#like a cassandra clare type of thing

[titsthedamnseason]

sometimes i am randomly haunted by the original throne of glass series covers. because like WHO is that girl and WHY is she gray

[cruelsister-moved2]

this is so humiliating 30 years old and you still cant read a book that isn't abt sexy fairies going into heat

[angelwood-if]

DEMO (EDITING)

Genres and tropes: urban fantasy, romance, found family, enemies to lovers, exes to lovers, friends to lovers, murder mystery, action

LUNAR CITY: a gritty but bustling city where supernaturals and humans live in (relative) harmony. Humans live alongside Fae, witches and warlocks, vampires, and so many more. It's normal. It's your normal.

When your father died, he left you with one thing: his antiquities/pawn shop. Decades upon decades of collecting and trading bits and bobs from all types of supernatural histories sit right here in Angelwood Antiquities, a staple of Lunar City and the shop you have now inherited.

It was his life's work, and you've done everything in your power to keep it running.

But when someone comes in bloodied and begging for you to take hold of a magical object, you don't know what you're agreeing to. You definitely don't expect him to die at your feet, telling you to take good care of...them.

Them?

Turns out the object is no object at all, but an ancient being that could be the key to stopping a multi-species war that's been brewing right under your nose..and your father may have had something to do with it. And when that being chooses and bonds to you--giving you its power--you are now thrust headfirst into the world of supernatural. The same world you've managed to avoid.

Entangled with a cast of characters who will help you save the world, you are now both human and supernatural, a rare feat. And the most important person in the city. And it will be up to you to save it.

Angelwood is an urban-fantasy inspired by stories by Sarah J. Maass, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black. It is primarily centered around romance, with a fantasy, murder mystery, and war brewing at its core. The demo is already written and undergoing editing.

FEATURES.

Customize your MC's gender identity, pronouns, appearance, personality.

Navigate a gritty city of supernaturals.

Embark on an adventure to find out what war is brewing in supernatural circles and how to stop it.

Romance a multitude of supernatural and human characters, including a Fae, a Greenwarden, and an entity bonded to you.

Angelwood is a primarily romance and character-driven.

Play in a gritty, supernatural world where not everything is what it seems.

CAST [ROs]

IVAN CROSS (M)(FAE) - Ivan is the cold and distant Detective of the LCPD. He is also a powerful Fae, with a menacing reputation that makes most people scared to cross him. Ivan is not exactly a team player and he seems insistent on railroading this tentative partnership you didn't even want to have with him, but he's also the only one who can make sense of whats happening to you. Seems like you're stuck with him.

It doesn't help that you two aren't on the best of terms considering he closed your father's case without much effort.

FREYA (F)(GREENWARDEN) -- Ivan's second-in-command and your other partner that forms this...odd trio. You expected Greenwardens--powerful sprites that manipulate all things nature--to be smooth talking and caring. Wrong. Freya is snarky and punchy, and determined to get her mission done. Maybe it's because she's half human. Who knows.

DOMINION (DOM)(UNKNOWN) - Dom is the smooth-talking entity that is now in your head and giving you their powers. You...don't really know what to say. They sure are a flirt, at least.

KALEL/KALIS (M/F) (VAMPIRE) - K, once your old friend (and possible ex partner) is now insistent on joining your group considering they seem to have a stake in this too. (pun non intended)

SELINA (F)(SERPENT/HUMAN HYBRID) - Selina the Serpent is the owner of the biggest gambling den in the red light district, and also someone you don't want to cross. Over the years, she's traded with you on all sorts of things people leave behind in exchange for information...and now she wants to join in one the group. Having her around would really help, considering she has eyes everywhere.

QUINN (F/M)(HUMAN) - your best friend and the one you hired for Angelwood. And a human, which seems to be rare these days.

[simplyclary]

Of All Places, Why Paris?

(Screenshot by me)

*This is a break from all the purely TZP related content I've been putting out here and that content shall resume in a day or two but for now, have a Henry related post* ;)

Have you ever wondered about the specificity of Henry's answer to Alex when Henry said that he would live in Paris if he was an anonymous person in the world? Like why Paris? Henry could've chosen Italy, Germany, Switzerland, or Greece which are all lovely places but no, he chose Paris, France specifically.

I pondered on his answer for a little bit and I think I have an explanation for it. This is me sharing that explanation with you guys, if you also wondered about the reason why Henry wanted to live in Paris.

Paris, the capital of France is known as many things, the "City of Love (and Romance)", the "Fashion Capital" of the world and the "City of Lights". To be completely honest, Paris is one of my dream cities to visit since I was a young girl. I've always wanted to see the lights of the Eiffel Tower, go inside the Louvre Museum, visit the Notre Dame Cathedral, eat authentic French food and more.

