#lesbian vampire book in progress

[horrocious]

"lesbian vampire book I've been writing off and on" characters with relevant onion headlines. they have a lot more going on than this I'm just indulging in Monday Whimsy.

Van Slyke

Charlotte Williams

Rachel Kaplan

Alice

Dora Postlethwaite

[see-arcane]

Wow, you guys already regressed to bitching about Castlevania. Btw, they produced Castlevania: Awakening in the Moonlight stage musical by Takarazuka Revue in Japan, it also has Dracula and Lisa in it. Castlevania lives on and thriving!

Considered just leaving this alone, but I'll take it as a chance for clarification.

Rant Below the Cut

I do not hate Castlevania, Netflix version or game version or stage musical version or any other iteration in-between. What few clips I've skimmed of the show online have suggested that it's something that the animators and writers put real heart in, plus a healthy dose of gay vampires to garnish with. I will repeat myself in saying that I quite enjoy the bloodstained Beauty and the Beast/villainy born of love route as a trope. To my knowledge, Castled Vania Dracula x Lisa is a great example of the latter. Great. Cool.

My issue with Castlevania is the issue I have with an infinity of films and books and games going back nearly 130 years. And that is the use of the characters' names from Dracula like they're costumes. Call it a nitpick or a pet peeve or just something that hits the big literary bitch button, but I Do Not Like that even when creators have ostensibly made a story that I could enjoy for its own merit, they feel compelled to graft the Dracula cast's faces over entirely unrelated, antithetical characters and motivations, and spoil the overall experience for me, the Dracula the Novel enjoyer.

I don't begrudge other people for being chill about it or enjoying the stories that have come as a result. I can't talk shit and be the DON'T ENJOY THIS!!1! police when I openly enjoy the gratuitous hot mess that is Hellsing. I am not immune to bondage suit anime men or Crispin Freeman voice acting or nazis getting eaten. I am not throwing those stones in my glass house.

But I am standing on top of the glass house and hurling boulders at the creators who, whether they make something fantastic or mediocre or genuinely teeth-grindingly awful, keep passing the baton of 'If we add Dracula names to this it adds more legitimacy! No, I have not read the book and I never will, but I don't need to because I read a footnote in a wiki once, I saw a movie, I read a spinoff of a spinoff.' Over and over and over.

That is what upsets me. That is my bitching point. Not whether you or anyone else Likes a Thing. You are not Netflix. You are not Konami. You are not Hirano or Moore or Coppola or Newman or Besson or Moffat or Browning. What you enjoy does not matter to me and never will.

Go enjoy your musical and let me regress in peace.

[mothmage]

hey what if 🧐 i wrote andy’s backstory in the autobiography style of the vampire chronicles? and what if she ran into the ancient ones once or twice — she’s older than them, which makes for an interesting dynamic….hmmmmmm

[calronhunt]

Do you have any media recommendations that explore themes of grooming, abuse, and healing? If you're okay with sharing.

I'm observing your comics with great interest, the way you deal with difficult topics is responsible and quite inspiring, but I might be in need of some more basis for self-reflection as I wait for the stories to progress...

Books are preferred, but any media that speaks to you will be appreciated!

Please, take care and good luck

sure! I asked my wife for a lot of these recommendations since a lot of my thoughts about grooming, csa, and healing come from him. (I've linked to the things if I was able to!)

Revolutionary Girl Utena - An anime, but it delves into grooming and csa and does it very well. Has like every trigger warning under the sun also so watch out.

Banana Fish - Another Anime. It involves a lot of csa and it's not. particularly tactful or well done but it means a lot to my wife so it goes on here so watch out.

Mare Internum - A Webcomic that deals with csa and healing. but be warned it is very heavy (it starts on a suicide attempt)!

In the Dreamhouse by Carmen Maria Machado - A memoir about a lesbian abusive relationship. It doesn't have csa or grooming in it, but it is entirely about domestic abuse and is very good.

The V*mpire - A short story about a closeted t-girl being groomed on tumblr by a vampire. has a happy ending.

if you want other cat comics with these themes:

Follow Your Heart - Warrior cats comic about the life of Sootpaw. The groomer just got outed recently in the story, and as someone who's read the whole outline, it will go into his healing a lot.

I Didn't know - Cat comic about how evangelical religious circles allow and excuse abuse to fester within their ranks. The main character is a csa victim and has to learn how to come to terms with it all and how she feels about her religion.

[thexfridax]

D.E.B.S. at 20: a Queer Cult Classic

Bessie Yuill Photo: Sundance/WireImage

There is a secret film hidden within the shadowy sapphic corners of Letterboxd. Some call it escapist trash, some call it an underrated cult classic, fools call it a male fantasy. It calls itself D.E.B.S. As other early-2000s chick flicks like Charlie’s Angels and St. Trinian’s have been reevaluated and embraced for their candy-floss aesthetics and campy wit over the years, the lesbian community was quietly reclaiming its own equivalent with 2004’s D.E.B.S.

The precursor to contemporary high-concept lesbian films like Bottoms, the spy flick is filled with something that queer female moviegoers still often yearn for: fun. That includes Jordana Brewster and her era-defying eyebrows as the impeccably named supervillain Lucy Diamond, John Woo–style fight scenes that parody the action genre in the same way as Charlie’s Angels, and a cheerfully cheap aesthetic where spies run around in plaid schoolgirl skirts.

