he continually and insistently keeps fighting him, coming up with new strategies and plans to stay one step ahead of the Scarlet Speedster. He also faces down much more powerful villains regularly, and without much fear. All that takes serious willpower, and I think that that's ultimately a more prominent part of his character than his anger. Also, Len didn't originally create the Rogues. It was Sam who came up with that idea, and who was originally often the one calling the shots. Len sort of fell into the role later as a result of being the only remaining Rogue with his head screwed on straight.

I agree that Sam Scudder would be an orange lantern. He loves his money and his shiny, shiny mirrors, and he loves attention even more. Evan McCulloch, though...I honestly think he'd be a better fit for the Sinestro Corps. He's basically an Eldritch horror, and borderline unstoppable. Of all the Rogues, he's easily one of the creepiest. I do, however, agree that both he and Sam would be interesting in the Indigo Lantern Corps (particularly Evan, since he's had so much trauma and done so many messed up things). Also, I kind of hate the retconned backstory of Sam having killed someone in a botched burglary before he became the Mirror Master. In his original stories, he was arrested for robbery, and there wasn't any indication that he'd killed someone, and the retcon darkens all his fun Silver and Bronze Age appearances. I love Geoff Johns' Rogues, I really do, but he really needed to lay off on the grimdark retcons.

I agree that Grodd is either a red or a yellow lantern, though I would strongly lean towards the yellow end of the spectrum myself. Usually Grodd isn't especially angry. Brutal, yes. Angry, no.

Captain Boomerang being a red lantern does work, though honestly I would lean towards him being part of the avarice corps myself. Like Cold, while he does have a lot of unresolved anger issues, he doesn't really have that obvious burning rage that seems to characterize a lot of the Red Lantern Corps---and he is very greedy and gluttonous. I also agree that him being a part of the Indigo Tribe could be potentially interesting.

Weather Wizard as a Red Lantern makes sense, since he's frequently very prickly and was very revenge-motivated in his first couple of appearances, but he could be part of the Orange Lantern Corps as well. He's a thief, of course, but, more importantly, we know that he craves power and respect, and it seems very likely that on some level he envied his older brother, who was always his parents' favorite child. I also have to admit that an Ultraviolet Lantern would be a good way to learn more about him, since unfortunately he doesn't usually get as much characterization as the other Rogues do. I will also say that Mark's New 52-and-onward backstory (the only part of which I like is the fact that he and his family are from Guatemala) does make him lean more towards the Red Lantern Corps than he would have previously, since in that version his brother was killed by someone else whom he then took revenge upon.

Eobard being a Red Lantern does make total sense (especially since Barry is a Blue Lantern), but I could see him fitting into the Orange Lantern and Yellow Lantern Corps equally well. As the video mentions, he wants to have Barry's life, which would mean he could slot in quite well to the Orange Lantern Corps, and, of course, as a time-traveling murderous stalker, there's no doubt that he's scary.

Killer Frost is NOT a Flash villain! ARGH! I do agree with the Lanterns assigned to her, at least if we're assuming this is the Caitlin Snow version of her (the Crystal Frost version would have been a more malevolent/stalkerish Star Sapphire or Orange Lantern, and the Louise Lincoln version would have been a Red Lantern).

I mostly disagree on Heat Wave. While the New 52 Hothead McAngryman version of Mick would indeed be either a Red Lantern or a Yellow Lantern, I'm inclined to think that classic Mick part of the Star Sapphire Corps. Not only does that group need some men in it, but, more importantly, Mick is traditionally incredible devoted to and supportive of the people he sees as his friends. You know, I think I now know why the person making this video doesn't like Heat Wave. It's because he's only familiar with the most terrible version of him.

The three rings the person making the video gives to the Pied Piper work pretty perfectly for him. We know that he was lashing out against society and his cold, controlling parents when he was a villain, so a Red Lantern ring does make sense for him as a villain, he did, of course, reform, and he probably does inspire a lot of hope as a hero and social activist. That being said, I think he could simply stay as part of the Indigo Tribe from his reform onwards, as he is extremely compassionate. And hey, he knew about Piper's stint in Breedmore! And...didn't know that William Magnus was paid to give Hartley the hearing aids that allowed him to hear. Piper didn't build those himself.

I definitely disagree that Trickster belongs in the Orange Lantern Corps. James is many things, but one thing he is not is greedy. Back in the Silver Age, he explicitly said that he didn't care nearly as much about money as he did about messing with the Flash, and he's much more interested in showing off and in outsmarting people than he is in simple financial gain. I'd put him in either the Green Lantern Corps or the Blue Lantern Corps myself. He's a persistent little imp, and he certainly holds out a lot of hope for his own future, being as he is generally cheerful and optimistic. Axel would probably be a Green Lantern (due to his teenaged stubbornness and general recklessness), although the very early Axel who was a total sociopath might have fit into the Yellow Lantern Corps. Either way, neither one would be an Orange Lantern.