I'll move on to the main point here before I get sidetracked by my random thoughts...

Henry was so specific when he told Alex that he wanted to live in Paris given the chance of being an anonymous person in the world. I think that given the chance, Henry wanted to live a life that is authentic to who he is and far from the conformities and traditions that force him to not live his life as a gay man.

Back in the olden days and even until now, being gay is not considered to be illegal in Paris. The city even has a very lively queer night life that celebrates all types of sexualities. This is the exact opposite of what is in the traditional English way of life, especially in the Royal Family, which is where Henry belongs in.

To quote what Nora said to Alex "Princes aren't allowed to be gay". Key word is allowed and so that means that until tradition changes, Henry is trapped in his "closet" and is forced to conform to something that is not authentic to him. Merely thinking about this just breaks my heart.

I also want to share some insights from an interview of a favorite author of mine, Cassandra Clare. For those who don't know, Cassandra Clare is the author of the bestselling Shadowhunters Chronicles (which is one of my favorite sagas of all time) and she has introduced me to a lot of my favorite queer characters, some of them also share the same predicament as Henry.

In one of her interviews, Cassie shared that queer people, especially gay men during the Victorian and Edwardian era, go to Paris for one thing: freedom. In Paris, these gay men can live their authentic selves without the fear of being judged by society and even those closest to them like their family and friends. This is also one of the biggest reasons why in one of her trilogies, about a couple of queer characters always reference going to Paris.

Going back to Henry, this idea can be applied because he wants to live his life freely and openly. He even mentions it to Alex during their Paris stroll that only his sister Bea fully knows about him. His mom probably suspects, his brother Philip is completely oblivious and his grandfather, the king, is a cold and hard realist.

Henry also mentioned to Bea after he returns to Kensington from Texas that the idea of royalty in the 21st century is antiquated, which is true because the royals live by tradition and most of them are not willing to change it, which is heartbreaking.

Also, in the film, Henry's grandfather states that the nation simply will not accept a prince who is homosexual. This hurts and angers me at the same time because they already live in the 21st century and yet they're acting as if it's the Victorian or Edwardian era where being gay is not allowed.

This turned out to be pretty lengthy and I may have veered off the tracks a bit at some parts but the main point is that Henry wanted to live in Paris because in Paris, he can live his life as a gay man who has nothing to worry about, not bound by traditions, simply free and happy in his own authentic self.

That's all my thoughts, folks. Note that all of these are my personal thoughts. Feel free to let me know your thoughts.

I did like writing this post and sharing my thoughts with you. Henry deserves the biggest hug and lots of support after everything he's been through and I'm happy Alex is with him.

Now, back to regularly-scheduled TZP-related posts for the rest of the year....(Partly kidding because a thought about Henry/Nicholas might pop up in my brain randomly and if I feel the need to share it, I'll definitely share it here).

Be well and all my love. Have a lovely day/night wherever you guys are.

[belle-keys]

A lot of the “spicy” romansce fantasy authors that kind of pioneered the sub genre (SJM, Jennifer l armentrout, laura thalassa etc) all started in YA, and then in mid series, they shifted and grew with their audience to go more adult in themes.

Do you think Cassandra Clare should have done the same thing and missed this opportunity? Would you have preferred if she reflected this? I personally feel like her fandom would still be as strong as ever if she followed her colleagues suit.

Or do you think that she stayed good sticking to her roots and her writing voice lends itself to not have more adult type of romances and benefits from a fade to black shall we say.

In her latest kickstarter, one of the four novels that are in it, will feature 10 spicy romantic couples from shadow hunters universe. Given this is crowd funded it makes me wonder if, if it were up to her, she would have gone more adult themed but her publishing contract held her back from it. But then from a publishers pov, isn’t that shooting yourself in the foot? All the authors I mentioned above changed their contracts I feel to reflect the direction the audience knew would give the most captain gain.

I would love to know your thoughts on this 🤭.

I don't think Cassie ever wanted to write romantasy or spicy romance-fantasy as her main "vocation".

I think I picked up on this when she deleted a lot of Julian and Emma smut scenes from The Dark Artifices because they didn't serve the progress of the story. Cassie has her indulgences, but she tends to not be overly focused on writing romance or smut in the grander scheme of the fantasy story. Cassie's guilty pleasure in writing seems to be writing semi-unnecessary angst and fluff between close friends more than anything, not spice.

I'm quite glad we're getting some spice from the Kickstarter project, and I think the reason she's making this an additional, optional project and not part of the main series is because she knows it's just for fun; it's not her main "thing", just an additional treat.