D.E.B.S. was written, directed, and edited by filmmaker Angela Robinson. While “unapologetically queer” might be an overused phrase, it does apply neatly to Robinson. The Chicago-born director’s first project was a short film called Chickula: Teenage Vampire, calling on the long history of vampiric queer women that began with 1872’s Carmilla.

Her love of playing with genre led her to later put a lesbian spin on the movie musical by writing the underappreciated Girltrash: All Night Long and exploring polyamory in a period biopic about the creators of Wonder Woman, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. On the small screen, she also burnished her lesbian credentials by working on several episodes of The L Word.

When D.E.B.S. started life as a short film, Robinson described it as “a story about a trio of superspies who are all chicks. I love all the comic-book characters: Charlie’s Angels, Batman, Josie & the Pussycats … But I always wanted them to be gay and they never were, so I wrote my own.” Success at Sundance led to Sony snatching the short up and deciding that D.E.B.S. should be a full-length feature.

Two decades later, the joy of this movie lies in the details. The tone is immediately set by a gravelly voice-over telling us that there is a secret test hidden within the SAT to recruit young female superspies (and establishing that, like Bottoms, this is a film aware of genre archetypes and willing to push believability). Our main character Amy (Sara Foster) is an academic overachiever — like many lesbians overcompensating for their perceived failure to live up to social norms. Her perfect score on the secret SAT test makes it even more scandalous when she falls for the aforementioned supervillain Lucy Diamond.

Queer friend groups may delight over the nostalgic frosty eye shadow and lip gloss worn by the D.E.B.S. (which stands for “discipline, energy, beauty, strength,” naturally) at all times. Flip phones, CGI holographic screens, and Goldfrapp’s appearance on the soundtrack will also remind you that you’re watching a film made in the early 2000s. And many will squeal when they spot Holland Taylor, over a decade before she came out, as the academy’s head.

Admittedly, the special effects are goofy enough to cross over into comedy, especially when our girls are abseiling into a restaurant or climbing walls with plungers, and the lighting could be charitably described as resembling teen soap operas of that era. But the chemistry between Amy and Lucy is crackling enough that YouTube compilations of their scenes have racked up hundreds of thousands of views online. Their fun enemies-to-lovers plotline begins with the pair pointing guns at each other and quickly progresses to a whirlwind romance (the other D.E.B.S. think Amy’s been kidnapped and launch a national manhunt, just as many friend groups have had to organize rescue missions for lesbians on weeklong first dates).

You could argue that espionage serves as a metaphor for the closet and that Amy is such an effective spy because she’s used to lying to herself about her sexuality. But that almost seems like too much weight to put on this meringue confection of a genre spoof: Its campiness liberates the characters to inhabit a fun, exaggerated universe with no serious homophobia or consequences. Guns are used, but the so-called superspies have such consistently terrible aim that there are no real casualties. And Lucy Diamond’s supposedly nefarious crimes are all reversible — the murders pinned on her are revealed to be misunderstandings, and she returns all of her stolen goods in order to win Amy back.

When this live-action Totally Spies with a lesbian twist debuted, it only made $97,000 and was dismissed by critics. But there were enough moviegoing gays impressed by its snappy dialogue, fun romance, and stunning supporting cast (including Meagan Good, Jimmi Simpson, and Devon Aoki with a French accent) for its reputation to grow online over time. In forums and YouTube comment sections, young girls were asking, “Are there any lesbian films where they just fall in love and have fun and don’t die at the end?” Their answer was D.E.B.S.

[3kockeleda]

"smut", censorship & why we must defend the freedom to read

Every era polices its stories. Today, the battleground is digital: TikTok, Twitter, and Tumblr simmer with moral panics over “problematic” fiction. At the heart of this debate lies a paradox: in an age that champions individuality and free expression, why are readers—particularly women and queer communities—increasingly shamed for enjoying narratives labeled “dark romance,” “smut,” or “spicy��? These terms, weaponized as shorthand for “morally bankrupt,” obscure a deeper cultural anxiety: the fear of stories that center taboo desires, power dynamics, or unapologetic female agency. What begins as criticism of tropes often escalates into demands for censorship, blurring the line between discourse and dogma. The stakes here transcend genre—this is about who gets to control narratives, and why.

Censorship has always targeted the marginalized. In the 19th century, novels like Madame Bovary and Lady Chatterley’s Lover were deemed “obscene” for depicting female desire outside patriarchal norms. By the mid-20th century, paperback romances adorned with shirtless heroes (think Fabio rescuing a swooning heroine) dominated bookstore racks. These novels were dismissed as frivolous “chick lit,” relegated to the realm of harmless escapism. Yet they sold millions, offering women a rare space to claim ownership of their fantasies.

Fast-forward to today. Their spiritual successors—stories exploring BDSM, morally gray relationships, or trauma—face a more insidious suppression: algorithmic shadow-banning, deplatforming, and viral callout campaigns that frame readers as complicit in harm. The shift from physical book burnings to digital erasure reflects a new puritanism, one couched in progressive language but rooted in the same paternalism: “These ideas are too dangerous for you.” Platforms like TikTok, which amplify outrage for engagement, reduce complex narratives to soundbite controversies. A single trope—a mafia romance’s nonconventional relationship, a bully romance’s power imbalance—is stripped of context, becoming fodder for hashtag activism. Lost in this frenzy is the distinction between depiction and endorsement, between art and advocacy.