The Top is either a Green Lantern or a Yellow Lantern. While I don't deny that he hates the Flash and isn't very fond of society generally, his anger is fair outstripped by his willpower and just how scary he is. This is a man who taught himself everything he could about tops and engineering, who taught himself how to spin at super speed, who tried to take over the world, the country, and the city on separate occasions, and who repeatedly dug his way out of the grave several different times through his own sheer willpower. If that doesn't qualify him for a Green Lantern ring, I don't know what does. And, of course, the fact that he's a power-hungry, bomb-building ghost that possesses corpses makes him very scary, so he would also be a natural fit for the Yellow Lantern Corps. But hey, props for acknowledging the fact that Roscoe is mentally ill, and that that does affect his behavior. I can't say that the ultraviolet corps would be bad for him per se, just that I think Yellow or Green would fit him better. Especially since they're already the colors of his costume.

The Orange and Yellow Lanterns would both work well for Savitar.

Characters who weren't mentioned in the video, but who I will classify anyway:

-Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) would probably be either a Red Lantern (because of his anger at Wally for refusing to help him) or a Yellow Lantern (due to his sheer power and willingness to kill). Before he became Zoom, he would probably have qualified for a Green Lantern simply because of all the terrible things he managed to survive.

-Golden Glider is 100% a Red Lantern, being almost entirely motivated by the desire to seek revenge for Roscoe's death. Prior to his death, she would have been either a Green Lantern (because of her incredible determination, bravery, and ability to overcome her abusive father) or a Star Sapphire (because of her deep love for Roscoe).

-Albert Desmond is a Blue Lantern, always hoping that he'll be able to live a normal life with his wife, Rita (who also qualifies for a Blue Lantern ring). Mr. Element is an Orange Lantern; he was primarily driven by a desire for profit. Dr. Alchemy is a Yellow Lantern, as he was disturbingly detached from his humanity, and possessed of almost unlimited control over the elements.

-Alvin Desmond would either be an Orange Lantern (he's a lot like Digger in many ways, but much more power-hungry) or a Yellow Lantern (for the same reasons as Albert when he's Dr. Alchemy).

[rebeccathornewrites]

After reading your book the Gilded Abyss, I fell in love. I want to praise you on how great you construct world building. Might be because I would watch my father play Bioshock as a kid or being a warhammer 40k fan, you do an amazing job of creating a horror/grimdark sci-fi world.

I was very upset that the second book wasn’t out when I finished the first. I’m someone who likes to read completed series over one that’s just starting because I hate waiting. Don’t feel bad about my suffering btw.

Also I had to stop reading the book at work when I got to chapter 23. You write amazing smut. That being said, my copy is still at work because I’m letting my coworker read it and I’ve warned her about that chapter.

Keep writing!!!!

Haha!! I’m so glad you loved Gilded Abyss!! I’m pleased to report that book 2 is well in the works, and is almost 3/4 finished. I’m hoping to knock it out this week or over early October. (I wanted it done earlier, but other deadlines got in the way, and I had to pivot from it for a few weeks.)

Right now, I’m aiming for a mid-December / early January release. We’ll see!! I definitely want to make sure the book is as good as I can make it, and will push back publication accordingly. But hopefully, that won’t take long. :D

[lonesomedreamer]

“The Rings of Power” Liveblog: Udûn (Episode 6)

Or: how does this episode have by far the highest rating of the season on IMDb?!

Starting with the Orcs again. No thanks. I just don’t find the supposed mystery of Adar’s identity very compelling.

“Where is he? What happened to Sauron?” Speaking of mysteries, they were never even remotely subtle about Sauron’s in-show identity, were they?

Some obvious CG/hokey stunts ensue…the construction of buildings in Middle-earth must be really shoddy, because the tower crumbles almost instantly and was apparently held together by some ropes??

Nothing about the Southlanders’ plan is explained/clarified in any way. They’re going back to their village to “make [it] ready,” but ready for what? A siege? (As if.)

Galadriel offers Isildur some wise-sounding words about the value of humility. But she certainly isn’t speaking from her own lived experience…

“You have the look of your father.” This must have been written before any roles were cast: the actor who plays Isildur looks nothing like the one playing Elendil! Funnily enough, he does resemble Bronwyn and especially Theo, but I’m sure that’s just coincidence.

The Southlanders were feeling hopeless/powerless enough to surrender to the Orcs literally one day earlier, or did I imagine that??

This (slightly paraphrased) Tolkien quote about passing Shadow is beautiful and moving…except it doesn’t make sense to put it in Bronwyn’s mouth. It doesn’t sound like the kind of language we’ve heard these villagers use. Besides, it’s not a line of dialogue in the book.

“It is believed that one of the Valar watches over growing things.” Her name is Yavanna, and you should say that!

This scene with Arondir and Bronwyn looks good, and it would be touching if I was actually interested in their underbaked romance.