So all in all I'm quite happy she didn't follow with the Sarah J. Maas and company trend. And frankly, neither did Cassie's close writer besties either. Neither Holly Black nor Maureen Johnson nor Sarah Rees Brennan have gone into smutty adult fantasy either, so I get why it's not Cassie's preference. Cassie seems more set on establishing herself as a "serious" high fantasy writer now, hence rubbing elbows with George RR Martin.

[malec-ao3feed]

Nothing Else Matters

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/vgpRzZx by Alexil Magnus has a hard time sleeping next to his boyfriend Alexander when suddenly a curious Shadowhunter item falls into his hands again after a long time. The situation that unfolds afterwards is as much a surprise for Magnus as it is truly unexpected. **** This work was created for By the Angel Bingo: Presented by the Malec Discord Server Words: 4070, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Magnus Bane, Alec Lightwood Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Additional Tags: By the Angel Bingo 2024, Bingo Prompt Witchlight, Magnus would like to sleep, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, Alec Lightwood Is a Nice Thing, Alec Lightwood Loves Magnus Bane, Romance, Unexpected nightly declarations read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/vgpRzZx

[dream-beyond-the-fantasy]

4, 13, 21, 24, 25, 33, 42, 57, 63, 70 and 71 for the fic writer ask game!

Thank you for the questions! Okay, this took some time and thought. And some of my answers are long. It will be under a "read more" out of convenience and respect for my mutuals and followers.

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

I really want to write a background and sidestory for a one-off character from George Lopez that Tony O'Dell played. I don't think I've written it yet for a few reasons:

a) I don't know if his character is named Blaine (dialogue and closed captions) or Patrick (credits on IMDb and from the end of the episode).

b) I kinda want to ask Tony about that episode and role.

c) I haven't had time or haven't sat down and focused on it enough to start writing it.

No, I don't experience existential dread over it.

13. talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

This isn't going to take long. But in writing my first fic, Is This Love?, I learned that I can write sexy things. This is the opposite of the "write what you know" advice. I have done research and will continue to do more. I've talked with others who have written smut. And I have had some friends read over what little I have written. As I tend to write out of sequence, I haven't published the smut and I'm still a bit anxious about it, but I decided to do this to prove to myself that I could. I wouldn't be upset if Is This Love? is the only fic that I write that contains smut, but proud of myself.

21. pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

A fellow fanfic writer? Hmm, I would say @curiousdamage @missviolethunter @cecexwrites @rynnie-rynn @themaradwrites @avatarskywalker78 and/or @the-time-lord-oracle.

With Curious, MissV, Rynn, and/or AvatarSkywalker78, I would write something for The Karate Kid or Cobra Kai because that is the main fandom that we have in common. The first three were with me when I created my OCs and I honestly would trust them to write Julie or Alyssa. But all of them have strengths writing other characters in that fandom that I'm not sure I can do justice or write with the nuance they deserve.

Curious, MissV, and I could finally write that spinoff/revival-type fanfic for The Equalizer with Scott McCall and his OC daughter as the central characters. Or Curious and I could write a Cagney & Lacey story.

With Cece, it would probably be a story set in the Wizarding World with supporting and minor canon characters.

Obviously, a Doctor Who story with The_Time_Lord_Oracle.

And were I to write an original story, it would be with Rynn or Mara.

All of these writers are ones that I greatly admire, consider friends, have created some of the best original characters (I wish they all were canon and I would protect them to the end), and have written many of my favorite stories.

If you are asking about published/professional authors, I'm not sure. Maybe Rick Riordan, Richelle Mead, David McIntee, Timothy Zahn, Jude Watson, or Cassandra Clare (yes, I know some of the allegations against her, but she is still one of my favorite YA writers).

24. on average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

It really depends on it's a workday vs. weekend, how much time I've had to write, and how inspired I was. If I write at least 500 words, I consider it a productive day.

25. what’s your revision or rewriting process like?

I edit as I write, which makes the writing process longer, I'm sure. Then I send it to my beta. After I hear their thoughts and suggestions, I take into account if those serve the story and make appropriate edits. Then I will post it on AO3.

33. do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Honestly, a very rough plot idea. The characters are my main focus and I spend more time thinking about how to develop them and how they will react to the plot.

42. describe the aesthetic of a story in 5 words.

Let me preface this with "I'm not sure that I'm doing this right."

Family. Friendship. Discovery. Magic. Adventure.

57. what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were reading it?

Okay, these might not be the actual last things, but they are the best that I can remember: Camille Coduri's natural hair color and Billie Piper's eye color.

63. what’s the best insult you’ve read in a fic?

I've read so many fics that I honestly don't know. I'm sorry.

70. are you very critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during the writing or after the fact)?

Yeah, I think I am. I second-guess myself a lot. I edit as I write, so I might spend hours on the same damn paragraph because I didn't like the original word choice, felt it was too similar to something I had previously written, or numerous other reasons. I once nearly trashed everything I wrote for Is This Love? and lay on my bed crying because I thought I was being too harsh on Jimmy and my OC Julie.