Critics of dark romance often argue, “These stories normalize abuse!” Yet this concern is selectively applied. 

Consider:

Male-Centric Media: Films like Fight Club (domestic terrorism, toxic masculinity) and The Sopranos (misogyny, murder) are analyzed as “complex art.” Video games like Grand Theft Auto let players enact mass violence, yet their audiences aren’t accused of glorifying crime.

Queer and Feminist Narratives: Stories by marginalized authors—e.g., Carmilla (lesbian vampirism) or Tampa (female predator tropes)—face disproportionate scrutiny. Their themes are pathologized, their audiences interrogated.

This double standard reveals a cultural discomfort with women and queer people claiming narrative autonomy. Dark romance, often written by and for women, subverts the “pure heroine” archetype, allowing characters—and readers—to explore rage, desire, and imperfection. To dismiss these stories as “toxic” is to deny women the right to messy, multifaceted representation.

Fiction is a laboratory for the human experience. Psychologists argue that dark themes in art serve as simulations, letting readers safely confront fears, taboos, or repressed emotions. A 2019 study in Psychology of Aesthetics found that readers of transgressive fiction often engage in more ethical reasoning, not less, as they analyze characters’ choices.

Consider the appeal of dark romance:

Agency in Restriction: Heroines navigating oppressive worlds (e.g., mafia romances) often reclaim power within constraints, mirroring real struggles against systemic misogyny.

Catharsis Through Hyperbole: Exaggerated tropes (obsessive love, revenge plots) externalize internalized emotions, offering emotional release.

Censoring such works doesn’t protect readers—it infantilizes them, implying they can’t separate fiction from reality.

History shows that censorship rarely stops at “protecting” audiences. Once normalized, it expands to suppress dissent:

1980s “Satanic Panic”: Moral crusades against Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal music targeted countercultural communities.

2020s Book Bans: U.S. schools have banned texts like Gender Queer and The Hate U Give, conflating LGBTQ+ and anti-racist narratives with “obscenity.”

Calls to censor smut follow the same playbook: frame subjective discomfort as objective harm, then demand removal “for the greater good.” But who decides what’s “harmful”? Algorithms? Politicians? Corporations? Amazon’s arbitrary delisting of LGBTQ+ romance novels in 2021 (“content violations”) proves corporate censorship is already here—and it’s arbitrary.

To censor “smut” is to endorse a world where stories are policed by the timid, the authoritarian, or the algorithm. It undermines foundational principles:

Freedom of Literature: Art is not a public service announcement. It must be free to provoke, unsettle, and challenge.

Reader Autonomy: Trust adults to choose their media. Advocacy for content warnings and nuanced critique is valid; eradication is not.

Media Pluralism: A free society requires diverse narratives—including those deemed uncomfortable, “immoral,” or politically inconvenient.

The fight against censorship isn’t about defending specific tropes; it’s about resisting the idea that any story is “too dangerous” to exist. As Salman Rushdie wrote, “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” Let readers revel in their smut, their Shakespeare, their sapphic space operas. Let them dissect, debate, or devour stories without shame.

The alternative—a sanitized, homogeneous cultural landscape—is a far darker tale.

Defend the right to read. Defend the freedom to imagine. And never apologize for the stories that make us human.

[mynqzo]

Hey heard you like vampires what are your thoughts on Twilight

it gets an unprecedented amount of hate mostly for being a show with an audience of young women and girls (so therefore people think oh girls like this so ew). its also undeniable that twilight very much shows the progression of how vampires are depicted in media and is an important facet in the history of vampire mythology especially in books/movies. it being a romance movie with cliche and maybe cringe scenes doesn't take away people's right to enjoy it and by extent its version of vampires (id argue that twilight vampires are just a spiritual successor to vampires like lestate or 'romantic vamps' in general)

with that being said, it is the straightest and most mormon vampire depiction which therefore makes it less enjoyable for me! vampires, historically, existed to represent minorities and people who were considered outcasts to 'normal' society and were first and foremost used as caricatures for racist, lgbtq-phobic and sexist stereotypes, so i feel like their reclamation by queers, poc and minorities in general is the only good way to depict them. bram stoker's dracula represented the english man's fear of jewish immigrants (and immigrants in general, the visual description of dracula in that book plays into popular caricatures of jews during those times), eastern europeans, and queer people (dracula and jonathan yada yada as well as the wives of dracula initiating a saucy moment with jonathan which was a man' job because the man was the pursuer and the woman was pursued, but the roles were reversed. also, i don't think i need to tell you how fangs, blood and the extension of dracula through his wives were used as a gay metaphor). and carmilla by sheridan le fanu, depicting the imagery of a predatory lesbian hunting for innocent upper-class women. during these times vampires were not yet characters with complex personalities and values, but folklore monsters in a way, a way to show an enemy and defeat it rather than learn to understand them, which was a product of its time.

fast forward to the vampire chronicles and especially interview with the vampire by anne rice, vampires became complex people, who's oddities were considered alluring, beautiful, queer and unabashedly proud of it. descriptions of androgynous men, womens love of each other, several nods to gay culture throughout the books with the characters themselves having more to them than just being monsters (with that being said there are several critiques of an interview with the vampire, esp the original book, it is by no means the creme de la creme of queer rep in vampire literature!)