I can’t tell if this scene is ripping off the Jackson movies, Game of Thrones, or both, but either way it feels…low-stakes. The scale isn’t there. Why do the Orcs care so much about this one village? Are these the only free humans left in the Southlands? If so, they should be easy to subjugate. If not, and without Sauron, what’s their significance?

This scene is going on forever, AND it’s become unwatchable grimdark nonsense with some added eye gore/horror to revolt me, specifically.

The actors, Bronwyn and Theo in particular, are giving it their all. It’s not their fault that I’m not remotely invested in what happens to them.

How tf does time work on this show? When did the Númenórean forces land? How close is this village to the coast? And how many horses did they bring with them on their three little ships?!?

How did they know to come to this village? Is this Halbrand’s home? (iirc he’s supposed to have amnesia or something, so he wouldn’t even know!) I have to ask again: is this the only village in the Southlands???

Horrendous costume design. I award them zero points.

Isildur told Galadriel that he’s stablehand! But now he has his own armor, weapons, and a horse and is being given orders on the battlefield by the queen herself…?

“The item he possesses: he must not escape with it.” Adar: immediately escapes with it.

Halbrand asks Adar if he remembers him, because they almost could not be broadcasting his [Halbrand’s] identity any louder.

Their half-assed explanation of the Orcs’ origin story is maybe the only worthwhile thing to come out of this episode so far…(checks watch) 47 minutes in.

“I killed Sauron.” Too bad you can’t kill a Maiar (see example A: Gandalf) the way you can a normal person. Galadriel should know that.

“We are all creations of the One…the same as you.” This is great philosophy in, say, Star Trek, but in Tolkien’s universe it’s…not true? Elves and Men are the Children of Ilúvatar (Eru, lit. “the One”), while Orcs were created by Morgoth out of spite and envy as a mockery of the Elves. They’re the product of torture and evil magic. Ilúvatar reprimanded Aulë for making the Dwarves, and he made them out of love! The writers want me to feel sympathy for their horror movie monster Orcs because, idk…they have names?

“Your kind was a mistake, made in mockery.” The thing is, she isn’t wrong.

Galadriel is pretty spiteful and bloodthirsty herself. If only they’d made ambition her driving force. Less “relatable,” maybe, but so much truer to the character.

Love that all these villagers just accept the first decent-looking dude who claims to be their “true king” with no questions asked. Very Monty Python of them.

Reverse Excalibur, but make it evil and able to operate a giant Rube Goldberg machine! How stupid.

They could have just made a show about Elendil, the fall of Númenor, and the Last Alliance. It probably would’ve been better, and there would be more of his face.

“The look of his father,” apparently.

Mount Doom origin story? Incredibly dumb. So dumb. No one asked for or needed this.

The Good:

Some very pretty landscape shots

Galadriel’s chain mail is sparkly and aesthetically pleasing

They almost made me feel something re: Theo and Bronwyn.

An explanation of Orc origins at last (though I’m unsure why the show treated that as some big mystery in the first place)

Decent to good acting for the most part

The Bad:

Did we just…forget the rest of the show existed? No Lindon? No Khazad-dûm? Not even any Harfoots??? Even though I’m still mad about the idiotic mithril subplot, at least the Elves and Dwarves make the show feel fantastical and Tolkien-adjacent. To me this was dark, depressing, and unlovely—tonally, a Two Towers kind of episode but without any of the whimsy/charm that cut through the book’s gloom. A discount, low-effort GOT.

The battle scene went on forever. It was hard to see anything, unpleasant to watch what little you could see, and it all felt kind of meaningless.

To expand on that: this whole episode was UGLY. Especially for a show whose biggest redeeming feature is its lush visuals.

Either tell us Halbrand is [redacted] already or try to mislead us. Don’t just keep winking awkwardly at us!

The overall writing has serious problems. Too many things are convenient, inconsistent, contradictory, totally illogical, and/or explained either poorly or not at all. A lot of this could be alleviated by having more episodes to explore/develop the story and characters more thoroughly…some of it’s plain old bad writing, though.

Why are they earnestly trying to make us sympathize with Orcs via Adar while also making the Orcs…like that?

My already-teetering suspension of disbelief toppled out of a window watching this one. The unbelievable speed of the Numenoreans’ travel—both by sea and land—combined with the whole “evil Sauron sword-hilt that destroys a dam and starts a chain reaction that activates Mount Doom and destroys the Southlands” thing and the fake-out ending (half of the MCs seeming to be consumed by pyroclastic flow)… Someone shared a Tolkien quote that perfectly sums up the problem with this:

The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside.

So yeah…this feels like a bad Game of Thrones episode—and apparently that’s what people want, because it has rave reviews compared to the other seven. But this show claims to be Tolkien-inspired, and imo it should therefore aspire to emulate Tolkien’s style more than it does Martin’s. This was not Tolkien. If this episode is your particular cup of tea—which is fine!—your fantasy is probably in another castle.