71. how do you balance writing and life? do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing you have to do?

Hahaha. Balance? What's that? Ironic isn't it, considering that I write for The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai? Yes, I constantly feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing that I have to do. I want to be able to post two chapters for three of my WIPs by the end of 2024. I haven't worked on two of them at all yet. I haven't done any writing since early or mid-February. Sometimes, I feel like a failure because I started writing Is This Love? in 2018 and I haven't even started writing the scenes concurrent with the plot of The Karate Kid, while I've got friends and mutuals who can write, finish, and post a few multichapter fics within a few months.

[amethystroselily]

Honestly The Last Hours is just a culmination of all of the worst aspects of Cassandra Clare’s writing. The melodrama is pointless and without depth, she cannot write character development to save her life, she cannot write slow build romance, she keeps telling you characters have traits that they clearly don’t (show Cordelia being witty and with a sharp personality instead of someone proclaiming she’s the most unique and sassy person they’ve ever met on the rare occasion that she is sarcastic. And stop trying to tell me that james this level-headed leader type every five minutes.), none of the characters react to anything in a way specific to their character they’re all just set to soap opera mode, she’s making like five lore retcons a book, and there’s even more of her signature weird importance placed on bloodlines than ever. Also why is everyone acting like Alistair murdered their entire family just because he was kind of a gossipy little bitch when he was like 13. Like Cordelia acts like disowning him would be the moral thing to do every time someone brings it up. It is NOT that serious!

[alastairstom]

tell us more about cordelia! something you love, something you wish we knew more about, something you relate to, something you've discerned that we might not have seen yet, why she doesn't seem to know any neurotypicals yet might be neurotypical herself, etc. just cordelia. i think we should talk about her more

Cordelia, Cordelia, Cordelia!

She is my daughter. She delights me. She confounds me.

Despite being one of my favourite characters in TSC, I find everything she does baffling. Every time she is faced with a choice, any choice at all, she does the exact opposite thing than I would have done. For her, she makes the right choices. If I made her choices, though, I'd rip my own hair out. We are SUCH different people.

I actually really like this. A lot of my favourite characters are important to me because of the ways that I find myself mirrored in them. Matthew, Alastair, and Thomas are all great examples. Cordelia serves a different function to me as a window character. Watching her is like a huge character study in someone Very Unlike Me who's extremely complex, likeable, and ultimately lovely.

Matthew and Cordelia

The sole exception to this "Cordelia-and-I-make-different-choices" rule is when she runs off to Paris with Matthew, which I would have done. It would have been a good decision for me but was actually an awful one for her.

I'm going to be a little rambley here, but I want to talk a little bit about her relationship with my Best Blorbo Matthew. I think that she fundamentally misunderstands him, which is interesting for me to watch as someone who's so similar to Matthew. I might dissect the whole scene one day when I have time, but there's this bit where she's rejecting him where he's going on and on about all the places they can travel to. She says, "we can't always be running away." This was so interesting to me!!! Because it was so obvious to me that Matthew wasn't running away. He's planning his dream future full of unknown adventures, and he's trying to fit her in. She's too settled, she wants to be settled, and that's okay! They're just not compatible. But she so greatly misunderstands what he's trying to do, and I kind of turn my head to that scene to go "huh. That's why I don't understand her."

Daisy, My Daughter

There are so many things I love about Cordelia. I absolutely adore her bravery and her compassion, and I think she feels a lot. I think she's strong and independent.

I think that she's capable of being crafty and sneaky when she wants to be (see: the wording of the oath she has Lilith repeat to her in ChoT.) She's my daughter, my ridiculously frustrating daughter, who I know has a brain somewhere in there that she never uses.

I also will say that I really like the drive that she has to be a hero. It's refreshing to see a girl character who actively attempts to realize a goal like that rather than someone who's thrust into a world Chosen-One-Style. Both Clary and Tessa were "Chosen One" type characters, which served their genre well for the time. Cordelia, like Emma, was just an ambitious Shadowhunter, and I find her story very interesting as a result. And I like how Cordelia is in part driven by a desire for merciful, compassionate heroism (unlike Emma, who was driven by a desire for revenge). It sets her apart from all the other Emma-type Badass Warrior Girls who want to go out and kick as much ass as possible.

She's such a delightful person and one I would be proud to call a friend IRL. And she's a great character in a lot of ways, though I think there are some narrative issues holding her back.

Cordelia and Cassandra Clare's Narrative

I feel like Cordelia is the one character that I wish I could steal from Cassie and repurpose. I generally really like what Cassie does with most of her characters, and I like a lot of the things she did with Cordelia. If I didn't, I wouldn't love her so much. But I think that with some VERY MINOR tweaking, Cordelia could have been even better.