so, circling back, twilight vampires were in themselves like that, kind of. edward wasn't exactly the most macho man as was popular to faun over in media, he was, kind of, more androgenous and sensitive and a character with complex values and thoughts - but that doesn't take away from the fact that the book is lacking a lot of soul and seemingly doesn't show the true reasons why vampires became so popular (amongst young queers especially who found themselves relating to this sense of otherness because of who they were. it is a very sanitized version of a vampire romance, which doesn't mean its bad or that people shouldn't like it! but i'm just saying.

huff

[100gayicons]

Congratulations to Chloë Grace Moretz who came out as a lesbian in an Instagram post November 2, 2024. She using the occasion to announce she voted for President Kamala Harris as President, saying:

“I voted early and I voted for Kamala Harris, There is so much on the line this election. I believe the government has no right over my body as a woman, and that the decisions over my body should come ONLY from myself and my doctor. Kamala Harris will protect that for us.”

She added: “I believe in the need for legal protections that protects the LGBTQ+ community as a gay woman.”

Moretz was born and raised in Georgia. She describes her family as "very Christian" Southern Baptists. In 2002, at the age of 5, she moved to New York City with her mother and older brother Trevor, who had been accepted into a performing arts school there. This triggered her interest in acting.

In less than three years she she was cast in guest roles on TV. She played Ryan Reynolds’ daughter in the 2005 remake of “The Amityville Horror”.

Her major breakthrough came in 2010 when Moretz was cast as Hit-Girl in the comic book film “Kick-Ass” and as the child vampire in “Let Me In”.

In an interview in 2018, she said that two of her three brothers came out as gay. Because of their religious community, they both dealt with self-hate, and tried to "pray the gay away". She credits her mother who is very progressive, with helping them to accept themselves as they are.

This experienced motivated Moretz to starred in “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” about a teen involved in same-sex relationship who is then sent by her parent to a Christian conversion camp.

In 2021 Moretz helped produced the six-part Snapchat series “Coming Out” highlighting young LGBTQ people.

Moretz has been romantically linked with Brooklyn Beckham (David Beckham’s son). But she began a relationship with model Kate Harrison in 2018.

Although Moretz likes to “keep my private life private” she used the occasion of voting for Kamala Harris to announce to the public she is a “Gay Woman”.

[endcant]

Crossposted from my Tumblr Community: The Trans South

--

The Trans South Monthly Bulletin Board

Our pinned post for the month of November, 2024.

comment anything you want to add, and i'll add what fits in this month's post. i'll be making a new post each month, so you may need to resubmit any links that are applicable for multiple months. check the comments for anything i missed!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

the bright side:

the fact that you're alive is good news to me!

"Good News: Some States Passed Protections for Abortion Access, Marriage Equality, and More" | Here is an article with some upshots and progress from the 2024 election.

"Lipstick Lounge Owners Break Ground on Sports Bar Venture" | "The Lipstick Lounge is one of only 32 open and operating lesbian bars in the United States registered with the Lesbian Bar Project."

"Florida's LGBTQ+ community defies queer repression with advocacy & preservation" | "I will not paint a desolate picture of the state. And, there still is hope."

"The Candy Shop: Columbia SC Rallies to Honor Landmark Black Gay Bar" | "Researchers and preservationists at Historic Columbia have joined the struggle to correct the way the club has thus far been "written over" in the historical record."

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TTS crowdfunds:

help fellow transgender people in your community today!

Catgirl-smash needs help with bills and moving!

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fun links:

things that gave me dopamine and kept me going

Read "When We Call a Place Home" by Chinelo Onwualu | "A utopian tale of historical memory, the dangers of forgetting…and vampires."

WEBFISHING | "WEBFISHING is a multiplayer chatroom-focused fishing game! Relax and fish (on the web!)"

Memory Games | I've been using these memory games to try to heal my brain a bit from long covid brain fog.

Mahogany's List of Black Banned Books | Read some books they don't want you to read!

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useful links:

interesting resources and organizations you should know about

Trans Reads | "Trans Reads is an ambitious project created by and for transgender people to openly access writing related to our communities."

Southerners On New Ground | "SONG is a home for LGBTQ liberation across all lines of race, class, abilities, age, culture, gender, and sexuality in the South".

Winners from The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund | Check out this list of winning LGBTQ+ candidates for various political offices from around the U.S. who were supported by the Victory Fund.

Lambda Legal's Help Desk | "a resource for the community we serve in providing general legal information and resources relating to discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and HIV status."

Every State has a DD Council! | Did you know that it's federal law that every state must have a council whose job it is to hold their state accountable on behalf of developmentally disabled people?

Help the Palestinian People with a Click | "Your free click generates donations from our sponsors. Remember, you may click once a day, every day. Donations raised will go to UNRWA to assist the Palestinian refugees."

--

If you're an adult trans person in the U.S. South, join my Tumblr Community: The Trans South.

If you're a teen trans person in the U.S. South and you create a youth community for trans southerners, let me know and I'll link to it in The Trans South.

[ninadove]

2024 reading review 📚

2024 was the year I really got back into reading, and my beloved @pegasusdrawnchariots asked me to share the highlights! Behold my treasures:

READ:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

MY PRECIOUS. THIS ONE. THIS IS THE ONE. I had already seen and appreciated the 1955 movie, so I was curious to learn more, and BOY AM I GLAD I DID!!!!!