[libraryofbaxobab]

April 13, 2024:

Based on how much I loved her other book, Dead Silence, my expectations were too high. I spent the first half of this book concerned that this was wayyy too similar to We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen but by the time the good stuff (i.e., the horrors) started happening I finally perked up.

I just love when a character is losing their mind, tries to speak, and then hears what they *actually* said. It must be so hard to write that in a way that scans, but it also wouldn't work in any other format. That scene was fantastic.

However, in general, the characterization "ineffectual psychologist who is more damaged and neurotic than literally everyone else" does not speak to me. Somehow they're always overly concerned with subtle power dynamics & what every little utterance or facial expression could mean, while also simultaneously acting clueless, overreacting, & speaking like they've never studied psychology. They're more like paranoid sociologists but it's harder to shoehorn in a sociologist into an interplanetary mission (hello, Invisible Things by Mat Johnson, I see you). People who watch Dr. Grande's YouTube channel have more clinical knowledge. To be fair, this particular Unwelcome Sci-Fi Psychologist is the best one I've come across, but I still just generally don't like it. Personally.

I was also waiting for a big twist and there wasn't one. I also didn't like how happy the ending was. For what was going on and the impossible position the characters were in, that pulled punch was way, way too soft. Not that everything has to be grimdark edgy shit, but this ending was all just a little too convenient.

6.5/10 #WhatsKenyaReading

[opinated-user]

Because I've never seen anyone mention this: in the video where Lily admits to writing Stockholm, she mentions it in a list of grimdark stories she could cover with an overlay of human Rainbow Dash in a straight jacket.

So instead of weaving this big lie and jumping from "I didn’t write this" to "I did write this but other people took it and edited in the gross shit" to saying the clip where she admitted to it was AI generated (?????), why doesn't she just say it was intended to be a fucked up horror story? She could even throw in the bit about the crazy bronies making the disturbing scenes way worse if she still feels like that puts too much responsibility on her. Like for all her waxing about Occam's Razor in the past she doesn't seem that good at abiding by it

because she never actually intended it to be a horror story. she herself wrote it as a "dark sex comedy". where's the comedy in having a pedophile sexually abuse her adopted daughter aftter her girlfriend leaves her for almost raping another underage girl, you tell me. the truth is, LO loved writing that story and loved it when it was viewed positively. she prefers to lie about ever being the author than admitting it and also must surely hate when people "don't understand" how good (she thinks) it is. i remember seeing plenty of anons of LO doing her damnest to try to defend stockholm by insisting "but the pedophile dies in the end!" and writing endless essays about how you should read it a certain way. "this is disturbing" is a compliment. "this is gross, disgusting, abuse apologia and pro pedophiles" is something that LO knows she can't defend herself from and will be what everyone says if she does admit to writing it. so it's the easiest to pretend it doesn't exist.

[rabbittwinrithings]

I’m finally making it, My Beyond Reach Review

Disclaimer: While I didn’t have the best time with this mod, that doesn’t mean you may not. I never want my opinion to sour someone else’s, and have the risk of them not playing the mod. So I highly recommend you check it out. 

I’m putting this disclaimer as well since my playthrough of the mod is a bit unfair. I played it with godmode (since I suck at game combat,) and after a while started to clip through dungeons to get them over with. This started to happen around halfway through as I found myself more frustrated with the mod and kinda wanted it done. I also played through only mostly the main quest. However, a friend of mine did tell me about one sidequest I do have a problem with. So keep this in mind with my review that I may be treating it a little unfairly. 

There’s also the point that mods are hard to make, let alone one of this scale. The mod author did an amazing job at creating this mod and I never want to invalidate that. With all that said, let’s get going. 

CW: Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, Ped*****, Cannibalism, and Harm Towards Women.

And Obviously Spoilers!

First off, I’m not the best at writing reviews. It won’t be wonderfully crafted or anything, just mostly detailed bullet notes of what I liked and disliked. While there is more I disliked, I did find some positives and will be layouting things in a sandwich review (that’s the right word?) going from positive to negative. Here we go!

This is a review for the mod, Beyond Reach by razorkid. 

Good: Grimdark. I will always love me some Grimdark. Hell, my current playthrough of Skyrim is currently a grimdark playthrough all with dead trees, gallows, horror monsters, ect. And while I think some parts of Beyond Reach’s grimdark-ness falls flat, most of it holds up and creates an eerie atmosphere. There were bodies hanging, creepy monsters, creepy dungeons, and a lot of stuff that fit the tone of the mod. However... some of it did not... 