The issue with Cordelia is that the author gives her very little agency. The narrative serves to protect her and James as the Herongraystairs kids, and I get that, but it feels like Cordelia is often just dragged along for the ride. Like, she is the main character! Why is she given almost no agency or real choices? Why is she just swept along with the narrative as a pawn in this large chess game that is TLH? I was talking with a close mutual @alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer a while back who said it would have been great if Cordelia became Lilith's paladin willingly to try to take power from all the awful men who abuse it. I would have loved this! If Cordelia had been allowed to get just a little bit messy, bend the rules of morality, and make some mistakes, she would have been even more incredible than she is.

The Impact of Lacking Agency

This narrative issue manifests as my least favorite Cordelia character trait: her hyper-naivete. She is so naïve in a way that is almost unbelievable to me as a reader. Like, her response to "dad's an alcoholic who's been abusing me since I was 10" is "huh!!!! That's why I found gin bottles everywhere and he was super clunky and they stopped serving wine! Who'd have guessed?" And, she literally swore fealty to this dude who said he was Wayland the Smith because... he said so? Like ??? Girl!!! Other people, especially your brother, have paid a great price for that naïveté. That bothers me.

The thing that's annoying about this is that I've come to the conclusion that Cassie didn't intend for Cordelia to be so naïve. It was a side effect of giving her no agency. If someone is an adult, that means they necessarily have agency; if someone has agency, they lose moral purity. Ergo, Cordelia was necessarily naïve.

Alastair and Cordelia

I also feel like re: the writing, I find Alastair and Cordelia's dynamic to be simultaneously excellent and irritating. Because he sacrificed his whole life for her! It should not have taken her several months and a murder accusation to marginally stand up for him! I'm sorry!

But I also really love their relationship, especially in ChoT. It makes me so happy to see them joking around together like normal siblings, and I feel like Alastair by Beloved Blorbo gets to kind of... be a normal guy with his little sister, if only a little bit. He doesn't need to act in loco parentis anymore, and they're immediately messing around. I love it.

Again, I wish the relationship were written in a more cohesive way. Maybe it's because I don't have a sibling. But it feels like Cordelia DOES acknowledge that Alastair is the constant lifelong protector that she wants to call out to when she's scared. But she also simultaneously says that he's like quicksand unprompted and tells Matthew that he must think she's terrible to love him.

Cassie, why!?

Cordelia and her Neurodivergent BFFs

This is a funny observation you make, that she "doesn't seem to know any neurotypicals yet might be neurotypical herself." And I agree, actually! I don't really have a lot of thoughts on this besides "that's just who she naturally wound up around because of her familial and life circumstances." What do you think of it? I'm curious to know. <3

[parkerslatte]

DALLIANCE || Matthew Fairchild

Matthew Fairchild x Fem!OC

Warnings: mentions of alcoholism. mentions of injury and blood. mild sexism.

Summary: Delilah Lightwood, daughter of Cecily and Gabriel Lightwood, has spent her whole life wanting to be something more than she was born to be. As a Shadowhunter, Delilah's path was written for her before she was even born. However, Delilah wants to to more with her life, prove that Shadowhunters can do more than their legacy written in the history books.

At seventeen years old, Delilah follows in the footsteps of her older sister, Anna. She doesn't necessarily conform to typical societal standards. Drinking away at Downworlder parties, pursuing the artistic career she wants to make for herself, normally attending these alongside herself and her sister, is Matthew Fairchild.

Matthew Fairchild. Someone Delilah had been close with since the academy and someone she shares a special bond with. Not a romance. Not a parabatai bond like Matthew and James share. Their bond is different, a type of bond that cannot be explained.

With Cordelia Carstairs arriving in London, Delilah is delighted, wanting to get to know the girl more. However with the arrival of The Carstairs family comes the Blackthorn family, leaving one James Herondale pining over the mysterious Grace Blackthorn.

With a looming threat over the Shadowhunter world, Delilah finally realises what it means to be a true Shadowhunter...and what her bond with Matthew Fairchild really is.

Current Word Count: 29,788

The Shadowhunter Chronicles Masterlist

Contents:

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

More to come…

••••••••••

Authors Note:

- I will start with a disclaimer that I do not own any of these characters or do I own the plot. All belongs to Cassandra Clare. The only things I do own are Delilah Lightwood and her story and plot I have written and any other side characters not affiliated with Cassandra Clare or her work.

[sweetfirebird]

New least favorite type of BookTube post that Youtube now recommends to me: "I READ TABOO ROMANCES AND NOW I'M SCARRED" or "I READ THIS MONSTERFUCKING MPREG ON WATTPAD SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO" or "I READ THIS FILTHY ROMANCE FANFICTION AND NOW WE'RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH ABOUT IT."