East of Eden has everything: tragic twins, a touching romance that does not overtake the plot, a smart yet compassionate look at pre-WWI America, generational trauma… But at its core, it is a story about humanity’s struggle to do good, and its message of hope is delivered masterfully.

I have to disagree with Goodreads’ summary: East of Eden is not a brutal story — on the contrary, it is filled with infinite tenderness and forgiveness for mankind. I would go as far as to say it is my favourite novel as of yet. GO READ IT GRRGRRGRR 🌱

Dracula by Bram Stoker

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

2024 was the year I finally accompanied my good friend Jonathan on his completely normal business trip! I was warned certain passages hadn’t aged very well, but I actually found the novel very progressive for its time.

More than a story about vampires, Dracula is a story about humanity (because I have a type, apparently). There is so much love and light in these pages and a guy who eats flies and also a cowboy. Everyone who interacted with my little liveread was so kind! 🖤🦇

Le Comte de Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet

Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmond Dantès is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned on an island fortress. After years of solitary confinement in a cramped, dank dungeon, he befriends an Italian prisoner who, with his dying breath, reveals the location of a vast treasure on the island of Monte-Cristo. Dantès stages a daring and dramatic escape, retrieves this fabulous fortune, and returns to France to exact revenge on his enemies, posing as the Count of Monte-Cristo.

If there’s one thing I love almost as much as stories about the beauty of humanity, it’s stories about evil (?) geniuses and revenge. Though I suppose this is also a story about the beauty of humanity, in a sense... Are all stories really about the beauty of humanity? I want 24 essays on my desk by Monday.

Anyway, Pegasus did a wonderful job of selling it to me and it did not disappoint. Every chapter is crazier than the one that came before! You’ll want to take notes, because the Count does not believe in taking the easy route when you could involve poison and a lasso and masks and the telegraph and an actual princess and a dead baby who isn’t actually dead. Also, there are lesbians in there! 🌊

RE-READ:

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

Pegasus wrote a wonderful synopsis and analysis here — go read it❣️

Re-reading this play healed something in me… It made me want more art, more emotion, more beautiful sights, more everything! Call me Christian the way I can’t put this feeling into words, but trust me, you’ll understand when you read it.

So many new aspects and themes and characters and relationships caught my eye this time around! Everything about this play is beautiful! And and and!!! It’s such a beautiful love letter (HA) to the French language! What’s not to love?

It also brought me my wonderful friend @pegasusdrawnchariots and made me discover @bright-thehawksflight’s amazing fics… The most wonderful and talented people gravitate around this play, and for good reason! Quel panache! 💌

La Sombra del Viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets — an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

I can’t believe Goodreads forgot the accent on Julián’s name… Must I do everything in this house…

I first read La Sombra del Viento in French when I was 15 or so, but reordered it in its original Spanish in anticipation of my holidays (I got stranded in Bilbao overnight because of the worldwide Microsoft outage! How fun!). Spoiler alert: I loved it as much as I did the first time!

This story will take you by surprise, starting with the magic and mystery of a YA-novel only to take a drastic turn towards gothic horror. Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s prose is so so so very pretty and will make you fall in love with the wonderful yet monstrous city that is Barcelona.

I’m now re-reading the second tome of the series (separate story in the same universe) and thoroughly enjoying myself. In fact, I shall return to its pages as soon as I am done with this post! 💙📚🔥

I’m especially curious to know what @dragongutsixofficial, @theuselesshistoryweeb and @bright-thehawksflight have been reading this year (but no pressure)! And if you want to talk about books, consider yourself tagged! ❤️

[impossiblepackage]

say, i heard you reblog a post about role playing games. do you happen to know of any ones that i, a beginner, could feasibly get into in this day and age? i tried DnD but a combination of not having anybody to play with (whether irl or online) and a dissatisfaction with low level boringness kind of made it fizzle out for me

oh hey an ask from 3 months ago that I didn't even see. hi.

ANYWAY. First things first, i cannot recommend @theresattrpgforthat enough. Ain't nobody better at recommending rpgs than that blog right there. Now, on to my thoughts.

If you want a DnD-like rpg, Pathfinder 2nd Edition is gonna be my first recommendation. It's harder to find games for on account of being significantly less popular than dnd5e but it's probably the 2nd most popular game. It's also completely free, with everything being hosted on https://2e.aonprd.com/. It's got everything except adventures, those ya gotta buy. For the next 10 days, there's a humble bundle that includes PDFs of lots of the pre-remaster legacy books, and includes a couple adventures, including a whole adventure path going from level 1 to 20. As a whole, the game is different to dnd but it's recognizable. Big fan myself, and paizo isn't a bunch of pricks. The setting is also super gay. There's a potion of trans your gender, and one of the main religions in the world is the worship of 3 gods in lesbian polycule.