Bad: A lot felt like shock value. In grimdark there’s always a tendency to add a lot of stuff for shock value, and sadly, BR had an abundance of it. I knew the mod got dark, but still I decided to play the uncensored version as I did want to get all the content. However, some it felt just... unneeded. At one point the player is tasked to go raid an Orc stronghold where there are legionnaire prisoners. However, you end up finding two of them, both women, one alive, one dead. The player can piece together what happened from that alone, and yet the mod goes as far as to have the alive prisoner wail at one of the soilders about how she was raped and would have an Orc child. The only purpose of this scene felt like to show how horrible these Orcs were. But why not just do that with dead prisoners (doesn’t need to be SA,) or why have her go on a whole speech about it.     After playing through this part I really was trying to rack my head around how it could have been done better. And honestly, after a day, I was reminded of Red Dead Redemption 2, and the scene were Arthur finds a woman who was also SAed. The only difference is that the scene added more than just “wow, those guys we killed were pretty bad,” instead, it added to Arthur's character. He helps the woman home. When she’s about to explain what they did he simply said “I know.” Subtly in situations like this tend to be the most powerful. As people our brains peice together what we want to see and having the woman simply say “They...” and the solider reply with “I know,” would have made the scene much more powerful. (She’s also naked during the whole ordeal, let me give the woman a blanket, something!)    There’s other darker themes that I felt like were shock value (mainly the ending place with some children, however, talking about will just make me sick. So I think I’ll just move on. Basically, some stuff happens to kids and again I feel like it’s only there to prove how bad someone is and doesn’t give much of anything else. I feel like something horrible and big like that need to have numerous reasons to be there than a singular “look how terrible this dude is!”)

Good: Cool enemies. I don’t really feel like there’s much to say on this part. I just thought some enemies were really cool. I think the ones that stuck out to me are part of Vicn’s Creature Pack, but could be wrong. Mostly it was the bloody skeleton monsters. Very cool to see. 

Bad: Not much role playing. Honestly, this part kinda made me the saddest as after one sidequest (which may have been my favorite part of the mod,) I had become an enemy of the state. It felt super in character as I was playing Alllin and despite being a serious guy, is also a little chaos gremlin who will flip off authority. But despite all that, I still ended up becoming a knight of the very state I was an enemy of and was forced to pick dialogue options that bended my knee to the king and was very formal. I’m not saying multiple path options in the way of a knight or criminal are needed, I just wish there were more dialogue options. 

Good: Neat dungeon horror design. So this one is a bit here and there as the dungeons I went through had super neat astrosphere that did have the grimdark feel to them. One was an asylum dungeon which I found pretty neat. However, there was also a problem with length... 

Bad: Long Dungeons. While this whole review is subjective, this part may be the most as I hate dungeons. If they’re neat looking I don’t mind. But when they take around thirty minutes to complete and little progress has been made I get real tired of them. This is why I started clipping through dungeons to just get the thing I needed and get out. 

Good: Music is nice. (But as I type this I went to go find the composer. But I don’t see any credits to music, so a slight bummer. If you know who did the music, please let me know and I’ll edit this part with credits.)

Bad: A lot of dead women. And I get it, a lot of people in general die in this mod. And maybe I’m misremembering stuff, or looking to deep, but in the main questline there was one main female character. And she is killed. And then there are several spots that are just about women in harm. (Like the SA I mentioned before, a part where a little girl is killed by a griffin, an Orc woman being tortured, a brothel getting massacred.) And I just didn’t see so much focus on men. And that sounds weird. But when it leans to one side so much, it is just super noticeable. 

Good: Voice Acting is nice. I know there isn’t too much to say there. I just really liked it. There were some unvoiced lines, but I don’t have too much of a problem with that since they are still looking for voice actors for various roles. I think the only problem I have with the unvoiced lines is that there’s no white noise for the line so the dialogue would just blink in and out and I couldn’t read what was said. 

Bad: Very railroad path. You are forced to be a knight, and see red flags of the nobility and yet you can’t do anything. Most of the time when you question a noble why you should do something it’s “well I’ll just have you killed,” and sure, not dying is great, but then the next line I’ll talk as if my life wasn’t just threatened.     A friend of mine who tried to be a bit more through in the mod took a sidequest where it told you a noble (who turns out to be evil later on in the main quest,) is a cannibal. Can we confront the noble about it? No. Can we warn those who may be hurt by him in the future? No. Do we talk to him as if we don’t know that he eats people? Yep! It’s all just odd and I think again it just falls back to the lack of player choice. 

Good: So on my list I wrote “Liked sick town,” which makes no sense to those who haven’t played it. So to explain it better there was a Side quest I really liked. Not only did it give a ton of player choice, but it actually made me feel like a good person, and the people were nice to me!    During my playthrough I made a rule that if someone was mean to me, I wouldn’t help them outside of the main questline. Cause why would I help someone who is rude to me? (There’s also an issue that most of the place is filled with mean people, so it creates little to no agency to help High Rock.) But one event was with some guards at a city I had to get into. I had to help them with an issue of some sick people and one of their guards who went missing. Come to find out the guard got sick and was trying to find medicine for the town so that they could live about three more years in peace. And in the end I was given a choice to kill the town, or help it. Obviously I helped it and became an enemy of the state. But I loved it! While the sick people would threaten you if you got to close to them, the guard with them was understanding. And his compassion for these people really stood out to me. It’s a shame I later had to bend my knee to the very people that wanted to kill them... 