I know these people are desperate for ways to keep making content and nothing gets views like hate and overreacting to things outside their limited range of experience and thought, and also that they apparently love to hate-read books in the same fucking genre over and over and then get mad because all their court fairies thorns magic books are getting derivative and they need a new genre to latch onto and complain about it, but seriously, just, with all due respect, fuck off with this particular trend.

The vibe they give off is superiority complexes. The vibe they give off is tweens giggling over a Playboy in the '80s... actually maybe more of a Hustler. The vibe they give off is men who read snippets of mainstream het romance novels to giggle at the sex scenes and humiliate romance readers in the process. The vibe they give off is that they are desperate for views. The vibe they give off is taking things out of their context and mocking them for clout. The vibe they give off is hornily, lustily, feverishly wanting to read some kinky smut and feeling shame about it, and so shaming the things they sought out to read instead of dealing with whatever internalized issues they've got going on.

Like, I don't read taboo romances but I also don't watch Game of Thrones or House of Dragons, or read Cassandra Clare, and I bet most of those book reviewers do one or both of those things so.... So incest is probably okay with them then. Ditto for sexual assault in a story, even for titillation purposes. Those court fairies thorns magic books also feature romances that just... more than likely... without me even reading them... some of those romances have to be at minimum, inappropriate, at maximum, abusive. Because like all fiction they are reflections of and commentaries on the world we actually live in and also *someone's fantasies related to the world we actually live in.*

So again. Anyway. I do not watch those videos. But you try to watch book news stuff a few times and Youtube and YT starts recommending them to you argh.

And also, as a side note. The way all these same reviewers latch onto the same few books to hate on... like endless posts dunking on the same three books.

k.

Read more things. Venture out into other genres. Find some smut you like if that's your thing instead of getting frustrated that the court fairies thorns magic books aren't the level of filth you want, or whatever the hell is bothering these people so much.

...Unless it really is just them mocking others for views. In which case... that's actually more gross.

[lovecrafts-iranon]

Here are some of my thoughts on the authors I am insane about. Some of them I think are good, some of them I think are bad, some of them I haven't even read! It's more like "how do these people (especially the way others talk about them) factor into my personal mythology" and less "do these people write good books." To explain this better I will start with the one I can explain most precisely and write plenty of words on, Cassandra Clare/Claire.

Cassandra Claire

Cassandra Claire was the biggest Big Name Fan in the Harry Potter fandom and used her fandom success to become a bestselling YA novelist. I have read all of her fanfiction and a few of her YA books. The first book of her famous fanfiction and the first book of her first YA series are both passable as average adventure stories with bloated romance subplots, but after that they balloon in size and become entirely focused on boring romantic drama. So I don't like her work but it's not like she's the worst author ever. In her fandom days, she had several scandals, the biggest being that she plagiarized both funny TV quotes and paragraphs from a published book in her fics.

The way people reacted to her was what fascinated me so much. Her fans called her a Goddess. People were having late night group chat release parties for new chapters. If you go to any Harry Potter fan's LiveJournal around the time she was big, there was a mention of her. The hype was so big. I had before dismissed fanfiction as the kind of thing I would ever write, but when I saw records of Claire, I desperately wanted the kind of attention she had. Wanting her fame was the reason I started writing fanfiction. I read her fics and her drama and thought I could do even better than her. I would be just as popular but never plagiarize, so I would be even more popular. And my stories wouldn't be boring romance crap, so even more people would want to read them.

Isaac Asimov

So Isaac Asimov is the original and eternal "guy I want to be" (when it comes to writing. I hear he was a creep in his personal life but that's not what this is about. Whenever I talk about him here I'm just talking about him as a writer). He's the king of science fiction. I can always pick up a book by him and know it's going to be good. If you think about who the archetypal science fiction writer is, his name pops up first. And that's what I want! I want my name to pop up first in people's minds! That's the biggest dream since forever. For my name to pop up first. Whenever I read his writing, I thought, this is so good, and at the same time I had a deep feeling that someday I wanted people to feel the same way about my writing that I did about his. (And of course there's always the little I-can-do-better voice saying well he wasted his time on having a wife and kids while I would be fully married to the job...) I want to be him more than anything. I would be willing to spend all my time for decades to be like him. Well, if I could. I used to think I was good enough to be him. Once I got proof I was not good enough, my life has been years of nonstop misery. Mourning, really, over the me-as-Isaac-Asimov who died.