Ironsworn: probably my favorite RPG, period. (also has a space version, that works the same way). It is narrative focused, and designed for solo play or in groups with no GM. Works just as well by yourself, as a duo, in a small group, or in a traditional way with a few players and a GM. It's structured around it's vow system. Your character makes a vow, you decide how difficult that vow should be to accomplish, and as you do things that advance it, you mark progress. Eventually, you make a roll to try and fulfill the vow, with the difficulty determined by how much progress you've made. If you fail that roll, it's bad. Cool thing is that just about everything works that way. Undertaking a journey, delving a dungeon, fighting a dude, it's all handled with the same system. It's a game about perseverance and struggle and relationships, both with people and with places. also very fun to play for writing practice. It's mechanics are rooted in it's setting, but there's no reason you couldn't play it in basically any setting. the youtube channel Me, Myself, And Die is, essentially, Critical Role But It's Solo RPGs, and he did a great season where he played Ironsworn, check it out. Also, Basement Fort on youtube did a duo playthrough. I've only seen the first episode but it seems like a fun watch, as well as showing off duo gameplay.

the Witcher RPG: i haven't played this myself or even looked at the books yet, but everything I've heard about this game has me super excited about it. the general consesus seems to be "yo this is wayyyy better than I thought it would be, why aren't more people playing this, what the fuck". If somebody more familiar wants to talk about it, that'd be dope.

gonna ramble about the rest much less, LIGHTNING ROUND OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Dungeon World: same genre as dnd, but much less crunchy gameplay. Much easier to learn.

Kids On Bikes: it's Stranger Things but as a ttrpg.

Call of Cthulhu: get spooky, idiot. The players are investigators unraveling some mystery or another, and trying to keep their sanity in the face of some cosmic bullshit.

Lancer: it's about mechs! closer to anime-style mechs than battletech style, from what I can tell. I've heard good things.

Vampire: The Masquerade: you will NEVER guess what this is about. It's a classic, it's great, it pretty much redefined the way I think vampires should work. The new version of Werewolf: The Apocalypse is coming soon, and I'm real hyped for that, too.

Shadow Of The Demon Lord: my understanding is that this game is basically "DnD 5e, but good".

[indelicateink]

some random recent wishes from the bounty of IWTV kink meme requests--the full list is amazing!

note: so many thanks to @vampire-dove for maintaining this anon kink meme for us.

to play: click on the form link on the left side of the kink meme page. please go add more. please fill prompts. have you mused about your favs exploring each others’ bodies today? NO? would you like to?

Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac Blood Drinking

loumand have been fucking but they haven't shared blood yet

--

Raglan James/Daniel Molloy

Daniel Molloy and whoever the hell Justin Kirk is playing (Raglan? Marius?). Dubai, pre-vampire Daniel. Just two old men screwing while screwing over vampires.

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

modern-day au. when impoverished Lestat de Lioncourt comes into the vast inheritance left to him by his stalker, he makes a lot of changes in his life. the first is tackling his illiteracy. he's making steady progress, but braving the public library has been life-altering--especially since meeting the hot librarian who recommends him books for them to argue about.

other life goals include buying an actual house, exploring the wonders of having health insurance, enjoying the ability to buy new clothes. and getting over the trauma of magnus's attack. and being able to be intimate with someone again. little things like that. mostly he just wants to hang out around all the free books, in sight of his very beautiful new friend.

non-ao3 tags: anxiety about sex, louis is compassionate, adult learning is not a punchline, louis knows all the best erotica

--

Claudia/Madeleine Claudia starts realizing that she's getting the same kind of butterflies around Madeleine as she did around boys, perhaps even stronger. One night after Madeleine called to visit, Claudia takes her exploration into her own hands and imagination.

While Claudia is in the throes of her self pleasure, Madeleine returns to retrieve something she'd forgotten, only to hear Claudia's moans through the half-closed door. Peering inside, she watches for a moment, her own hunger growing inside her, before she can't hold herself back. Swooping into the room, Madeleine takes charge of the situation (not in a dom sense; just in an experienced sense) and shows Claudia the joys of lesbian sex.

TLDR: Claudeleine + masturbation interruptus, first times, (slight) voyeurism, experienced teaching the inexperienced

--

Armand/Daniel Molloy, Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Possessive Behavior, Possessive Armand, Vampire Daniel Molloy

Daniel wants to interview Lestat, but apparently he’s like catnip to older vampires. Lestat flirts relentlessly, Louis finds it funny, and Armand is possessive.

--

Armand/Louis de Pointe du Lac Trans Louis de Pointe du Lac, Trans Armand, Lesbian Sex

dyke loumand have sex on a motorbike

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Birthday Sex, Consensual Somnophilia, Marathon Sex, Established Relationship, Consensual Kink Loustat having (enthusiastic!) free use agreement on their respective birthdays (including somnophilia).

I couldn't find free use kink tag so let's pretend it's there. Ideally, would have two parts, one on louis' birthday, one on lestat's, but picking one would be good too!

--

Daniel Molloy/Louis de Pointe du Lac Post-Season/Series 02, Canon Compliant, Murder, Blood Drinking, Shower Sex, Bottom Louis de Pointe du Lac louis gets back home a few days later to a newly turned daniel who has been holed up in the penthouse since he killed a couple employees as soon as he'd gone through the worst of his transformation. vampire daniel with newfound zest for life comes onto him.

--

Lestat de Lioncourt/Louis de Pointe du Lac Top Louis de Pointe du Lac, Bottom Lestat de Lioncourt, Dominant Louis de Pointe du Lac, Submissive Lestat de Lioncourt, Spanking, Crybaby Lestat de Lioncourt, Cock Warming, Orgasm Delay, Orgasm Denial, Orgasm Edging, Begging

After Lestat comes back home flaunting Antoinette's scent, trying to get a rise out of Louis, he gets what he wants. But Louis, determined not to give in so easily, makes him beg for it.

Bonus points if Louis makes Lestat play the piano with his cock in him.