Bad: Lore Friendliness. This one is very short as I see lore in ES as free real estate. I don’t care what you add in your mod. That what makes it fun. However, I know this will be a turn off for some so I thought I would say it. I think the main factor is you talk to Mara on various occasions and I’ve been told that isn’t possible. 

Good: City Design. I just like the layouts and looks of the city. What else can I say? Districts were interesting. (I think I'm running out of typing juices...)

Bad: Too much going on at one. There’s an Orc extremist group, there’s reach men attacking, there’s Namira shit, there’s a plague, and there’s a civil war starting. That is a lot, and it’s just the main quest. I realize it’s good to have a lot going on in a location, but not all of it needs to be in the main quest. All this stuff makes it super confusing and hard to keep track of what is really going on. 

Bad: Buggy. I’m doing two bads in a row as I do want to leave the review off on a good note. There were quite a few buggy stuff. However, considering how I played through it I wouldn’t doubt if a lot was my fault. That being said, I know some who did play through it correctly did also suffer from bugs. That being said, I know the mod author is still working on the mod so bugs will most likely get fixed.

Good: Dialogue explanation. One thing I really found helpful was that in front of dialogue options were [lore], [quest]. These little tidbits made it super easy to tell what dialogue I was picking or which one I needed to pick. Very small detail, but works wonders. 

Oh me, oh my, that is long... Sorry about that. 

TLDR: The mod is successful in it’s eerie astrosphere, but is dragged down by heavy writing. lack of player choice, and shock value issues. 

Thanks for reading all this and want to say again I don’t want to sway anyone away from this mod. I think it’s always important to try out something for yourself. Though, if the Content Warnings from above upset you, I recommend playing through the censored version (it will ask you in the game.) I haven’t played through the censored version, but it says it get’s rid of those events. 

I may try and do more reviews in the future, but understand these reviews are never an attack on the modder as I get modding is extermley difficult. My reviews are here to be optional constructive critism, and if I’ve said anything wrong or you disagree with I’m more than happy to have a conversation in the comments.  (I also say optional as sometimes modders aren’t looking for critism and just want to mod/create and that is 100% valid.) 

Thanks for reading again, and hope y’all enjoyed! 

[quietbluejay]

Angel Exterminatus 7

I know I said that the whole situation with Lucius and Eidolon in Galaxy in Flames was BS, but that is because I love their petty rivalry Eidolon, through gritted teeth: Lucius…is really…good…with a sword…

OH THEY ARE LITERALLY DRINKING THE TEARS OF SLAVES I've joked about this before but I didn't think I was actually gonna read it happen onscreen

Vull Bronn is being metaphorically, and, possibly, literally seduced to the dark side

Oh hey I did not expect this reoccuring theme to pop up in this book, or in this context

tfw your buddy shows up in time to stop you from being Magic Roofied, if not regular roofied

Thamatica at it again congrats buddy you killed 30 people

and now back to Vull Bronn who is having the worst hangover ever

hm yes i think grendel very much enjoyed striking a superior officer

at this point I genuinely have to believe McNeill thinks sweat is oily. This is like the THIRD TIME it's been described that way.

This whole repeated element in the Horus Heresy is one of my favourites

Another McNeillism. I think the word you want is "ingratiated" hey HEY don't stare into the warp or the skull in the warp will stare back at you

I continue to enjoy these exchanges

does consort have a warhammer meaning I'm not aware of or is this implying what I think it is.

sidenote but I'm surprised they're allowed to say "damned" given the anti-religion thing. I feel like if Loken had said it he'd worry about someone Having A Talk with him.

oh yeah forgot to mention but, McNeill still has pacing problems they're better! much better! but still present

also man that was dark i really am hoping Cassander gets to die soon (sidenote: imperial fists 🤝 death guard) i looked up spoilers and he gets to go out like a boss, so, looking forwards to that it's funny but i am continually surprised by how not-grimdark the warhammer books are well okay except for servitors etc being everywhere but that does not get dwelled on, usually it really feels like the writers don't want to write that kind of horror or in some cases, horror at all which i mean, fair, I don't there's a lot of stuff I like reading that I absolutely do not want to write it's just very different tonally from the impression i got before I started im not complaining! tbh if it had been what i thought I wouldn't have stuck around

me: it's not very grimdark me right now: currently reading about the poor dudes fabius experimented on being turned loose to kill Iron Hands and being unable to stop and also this:

this is just gross though, i wouldn't call it grimdark, it's body horror but not grimdark

Perturabo is wargaming here and the Emperor's Children are playing d&d

fabius: sometimes people come up to me when im laughing and ask "what's so funny" fabius: and i say to them fabius: how dare you speak to me

oh, ugh, Fabius is one of those people he'd make a great X-Men villain

lmaoooo suffer

... huh He actually does possess a normal person's understanding of honour that makes it all the worse when he ignores it, full knowledge makes you more culpable not less~

Kroeger walked over the invisible line

EYYYY

okay so HOW did Lucius survive ship explosion

ah. Of course this is how all the named characters get out of it. it just feels cheap

Stopping here because I had a LOT to say about the next bit so it deserves its own separate post.