Henry Darger

If Asimov is the God figure in my mind then Darger is the devil. He's the worst type of person to become (as an author) and the person I am constantly terrified of being. Putting all that effort in, millions of words, for nothing. The writing equivalent of digging holes and filling them back in using all of your time for the rest of your life. A writing void. A writing black hole. Nobody will ever call Darger a great writer or even say his writing improved with practice. They will only say he was an interesting feller. That's not what I want to be, that's not enough! And there are so very many of him. Sort any amateur writing site (such as a fanfiction site) by word count and you'll find plenty with no audience. You can find a lot of Darger works by going on the TV Tropes forums and clicking the links in people's signatures. It's horrifying the amount of effort sustained over a lifetime these people put in only for zero fame. It looks worse than death to me. Becoming a Darger is a big reason I want to kill myself, though so far I have been too cowardly.

Vladimir Nabokov

I like writing and chess and bugs. So did Nabokov. Only he was way better than me at all three. It's just weird to me he was into the same things. His success and my failure at the exact same stuff shows that a general ability to succeed at things (we can call this intelligence) exists and I do not have it.

H P Lovecraft

He was really crazy. Sometimes I think there's a cutoff. A certain amount of crazy you can be and still end up writing things others end up enjoying. And beyond the cutoff you become a Darger. Lovecraft exists just before that cutoff. And I'm after the cutoff. I used to think of Lovecraft as kind of inspirational as a crazy person but not anymore.

Ken Liu

Ok I'm not that crazy about Ken Liu. But his name makes me sad whenever I see it. I loved reading his short storied in high school and I always fantasized about telling him in person as a peer. I wanted to be in the same general group as him. We could be friends because we would both be successful science fiction writers, you know?

[rafasbiscuits]

I want to talk about the Shadowhunters for a sec. As a book reader and as a person who watch the shows.

So, in the show, Alec Lightwood has brown eyes. And I don't like this. Now I'm not saying that Matthew Daddario isn't a good Alec, he is a wonderful Alec, but they could at least give him blue contacts so when the people watch the show they'd be like. "Oh, why do they give Matthew Daddario blue contacts? Is it that important?"

IT IS.

The first thing that attracted Magnus to Alec was his blue eyes and jet black hair, Magnus is weak for the black hair and blue eyes, he had always been. It's his type, way before he met Alec, before he met Will Herondale( I'll talk about this later) wayy before all of this. It's his type.

If it wasn't for Alec's blue eyes in the books, then Magnus wouldn't be as attracted to Alec, maybe their relationship never could've happened. If it wasn't for Alec's blue eyes-black hair combo, Magnus wouldn't look at Alec's direction(it's in the books!!) His blue eyes were the first thing Magnus saw and that made Magnus go "damn, he is exactly my type."

Alec's resemblance to Will Herondale is what intrigued Magnus, because Will is somewhat Magnus's not-so-crush crush. Kinda. It's complicated. But Alec's blue eyes are VERY important (in my not so humble opinion)

I know Magnus will always love Alec even in another universe where Alec has brown eyes, like this universe, the Shadowhunters TV universe. But they (the one who made the show, producers, directors, etc) could at least point out Alec's blue eyes, so for the ones who never read the Shadowhunters book will get a glimpse of what attracted Magnus to Alec in the first place.

I know that the show is the show, the book is the book, not all of it has to be 100% accurate, but in my opinion, I just think Alec's blue eyes and black hair is just very important..

"It made no sense that his eyes had been drawn to Alec, over and over again. Alec had hung to the back of their little group, had made no effort to attract the eye. He had striking coloring, the rare combination of black hair and blue eyes that had always been Magnus’s favorite, and Magnus supposed that was why he had looked in Alec’s direction at first. Strange to see the coloring that had so distinguished Will and his sister.."

- The Bane Chronicles, Cassandra Clare.

[katnissgirlsmakedo]

so Kit dies but I am supposed to accept it?? When cc said this planned since chog I almost dropped my pc, like what? The best boy was done so dirty

i think she should be put in a torture chamber for a few days for this frankly. like i don’t necessarily believe in the prison system but put cassandra clare in prison for a week. if i seem like i’m being unnecessarily dramatic rn i need everyone to understand that the things christoper and grace mean to me are unfathomable to most of you here and i’m so fucking upset that they don’t get to be together because he DIED. and like. there’s no like. thematic reason he had to die so like cassie clearly did it so she could just kill off somebody. ok i don’t know what i’m talking about i haven’t read the book. but like i know christopher… and it’s like. it’s like she wanted to pick somebody to die and only landed on him because he’s like the least “problematic” option because he’s not gay so it’s not bury your gays, and he’s not all depressed and tragic like james so it’s like a subversion or whatever. and he’s a man so it’s not misogynistic (she thinks she still needs to atone for her internalized misogyny crimes with clary. can we all forgive her already so she can just be normal) and it’s like. cassandra no one needed to die… you made it through tmi without killing anyone major and it was still a good series and we all loved it… it’s just so like. upsetting. that she was like “tlh is a TRAGEDY” and then she was like “lol nvm i changed my mind it’s gonna be happy” and then she was like “oh also i’m killing christopher xoxo” like. cassandra i would rather have seen james herondale brutally murdered. this reply is so tonally inconsistent i’ve been typing this in increments since 10am and it is now 1. yes i’ve been thinking about it this whole time and yes i’ve been upset this whole time. i’ve been glaring at customers and angrily folding jeans it’s really bad. anyway. i’m sad about it