--

Daniel Molloy/Louis de Pointe du Lac Painplay, High Heels, Foot Fetish, Orgasm Edging, Verbal Humiliation, Bottom Louis de Pointe du Lac could be an AU or canonverse. louis likes high heels, daniel likes it when louis gets a little mean.

--

so I am but one cheerleader--if anyone else wants to make posts promoting requests they'd like to see, you might catch the eye of a like-minded author or fellow dreamer!

[dykekingofhell]

I’ve been working on a comprehensive list of all films with references or allusions to in the vampire chronicles books, films, show, and related promotional materials, along with films that anne rice and rolin jones have listed as inspirations!

Here’s some highlights:

Louis’ favorite films during the Tale of The Body Thief era:

The Company of Wolves (1984) (directed by neil jordan who also made interview with the vampire 1994)

Beauty and the Beast (1946) (i just know he was kinning Belle to a sickening degree)

The Dead (1987)

Armand’s favorite films during the devil’s minon era:

Bladerunner (1982)

Time Bandits (1981)

The film Anne Rice has credited with heavily informing her views on vampirism:

Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

AR: "I always saw vampires as romantic and abstract. In Dracula they’re presented as closer to animals—feral, hairy, foul-smelling. But I always saw them as angels going in another direction—not toward goodness necessarily, but they had become finely tuned imitations of human beings imbued with this evil spirit. Since the spirit is not material, what actually happens is that they become refined and abstract rather than animalistic and materialistic. This idea probably stuck with me from childhood, when I saw the movie
Dracula’s Daughter. I loved the tragic figure of Dracula’s daughter—the
regretful creature who didn’t want to kill but was driven to it. It had that tragic dimension. The vampire myth is at its fullest, most eloquent, and most articulate in this movie because the vampire herself was articulate and eloquent. I never forgot that film. It has the best seduction scenes I’ve ever seen—very subtle. You don’t see her come into contact. She lifts the ring and hypnotizes the victim." (Ramsland, Katherine. “Let the Flesh Instruct the Mind A QUADRANT INTERVIEW WITH ANNE RICE .” The Anne Rice Reader, 1997. )

This is also notable because of the film’s queerness and overt lesbian subtext. As the Countess Marya Zaleska struggles with her vampire nature it functions as an oblique metaphor for lesbian sexuality, and she also seduces a young woman named Lili. (crazy louis parallels over here)

some of the promotional posters for season 2 took clear inspiration from the poster for the 1944 film Gaslight (shout out armand):

episode 2x03 makes major visual allusions to the noir film The Third Man (1949):

for more about this read @dorianbluee ‘s great meta: link

I have longer list with citations and quotes linked at the top of this post on letterboxd if anyone wants to check it out! also let me know if i’m missing anything major over there!

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, June 1st

WILLOW: Xander, we should go with Giles! He could get in trouble! XANDER: Oh, he's gone, uh, it's, he's gonna be alright. He's like super librarian, y'know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the ultimate weapon.

~~Never Kill a Boy on the First Date~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

One Day Left by Spikelover4ever (Buffy/Spike, Explicit)

no-good gay girls by daemonology (Buffy/Faith, M)

the scoobies are playing "hear me out". by elverrie (Xander/Spike, not rated)

Till You Do by forasecondtherewedwon (Buffy/Spike, Explicit)

Thief by hiddndaydreams (Spike/reader, 18+)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Dusk's Haven, Ch. 7 by TwilightChild (Buffy/Spike, Adult Only)

Two's Company, Ch. 6 by Serenitey (Buffy/Spike, R)

Troubling Deaf Heaven, Ch. 17 by JuneCurry (Buffy/Spike, R)

Multiplicity, Ch. 24–25 by simmony (Buffy/Spike, R)

i wanna be bad, Ch. 3 by goodbyetoyou (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Strong Anthropic Principles, Ch. 12–17 by acekoomboom (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Dawn Pratt, Ch. 1 by Orange Wombat (Buffy/Spike, G)

Shadows on the Wall, Ch. 1–2 by zinjadu (Buffy/Spike, R)

Hearts a Mess, Ch. 11 by splendidchapette (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Things I Can’t Spell, Ch. 6–7 by Cazzy (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Fluer Ephemere, Ch. 1 by Maxine Eden (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Out of Dodge, Ch. 1 by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

It's a Hellmouth After All, Ch. 1 by Dusty, bookishy (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Images, Audio & Video]

An attempt at the Doublemeat Palace Official Uniform Hat by amberkendslacy (worksafe)

Gifset: Spike + Outfits by clarkgriffon (worksafe)

A sketch of Faith by moonfruito (worksafe)

A Willow/Oz gifset by starryeyesxx (possibly NSFW, mild sexual situation)

Jagged Little Slayer, a BtVS fanvid album in progress by periru3 and Tafadhali (0)

moodboard: bigenderflux lesbian faith lehane by courtillyy (worksafe)

Screenshots captioned by hal-1500 (Giles/Jenny, worksafe)

Spike by inkgioo (implied Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

A Giles/Jenny drawing by mistyintherivers (worksafe)

Screenshots captioned by saivanmarly (the Trio, worksafe)

Gifs captioned with text posts and tweets by saivanmarly (Andrew, Willow, Buffy/Spike, other characters, probably worksafe, one sexual situation but no nudity)

Digital drawings of Spike and the artist by secretshifter-desperate (worksafe)