[thehorrortree]

Deadline: July 31st, 2024 Payment: $0.02 per word Theme: Science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between Story Guidelines Flash Point Science Fiction wants speculative fiction stories from 100 to 1,000 words in length. Send us your science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and everything in between, so long as it’s short. We here at FPSF are partial to flash fiction and want to see the flash market grow. So as much as it pains us, please take your 10,000 word tour de force elsewhere. We’re not looking for the next Brandon Sanderson. (Unless you are, in fact, Brandon Sanderson, in which case we’d be delighted!) What we’re looking for: -Fantasy (all kinds—epic, adventure, contemporary, urban, grimdark, fairy tale, magical realism, myths and legends, etc.) -Science Fiction (all kinds—hard, space opera, military, near future, science fantasy, cyberpunk, dystopian, etc.) -Slipstream (make it as weird as you want, so long as it works) -Seasonal (we love stories with holiday and/or seasonal themes, but please submit AT LEAST 3 months in advance of the relevant occasion) -Anything that makes us laugh, cry, think, or smile. What we aren’t looking for: -Horror—it can be spooky or menacing, but we’re not a horror market, so the fright factor should not be the primary appeal. DARK fantasy and sci-fi, however, are welcome. -Literary fiction—this is a genre market, so there needs to be an SF&F element, however slight. -Gratuitous sex or violence—we’re big fans of Love Death + Robots, but don’t be that guy. -Fanfic—original concepts only, please. We know there was a lot going on in Hobbiton while Frodo was away, but that’s not our property and it’s not yours either. -Stories previously published in a different language. Submission Specs In terms of how your story should look, we recommend you read William Shunn’s Proper Manuscript Format. This is the industry standard and we think it’s a good one. When we receive your manuscript file, we will expect it to be in this format (as a .doc or .docx file). Poorly formatted submissions may be rejected unread. Please do not submit to us via email directly. Submissions received in this manner will be deleted unread. We do not accept unsolicited reprints. Even if it was posted on a personal blog or website, so long as it’s public anyone who has access to the internet can read it, and that qualifies as publication. No simultaneous submissions. This means you shouldn’t submit the same story to us and any other market at the same time. No multiple submissions. One story at a time please. Authors we have previously accepted: we prefer to publish only one story per author per calendar year. Please wait for us to announce open submissions for the next year (typically in September) before submitting new work to us. Our normal response time is 30 days. If our response is taking longer, this likely means your story is being given special consideration, but if you haven’t heard back after 60 days, please contact us and we’ll bump your story to the front of the line. Please wait the full 60 days before reaching out. If we were fast readers, we wouldn’t be reading flash, right? Wrong, we still would, because we love it. Note: Flash Point SF welcomes submissions from writers of all races, colors, religions, genders, gender expressions, ages, national origins, disabilities, and sexual orientations. No matter who you are, we want to give you a voice (provided that voice stays under 1,000 words)! Still have questions? Check out this interview with the editors in which we discuss what FPSF looks for in great flash fiction. Payment We pay $0.02 per word for first worldwide rights and for non-exclusive reprint rights. We also reserve the non-exclusive right to republish your story in our annual anthology, as long as this right is activated within 24 calendar months of the story’s original publication date. These anthologies are anticipated to consist entirely of material originally published by Flash Point SF.

SUBMIT HERE (Optional) After you submit, track your submissions at Duotrope. Via: Flash Point Science Fiction.

[moodymisty]

On the topic of space marines and sexual desire: While I agree with what you said. I do have to add that hormones don’t always equal desire. And while I get that the people we’re talking about are genetically engineered supersoldiers, there were some studies done that said there wasn’t a direct correlation between the two.

Also asexual and aromantic people exist, and I dont see why the Emperor (well known fan of messing with peoples minds+bodies) wouldn’t want to use that to his advantage. Since being acearo usually happens from a mix of genetic factors and the environment the person was raised in, and the process of becoming a space marine is all about changing those two things in a child. Also not to mention how space marines are made by adding in/taking away stuff from their brains, so I don’t see why some lobotomy-adjacent procedures can’t happen. Like yeah kid we got rid of the part of the brain that makes you horny, but don’t worry, cause now you’ll feel somewhat similar emotions when you kill someone in cold blood!