[malec-ao3feed]

Every Exquisite Thing

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/YqvyZXV by khaleesiofalicante Alec shrugs again and looks at his boyfriend. “Hey, I finished my budget thing earlier than I thought. So, it looks like I won’t be working through the weekend. You wanna go out for lunch tomorrow?” It’s not a question. It’s a test. Alec already knows Magnus is going to fail it by coming up with some kind of excuse. “Oh,” Magnus says. “I thought I could teach Max how to swim. I’ve been meaning to do that forever.” “Baby, if you need help, we can hire someone-” “Alexander, do you honestly think we need more staff at this place?” Magnus chuckles. That's not the point, even if it might be true. There were more staff in this house than residents and while Alec is very much used to that, Magnus is still not. A short story from the TLND Universe Words: 3451, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 5 of Extras from True Love Never Dies (TLND) Fandoms: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunters (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Magnus Bane, Alec Lightwood, Max Lightwood-Bane Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Additional Tags: Mild Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Communication, Romantic Fluff, Body Image, Magnus is baby, Magnus is also Alec's baby, Alternate Universe, True Love Never Dies, POV Alec Lightwood, Sharing Clothes, Implied Sexual Content, Okay that's enough tags it's well past my bed time, I missed Alec saying fuck every 2 minutes lmao, No beta we die like planet earth (climate change is real!!) read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/YqvyZXV

[generalcollectionparadise]

Valentin and his son

I know that many people think Valentine is a terrible father. maybe it is. after all, he himself said that he didn't need a son, he needed a warrior. Again, I think he fulfilled his parental role quite well, he taught his children everything he knew himself. many hate him for his cruel treatment - he brought up the boys the way he was brought up - pain makes you stronger, loss is more powerful - if you consider that this is a society of warriors, the world in which they are destined to live is far from beautiful - this teaching makes sense.

Who is the coolest shadowhunter? Jace. Hey, who brought him up, who gave him the basics? Valentine! Yes, yes, the same immoral type who bullied his children🤔. After all, if he was that awful, Jace wouldn't miss him, and it's unlikely Jonathan would be jealous. For example, Celine was abused by her parents and she ran away. Valentine himself left Jonathan alone for a while (ran away from him, haha). Rejoice to yourself, exhale, the monstrous father left, but Jonathan did not like it, he began to cheat, hide his father's stylus, make a mess on Valentine's desktop.

I've always been interested to find out what Jonathan's childhood was like, what he was like. How his demonic nature manifested itself. The author wrote that the inspiration was a book about children who kill; Cassandra Clare wrote that Jonathan is not a demon, he was just born with an emptiness in his soul, he has no sense of conscience, and he cannot understand what is good and what is bad. And it's not really about parenting, it's the result of an experiment. Jonathan wondered why Valentine loved Jace more (it's clear that he loved him for his humanity, and considered him his son, but he didn't need a son), he needed a warrior - he needed Jonathan. Jonathan considered himself the perfect son; he says the scars on his back are a reminder of the dangers of obedience. If he was so obedient, then why would Valentine say such a thing: " He was too savage, too sudden, not subtle enough. I feared even then, when he was barely out of infancy, that he would never have the patience or the compassion to follow me, to lead the Clave in my footsteps. So I tried again with you. And with you I had the opposite trouble". - city of glass.

Oh, yes, I want to see the treacherous little Jonathan. recently I watched the movie "the good son" of 1993, and I thought, maybe our Jonathan was like that?

There is so little of their relationship in the book. But judging by those dialogues in the city of glass, how Valentin says that war is not something to be happy about; that the murder of Hodge is not quite right; it is unlikely that he whispered 24/7 in Jonathan's ears that murder and chaos are cool.

it's clear that Morgenstern himself has problems with his head, the way he disgustingly shows love. This abnormality was also adopted by Jonathan. These eternal terrible biblical phrases that they didn't understand correctly. "I love you. you are my property. Blood to blood…" I would like to know more about Valentine's parents. Unlike Jonathan, he had a mother. A woman who died of grief because of her husband's death. If the story is true. It seems that she was a loving person. It's a pity didn't teach son adequate love.

Definitely, I would like more Valentine's moments with son…😏

p/s. English is not my native language, I hope it is possible to read😅