A masterpost of graphics by slurping-up-grass (multifandom post, Buffy, Spike, Scoobies, Faith, Willow, worksafe, artist is asking for a blingee login)

A Bronze coloring book page (in a multifandom post) by songbiirdss (worksafe)

two twinks, one strap by stitch-away (NYPD Blue crossover, Eddie/Dio Morrisey, smut, not for minors)

Webweaving: screenshots captioned with Richard Siken's poetry by theloopus (Buffy/Faith, brief sexual reference)

Meme: Peak sibling dynamic by tiaragloryart (Spike & Dawn, worksafe)

Different color moodboards for Angel plus a bonus Angelus by wishverse-angel (worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

First Time Watching Buffy (Just Finished) by lap-dog8141

Buffy Slays: Nightmares by violettathepiratequeen

Podcast: Angel 2.5 Dear Boy | Buffy the Vampire Straya

[Recs & In Search Of]

Reactions on Youtube: recs by jengafat and others

For Sale: 37 Buffy books in very good/like new condition by stinky_vaj

[Community Announcements]

Summer of Giles 2025 is happening! (1st July until 31st)

Summer of Giles will be happening this year between 1 July and 31st July 2025

[Fandom Discussions]

Buffy Characters and Dere Types by lilyginnyblackv2

Sineya was trying to protect Buffy by trying to remove [Willow, Xander and Giles] from her life (anti-Angel) by raisedbythetv89

A meme about Tara and Willow season 6 finances discourse by saivanmarly

Buffy s5: 2002. Scooby-Doo (the live action): 2002. by xxthegreenwitchxxteveo

What would Buffy have done? *[AtS] Season 5* by chickenlover46

Defend the unpopular character you like. For me it's Connor by StaticCloud

If Illyria was in Buffy, what kind of relationship would she have with the characters there? hosted by Easy-Distribution223

“I’ve been going out…Hunting..that’s what Dracula called it.” by DamonAlbarnFruit

Speculations on who will be in the new series and what will be the plot? by Hyperp0w3r and others

Happy Pride Month everyone by Past-Throat-6788 and others

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

James Marsters, David Boreanaz, Julie Benz & Seth Green FAN EXPO Dallas 2025 Reports, Pics & Videos via dontkillspike

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[beevean]

Remember:

NFCV was written by an actual sex offender but gets called progressive because it's got GIRL POWER!!

Berserk gets called mysoginistic though

Y'know what though to be fair? I don't wanna accuse fans of the show of being "abuse apologists" or anything like that because:

1) The show has MILLIONS of viewers and the news about Ellis didn't exactly make national news so I'm sure most of them don't even know about it

2) There indeed is something like separating the art from the artist, if we were to criticize people for enjoying media produced by questionable folks on principle then we'd never be able to pick up a book ever again

But also because of this anyone who desires to make the argument about the show being progressive or anything should absolutely keep this in mind.

And if I ever hear people dismiss the games as mysoginistic because Iga once said something about female characters not being fit for these kinds of stories well...

Let's just say I'll take the outdated sexist take on female characters in videogames over the guy who actually hurt dozens of real life women

Yeah, it would be absurd to accuse every fan of NFCV or similarly shoddy products to be bigots and abusers. I can accuse the producers, though :)

Sorry, there is no #girlpower or #pocrepresentation that can stand up against this genuinely vile rhetoric. I really can't care about muh lesbian vampires when Sam Deats lowkey implied that Alucard being bi made Taka raping him more okay (because why would he say that referring to the threesome scene? To confirm that Alucard would be attracted to a man. As if attraction or not matters when you are being taken advantage of like that). And, of course, it's very uncomfortable to see a real life molester attempting to write "stronk women", especially one that is pretty much the parody of a radfem...

[yves-and-scessernee]

Ask Game: List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (>w<) <3

Sure! Thank you for sending me an ask <3 Let's see what I've got.

My read-aloud reading group makes me happy. We started a couple of years back as a way to get together and eke out some time in our lives to get through some books, and I'm honestly really proud of how much we've done. Some members have gone from feeling deeply insecure about reading aloud to jumping in with such enthusiasm and eagerness, and I've loved watching that progression. We've cleared novels like Dune, Dracula, 'Salem's Lot, the play Long Day's Journey Into Night, a ton of poems and short stories, and we're currently in the middle of The Vampire Lestat. I really look forward to it each week.

My wife makes me happy <3 She just got home from work.

The pride flag I use makes me happy. When I started publicly identifying as a lesbian I knew it was really important to me to avoid symbols that have brought pain to my network of friends and family, most of whom are mspec and/or trans, and while I pass no judgement on those who use these symbols for their own reasons I've just ... heard enough from my personal community to want to avoid them wholesale. I made the decision to use the dawn lesbian pride flag for me, and it's brought me a lot of joy. It's definitely made being public about my identity a very positive experience. And I really love that I can point to a specific stripe and say "that's me! I'm there!"

My religion makes me happy. I've spent some time lately preparing my altar for the spring, thinking about bringing in some flowers from the garden soon.

I did two long entries and two short ones, so let's close off with a medium-length one. The spring weather makes me happy. Winter has its moments to cherish, but spring ... the sudden chatter of birds, the lift of a brisk spring breeze, the shift from snow to rain, the way the landscape empties and begins to turn green. It's been raining on and off for the past few days, and I have been listening to it with my window open. It feels like hope. It always has.