And I think the reason why I enjoy the lore of most space marines not being able to feel romantic/sexual attraction (other than the trope of a big tough guy in armour getting shy at the smallest bit of affection) is the inherent tragedy of it all. Sex and romance are a pretty big part of most people’s lives, every culture and every time period will write grandiose love stories or draw porn or make jokes about fucking someone’s mom. It’s a huge part of the human experience. People will set life goals on things like having sex for the first time or getting married to a person they love. Even cave paintings from hundreds of thousands of years ago featured stuff about sex and romance. But due to space marines being, well, space marines. They’ll never be able to experience that. Because falling in love means that the space marine’s loyalty now lies elsewhere. And if the space marine in question falls in love with someone, someone mortal, someone who has a life outside of constant battle, who has a family that cherishes them and would never demand them to die on the battlefield in some twisted cultlike form of “respecting your elders”. Then that space marine might develop standards, and we wouldn’t want that would we?

Of course not. We want a killing machine that’s only loyal to his family, to his father, to the Emperor. We want someone who’s an oversized attack dog, running into mortal danger because of his unquestioning loyalty, because he’s got no one else, because no one else would love him, because we made sure he can’t love anyone else. And even if he could, if his conditioning didn’t fully take, if some part of his brain grew back, if chaos somehow helped; then you’d be left with someone whose wires are so deeply crossed that it’s concerning. He doesn’t know how to be gentle or how to be normal about your relationship. He’d either be hyper possessive of you or he’d be “lending” you to his brothers like you’re some kind of object. If you try to break up with him he’d wail and scream as if you just died, because in his family the only way you can leave is through death. He’s too loud, too clingy, he’s got no control over his emotions and he gets horny every time he imagines you getting wounded in battle. Overall: he loves you very much, but it’s super toxic.

In conclusion. While sex can work as a good narrative tool in a grimdark setting, I feel that asexuality can also be a pretty good one too :)

I never meant to diminish aroace people by talking about hormones (which I do agree that hormones don’t always equal sex drive), I was only adding my own two cents about what the og post was already talking about.

I enjoy the lack of sex and romance in 40k as a way of getting away of a lot of the super forced hetero content that is in everything (my bookshelves are mostly horror and sci fi because of it), but I’m also not aroace, so there’s only so much I can relate to/talk about in that regard. So as with most things in the internet, if I’m not part of that community I’m just gonna not mention it and shut up xD

I enjoyed reading your HCs anon, I hope I didn’t step on your toes by accident

[booksteaandtoomuchtv]

I am loving these book recs for the OUAT characters. My to-read list is growing. Can i get Zelena, Tinkerbell, Mulan, Ruby & Dorothy Recs too?

Also out of the characters you did so far, who’s reading preferences closest match yours would you say? Or are you just a belle type, since belle seems to enjoy just about anything. 💕

I am having so much fun with these asks! Thank you, Nonnie!

Zelena Mills

Like her sister, Zelena likes her books with a glass of wine - but her glass contains rosé. Zelena likes a story with a strong female lead, especially if they take a kingdom from a corrupt leader - maybe they find love along the way? I think she would have enjoyed Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford.

Ruby

Ruby listens to celebrity memoirs and biographies. She is currently halfway through Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton. She usually prefers the ones by female comedians, they have a way of expressing things that she feels but could never quite describe as cleverly.

She has a lot of reference books around for drawing and illustrating graphic novels. She reads and writes graphic novels and is currently reading the Sandman comics.

Dorothy

Dorothy likes a good hometown, closed-door romance and the classics, she is carrying around her much-loved copy of Pride and Prejudice as she finishes her annual summer reread of it. It is fraying, has tabs sticking out, highlighted pages, and her thoughts scribbled in the margins; but, she can't bear to replace it.

Mulan

I think Mulan has a stack of what my mum would term 'serious' books. She has Forces of Nature by Professor Brian Cox, she has a pile of philosophy books and a stack of books on the art of silence and meditation. But, she has a beautifully illustrated edition of her favourite fairy tales from her childhood stashed in her nightstand that she reads on those days when the world feels a bit too much.

Lady Bell

Lady Bell is an avid Nora Roberts / JD Robb reader. Her favourite is, of course, the In Death series because Eve Dallas and Roarke feel like her close friends and she has the new ones (which Nora does like twice a year, which is insane and impressive) preordered. Every time one is released, Tink rereads the whole 50+ book series over again.

My TBR pile is a bit ridiculous at this point. It has gotten worse lately since I have paused reading books to focus on writing my CSSNS fic and making sure that I don't fall too far behind on my CS fic TBR list. (To my great shame, I haven't finished a book since returning from France earlier this year. This is the longest break in reading that I can recall ever having taken, but those CS fics are so good! So, so good!)

ANYWHOOSIES... I hope you find some in these recs that you enjoy. I am a sucker for a story. I would say the way I described Killian's reading habits most matches mine. I read by mood, which is directed by the weather, the time of year, my head space, my workload, my the kind of attention energy that I have, etc. I tend to read YA Fantasy/Romance, Fantasy/Romance, Paranormal Romance, Grimdark, Dark Romance, Rom-Coms, gothic horror... it is all over the place.

Reading Shades of Magic by the incredible VE Schwab always feels like coming home. (I was going to give you a favourites list but it got a bit out of control... even for me.)